There's a lot of information out there, particularly on the Internet, that portrays the International Churches of Christ in an unflattering light. Much of this comes from former members and cult experts. However, some of this damaging information comes from ICC members and even official ICC publications. The purpose of the N-Files is to locate and collect information from sources within the ICC that offers a somewhat different portrayal from the image the leaders wish to present. Occasionally certain accounts of former members will make it into this section as well. I have tried to keep editing of the posts to a minimum in most cases, and provide you with hyperlinks to the complete original documents.
How many saw Kip preach at the Rose Bowl?
Recently, Kip McKean and the LA Church of Christ rented the Rose Bowl and had a service there. Eyewitness accounts say that they packed one end zone and left the rest of the stadium empty, but exactly how many people were in the end zone remains a mystery. According to an ICC newsletter, ACES Online, "approximately 17,000 fired up souls" were present. But the ICC's main website places the total attendance at "over 15,000" in one place, and "over 14,000" in another (Note: Since this was originally written, the "over 14,000" was changed to "over 15,000.", and the ACES article has vanished. I'm working on a mirror site of the ACES article.). I wonder just what the eventual count will be. Also, notice how there's no mention of God in either article.
An interesting postscript to this can be found on The Poehlmann Page
Roger Poehlmann is a current ICC member who posts frequently to alt.religion.christian.boston-church. His posts have, at various times, been described as arrogant, paranoid, and illogical. They also reflect many of problems critics describe in the ICC. Some people have even thanked him for reminding them why they left the ICC. I've created an entire pagefull of the best of Roger Poehlmann so you can decide for yourself.
Unusual reasons former ICC members were told they were being sinful
These were taken from alt.religion.christian.boston-church. I do not make any claims as to their accuracy. New ones will be added here as they appear. If your ISP does not provide access to newsgroups, you can read the newsgroup via DejaNews.
Deborah Proctor (callista@ix.netcom.com) writes about how her discipler apparently thinks it's sinful to put cookies on a cooling rack the "wrong" way:
I was putting the cookies that came out of the oven onto a towel on the counter to cool. My discipler corrected me, telling me to cook the cookies another way. My response to her was, "this is how I learned to bake cookies from my mother." She told me I was being prideful because I refused to accept her suggestion to cool the cookies another way.
"Steve" (scha0118@gold.tc.umn.edu) writes as to how it's considered sinful not to say "Amen" often enough in church:
I did get rebuked a couple of times because I didn't say "Amen" enough during the services. My discipler even went to the point of saying I was in sin because of it.
"People can tame all kinds of animals and birds and reptiles and fish, but no one can tame the tongue. It is an uncontrollable evil, full of deadly poison." - James 3:7-8
It's both incredible and sad what some people claiming to be current ICC members will write in their critics' guestbooks. I'm starting a project to collect the all-time worst messages left in these guestbooks. I have found so many of them that I have displayed them on a page of their own. It seems that the words James wrote nearly 2000 years ago apply as readily to keyboards as to the tongue.
The Atlanta Church of Christ is working on developing a new website. To view their site in progress, click here. It has some rather interesting notes left by one of the leaders, at least as of March 17 [Note: It has since been taken down, but the quotes are still shocking!]. It provides a fascinating insight into the personality of the Atlanta leadership. Among the more intersesting:
Under the section entitled Who We Are, they describe what kind of people they wish to depict on their website. Their exact words are, "Multicultural, Multiethnic, Multinational, etc. picture of some of our members (people who we know aren’t likely to fall away)." It'll be interesting to see who they put up.
Take a look at the descriptions of the Regional Evangelists. Descriptions include, "Ben is awesome. So is Tammi." "Don is awesome. So is Lee." "Jonathan is awesome. So is Essie." Sure, it may just be filler text - but it's ammusing filler text.
It appears they are using some kind of ICC standard literature to describe What We Believe.
Their description of Where We're Going is "Steve & Kim’s Dreams and Goals?"
If you're interested in comparing it to the current site, the Atlanta ICC's web page is located at atlanta.icoc.org.
One recurring theme in tales told by former members has been the advice they were given on how to raise children. Now, some of that advice has been published on the Web by ACES Online, an official ICC website. Check out this lesson on how to raise children not to complain. The instructions "for older children" are to make their children close their eyes and require them to eat something they hate (like raw onion) without complaining at all! Is this really an exercize in Biblical principles, or is it about teaching children to submit to pointless, sadistic orders without objecting? You decide.
More ICC parenting advice is availible online here.