A Short Video of Clips Featuring The NTCC Servicemen's Home in Junction City, KS

    Just dropped a new video on YouTube

K. Gandy is currently in charge of the Servicemen's Home in Junction City, KS

This outlet of the NTCC organization is there to recruit the Soldiers of Fort Riley into their ranks. 

Gandy has been in this organization forever and a day.  He is one of the premiere

Yes Men and it's people like him who make problems for unsuspecting single Soldiers and married military members and their families as well.   

I will be sharing more on how Gandy conducts business on behalf of this authoritarian group in his satellite branch of New Testament Christian Churches of America, Inc. in future posts and videos. 

Thanks for watching.  

If you'd like to reach out with any questions, etc. - then please fill out the contact form on the right hand side of this blog.   

An Ode To The New Testament Christian Church Men's Haircut

 My oldest daughter and I were talking about NTCC yesterday as I was preparing a video to post this weekend.  She shared with me some writings she put together about this group when she was much younger.

It's extremely important for me to have her point of view because she was writing from the perspective of a young girl who grew up in this organization.  She was born in the Philippines when I was still in the Air Force back in 1990.

December 1990, Clark Air Base, RP

       December 1990 Just after giving birth to my Diana

1991 - I had just given birth to my second daughter while stationed in Homestead, FL

As I was going through some of her writings, I found one that her dad wrote: The New Testament Cut--- about the men in this group...mostly the preachers. 

I don't have to say much more because if you've seen one of their men, then you know exactly what I'm talking about. 

 

Here is the text in case you can't read it:

THE NEW TESTAMENT CUT

It speaks of our perception and religious 

Wisdom too,

That all of us acknowledge in accord

The proper "do".

The barbers in Puyallup say it's hard

To cut it right,

Especially when pressed for time

Because it's Thursday night.

It starts with just enough to comb,

About the upper head,

then tapers sharply down to skin,

Above a neck of red.

I understand the son of god

Was surely rendered thus,

Why else would preachers all join in,

In conscientious-nuss?

White guys call it 'Ivy League',

Stylists call it 'Zero',

Black guys just say "fade it down",

And Rangers call it 'hero'.

Of course we know that Jesus looked 

Liek airmen, soldiers and skippers, 

But where'd he find an Army post,

A Korean, and 'lectric clippers? 

A Great YouTube Video of a Testimony From Someone Who Left NTCC

 My daughter found this video on YouTube.  I just now finished listening to the whole thing and I think you'll find so much in common with Mary if you've ever attended New Testament Christian Church seminary. 

Interview with Mary

For those who are attending an NTCC Servicemen's Church and Home, please realize everything Mary shares is spot on. Her experience may differ here and there, but the overall testimony is what we all saw and share in common.

I will be breaking it all down-- meaning, I will add examples to all that Mary shared in a near-future post. 

Please listen to the whole thing.   The gentleman who put this together did a great job in that he asked the right questions of 'Mary', who is quite articulate and to the point.  

I'm always elated when a person realizes the significance and importance of sharing their story. It helps us personally when we tell others and I can tell you for sure that it helps others with validating their own experiences.   

Hang On To Your Military Paycheck and G.I. Bill Benefits

There are stories galore of individuals and organizations who have duped active duty military members and veterans out of large portions of their paychecks and/or shystered them out of their G.I. Bill benefits.

It becomes very apparent when you drive on to your first duty station who the people are that are looking to help themselves to your money:  car salesmen, bars, strip joints, predatory lenders, multi-level or direct-sales marketers and too many others to list.  

They also prey on your patriotism and the status of your eternal soul through fake charities and churches.  

I was recently reading an article in Military Times about the CEO of a tech-education company who defrauded the VA out of  Post 9/11 G.I. Bill education benefits. 

A week prior, I was reading about a group called House of Prayer.  Their various churches were raided last June, 2022  They were accused of setting up churches near military installations and creating bible schools which scammed veterans of their G.I. Benefits. 

I'm very familiar with the House of Prayer group.  They are a breakaway faction from New Testament Christian Churches of America based in Graham, WA. I was there the night they made a big show during a church service & got up and walked out. They broke up into their own group but the very basis of their beliefs and tactics were derived from and learned from the Founder of NTCC:  Rodger W. Davis. 

I didn't read all of the legal judgments against the HOP organization, but it does seem like they took steps in order to be accredited by the VA so they could secure monies from veterans.  Former and current military members from all branches were their target congregants and bible seminary students.  And they learned that from NTCC.  

Most of us who were reached by NTCC were in the military.  Most of their churches are near military installations where they are known as servicemen's homes and churches.  

I would so like to be able to get through to you and help you understand that their mission is to get you into their servicemen's homes.  They want you to pay them so that you can ostensibly live in a holy atmosphere free of the ungodly shenanigans which go on in the barracks.   The homes are for single, male G.I.s. 

The second mission behind getting you in the home and paying them to live there is to then get you motivated to attend their bible seminary.   Many of us who wasted our time in their school and their organization, ended up losing our ability to use our G.I. Bill Benefits. We were too late.  There is no way to recover it once the expiration has elapsed. 

Once I left that group in 2006, after having been out of the military since January 1992, I was out of luck when I decided to go to regular college.  I wasn't allowed to work as a married woman while in the group, though I've found out now that many married ladies have side hustles to add to their family finances, but that's a topic for a future post.   The focus of this post is to appeal to you to not be a victim of their hijinks.

If you become a tenant in the servicemen's home, then you will have to continue to deduct money from your paycheck for 10% gross earnings to tithe.  You can't get around that, you will be told that you owe that to god and none of the money you give counts as an offering until you pay your tithe.   Also, you can't just plop that money in the offering receptacle.  It has to be given a certain way.  God will not know unless you put it in an envelope with your name on it and the amount.  The only reason for that is to track you and to monitor your level of "getting in"  

Once you pay tithes, there will be many offerings, pledges, giving things to the pastor and his wife (if he is married), money for rent, and the loss of freedom of your time and energies.

  You will then have to face facts:  the statistics for remaining in this group are not in your favor.  Most who attend their so-called bible school eventually leave the group altogether and they take with them a huge loss of money from their bank account (especially if they are working as fulltime preachers in a church ) and possible loss of your education benefits.    I can promise you that you don't want to be in that predicament.  It's degrading and demoralizing.  You'll feel like an idiot and have to face all of the remarks from family and friends about how they told you so.   And they did and they were right all along.

Recovery is possible and many of us are a testament to that, but it's not the most easy road to traverse.   

I just want you to heed the warning to Stay Away From NTCC

Keep Your Money and Secure your G.I. Bill Benefits. 

I will also refer you to two of the videos I currently have on my YouTube Channel concerning Tithing and Giving.  They are introductory short videos. I am working on more.

 And a last plea: 

Please don't get sidetracked by any positive reviews you may read about the individual servicemen's homes in NTCC on Google or Facebook, etc.  Many of those who leave reviews are preachers or their wives in the church.  They go and review each others churches trying to work the algorithm in a 5-star direction. 

As a quick example:  I chose the New Testament Christian Church & Servicemen's Home in Hinesville, GA.  Several of their Facebook page reviews are of preachers or wives of preachers from their group.  Now, to be fair, some lived in the home or attended the church in Hinesville.   They went on to became preachers through their bible school and so that's all well and good.   But the idea of online reviews, especially for a business (which make no mistake, NTCC is a business), is to have people experience their product or experience and tell about it.  Why leave a review in 2015 about your experience at this location a decade or more prior? It makes no sense.

What I've found with all of the NTCC locations online is that the preachers tend to go on each others pages and give high-praise 5-star reviews.  It borders on disingenuous.

What they don't realize when they do that is they are enabling some really bad players who are running some of these churches like their own kingdoms.   If you don't really know what's going on in a local church or servicemen's home, then you shouldn't be giving them those glowing reviews because you may be leading someone into a situation where they really get taken advantage of and that really bothers me beyond measure. 

     Preacher's wife who attended bible school

Preacher's wife who attended bible school 

                                             Second Generation NTCCer - 

Read: 

Follow the Money, Part 1

There's No Point in Playing the Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda Mind Game

            I'm at the stage in my NTCC-after life where I have a decent handle on my level of regret for ever staying in that group.  

But every now and then the thoughts slip through and I wonder to myself what would have happened had I stayed in the Air Force and kept on track for a very good career. 

Xmas 1987 w/ grandma & brother on short leave from basic training

I didn't enter the military until I was 25.  The Air Force was trying to recruit linguists when I was in my last few months of high school.  They came to our school in New Jersey seeking out students who had taken a second language and done well.  I started taking Spanish in 7th grade and stopped in 11th.

The idea was to have those of us selected to train in Monterey, CA after basic training in order to become linguists.  So we could listen in on the Russkies --I suppose.  It was 1981 after all.

After talking to the recruiter, I told him I'd like to take the special test to see if I'd be a fit for the linguist career field.  He was overjoyed as not many showed an interest.  I had to go into Newark at 6am and sit in a room with about 12 other hopefuls.  There was a desk up front with a tape recorder, and each of us sat at a typical school desk facing front.   We weren't allowed to have anything but our test papers and a pencil.  We weren't allowed to take notes either.   

A dude came in and instructed us that we were going to hear a sentence spoken on a recording and then we'd be asked several questions.   It was reiterated that we were not to make any notes...not on our bodies and not on our desktops.  

Basically, they made up a language from the English language.  The proctor would say something like, "in the following sentence the nouns are now adjectives and the verbs are now nouns and the adverbs are now verbs"   The lady on the tape would read a sentence:  "The large man went to the bathroom to see if that's where he left his wallet" 

(sidenote: in my experience...he probably did)

Then the proctor would tell us to fill in the circle next to the new noun, new verb, etc. 

At the end of the testing, I left feeling so dejected.  I thought there was no way I did well on it.   But, surprise, I did well and after speaking with my recruiter further, we made a date for me to come in and sign my contract.  

I never went in to sign that contract.   I thought I was in Love at the time and that guy talked me out of going.   It is nice to be wanted and loved, but after three weeks or so, I resented that guy so much and wanted nothing to do with him.  I was too humiliated to go back in to the recruiter who had already invested so much in me.   I was ashamed beyond measure. 

Jump ahead to 1986, I was working in New York City at the time for Paramount Pictures.   It was an amazing job.  I worked on the 21st floor of the Gulf and Western building at Columbus Circle, overlooking the Park.   I think it's a Trump building now if I'm not mistaken.   

A month or two after my arrival in the Philippines, there was a Change of Command Ceremony for our outgoing commander.   He invited me to fly on his helo for a five -ship formation.  We flew all over the island of Luzon and we weren't that high off the ground.  It was thrilling.  

I had been thinking about that lost Air Force opportunity a lot as I commuted to work every day from Jersey.  One day I decided to walked the 30 blocks or so down to the train station at Madison Square Garden and on the way passed by the Recruiting Station which sat in the middle of Times Square....and who knows, maybe it's still there.  

I spoke with a recruiter and I was all hopped up on patriotism with Reagan in office and was pumped to do my part.  We spoke a bit and after doing all the things necessary to see if I could still go in the Air Force, he said I was and after speaking about jobs, I decided to wait almost a year in order to get the job I wanted.   

That fateful day of my entry was October 14, 1987.   I turned 25 two days later and I had a blast.   I went to school in Biloxi, MS and then headed over to the Philippines for my four year stint there.   My job was fulfilling and exciting and I worked with the greatest people.  We were like a little family.    

I was doing computer work for a Helicopter Search and Rescue squadron.  I loved it because we weren't just training, but we had real life missions as well up to and including a 7.0 earthquake and typhoons and pilots crashing into the mountain that was later found to be a volcano.........and we all know how that ended.

Christmas 1987 on leave

I made rank early and won the highest award possible for the schooling we were required to take before putting on the rank of Sgt.   Had I not gotten out when I did in order to attend the NTCC bible school, I would have put on SSGT and been well on my way to an amazing tenure in the Air Force.  

[While holding the son of one of the pilots in my squadron, I was listening intently to the pep talk he was delivering to me before I went in for my below-the-zone board..   I did well and put on Senior Airman early].

I regret not putting in my full 20 years.  It hits me hard sometimes.  But, I shake myself out of it and remind myself of all the good things which I have in my life and which bring me joy and fulfillment.   

[While 6 months pregnant and wearing my prego uniform, I received the John Levitow award scoring the highest in my class for Professional Military Education....the thing you need to do before putting on the rank of Sgt.  I did feel odd earning an honor as a pregnant woman, but hey, I'll take it.] 

Funnily enough, I now work for a government subcontractor and we move military stuffs around the country.   It requires a high degree of concentration and intensity and research and making mistakes is not allowed.   

I love it.  

I work from home and what's better than that? 

It took me a long time to stop playing  the Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda game.    When I found out time machines aren't real, I gave up on the idea of going back to that fateful day when I was invited out to that Serviceman's Home so I could say NO!   

Now I endeavor each day to live my best life and to enjoy my family.   

I hope that those of you who are out are not beating yourselves up.  There is absolutely no point and that mindset ruins everything.  You missed out on so much while in, why miss stuff now in the NTCC After Life drowning yourself in regret? 

  

Live!

Follow the Money! - Part 1

 
By way of definition: 

"Follow the Money" is a catchphrase popularized by the 1976 docudrama film All the President's Men, which suggests political corruption can be brought to light by examining money transfers between parties.

-------------------------------------

I seriously don't know where to start concerning money and NTCC.  It can't be ignored because it's the reason for this organization's very existence.   There is no proof of any other motive.  As I've studied cults, thought reform, authoritarianism (whatever you want to call it), the money is everything. The money in turn gives birth to power and that in turn, the ability to manipulate people--and it loops from there.

Follow the Money!

Though I have a pile of notes and screenshots and memories about New Testament Christian Church on the theme of Money, I want to present it in pieces. It's a lot of information to absorb.  There's really no other way to do it because there's just so much.

My hope is to appeal to three types of people (and when I think about it, three covers just about everyone);

1- Those who are still in the group.

2- Those who left (no matter how long ago or how recent) and are trying to sort out the after-NTCC life.

3- Those who haven't yet walked through the doors of a New Testament Christian Church. I want to prevent them from making that mistake.

I know for a fact that those of you who are still in have seen and heard things money-related and you aren't sure how to process it as it pertains to a christian life. You've never found these doctrines, concepts or behaviors tucked within the pages of your bible.  No worries. Your pastor has been gracious enough to interpret it for you and to show you why you should keep forking over your hard-earned cash to NTCC through him. 

And further, I hope those of you in and who are pursuing a career as an NTCC representative, that you've begun socking away money for your future when you won't be able to work and you'll need to take care of yourself.  Maybe you can build a commune (community of tenants) like Davis and the Kekels have.  That is what they've essentially done and in the next few posts about money, I'll share with you information which shows how those two families have built a property dynasty and in a big way.  They are business people and NTCC is a personal business for them and nothing else.   

I say this with the hope that you will do what you have to do...get a side hustle and make some money if you're going to ignore the glaring problematic issues and remain in the group.  There will be a point when you will have to go to the doctor or you'll be sidelined with a major health issue or just good old fashioned old age will set in and what will you do?   Likely folks in your life such as family have asked you these things already.  It's naïve to just declare..."God will take care of me"   You have to do your part and plan.

If you're fortunate enough to have escaped NTCC's grubby, greedy hands, then I celebrate with you and I will tell you that it will be a journey to sort out what to do with your money now that you have some because you don't have those self-professed agents of the most high god preaching or teaching to you all the ways that you should give unto them, pressed down, shaken together and shoved in their wallets. 

We'll take a look at whether or not there is actually anything to this whole tithe concept used by churches all over the world.  The way they go about it is mostly where I'm coming from.  The way they believe you should meet in a decked out and bejeweled building that their hands have made and then they expect you to pay for it in installments called offerings and tithes.   

For those who haven't yet attended NTCC, but maybe you've been invited out and you're doing your due diligence by doing some online investigation and that's how our paths have crossed, then good on you.   And on that note, I  speak most especially to those in the military who might have an NTCC Servicemen's Home in the town where you're stationed.  I hope that the things I share will be enough to cause a high degree of skepticism to take hold in your mind.  I'd be overjoyed if your shadow never graces their doorway.  

They want you to "get in" with them so they can make the pitch that you should pay them money to stay in their servicemen's home under their rules to get away from those devils in the barracks.  Then, like the man in the audio clip below, they can shout and say: "So Much Money! Things are booming!"

I beg you not to.  You will regret it.

----------------------------------------------------------

I'm going to leave you right now with an audio clip from the NTCC Facebook page live stream from Graham, WA that I watched last night.  It was great because the man preaching, George Jordan, has been around this group for forever and he said things last night that made me think he is trying to help me present my case.  And he did it on so many levels.   

For now though, it's about the money.  

Money.  

Not souls.  

Money.  

Later on, we'll look at all the ways the group has changed over the years when it comes to ministers out in the field and how they've remodeled how NTCC church business gets done.

In this clip, taken from the NTCC Live Stream   (I'm including the link so you can have the full context if you'd like) on June 23rd in Graham, WA, I was surprised at how readily George just belted out "there was so much money" - not one single word about all of the souls touched and how lives were changed and how god moved.   

It's stunning.  

This is just a 30-second clip.

I'll have more from this same service where we will also learn some interesting things about how easy it is to become a failure in god's eyes, or is it that it's so easy to become one in the organization's eyes?  

So, George proclaims how much money there was in the Tillicum church back some time ago-- when things were booming and there was So Much Money!  

To be continued.....................

How I Got Involved with NTCC - Part 1

 

I don't have many pictures from my time in the Philippines.  

Time, Washington state mold and many moves caused most to be lost or ruined. 

I will tell you why I became involved with this group.  

I was stationed in the Philippines at Clark Air Base, in the Air Force. 

It was about Feb/Mar 1989. 

I had just gotten married the previous August, but my ex-husband was stationed in New York and I had to remain overseas. 

A friend named Max (the smiley face to the right of me in the pic) invited me to come to a new church off base that was there to minister to G.I.s  I'd never seen him so excited and so I decided to check it out. The preacher was different than some of the charismatic churches I had visited back in New Jersey and definitely the opposite end of the spectrum to the churches of my upbringing, which was Catholic.

I found many things about the experience intriguing.   I went back.  

Having been brought up in a very verbally and physically abusive home---with zero hugs, kisses and "I love you's", I was usually drawn to anyone who showed me the slightest amount of care.  

One night I was very sick in my barracks.  While lying in my bed in the dark, I was startled awake by a heavy pounding at my door.   It was Max.   He yelled through the door for me to get dressed and come downstairs because the Ashmores were there to visit.   I believe another friend, who was also a new attendee, drove them all on base to visit me.  

When I came down, Helen and James Ashmore approached me with genuine looks of concern on their faces.  So much so that now, as a 60-year old, I still remember it. I was 26 at the time. (60-26=34 years).  They wanted to see how I was (of course they were following up on a new person, but this went beyond that) and that was all.  I told them I was very sick and then Helen handed me a homemade brownie wrapped up very neatly in foil with a little handle for carrying.  There could have been nothing in the foil....just the foil wrap and I would have been as touched as I was knowing there was a homemade brownie inside.

I went back to my room, and I cried myself to sleep.  I was so moved by the whole event. Who were these people?

I remember this fondly because I refuse to change my memories to fit my irritation with this group.  I lost many friends and special people in my life...all whom I brought to church and most were one-by-one removed from my circle of friends.  Not by choice. They didn't want to be around me anymore.  A pattern began to develop and I wasn't especially happy with it. 

In May/June of 1989, I was sent to Thailand for almost two months on deployment.   Though the Ashmores tried to push me to see if I could avoid going so I could stay back. (and I know why they suggested this too) I wanted to go to Thailand and there was no way for me to avoid it anyway, as I had already traded places with my coworker who wanted to go to South Korea instead of Thailand.  His filipina wife wanted him to buy cheap Korean stuff and haul it back home.    I will never in my life understand that.  I was like.... "Dude! Thailand!  How many people do you know who've gone to Thailand for two months for the Cobra Gold exercise?" And he just shrugged  

Everyone went to South Korea for the Team Spirit exercise. Hey, it all worked out in my favor. I made friends and memories as I traveled around Thailand on my days off  and I also worked with my Thai counterparts along with the Navy Seals, and Army Rangers.  For crying out loud, the Prince of the country had uniforms made for all of us....I mean, it was an amazing time.  

When I returned, I recall being annoyed about several things.  One was the fact that I had stopped going out to an orphanage off base filled with tiny filipino kids whom I loved and cherished and adored. I stopped  because it was preached that the poor we always have with us.  I needed to be about god's business.  I obeyed.

I am happy to say that since getting out of NTCC, I have reconnected with many of the kids from that orphanage on Facebook who are now grown and have their own children...several married and now live in the states. A few died on the streets of Angeles City.  Those kids didn't understand why I left so suddenly.  What a  Christian testimony I presented to them, right?  

Could I have kept going?  I suppose, but I did get the idea it would be displeasing to god.   It seemed he needed my money and service more than they did.  I can't even begin to explain the experiences I had with them and how deeply I loved them, and how sorely I missed them and how much I grieved over them.  That is a negative memory against the good ones I'm sharing.

(some of the kids during my last visit when they were planting seeds to extend their food supply source)

Once I was back from Thailand, I came out to the Servicemen's Home off base during my lunch breaks from work when I could.    I recall one very touching time which allayed some of my concerns about this church.  I usually parked my car at the front gate and walked to the servicemen's home so it wouldn't get stolen, even though it eventually did.   As I approached the screen door this one day, I held my hand back a moment before knocking.   It was clear they didn't know I was there.  As you see from the picture of the inside of the home in that first picture, there really wasn't much furniture.  A table and chairs in the area just off the kitchen and a wicker couch (not big or comfortable) in the living area with maybe one or two other pieces.   

These folks never threw off any hint of people who were after my steady paycheck. 

It was ungodly hot, especially in the the summer, which is when this was.  A fan was absolutely useless and I know this from living off base myself.  It was easy to have people envision a hot eternity in hell when they were  being preached to in the Philippines. That is a visual that wasn't lost on anyone.   If it wasn't for the beautiful people and gorgeous scenery (away from Angeles City) I'm not sure why that place exists.  

Where was I? Oh yeah, I walked up to the door.  There was no air conditioning---and did I mention it was hot?  James could barely fit curled up on the poor excuse for a couch studying and making notes.   Helen might have been ironing or performing some sort of domestic goddess duty.  

As soon as I knocked, they both jumped up and ushered me in.  I felt like someone special.  They paid attention.  They seemed honestly happy I'd surprised them with a visit.  They sat me down at the table and Helen ran in the kitchen and made a bowl of ramen.   A favorite of military members the world over.  

We sat and ate and talked and before I knew it...my time was up and I had to get back. 

Why do I still remember that day in such vivid detail?  

They made me feel like I was worthy of love and attention and care and a bowl of ramen from their cupboards.  Even though I'm quite sure they'd say that everything they had in there was for me, and for all of us who visited-- it still meant a lot to me.   

That was the beginning.   I was able to overlook a lot because at the time I loved god and the bible and his people....the Ashmores and Mick and Max.  

We were away from home and everyone we knew and loved and though we all had friends on and off base, this was a unique situation.  

So, in looking back over my time in NTCC, I was content to overlook a lot because the love I felt blinded me.  In the months and years to come, I witnessed a lot of goofy crap from this crowd, but the foundation of love blinding all reason came into play for sure.   It took a long time for my sight to be restored.

To be continued.......

 

Take Care of Yourself & Change Your Soundtrack

 You can take the man or woman out of the cult, but you can't easily take the cult out of the man or woman

This is just how it is.

The passing of time is our cure.

If you've left NTCC, either as a first or second generation member, I beseech you to take care of yourself first and foremost and to change the soundtrack of your life. 

We know what the soundtrack was while in  NTCC - It consisted of: 

the preachings, 

the teachings,

the verbal abuse and public humiliations,  

those same 5 songs looped over and over again from the hymnals because god apparently despises anything more modern than 1932, 

that one incessant beat of the snare drum in Graham and replicated in the other churches, 

shrill voices trying to sing song specials during the offering, 

the questions from our children wondering why they couldn't do the same things as Grant Kekel,

getting permission as adults for things we should have been able to make decisions about on our own such as how many could attend our childrens birthday parties, who we could go grocery shopping with, or have over for a Sunday dinner,

family discussions over trying to save for conferences and to be ready to go out in the field, 

and on and on.

 Please be easy on yourself.   

We've already had so many years and decades of being blasted from the pulpit and being lectured in classes and being given the stank eye - don't continue the tradition by doing it to yourself.  

Don't loop the regret and the remorse in your mind.

It took time to get out and it takes time to feel fully released from it all.  

Find some friends, 

do new things, 

go on an adventure, 

reach out to those who will understand, 

comfort ye one another, 

You're not a dummy, but you're actually one of the wise ones who girded their loins, dug down deep and pulled up an insane amount of intestinal fortitude and got out.  

You are amazing for doing that.

We know there are many sad souls who would love to be able to cross the threshold where we now abide.  Fear has them tethered and yet here we are waiting to welcome them.

I believe you will find gobs of comfort when you study and research about the hold extremist groups like NTCC have on the mind and how they ensnare our thinking. 

And please also use the knowledge of how these groups work to persuade anyone you know to stay away.  Your newfound joy and freedom to pursue a belief system that you're not bullied into will be seen by others and they will want to know the secret to your happiness.

Tell them.  

Carol Giambalvo is an exit counselor for folks who have left high demand, authoritarian groups such as NTCC.  She was another lady I contacted when I got out.  She sent me a beautiful email and I highly recommend reading about her thoughts and recommendations online.  It will be helpful.   

I've put a link in the sidebar to the book she recommended (Take Back Your Life) which I read back in 2006 and am relistening to now on Audible.  It might be in your local library, but if you're like me, you adore marking up pages and need to have your own copy.  If that's the case, then splurge. 

(first page excerpt of email sent to me by Miss Carol Giambalvo)

(info she sent me about children growing up in a cult)

It's incredibly important to understand how things happened to you (and your family-as it applies)   I don't want you walking around thinking you are a dumb idiot who is gullible and easily persuaded.  That's not how it works.

And if you are a second generation NTCCer....meaning, you were raised in it or entered at an early age, then this was just your life.   Everyone you knew and cared for and respected (and maybe disrespected....wink, wink)...were in this group.  To get to the breaking point is scary and the loss of friendships can be too much to handle.   It opens the door for resentment towards the adults who raised you in this place and it makes it difficult to know how to proceed.  

What will you do for work once you get out?  Maybe, like many of us, you will work your booty off for many years until it all comes together.  This time though, you are working for yourself and for your own future.

But again, let me bring you the good news:  

You took the steps to leave regardless of how difficult it was when many others are too afraid.  They've been fed the lies over and dover that anyone who leaves is an enemy of god and all that is holy.   They don't know what a future without the group looks like.  We have to tell them.  

It's grand !  

All of our after-NTCC lives look different, but the similarity is......

WE GOT OUT !  

WE ARE OUT ! 

and 

Here We Will Remain !

I hope your new soundtrack is everything that is good and lovely and pleasing and non-authoritarian and makes you feel like you're soaring.  

You deserve it.  

Why Isn't the First Man Up Before the Throne of God Quoted ?

 I don't know whether they are doing this intentionally, but NTCC seems to be moving further away from the man-made rules and doctrines of R.W. Davis, the very founder of NTCC and moving way closer to the Southern Baptist way of doing things.  Outwardly.  I'll get into that another time, but for now I'm curious about something which might seem mundane and not worthy of looking at, but I find it extremely interesting.

As I've done my research and looked at all of the Facebook pages of each individual church in this group, I noticed Davis is never quoted on their cutesy posters.  

What do I mean by posters?  

Here are a few I chose from one of the NTCC churches on their public Facebook page:

Each one of these posters represents a post on the Glendale, AZ page.

This doesn't cause NTCC to stand out as a great move of god on the earth, but makes them

appear to be very much like they're trying to emulate the Baptists. They blend in.  It's so vanilla and boring.   

Someone somewhere is churning out these posters in the organization, either that or they are copying them from other locations, which in this day and age doesn't make sense because they're so easy to make

Many of the posters on the Facebook pages of most of the churches, have quotes of 

Charles Spurgeon.  The dude died in 1892. 

And it's not that he can't be quoted, but most of the posters consist of his quotes and 

Corrie Ten Boom-- also dead.  

Is there not a living or recently deceased person who can be quoted as well?

Someone in this Organization?

Why primarily these two dead individuals? 

Did R.W. Davis, the man we were told regularly by Olson and

Kekel,  was the first man up before the throne of god on this earth, not say anything quote-worthy? 

He.

Was thee man.

 Allegedly chosen to stand before god to intervene and reach this whole earth. 

That's what we were taught and that's what was preached. 

Too many have heard to deny it at this point -don't bother.

So, here's my question? 

Where are the quotes of this great man of god?

Why haven't they immortalized his famous quotes and words of wisdom on posters?

Here are a few to get them started:

 - "I can't remember the last time I sinned" - 

- "I have never missed God" -

- "If you need more money, have more church services" -

- "The ministry is a business" -

- "If you have a problem with me; you have a problem with God" -

- "Don't bring homeless people to church; they don't have money" -

- "I've never seen a homosexual or a Puerto Rican get saved" -

- "If you do what I do, you can have what I have" -

- "No one has ever left this organization under the direction of the Holy Ghost" -

- "Don't expect me to get all excited when you come and tell me that your wife's pregnant" - 

And my personal favorite:

I first heard this when Davis visited the Philippines back in or around 1990.  I was stationed in the Air Force at the time.  My mind goes back to that scene in the livingroom in the Servicemen’s Home when he came for a visit. 

Deborah Blumenthal and Jean Keys labored in the heat of the kitchen of that off-base house which had no air conditioning in the Tropics in preparation for the arrival of the First Man Up Before the Throne of God. Sister Keys had the utmost audacity to bake a cake. While all of us were seated around the Fellowship Table, Davis sat completely by himself on a chair over in the living room...looking straight ahead....not even in our direction.

When asked if he’d like a piece of cake, He bellowed…..”I don’t like cake; I like pie”. 

If my mind wasn’t so pure at the time; I’m sure I would have whispered under my breath: “What a douche”. He behaved that way the whole time he was there. He was God’s prophet and he didn’t like cake and he liked pie.  A great time to ask yourself:  What Would Jesus Do?  

 I'm sure those ladies repented of their sins that night at the altar and I’m not being sarcastic.  I’m sure they did. And he, Davis, being the prophet of Almighty God that he claimed he was had to have his certain kind of instant coffee and with only so many teaspoons per cup….no more….no less. I recall the filipino sisters and how they schooled the rest of us ladies on how to do it properly so as to not make his Majesty upset…because if it wasn’t done right….he would be upset.   

He, as the minister, should have been serving us coffee and he should, at the very least, have been in the kitchen mopping the brows of those ladies who labored in the obscenely awful heat to serve him like he was some sort of Medieval King.  I think I recall Deborah frying bananas for banana cue....a delicious Philippine street food made by frying bananas in hot oil and then adding brown sugar to coat them.  That kitchen was stupidly hot.   We were melting in there.

As a relatively new Christian; I found his behavior to be incongruent with anything I ever read in the Bible about the behavior of Jesus Christ and it nagged at me….always.  Davis was the antithesis of Christianity and the Ministry he purported to be called “into”. We all knew it, but were afraid to speak it.   

 I have a sneaky suspicion that many of us spent a lot of time repenting at the altar for thinking unholy thoughts about the men and women of God in leadership of NTCC through the years, but none of us could relate these true feelings outwardly until we left. 

I still ask myself...."Why, Tracy, based on that one instance alone, did you continue to pursue the idea of going to his lame bible school?  

It plagues me.  It greets me in my nightmares and follows me around tapping me on the shoulder more often than I care to admit. 

I Chose a Story Appropriate for Father's Day

 For all the talk today in the Sunday morning service in Graham by M.C. Kekel (yes, I watched the whole thing) as he preached and lauded the dads in the congregation on this Father's Day,  my mind immediately went back to 2004/2005:

It was a regular Saturday morning soul-winning meeting with the lay pastors and all of us in their groups.  We were getting a pep talk from Mike Kekel before heading out to follow up on people for church and/or find new places to go to invite folks out.   

A young man named Chris Fears and his wife were sitting to my left.  When it came to the point in the meeting where Kekel asked if anyone needed a soul-winning partner – Sister Fears stood, along with several others. This left Kekel befuddled because her husband was sitting right next to her. Why in the world did she need a partner? 

Chris had to explain…..in front of everyone….how that he needed to go home to work on his car because it wasn’t working. Kekel upbraided this man to what I thought was a ridiculous degree. I was highly agitated at what I witnessed that morning and I could tell many others were uncomfortable as well.  Not only for the sake of the Fears, but also because you never knew if you would be next in the hot seat.   It was extremely difficult to watch.  They were crestfallen.  Was the god they served this uncaring? 

Here was a man who had a brand new small baby ---a new father.   The baby needed to be in a car seat and he and his wife had to ask permission to get a ride with another brother so as to get back and forth to church, work, the grocery store, etc.  This put them out and whoever they had to ask to help them as well.  

Kekel had the audacity to question this man’s faith and devotion to God as both a Christian and a minister based on the fact that he wanted to go home to take care of his car and in turn take care of his family. Wasn't his soul worth caring for as well?  Why couldn't Kekel scrape up even a modicum of empathy for this couple and realize the amount of stress they must've been under?  It was outrageous and there were those who had the guts to mention it after the meeting. I held my outrage to myself.  Kekel wasn’t the one who had to bum rides from others and shuttle his little baby around with a car seat and also burden someone else in the process.   

This was the culture of NTCC !!! This was R.W. Davis !!!   As Olson always taught and preached:  the organization is R.W. Davis. 

The baton was passed to Kekel and he not only learned how to humiliate good, decent people just as his father-in-law had always done but he did it with the same uncaring righteous indignation. 

Happy Father's Day to you Brother Fears....wherever you are.   I hope you and your family are well and far away from this group of authoritarians.   

How dare they laud dads in their services today.  

What would have been far more appropriate is for apologies to be issued to all of the fathers who had ever passed through the doors of that place and who were constantly denigrated in the name of god.   

Happy are the fathers who escaped this group.  Amen. 

New Testament Christian Churches of America Past and Present

I may not have all of my boxes upon boxes of bible college notes, but I've been compiling a wealth of information from online and offline sources.    

My mission is to provide a static site with as much information as I can possibly cram in so that those seeking the truth about this organization can have more than enough proof that this is not a healthy place for any individual. 

Do they still publish a Trumpet each month?  This was one of the last ones we received before escaping this group and I have to say, it has always been filled with nothing substantial.  We'll go through it at some point.

 

I was going through my many notebook journals recently & came across this one. It was from the last conference we attended in Missouri...Fall 2005. I always took notes during the daytime sessions - mostly in shorthand.  I would write in it after the evening services when I returned back to my room.   I always made lists of people to pray for and maybe a little notation on something that was shared.---I'll share you some key things I noticed when I read through these notes. 

These are just some of my notes and source documents for what I plan to post here and on YouTube.  

At this juncture in time, my desire is to post something each day.  Once everything is added, I hope this will become a helpful resource as you make decisions about NTCC or find validation for why you left or why you'd like to leave.   

For those considering a visit to one of the NTCC churches, I urge you to not do it, especially if you are in the military.  They will manipulate the fact that you are away from home and that you are already a part of the military structure of conforming and obeying commands and they adore your steady paycheck.   If you are a single G.I.--they will at some point ask you to reside in one of their servicemen's homes.  They will make it seem like a good deal fiscally and also a good deal because you will be in an environment which is more pure than the barracks.   

As with anything, it's always easy to sign up, but way, way more difficult to leave.  

Just because folks can come across as being nice and maybe good cooks....doesn't mean you should pay them to bunk down in their structured environment.   Keep your money in your own pocket and your freedom of movement.   

 I've been listening to a Generation Cult podcast this morning while I clean and put laundry away.

click here: The Influence of Faith with Will

I had to stop and make some notes because this young man's experiences are so similar to those of our family.   For anyone who grew up in NTCC - meaning you didn't have a choice in whether you could stay or go -- you were second generation, I think you'll find some solidarity with Will.   

Now, for your individual life and current belief system, you will have to eat the meat and throw away the bones while listening to all of these podcasts.  Sometimes an interviewee may make a statement and I roll my eyes all around the inside of my head, but we're all different and we're all on a separate journey.  Take whatever applies and what you can relate to and see if it can make a difference in your heart and mind as you take steps to move away from NTCC in the healthiest way possible. 

When I left NTCC, it was definitely a difficult first year.  Not because of regret or remorse, but mainly because I now had to question everything...all of my beliefs ....to see if any of them made any sense.  It's why I think anyone who leaves a high-demand, authoritarian group such as New Testament Christian Churches of America, should take some time to take care of yourself...guilt-free.  Read and do some research.  Seek out sundry points of view.  

When I first got out, I went online to look for information. My first acquisition was a book entitled Twisted Scriptures, by Mary Alice Chrnalogar.  As with anything I listened to or read online, I took her book with a grain of salt.  I embraced what applied to my situation and I took note of the rest.  At one point, within the first two months of getting out, I contacted this lady via email.   I figured she might not have time to answer emails, but she not only responded, she called me.  This was in 2006. She was heading out of the country and called me from the airport.  I was given phenomenal advice and she encouraged me to go easy on myself.   I told her I felt so guilty for putting my children through that experience.  It haunted me every single day.  

Of course my daughters and I have discussed our time in this group over and over again.   As we age, we can look back and be uplifted by so many special people who affected us in a positive way and by some of the many experiences which have made us who we are today. Corny, but true.  

I made calls to anyone I had invited out to church and apologized.  Some listened and tried to persuade me to come back and others just hung up.  Fair enough.  I did that to a couple who called me when they got out several years earlier, so I totally understood. 

Will is just one young man, with one point of view of his life after growing up in an extremist church group, and so I encourage you to look beyond anything he may say that might rub you the wrong way and look to the overall concept, which is likely very similar to your own life growing up in NTCC.  

Just see it through to the end.   Thanks.