Xraydio

Follow me on Twitter!

2011-09-15T19:03:00.003-04:00

I started a Twitter account. Let's see what happens when I try to engage the ICOC and ICC on the social networks!

You can follow me @xray342radio.

Kip McKeanʼs Theology: Still Winning in the Cincinnati Church of Christ

2011-07-12T22:23:00.005-04:00

Almost five years ago, July 4, 2006, my discipling partner and I were both members of the Cincinnati Church of Christ. We decided to meet for coffee when we ran into another former member. With the fallout of the Henry Kriete Letter still fresh in my mind, this former member confirmed many suspicions I had that the Cincinnati Church of Christ wasn't changing and heading towards a healthy direction.

He gave me permission to think.

Five years later, prompted by the Holy Spirit, I started discussing current church issues with a campus intern for the Cincinnati Church of Christ. I asked what they were using to "study the Bible" with people. And she gave me the "new" study series... with notes from the leadership embedded in it.

Ohioans such as myself enjoy the trick-taking card game Euchre. Using this as a metaphor, the campus intern called trump on Spades while I was holding the Jack of Clubs. She gave me what is known as the "Left Bauer" (the code name of this project), which was now the second highest trump in the deck and could most definitely prevent her from taking the majority of the tricks.

The final result is this in-depth analysis of this "new" study series entitled Kip McKeanʼs Theology: Still Winning in the Cincinnati Church of Christ. As the title states, the theology taught by the Cincinnati Church of Christ in terms of salvation is still the same as what Kip McKean has taught in "First Principles" for over three decades. It's just the same rusty (but effective) steel trap, but with a different paint job.

Thanks to the folks who helped review it and work out some of the details. And special thanks to Jen Chambers of Spiritual Pornography.com and Chris Lee of REVEAL.org.

(The full URL to the paper is: http://www.reveal.org/library/theology/kipwinningincincy.pdf)

(cross-post to Spiritual Pornography.com)

Over Eight Years Later: Signs of ICOC Reversion, Part 3

2011-05-13T19:12:00.000-04:00

This is the third and final commentary in a series of posts on recent articles on Disciples Today concerning the reversion of the ICOC to a state before reforms were promised by the leadership in 2003. The third article is entitled Still Willing to Go Anywhere for God, written by Damon Brog (presumably the Lead Evangelist) from Springfield, Illinois.

At first glance, this story seems inspiring. A young, single man named Rajaveen (Raj) Chandrasakaran decides to do "something radical" in order to escape "complacency".

"My time with my company was coming to an end, I am single and my parents are disciples. I realized no better time than now to take that radical plunge and to GO and be on the cutting-edge of faith. So I proceeded to put my condo on the market, gave away all my possessions, and put out feelers to anyone who would give me an opportunity to help build their ministry."

Raj then gets hooked up with Damon and effectively becomes the campus minister of the Springfield Church of Christ. Damon describes Raj's efforts.

"Just today we studied the Bible with 4 college students consecutively between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. They continue to bring friends with them. Nearly twenty students are studying the Bible in earnest. The church has been here for about 15 years and had never had a campus ministry, though the effort had been made prior to our arrival. We put together a little campus Bible Talk at the beginning of 2010 and had a couple of baptisms, but there has been a literally miraculous injection of life to our campus ministry since Raj arrived here in August. It is very likely that we will finish the year out with about a half dozen baptisms."

So should there be rejoicing about Raj's decision? That apparently he made it on his own and wasn't being told to do it through a discipling partner? Was the Holy Spirit calling him to do this?

Perhaps.

However, the article mentions nothing about the Holy Spirit, or the influence of another person either for that matter.

He says, "Instead of living my life by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me, I constantly tried to live for me –not in a blatant manner but far more subtly, allowing the distractions and desires of life to lull me into a sense of complacency." This certainly can be done within the context of being a "Network Engineer for Fortune 500 company".

Did that "something radical" have to be done in the context of selling and giving away everything and becoming a campus minister intern? Certainly not! However, this mode has been a classic McKeanist position for decades. And he's going though this well-worn path once again. Even though Raj may not have a discipling partner or leaders telling him what to do, the ICOC's mindset regarding what it takes to be "alive in Christ" has clearly been transferred to him.

Damon continues:

"All that being said, it has made a GREAT impact on our church members here. Seeing someone surrender all and move to their town in order to invest themselves in the work of the Lord has left the people here revived and challenged in a good way. The Springfield church began the 2010 with 39 members; we will finish the year with well over 50! This comes after years of the church here struggling and even decreasing in size. Now there are ongoing Bible studies in all ministries of the church –campus, teens, marrieds, and singles! It is difficult to overstate the effect that the campus explosion has had on the entire church. The momentum that we have gained during the year has been pushed into hyperdrive when one committed disciple made the bold decision to respond to the radical calling of the Lord!"

In short, the campus ministry is the spark that gets the church going, growing, and doing well. The position of the campus minister is and continues to be the most exhausted role in the church, sometimes surpassing the roles of the evangelists and elders! Why couldn't Damon "crank" the campus ministry like Raj could?

It's concerning, like it's been mentioned in the previous two articles, that the role of the Holy Spirit isn't mentioned at all. So it's doesn't take a lot for Raj to fall back into the classic game plan - convert a bunch of campus students to create the illusion that the church is growing and groom those campus students as the leadership base as they get married and have children of their own. In addition, it's not a foregone conclusion that when Raj or any of the people mentioned in the previous two articles aren't using "First Principles" or a derivative that still promotes the same works-based steps of salvation developed and pushed under Kip McKean.

In the past three articles, the common thread for both Kingdom Kids and new converts, major cities and smaller towns, established strongholds and newer outposts, is that core patterns established in the Crossroads era, built and solidified through the Boston Movement era, continued through the unified ICOC era, are now clearly being seen during the post-McKean era. We should see more signs of abuse as the ICOC continues on its clear path back to the "glory days". And we should pray that the Holy Spirit is stirring the heart of the next Henry Kriete who will inevitably call the graceless, Christ-less, man-made system to true and unequivocal repentance.

Over Eight Years Later: Signs of ICOC Reversion, Part 2

2011-05-10T22:49:00.001-04:00

This is the second of three posts commenting on recent articles on Disciples Today concerning the reversion of the ICOC to a state before Kip McKean was dismissed from the organization. The second article is entitled The Joys of a Discipling Relationship, written by Ross Lippencott, a campus student who was "converted post-2003" in his own words. The first paragraph provides a concerning summary of the article:

"I was not growing because I did not have a Paul in my life. I did not have someone to teach me, to train me, to correct me, to rebuke me, to love me, to guide me, to help develop the character of Jesus in me - to get in there and encourage as well as to say the hard things that no one else could."

The traditional, authoritarian, hierarchical model of discipling in the ICOC has been well-documented. A top-down system of control is established in each congregation from a Lead Evangelist or Lead Elder and each congregation's leadership is discipled in a top-down form from more influential churches to less influential ones. One of the key reforms called for by the Henry Kriete Letter was to reform the discipling system:

"We have assumed, wrongly, that the sheep are stupid. We have trained them to depend on men, on us in fact, and not on Christ. 'Did you get advice' for the most part means 'Did you get permission.' Yes of course, they are vulnerable and open to attack, but they are not stupid. It is we who have been stupid, Biblically and spiritually. Should we not assume, rather, that a true, Spirit-filled Christian desires to please God, not to rebel? Ezekiel 36: 'I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws'.

Through our discipleship partner theology, we have attempted, like modern-day Pharisees, to put a hedge around God's law. In trying to protect or control the Christians, we have routinely violated their liberty in Christ. We have not trusted disciples to live by their own convictions and decisions (and mistakes), and have fostered in them an unhealthy dependence, rather than freedom to grow and mature. Many of our discipling guidelines are nothing more than 'rules taught by men', condemned by Jesus as burdensome and legalistic. No control mechanisms, or traditions of men, or rules and culturally accepted regulations will keep anyone faithful who does not want to be faithful in their heart. But they will create rebellion and criticalness among sincere and liberated Christians. We did not become new creations to be controlled by men; rather, 'it is for freedom Christ has set us free'"

In light of Henry's call, Ross's descriptions of discipling indicate that Henry's truthful insights have been ignored.

"'That was it!' I had realized. I was not growing because I did not have a Paul in my life. I did not have someone to teach me, to train me, to correct me, to rebuke me, to love me, to guide me, to help develop the character of Jesus in me - to get in there and encourage as well as to say the hard things that no one else could"

Healthy Christian relationships when it comes to teaching can be classified in three ways relative to an individual believer: student-teacher, peer-peer, and teacher-student. Ross's article only describes one of these aspects: student-teacher. He needs a Paul in his life to teach him as his student. He doesn't need peers like Barnabas and Silas. And he doesn't need students like Timothy that he can teach, although he will likely become a Paul himself some day. With the focus on only the necessity of the teacher, the groundwork is laid for a repeat of the authoritarian abuses of the past.

Sadly, Ross has no frame of reference of this kind of discipling:

"As someone who was converted post-2003, I never had an assigned 'discipling partner' and quite frankly - because of my limited understanding - the term 'discipling partner' had a negative connotation. However, the way Nilson had described his relationship with Troy sounded very different from everything I had associated with 'discipling' in the past. To be honest, they sounded a lot like... well ... friends. To be honest, I needed a friend."

Ross got his friend - and friends are a blessing from God! - but Ross has no idea about the evolution of the optional prayer partner back in the Crossroads Campus Ministry days of the late 1960's to discipling partners to mandatory discipling partners to mandatory assigned discipling partners that can change at the blink of an eye due to the whims of the leadership.

Again, as was shown in the last commentary on Joseph Porter, the lack of the role of the Holy Spirit in Ross's life is disturbing. For a healthy believer needs both need the relationships in a healthy community of Christians and the Holy Spirit to be taught (John 14:26), trained in divine wisdom (1 Cor 2:6-16), corrected and rebuked (John 16:8), loved both individually (Romans 5:5) and collectively through the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4:3), guided into all divine truth (John 16:13-15), transformed to the very image of Christ (2 Cor 3:18), encourage (Acts 9:31), and speak with Spirit-taught words (1 Corinthians 2:13).

Ross is "young and still learning". Let's pray that now as a Youth and Family and Worship Minister can learn to throw off this one-way model of discipling that has failed in the past before he and his hearers are irrevocably damaged.

This is the second of three related commentaries. The third one will be posted soon.

Over Eight Years Later: Signs of ICOC Reversion, Part 1

2011-05-08T21:30:00.001-04:00

Three articles posted on the primary news site for the International Churches of Christ, Disciples Today, are an ominous sign that over eight years after the reforms spurred on by the events surrounding Kip McKean's departure and Henry Kriete Letter, that the status quo is returning to classic positions the movement has had since the 1970's.

The first article is entitled Confessions of a Kingdom Kid at Harvard, written by Joseph Porter (posted 1/7/2011), a self-professed "Kingdom Kid" (who was born and raised in the church). In fact, his parents "both... served in Boston's campus ministry back in the day".

What are Joseph's confessions?

"I was a prideful coward. I was terrified of inviting strangers to Bible discussion groups or other events, and I did everything I could to avoid actually talking to strangers..."

His sin was not anything in the realm of sexual immorality, drunkenness, use of illegal drugs, cheating and cutting corners in his school work, but inviting enough people out to church! He repented of this sin, not by reading the Word of God (there still isn't a verse in there that says "thou shalt evangelize everyone at all times of the day and night") and not by a conviction of sin by the Holy Spirit (John 16:8), but by submission to discipling.

"Eventually - about two years in to my career as a college disciple - I learned my lesson. I learned that it was laughably foolish for me to think that I knew how to evangelize my campus better than my campus ministers..."

It's a given that any leaders of a campus ministry would have more experience than the students they're leading. However, what we see in this case is submission to discipling by the leaders. "Soul Talks", now known as "Bible Talks", were a new innovation in the late 1960's during the start of the Crossroads Campus Ministry Movement days in Gainesville, Florida. Were they "laughably foolish" by breaking the then norms? Of course not. These delivered results: conversions. And Joseph wasn't making disciples at the rate that both himself and his leadership expected him to.

Joseph finishes with a description of his commitment to the church:

"Of course, being a disciple on campus is a full-time job. I have to use my time wisely; meals are often combined with Bible studies, and many evenings are devoted to midweek services, Bible talks, Friday devotionals, d-groups, and the like. I've learned to limit the time I spend on Facebook and playing video games. I don't always get as much sleep as I'd like; I wake up at around seven on Saturday mornings for Saturday Academy, and not much later for church on Sunday. But I love what I'm doing nevertheless."

With this example, he's been "given the opportunity to serve as an intern in Boston's campus ministry". He's also repeating the time and resource consuming requirements of being a disciple, a Christian, a saved person - as the ICOC has clearly defined it in the past. A total commitment not to Jesus, but to the church and its ideology. Joseph's reflection of the ICOC ideology is shown here:

"I knew that campus ministry was the heart and soul of the ICOC, and I wanted to turn my campus upside down when I arrived there."

The concept of the importance of the campus ministry, not only to himself as a campus student, but to the survival of the church as a whole, has been deeply embedded into him, literally since birth! Also his unconditional submission to discipling and what the leaders above him say and what he says to the people he personally disciples. And not to mention the total commitment to even put the church above his studies, particularly challenging studies at an Ivy-League institution! Sadly, Joseph and other Kingdom Kids like him have likely never learned to put Jesus in the center of their lives and had all of their activities - church, school, family, leisure, and even sleep - centered around the crucified Christ and guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit to keep the balance.

Two more commentaries about the remaining two articles will follow.

We Have Met the Enemy... and He Is Us?

2011-03-14T19:50:00.000-04:00

The ICOC Co-operation Churches Teachers Service Team produced a report in early March 2011 that contains two intriguing ideas. The first is the discussion of a paper describing the roles of teachers which contains a section on conflict resolution.

"Steve Staten had written an appendix to the paper that included a case study illustrating the process of correcting a teacher when a teacher teachers a divisive or minority view.
...
This paper has been forwarded to the evangelists and elders service teams so that they can give feedback on it."

It's clear what a "divisive" view would be, and the need for Christian leaders to correct other divisive leaders in a church. However, what exactly does "correcting a teacher when a teacher teaches... a minority view" mean? When I think of a "minority view", I tend to think of justices of the United States Supreme Court who are on the dissenting side of a decision. Typically one of those dissenting judges writes their take on the case from their perspective. Although the parties on the winning side of the case and parts of the media disagree with the minority view, none of those judges lose their jobs or face any reprimand.

This brings us to the responsibility of Christian teachers to hold fast and strongly to solid, core Christian doctrines and the liberty of those teachers to have opinions on secondary issues. Although within a certain denomination or fellowship, they would have to teach and be unified around some secondary issues such as mode of baptism, church polity, and eschatology. The problem with the ICOC worldview is that they have inherited from the mainline Churches of Christ the tendency to be "right" on as many secondary issues as possible. And if someone doesn't agree with their interpretation, it typically involves a church split. But in the case of the ICOC, you would have to leave the "kingdom" itself.

Ultimately, the boundary line between having an acceptable, differing opinion on something and having an opinion that could potentially cause division isn't entirely clear. Practically all of the men on this committee were converted and brought into the ICOC (and its predecessor movements) under Kip McKean who demanded unquestioning obedience and uniformity from his followers, especially his leaders in the upper ranks. How much would a teacher have to step over the line in order to be in the "minority view"? From historical precedent, probably not too far.

Note that the appendix containing the "minority view" in correction was written by Steve Staten, a very high-level leader with a lot of influence currently in Chicago, Illinois and a key player in the post-McKean ICOC.

The second idea that deserves attention is on the topic of loving your enemies.

"We also discussed the issue of what it means to love our enemies. Tom Jones presented his thoughts on the subject. We had an engaging talk this issue. We all agreed that we must love our enemies, but saw the need for more discussions on topic on how to present this teaching to our churches. We want to work with the elders and evangelists groups to come to unity on this topic. This led to some discussion on the process of peer review on papers on controversial topics before these papers are released to a general audience."

Who are these enemies? The world, the flesh, and the devil? "Bitter" former members? Zealous followers of false religions? It's unclear. Although I believe it may be in response to the only sole, unified group that has the utter destruction ICOC in its sights: Kip McKean's International Christian Churches. It's shocking to realize that the ICOC is still ignoring the new movement overall. There haven't been any clear warnings from their large pulpits or web sites about the "sold-out" movement since the formal split occurred in late 2005. In addition to warnings, clear teaching to why Kip's new group is so dangerous hasn't been given either. However, the reason for this is simple: there are no practical differences between the core doctrines of the ICOC and ICC besides who one is discipled by: people being discipled up to a committee or people being discipled up to Kip McKean himself.

It's ironic if both of these ideas are coupled together. The enemy would be one of their own for teaching doctrine the others disagree with. How will the next Ed Powers or Henry Kriete be loved for their views? Likely in the same harsh manner as these men were treated for not playing ball with the party line.

Same Patterns of Salvation Past in the ICOC

2011-02-10T20:01:00.000-05:00

Disciples Today, one of the official media front ends for the ICOC, posted an article on Friday, February 4 entitled Couple Wrestles through "Praying Jesus into Your Heart". In it, a married couple named Peter and Cindy Van Dyk describe their experience of coming to Christ in Fargo, North Dakota, moving to Fort Wayne, Indiana, and encountering the ICOC church there - the Fort Wayne Church of Christ. Instead of finding a church where they "could feel connected to a community of believers", they got a lot more than they bargained for.

"So, as a result, we were baptized again on October 11th, 2007. This time knowing God's full plan for salvation. With fully repentant hearts, with a pledge of a good conscience, and an understanding of the importance of all that God requires of his disciples."

Note what they're saying here. Their initial baptism was invalid. Why? Because they did not "[know] God's full plan for salvation." What this this include? "[F]ully repentant hearts... and an understanding of the importance of all that God requires of his disciples."

This should immediately raise red flags for those who are familiar with the traditional salvation theology of the ICOC. They not only require that people know that their sins are being forgiven at the point of baptism (like in the theology of the conservative Churches of Christ where both the ICOC and "sold-out" ICC came from), but they require converts to understand God's requirements for being a disciple. Even though those requirements aren't listed in this article, it's clear that this can only mean one thing: the list of requirements is the list presented in the First Principles (link is to the audio form taught by Kip McKean himself) bible study called Discipleship. These include - but aren't limited to - the following as requirements to receive salvation:

Go to all nations and make disciples.
Deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow Christ.
Lose their lives by put Jesus above all possessions and relationships.
Be persecuted.
Have daily quiet times and prayer times.
Have a discipling partner and learn from them.

Since converts must start doing these things to the satisfaction to the ICOC leaders "studying the Bible" with them, this is clearly works-salvation with men playing the role of God. What's more disturbing is that this occurred in 2007, years after the release of the Henry Kriete Letter and calls for reform.

This is another significant sign that things really haven't changed in the International Churches of Christ. This also explains why those in the ICOC don't have a clear, concise, and consistent theology to explain that they're not the "One True Church" - that there are "true disciples" in every other Christian denomination and fellowship, even the Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholics. Those in the Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, and other healthy denominations and fellowships should be on guard against this yeast that has poisoned the Van Dyks and will continue to poison more as time goes on.

Discipling Fails to Fix Racial Issues in Atlanta

2011-01-04T21:40:00.005-05:00

Another failure of the authoritarian discipling system the International Churches of Christ use has been exposed. From a recent post on the well-known ICOC Delphi Discussion Forum, a current member discloses that there are deep racial divides among the individual ICOC churches in the Atlanta metropolitan area. (The following quote is verbatim from the forum post.)

"Needless to say, all the churches handled it their own way. was unique but I can't say any better because of the results being quite fractured. And after it split up, the results varied from church to church in the different locations in the city. Some groups are deeply wounded and many in these groups won't have anything to do with the others. Some are almost all racially one color because of their location in the city being all black.

We also had a hidden racial issue in the church that surprised a lot of leadership. But, hey, this is !

A fragile shift toward unity is growing here but on a much more respectful and peer related level...not authoritarian. It will take a long time because many people are still very sensitive."

The Atlanta Church of Christ was reconstructed in 1986 from a Church of Christ with a Crossroads Campus Ministry. It was lead by Sam Laing who is currently leading the ICOC church in nearby Athens (and was a key player in converting and training Kip McKean at the University of Florida in the early 1970's). After the fallout of the Henry Kriete Letter of 2003, the Atlanta church decided to formally split into separate churches based on geographical regions. For almost eighteen years, it grew into a church of thousands and practiced and preached Kip McKean's authoritarian discipling model and was sold to both its members and potential recruits as a foolproof way to provide a structure for spiritual growth and maturity and numerical growth.

Atlanta, like most other cities in the Southern United States, has had to deal with the specters of slavery and racism for hundreds of years. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's showed that the city and its people were far from reconciling and resolving this issue. Blacks and whites could still live tougher civilly though, but the unspoken undercurrent of the past still remained.

Enter the ICOC with its racially diverse churches. This was and still continues to be one of its best attractions to outsiders. Some ICOC leaders, like Daryl Reed, Lead Minister of the District of Columbia Regional Christian Church in Washington, D.C. are espousing their insights about how to pull diverse groups of people together in the church and get them to work together as a family. (In fact, Daryl has been chosen to speak at the 2010 North American Christian Convention, sponsored by the Christian Church branch of the Restoration Movement!)

So why is there disunity between the Atlanta congregations now? It has been clearly shown that the discipling methods the ICOC has used in the past and continues to use are authoritarian and force each member and each congregation in the group to conform to the norms of the leader. (An excellent description of this in action is the book The Discipling Dilemma.) In the past, it has been Kip McKean. Currently there is no one clear leader of the ICOC. Each church claims to be autonomous. However, there is an emerging body of leaders over the churches that choose to be part of the so-called "Cooperation Churches". Several of the churches in Atlanta are part of this group (Athens Church of Christ, North River Church of Christ, Atlanta Metropolitan Christian Church, and Atlanta Church of Christ in Gwinnett), but many aren't (Greater Atlanta Church of Christ, North River Church of Christ, Cornerstone Church, Marietta Christian Church, and the Northview Church of Christ). With the same forced unity that is pushed by the authoritarian discipling system, it's not surprising to see that major issues among the people in the formerly unified Atlanta Church of Christ, and not just only racial ones, were glossed over for the good of the stability and growth of the group.

Sadly, the solution these churches use to solve their problem is more discipling from an outside authority. In a report from the ICOC Cooperation Churches entitled Elders Service Team Addresses Crucial Shepherding Issues, the problem with the Atlanta Cooperation Churches is mentioned:

"In Atlanta a mediation team of Bruce Williams, John Causey and Wyndham Shaw was asked to assist in resolving issues between 5 cooperating congregations."

(Note: there are only four churches listed as Cooperation Churches in the list linked above.)

Bruce Williams is the Lead Evangelist of the Los Angeles Church of Christ, still the largest ICOC congregation. Wyndham Shaw is an elder in the Boston Church of Christ. Both men have been part of the ICOC going back to the 1980's and have held high level positions in both the era during and after Kip McKean was leading the movement. A recent quote from Shaw is troubling when it comes to the belief that the ICOC without Kip McKean is more open-minded (emphasis mine):

"You know, love for the truth without heart for God and people is legalism. We do have to watch that. We can get so caught up in knowing every scripture and proof text of every issue that's out there in the cultural, philosophical, and religious world - the urban legends - that we become arrogant. We become self-righteous. That we think knowing the truth will save us, rather than loving the source of truth, Jesus - and what he has taught us to set us free. Let's don't become legalists, church. Let's don't become people that are arrogant because we think we're better than others.

On the other hand, do not let anyone shut you up, back you up, or keep you from standing up for what you know the truth is that people need to hear. You see, that's the extreme I'm afraid we got to. 'Oh, well, you we're a little overzealous about who you thought was saved and lost.' Let me say something: the religious world is still just as lost if they do not get the truth of discipleship, of baptism for the forgiveness of sins, by immersion as an adult, as they ever were! We may not be the only ones that hold that conviction, and that's true! And where we find people, we should embrace that, but we can not change the width of the gate or the narrowness of the road that leads to eternal life."

Wyndham Shaw, Elder/Evangelist - Boston Church of Christ (sermon delivered at the Worcester County Church of Christ) - "Love of the Truth" - March 28, 2010 - [42:28-43:55]

It's clear that in Shaw's mind that the only way to unify is through "the truth of discipleship" coupled with the "right" baptism.

In addition, how could the leaders not know that racial issues permeated their congregation? For one, sins of racism were likely confessed by converts and that information was passed up the discipling hierarchy to the top leadership. Secondly, if the leaders had winning Atlanta for Christ in mind instead of building up their own kingdom, they would have known about the culture and city's history, so expecting racial tensions should be near if not on top of the list of concerns that the church had to deal with as it was growing in the 1980's and 1990's.

Ultimately, the intervention by these powerful and influential leaders outside of Atlanta will just put duct tape and a fresh coat of paint on the same problems that have existed for almost the last quarter century. Since the ICOC only has the proverbial hammer of discipling, every problem looks like a nail. And the only solution is to bang away until objects sticking out of the wood have either been driven into it or pulled out and tossed away. The sad part is that almost eight years after the Henry Kriete Letter, Atlanta and the other ICOC churches haven't bothered to dig into the tool chest, particularly reevaluating the driving forces of the First Principles studies, incorporating the role of the Holy Spirit into the individual disciples' lives, and seeking help from the outside to dissolve the sticky tar pit trap of authoritarian discipling and legalism that traps them all.

The Replanting of Boston

2010-11-14T23:30:00.000-05:00

Kip McKean has thrown down another major gauntlet to his old ICOC. In his Good News for October 31,2010, he mentions the planting of a new church in the United States in 2011. The target? Boston!

"Coltin & Mandee Rohn will be sent from LA to plant a sister church in Boston, Massachusetts. They will be accompanied by a shepherding couple from LA and ten disciples from New York City, and be discipled by the Smellies in New York City."

This planned planting has deep implications. First, it's setting up a "sold-out" church in the same city where the "Boston Movement" got its name. This is where Kip ceased from being a campus minister in charge of a campus ministry to a lead minister in a church. Later on, he was appointed the World Missions Evangelist in the ICOC. (He currently holds the same title in the ICC.) There will be two churches in the same city: the original Boston Church of Christ and now a new "Boston International Christian Church" (the name is to be determined). Long-time members of the Boston Church of Christ will now have an alternative church in their city fighting for their attention. Second, the Boston Church of Christ is known for a lot of long-time leaders and members who have been completely entrenched in McKeanism and its doctrines. Many specific doctrines of McKeanism have sprouted in Boston, including discipling for every member, "Christian = Disciple = Saved", and "disciple's baptism" (among others). The new church planting may start to draw significant numbers or at least curiosity from "old timers" from the heyday in the 1980's. Third, Boston is still a major metropolitan area with many influential college campuses. It stands to reason that many of these campuses that have banned the Boston Church of Christ will allow the new "sold-out" church on their campuses - but likely only for a short time. Time will tell what will happen, although planting a new church in Boston will certainly raise some eyebrows in the ICOC churches in New England and perhaps in the entire movement.

The couple chosen to lead the new Boston church planting, Coltin and Mandee Rohn, were converted into the International Christian Churches directly at the City of Angels ICC in Los Angles. Not much is known about them, but a video of Coltin (and special guest Mike Patterson) has been found online. (Coltin is sitting next to the cameraman and Mike is sitting diagonally across the table.) Remember that this is the man who will be fully trained and chosen to assume Kip's mighty spiritual mantle in Boston once more.

Spiritual Pornography - the Blog

2010-07-09T18:39:00.002-04:00

Many years ago, the domain kipmckean.com was bought and was used to house information about the International Churches of Christ, particularly the time line and personal details of Kip McKean. When McKean started the "Sold-Out Discipling Movement", his group bought the domain kipmckean.org and put information there that put him in a good light. Somehow the old domain kipmckean.com expired or was bought by the International Christian Churches and now both the dot-org and dot-com point to the same site.

So what happened to the information? It's moved to a new web site, spiritualpornography.com. It's a WordPress blog and it should be easier to find information. Plus, it has a great new look! Hopefully more information will be posted to it soon.

Caught In The Act

2010-06-27T21:16:00.000-04:00

A classic video of Kip McKean recently surfaced on YouTube. It was recorded during the ICOC's zenith (March 5, 1995 to be exact) and offers an insight to the false Jesus he teaches, but the delivery methods of his heresies as well.

He's speaking so fast that it's hard to determine what he's saying! Here's the transcript:

Well, you know this prayer needs to be prayed by disciples. And know this: you say "Well, why did Jesus need to pray for three hours?" It took him three hours to get his heart right. ("Amen" from audience) Does that help you relate to Jesus? ("Amen" from audience) You see, a lot of times we say "well, I don't want to do this" or "the leaders want me to do this" or "I've got to go on a mission team" or I "do this" or "do that" or "I don't want to be nice to my wife" or "I don't want to do that at work" or whatever, you say "What do I do about it?" Pray. ("Amen" from audience) Why do I pray? You pray not my will by God's will be done. ("Amen" from audience) "Well, how long do I pray?" Well, you pray until that's where your heart is at. Are you with me right here? ("Amen" from audience) See how that works? ("Amen" from audience) That's why prayer always works. You can't stop praying until you're there. ("Amen" from audience) I remember... (end of clip)

First, Kip claims that Jesus had "to get his heart right". From the perspective of Christ's humanity, He had hours left before He had to go through the stress and agony of the crux of His earthly mission: to die a sacrificial death, taking the sin of the world upon Himself so that we can have a relationship with the Father. He even sweated drops of blood! Now, were any of the feelings, thoughts, or physical reactions sinful? Absolutely not! Jesus is God. Jesus is perfect. Jesus can't sin. So how do we reconcile this immutable fact (one of the bedrock doctrines of Christianity) with Kip's claim that Jesus's heart wasn't in the right place? In McKeanist terminology, "having your heart in the right place" means that your feelings, thoughts, and actions correspond to what the discipling hierarchy and leadership expect, not necessarily what God expects. So either Jesus was in sin by not living up to Kip's expectations (Jesus would have "toughed it out") or Kip's assertion is incorrect and is heretical.

Second, notice that the list of things Kip says that involve God's will revolve around the leadership giving commands to the common disciple and the disciple not having "the right heart" to follow the command. Kip's rapid speech, hand gestures, and call-response with the audience manipulate his hearers to believe that Kip's misapplication of scripture is true and is a valid method to correct their hearts when they don't want to obey their discipler or leader.

Third, praying until you have a "right heart" by repeating a formula is not prayer - it's more like a mantra. Prayer is not a formula, it's communication from a Christian to God that builds intimacy between them. Many ex-members have been given the advice to pray about something until their "hearts are right" and most end up dejected and depressed because they can't get to the point where they feel like they can't get there. Ultimately, it's just manipulative tactics to give the discipling hierarchy and leadership power over everyone - with Kip McKean himself at the top.

Overall, this is one of many examples of Kip McKean's teachings that are ingrained in both the old International Churches of Christ and new "sold-out" International Christian Churches. It's a good example for people studying and attempting to leave and recovering from the movement to study though.

High-Profile Converts

2010-03-21T23:02:00.003-04:00

One of the key targets the ICOC has consistently focused on was the conversion of "opinion leaders", people who have the power to sway others to join the church and follow their leadership. A special category of opinion leaders are celebrities. Actress Andie McDowell was part of the New York City Church of Christ in the 1980's and fortunately left the cult later on. Others, like musician and rapper Speech remain in the organization and have high leadership positions. Both the ICOC and ICC have recently gained some notable new recruits to their fold.

On the ICOC side, NBA superstar Deron Williams has joined. His wife is the daughter of former ICOC evangelist Nick Young. (Young was one of the ICOC's harshest leaders.) He plays for the Utah Jazz and his church home is presumably the Salt Lake Christian Church. (Don't let the label "Christian Church" fool you. It's still an ICOC church. In fact, it used to be part of Kip's ICC.)

You can see Deron in action here. (Unfortunately I couldn't embed this video.)

On the ICC side, Miss Arizona 2010 Brittany Bell has joined. She lives in Phoenix and is a member of the Phoenix International Christian Church. She recently spoke at a Women's Day event in the "Jereusalem" of Kip McKean's new movement, the City of Angels International Christian Church. Not much is known how she was drawn in. I believe she may be or have been a student at Arizona State University or another college in the Phoenix or Chandler area when she was met and recruited.

Here's a video of her being crowned:

I'm praying that they both be lead out of these cultic movements soon. The sooner they gain their freedom, the sooner they may get to know the true Jesus Christ of truth and grace and not be high-powered pawns in this game of politics with souls.

Spiritual Pornography - GraphJam Style!

2010-03-15T19:22:00.005-04:00

Thanks for the director of reveal.org for the inspiration!

Mark Driscoll on Fundementalism

2010-03-07T20:55:00.004-05:00

This video from Mark Driscoll (pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle) completely nails much of the underlying theology of the ICOC and ICC. It's too good to pass up. Enjoy!

Show #6 - We Need (Old School) Discipling

2010-02-22T17:13:00.009-05:00

Hello, Cleveland! For episode #6, we visit the home of the Rock 'N' Roll Hall of Fame and so does visiting evangelist Doug Lambert from Baltimore. It's a jam session with some familiar tunes as Doug preaches traditional doctrines of discipling. Unfortunately it looks like the ICOC isn't getting out of the theological dog pound any time son.

Doug Lambert's sermon entitled We Need Discipling was preached on November 1, 2009 at the Cleveland Church of Christ.

Back On Air!

2009-09-09T20:00:00.003-04:00

After a long summer hiatus, I found a new podcast provider. So Xraydio is back on the air! Look for Episode 6 soon.

Off the Air

2009-05-26T19:35:00.003-04:00

D'oh!

I discovered that the service where I have the Xraydio podcasts listed has converted to a new service. Unfortunately it's not free. So I have to find a new service before I can post episode 6.

Failed Interpretations: The Narrow Road

2009-03-22T16:43:00.001-04:00

The next episode of Xraydio that I had been working on has been put on hold indefinitely. It may show up as a "lost episode" some day. But I've chosen a replacement and have started breaking it down. Hopefully that one will be out soon. In the meantime, I'm going to break down some common mistakes in exegesis that ICOC and ICC people make in a commonly used teaching of Jesus.

"Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." - Matthew 7:13-14 (NASB)

What does this passage say?

Jesus commands His listeners to enter through a small, narrow that leads to live. There's another wide gate that many people enter through, but it's a broad road that leads to destruction. What are these gates Jesus talks about? A parallel passage gives us the answer:

And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem. And someone said to Him, "Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?" And He said to them, "Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, 'Lord, open up to us!' then He will answer and say to you, 'I do not know where you are from.' Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets'; and He will say, 'I tell you, I do not know where you are from; DEPART FROM ME, ALL YOU EVILDOERS.'" - Luke 13:22-27 (NASB)

The narrow gate, or door, is a relationship with Christ. So Jesus says that the path to life is through a relationship with Himself. In addition, He says that few will find it because they will not be able to. Why? The passage in Luke mentions having a casual, not intimate relationship with Christ. The next few verses in the Matthew passage mention false teachers (Matthew 7:15-20) and lack of obedience (Matthew 7:21-23). These are the roadblocks to the narrow gate that will put someone on the path to destruction.

What does this passage not say?

This passage does not say that one can flip-flop between the narrow and wide roads. The ICOC/ICC attempts to use this passage to justify that someone can easily get back on the narrow road and consequently lose their salvation. The scriptures don't teach "once saved, barely saved". Scripture supports two possible cases: someone comes to Christ and are saved forever or someone comes to Christ and they permanently fall away from grace later.

This passage does not say that the narrow road gets narrower and more difficult as one travels upon it. Jesus's focus is getting people to go through the gate, not the difficulty of the journey once they made it through. (Conversely, it doesn't say that the broad road gets broader and easier to travel as a traveler continues on its path.) The ICOC/ICC attempts to use this passage to say that the narrow road MUST get narrower and more difficult as time goes on. And if it's not, a disciple must be on the broad road.

Exposing McKeanism In the Classroom

2009-03-01T23:25:00.004-05:00

I ran across this series of videos on YouTube about a former member teaching about his experience in the Dallas/Ft. Worth Church of Christ to a group of students at Dallas Christian College. It's good stuff and the vast majority of it is (unfortunately) still applicable today. Enjoy!

Hampton Roads and Dayton Campus Update

2009-01-28T19:13:00.002-05:00

I discovered some links on reveal.org of stories published in 2002 in the Wright State University (in Dayton, Ohio) student newspaper concerning the ICOC. The first was a general article about cults and high pressure groups that describes the Dayton Church of Christ's campus ministry. The second is a response to the article. The third is a response to the article from a current (at the time) member of that campus ministry!

From Hampton Roads, Virginia, it looks like Kirk Valencia's campus ministry at Old Dominion University has been busy baptizing people (in fountains on the campus?) Even more concerning is the hiring of a campus minister in the ICOC's London Church. (Side note: this article mentions the "London Church" as a singular entity. But didn't they split into many different autonomous congregations after 2003?) The new campus minister, Ian Mohlie, was first converted at Virginia Commonwealth University. Second, after graduating he started leading the singles ministry in the Richmond (Virginia) Church of Christ. Now, he's heading to London. Remember in the Name That Campus episode when I pointed out that both the ICOC and the ICC recruit young, impressionable college students and put them into important positions of leadership in their churches? Ian Mohlie is a practical example. Sadly, he's not the only one that has been put through the ICOC assembly line. He ascending the ladder and leaves a trail of hundreds of people who aren't "sharp" enough back in the rank and file.

There's one more connection between Hampton Roads and London I want to draw. The Tattler submitted another article about people serving the London Church (again, as a singular entity, not a collection of autonomous churches). Look who's in the list of people helping out: Mike and Terrie Fontenot and Ed Anton, all three from the Hampton Roads Church (of Christ). I agree with Tattler that there's a party going on over there, but it's with the new emerging high-level leaders of the ICOC exerting their new authority.

Show #5 - Name That Campus

2009-01-22T20:35:00.000-05:00

It's time for America's newest and most fascinating game show: Name That Campus! (Otherwise known as Xraydio episode #5.) A secret campus minister from a secret church preaches to another secret church during a special campus service. Just who are they? And are they ICOC or ICC? "Totally committed" or "sold-out"? Come play and see the surprising answer!

Note: spoiler follows...

Kirk Valencia's original sermon was preached on February 3, 2008 at the Dayton Church of Christ. I believe I found a campus web site involving the Dayton ICOC church, though I don't see any entries from the previous year. Also note that the Hampton Roads Church of Christ still teaches First Principles! And look at the churches they're overseeing. I believe that the "sold-out" churches under Kip McKean are more dangerous at this point in time, however, with some of the things going on in the "totally committed" ICOC churches, I begin to wonder.

Failed Interpretations: Rich Young Ruler

2009-01-12T17:37:00.000-05:00

It's 2009 and I've been hard at work on new bumpers and shows for the new year. I decided to take a break and elaborate on common misinterpretation of a scripture passage that I will touch upon in Episode 5. It's the story of the Rich Young Ruler in Mark 10 (among other places).

As Jesus was starting out on his way to Jerusalem, a man came running up to him, knelt down, and asked, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?" - Mark 10:17

So we have a guy who runs up to Jesus, appearing humble, and asks Him what he must do to obtain salvation. So far, so good.

"Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked. "Only God is truly good. But to answer your question, you know the commandments: 'You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely. You must not cheat anyone. Honor your father and mother.'" - Mark 10:18-19

What does Jesus say to his response? (Besides implying that He is God.) He says that one must follow the commandments.

"Teacher," the man replied, "I've obeyed all these commandments since I was young." - Mark 10:20

He's spotless so far. (How many of us have actually murdered, committed physical adultery, and so on?) However, Jesus's next response nails him to the wall.

Looking at the man, Jesus felt genuine love for him. "There is still one thing you haven't done," he told him. "Go and sell all your possessions and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." - Mark 10:21

Jesus points out the "one thing" he hasn't done. And the man can't fulfill Christ's request.

At this the man’s face fell, and he went away sad, for he had many possessions. - Mark 10:22

Now at this point, the ICOC/ICC interpretation would be that in everyone's life, there is one thing that they are not doing (or are doing) that will forfeit their salvation (things like possessions, careers, and romantic relationships are often brought up). This is applied not only to the lost hearing the message, but also to the members of the church as well. So everyone starts feeling guilty over their (at least) "one thing" and they are consequently driven to correct it in order to alleviate their guilt and shame. People confess their shortcomings over their "one thing" to their discipler and people become more locked and entrenched into the system.

However, is this a valid interpretation of this passage? The two previous passages in Mark talk about Jesus's interaction with the Pharisees over divorce (Mark 10:1-12) and Jesus welcoming little children to spend time with him (Mark 10:13-16). Common themes in these two passages are humility and utter dependence on God. The Pharisees didn't get it, but the little children did.

Bringing this juxtaposition into the Rich Young Ruler's situation, it didn't appear that we has humble in approaching the Messiah. This well-known man ran up and knelt down in front of Him, in public! Let's look at his question again: "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" In light of his pride, he was looking to be justified by his deeds. In his view, it's what he does that earns him salvation. And he wanted to be justified in his self-righteousness before Jesus.

With this in mind, the rest of the passage comes together and makes more sense. Jesus starts stating some of the well-known commandments in order to test him. When the Ruler doesn't budge and entrenches in his pride even further, Christ drops the proverbial hammer. The Ruler wanted to be justified by his works and ultimate perfection of those works, so Jesus feeling "genuine love for him" shows him that there's absolutely no way he could be justified as righteous by his works. None of us can be perfect in our love to God and to others all of the time. That's why we need to become like little children and come to Christ and rely on Him.

We will always be lacking "one thing". The one thing that the Rich Young Ruler was truly lacking was grace. And Christians, who solely rely on the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross for their salvation, aren't lacking in grace or any of the other riches God provides them. My concern, looking at those entrapped in the ICOC and ICC, is will they ever realize this one thing they truly lack?

Show #4 - Kip Rallies Portland - Part 2

2008-12-13T21:41:00.000-05:00

This is the second half of Kip McKean's sermon to his "sold-out" group in the new Portland International Christian Church. The original sermon can be found here, entitled "God's Promised Presence", preached on Friday, October 10, 2008.

A good overview of the Restoration Movement can be found on Wikipedia. A full time line of events of discipling in the Churches of Christ from 1967 until today can be found on kipmckean.com. Kip leaves a lot out of details in both sets of time lines in order to advance his agenda.

Mike Patterson's comments at the very end of the program can be found on the London International Christian Church's web site under "Drinking the Cup of Campus Ministry". We're having a positive impact! I wish some of those who have stopped studying with or have left the "sold-out" campus ministry at Arizona State University would contact me (or go to the Delphi Forum) and tell me their stories.

Show #3 - Kip Rallies Portland - Part 1

2008-12-03T21:55:00.000-05:00

It's time to go after the big dog! Kip McKean visited the new Portland International Christian Church and rallied the troops. There was too much material to cover in one show, so I'm going to split it into two parts. (Kind of like how Kip split the original Portland International Church of Christ.) The original sermon can be found here, entitled "God's Promised Presence", preached on Friday, October 10, 2008. And a word of warning: if you've never heard him preach or teach before, some parts are a little scary. (For extra credit, compare his speaking style with Mike Patterson and Kevin Holland. That's the toxic byproduct of hierarchical discipling!)

I'll have the second half of the sermon as another episode ready soon.

Show #2 - Holland Has a Dream

2008-11-08T22:27:00.000-05:00

I'm currently working on show #3. I've just successfully canned some of the music and effects bumpers, so hopefully I can spend more time in the future on the podcast itself.

For show #2, Holland Has a Dream, I referenced a sermon outline Kevin gave on the topic of the United States Constitution on September 28, 2008. Clearly, he and the Turning Point Christian Church are still deeply entrenched in legalism.

Concerning the other ICOC churches in the Los Angeles area, there is a web site attempting to hold the Orange County Church of Christ accountable for their actions. Plus, two former members agree with my assessment of the Turning Point Christian Church and warn people to stay away.

One in the Same

2008-10-29T20:36:00.001-04:00

One of the main points that I want to make with the Xraydio podcast is that there is no fundamental difference between an International Church of Christ ("totally-committed") congregation and an International Christian Church ("sold-out") congregation except that Kip McKean heads the discipling pyramid in his "sold-out" churches while the discipling pyramid in a "totally-committed" church still exists, but there is no clear overall leader of the movement. I saw another clear example of this with an article on ICOC Hot News by the Tattler - whom I believe to be Bob Dole. ;-)

Tattler overhears a story about significant growth at Virgina Tech. The ICOC church there, the Roanoke Valley Church, started the semester at 20 and grew to 41! (Tattler explains that the 21 new members are "15 move ins - mainly from Virginia - and 6 baptisms".) Now that's one way to kickstart a campus ministry. To top it off, Tattler notes "And all that has happened despite [church and campus leader] Forest [Versele] traveling to Australia, Kiev, and Montreal throughout the past 6 weeks." Wow!

Now does this style of self-focused article about numerical growth on college campus sound familiar? This is exactly the same as what the campus ministries in the "sold-out" International Christian Churches do. (Here's a recent post from Mike Patterson's ministry at Arizona State University.) However, the similiaries don't end there. On the Roanoke Valley Church's campus minsitry site, they have the study names for the "First Principles" study series. (However, it's called "Gaurd [sic] The Gospel" instead of "First Principles".) Patterson's Campus Ministry has a link to "First Principles" as well. (Unfortunately that link is broken. I had to hunt around some of the International Christian Church web sites and found an audio version of "First Principles". But I did find a critical analysis that debunks the twisted scriptures used to convert someone to the church.) Since Kip McKean claims authorship the "First Principles" studies, shouldn't the ICOC churches not use them anymore?

Clearly, if one goes back to before the Henry Kriete Letter was released in early 2003, the doctrine, the lifestyle, the commitment, and the terminology of the old unified ICOC is exactly the same as the doctrine, the lifestyle, the commitment, and the terminology of Kip's new International Christian Churches and the current state of the International Churches of Christ except without McKean at the helm. And it also unfortunately means that the spiritual abuse is the same as well.

Bitterness is not necessarily a sin.

2008-10-13T13:37:00.001-04:00

In the last show, I rebutted Mike Patterson's comment about this "internet... radio show" host being a "bitter fall-away". Being bitter is not necessarily a sin. In fact, according to this article from the Barnabas Ministry, "It is a normal response to hardships or sorrowful situations, exhibited by righteous men and even God himself." And "[B]itterness becomes sinful when it is accompanied by sinful actions."

I admit that when I left the organization about two years ago, It was a very emotional experience. I experienced many losses. I lost what I had thought to be my relationship with God and relationships with what I had thought to be fellow Christians. I was bitter accodring to some of the defintions of bitter: "hard to bear; grievous; distressful - causing pain; piercing; stinging - hard to admit or accept". (Please note that these descriptions are adjectives, not nouns.) However, after a period of several months, I gained a true relationship with God through truth and grace and started to build new relationships with healthy Christians in my new fellowship and in other churches. Meanwhile, current ICOC members shut me off when I tell them that I have left the church and am growing spiritually.

My focus with Xraydio is to expose the false gospel and false doctrines the International Churches of Christ and International Christian Churches (the "sold-out" movement) teach. This includes going after the propegators of these doctrines, including Mike Patterson, Kevin Holland, Kip McKean, and various others. I see everyone involved in this toxic religous system as a victim and continually pray for God to use whatever it takes for people to leave. The tragic part is that the price for these high-level leaders to leave is utterly enormous, but still possible under Christ. The real enemy has, is, and always will be the demonic system that masquades as a valid Christian church. (Ephesians 6:12)

Web Site for the Show

2008-10-12T16:56:00.000-04:00

I've decided to go with blogger to host the web site and blog for Xraydio. Maybe I'll move the podcast here as well. More to come!