It is affiliated with Converge. I grew up in the church and its a dark place, Christen Chauvin said in an email. In this strange way it pushed you to be part of the community 24/7. About a week later I attempted suicide, she said. Merritt said that counseling not only saved his career but also saved his marriage. Many church members assumed that Durkins son, Jim Durkin, Jr., would take over, but instead it was a man named David Sczepanski, whod been among the early residents at Lighthouse Ranch. But her just-now-stated position against a foundational Republican Party platform and principle lacks integrity. She was a proponent of pro-abortion, pro-gay rights Republican Arne Carlsons campaign for governor in the early 90s. Eagle Brook Church is a Baptist Evangelical multi-site megachurch based in Centerville, Minnesota. By the time you got to a certain age, 11 or 12, you would be expected to join the worship team and the choir that sings every Sunday, Abigail said. I couldnt believe it. The most stressful scenario for many of the kids came during the morning circle meetings, where students would gather with Pastor Sczepanski to talk about his latest sermon and other spiritual matters. Well never sell your personal information. There were countless times Id wake up when my body was hitting the floor., He would also take her clothes from her as punishment, she said, ordering her to get naked and do chores, a form of discipline she remembers being particularly disturbing when she was 12, 13, 14 years old and very much struggling through puberty., Her mother declined, through her daughter, to be interviewed for this story. 1 Corinthians 3:4-7 (ESV). Although it was unusual when compared to her traditional faith experiences, she loved the music and energy. I think a lot of times the students were just looking for who was going to be the one that day, DeSoto said. There is a real grieving thats going on in my own spirit.. "It's very comfortable, very comfortable here," said volunteer Phil Resendez of West St. Paul. Eagle Brook Church is very welcoming to all people, come and hear the truth, the Bible is relavant to today's world. MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) The largest church in Minnesota is expanding from the suburbs into downtown Minneapolis. We love THE Church. Thats not what this is. I left/escaped from there when I was 19, she wrote. Eventually someone cries and then we can go to choir practice., Myself and other former cult members jokingly say, Remember when theyd lock us in a room until we made another kid cry? he said. As the pastor of a Twin Cities church, I was bothered by the Feb. 27 front page article No Bibles, no hymnals, no pews. He says he brings students to services so they can see what's attractive about it. She realized after leaving the church that shed been suffering from depression for years by that point. No church Id want to attend or be associated with. She freaked out. I definitely suffered from sleep deprivation and insomnia, Esther Mandville said. Martin Luther employed the phrase to describe human nature as so thoroughly corrupted by original sin that it curvedly, and viciously seeks all things, even God, for its own sake.. I always liked Chuck Swindoll and through the yearsfound myself blessed by his ministry many times. Cupholders? A lifelong addict, he says he's found faith and sobriety. I am not surprised that Pat Anderson has come out supporting same-sex marriage (Feb. 27). Helping run various weekend and mid week programming, while stressful, was a big building block career wise He dug a little deeper and got to the real issues of where my anger was coming from and my unwillingness to forgive people and those kinds of things.. If your homework assignment was late you werent allowed to go to choir practice or play on the weekend. And recently, she lost her national committeewoman position to someone more conservative, after serving only two years. Our values are to pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion both locally and globally. John Alexander | Message 4 of 127. There are no pews at Eagle Brook, nor are there any stained glass windows or choir robes. I was going so fast. If the elders decided he qualified, theyd recommend someone to him for marriage, she said. Merritt led the church for . I mean, its molestation.. She described her stepfather as excessively controlling and emotionally volatile, often having all-out screaming arguments with her mom and regularly spanking Villareal for such transgressions as getting an answer wrong in her multiplication tables. You could be a teacher or you could work in one of the businesses owned by church members, including North Coast Floor and Tile, SameDay Auto Scratch and Dent Repair and, until it was recently sold, New Life Services Company. He wrote letters of regret to victims and church members, and set up a $30,000 trust fund to help . "The kids loved it too," she said. Eagle Brook is one church with multiple locations. And so we just don't allow that stuff. Thats when the big shift happened, when we became more cultish.. My teaching pastor, Jason Strand, has been with me for 12 years, he said. Hey, are you missing Christmas? | Photo by Ryan Burns. It's just dangerous. Learning that I was brainwashed my whole life was interesting, she said with a bit of a laugh. It messed with our immune systems, the stress and the amount of sleep we were getting it just wasnt good for your body.. There just seemed like there was a convergence of my time coming to an end and his time coming.. She initially didnt tell her parents or anyone else about it. He told me there were four godly young men waiting in line to marry me. That failed to convince her to return. He says it's music people can relate to, and relatability is what Merritt, who's been at the church since 1991, is all about. Thank you for helping to keep the podcast database up to date. It messed with your immune systems, the stress and the amount of sleep we were getting it just wasnt good for your body., As a teenager, Sarah was prone to illness and infections, which she later attributed to stress. He prayed over me and said I had unconfessed sins and that [my cutting] must have something to do with that., At age 11 shed been diagnosed as diabetic, a condition that required her to get regular insulin injections. Eagle Brook is now the largest church in Minnesota, with more than 22,000 people attending services each weekend and 48,000 attending on Christmas. A self-proclaimed introvert, Merritt speaks from Lino Lakes. "Most of my adult life I had not attended church except for maybe on the holidays," she said. . The Church Just Wants To Get Big. in Fullerton, CA sometime in 1982 thru 1984 (probably closer to 1984). Theyre fallen from grace. But I bring this up because I find it fascinating what happened to Fullerton E. Free when Chuck left after more than 20 years of ministry. 00:38:38 - Have you ever lost sleep over a heated disagreement or harsh words? He was definitely a major reason, she said. Robinson and others said that eventually Todd wound up admitting to at least some of the crimes hed been accused of, but his only punishment was that he wouldnt be allowed to marry anybody in the church. Franklin, Weinstein: What is a reasonable approach to masking right now? In late March, the church opened its newest campus in Anoka. Therefore, He is ultimately the only one we should ever look to for spiritual sustenance, though we recognize He uses undershepherds. Because he was a minor when the alleged abuse took place and has not been convicted of the crimes, well call him Todd (not his real name). Eagle Brook exists to reach people for Christand that's the heart behind everything we do. You may not even know what it is, but others do. We never really got much science or literature. These were guys I grew up with. If youre selfless, if youre here to serve and be a vessel, then you dont have any time or energy to be sad or anxious or depressed. Sczepanski would invoke Incurvatus in se, a Latin phrase used to describe a life turned inward. He said I could have just told him I wanted to leave, but I had been telling him, Sarah said. I have a career. I had an associate who basically wanted my job and he didnt get chosen. Catch & Release. I told my parents and they were concerned about me but also kind of pushing me not to talk about it because his parents still go to the church and he has a lot of brothers and sisters.. That was one of those things that was swept very much under the rug. And I was just split wide open.. The church chose Strand to succeed Pastor Bob Merritt who has retired. Suggested duration 1-2 hours She said something like, Remember, we dont put care into our appearance for ourselves; we do it because there are people here who have to look at us.. He brought me through a full year of counseling. Eventually, she said, one of the dads recognized that she was suffering a rare thing to acknowledge at Gospel Outreach, Villareal said and asked what was wrong. His messages are also posted online, with viewers in all 50 states seeing them. Mission: Empowered by God to reach others for Christ. It's the type of music he says people listen to during the week -- so why not Sunday? As a child theres how I describe it is brainwashing, she said. That was one of those things that was swept very much under the rug. I don't think the congregation was aware of all the backstory. I don't mean that they should be entertained, because I think God's word is the most compelling thing on the planet, but so often we take God's word and we just bore people with it and to me that's sinful," Merritt said. Embarrassingly to admit, I was horrified, Chauvin said. The message is beamed. I was just getting worse and worse and I realized the church was the culprit of those feelings the culture, the upbringing, the people there and the teachings. We exist to reach people for Christand that's the heart behind everything we do. Posted by Roger Knowlton on May 7, 2015 in Uncategorized, Tags: Celebrity pastors, Chuck Swindoll, Dale Burke, Fullerton Evangelical Free Church, I follow Apollos, I follow Christ, I follow Paul. Every weekday at 7 a.m. they hold a mens meeting where they pray, drink coffee and discuss various matters, sometimes rendering binding decisions on issues ranging from child discipline to marriage approvals. As soon as I left, everything got better. Merritt said the church graciously hired a counselor to serve as his leadership coach. Her dad apparently felt otherwise. My boyfriend, Ill ask him every five minutes if he needs a drink or food. Eventually, her dad asked her to get coffee with him and they had a conversation. Amen. MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Religion is evolving in Minnesota. | Photo by Andrew Goff. Up to 40,000 people attend Eagle Brook services in a given week. 1 Corinthians 3:4-7 (ESV) Paul sums up this section with a not-to-be-forgotten truth: it is God who gives the growth, whether in an . Weekly church attendance was 25,340 people in 2022. [1] The senior pastor is Jason Strand. Allow this non-statistician to hazard a guess myamateur interpretation of the data tells me that the mature people were primarily there forJesus, not Chuck, and they stayed and kept giving. "I felt very alone and coming here I felt like that changed," he said. Merritt recalled the one statement from the pile that hell never forget. Services are Sat at 4 and 6 and Sun 9 & 11. We love the church. Most people who leave do go a bit wild because they dont know how to function in the real world, so they [church leaders] use them as examples: Look at him; he went into sin., Esther Mandville struggled after leaving, as many do. ), Basically the culture [of Gospel Outreach], with the ultimate leadership being the men, it really lends itself to abuse, Chauvin said. Some people left the church as well because they werent sure I was the guy. According to himself he was just a servant through whom they had believed. So the key is never to get close to that line. The father is the ultimate authority. Eagle Brook Church Reviews 4.8 Each weekend service lasts about one hour. And if you allow yourself to get close to a certain line, your emotions override your intellect, Merritt said. My stepdad makes me do my chores naked and youre asking me if this is sexual? Music varies from campus to campus, with no organs in sight. Chauvin started college at age 30 and is now in the nursing program. Sometimes wed come back in the evening for more singing.. Looking back, she realized that in her teens she ticked all the boxes. Im pretty sure it was a Promise Keepers event. All the music, the meetings youre hardly sleeping. The church teaches that depression and other mental health issues are the result of selfishness, Villareal said. Butwhat if tough questions weren't the enemy, but the gateway to breakthrough? Back in the day when Christian radio stations played James Dobsons Focus on the Family and other talk programs (along with a smattering ofChristian Contemporary Musicby Amy Grant, Michael W. Smith and Carmen, et. You might be thinking, "No definitely notthe tree is up, presents are wrapped, Christmas music on repeat" Pause. Eagle Brook is great for people scratching the surface of Christianity, and really, getting people to hear the Word is a good thing. "They come into a church, there's a lobby, there's a caf, there's a bookstoreIt feels like a movie theater almost where you have comfortable seats. Our history [classes] relied a lot on the Bible, Villareal said. As a pastors kid from Pennsylvania who graduated from both Bethel Seminary and Bethel University, Merritt was brought on as the pastor of what was then the 300-member First Baptist Church of White Bear Lake in 1991. There was this self-policing to find the one who was the most out of line so everyone could gang up on that person to explain why they were utterly failing and in sin and need to repent. Like, Im 9 and I forget my notebook thats $20. She paid her debts by doing odd jobs like babysitting and car washing. Chauvin actually wanted to get married, but I was looking around at my selections. Back in May, two former members of Gospel Outreach of Eureka, a church that grew out of the Christian hippie commune at Lighthouse Ranch, contacted the Outpost to report a COVID-19 outbreak among the congregation. al. DeSoto said his older brothers disaffection began with typical teenage angst and questioning. A lot of times, God doesnt show us what is ahead. Criticism & Conflict | Eagle Brook Church Message Criticism & Conflict Jason Strand | Nov. 26/27, 2016 Have you ever lost sleep over a heated disagreement or harsh words? Mandville recently went to visit their dad on Fathers Day, in part to prove to my sisters that Im not a demon spawn under the control of Satan, she said. So he was tough to deal with for a year. There was one or two times when I thought really seriously thought about giving myself just a ton of insulin, just go out that way, she said. I was at school with [the mom] that next day, and she privately spoke [to another teacher] in the kitchen. Today, we have the advantage of learning from the conversations that followed. Chauvin was working as a part-time teacher when she first heard that Todd had molested two girls. The church was founded in 1948 as a house Bible study group called the First Baptist Church led by Sam and Ethel Hane in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. It was part of his controlling thing, she said. I find it interesting that when the Republicans voted to put the two amendments to the state Constitution (marriage and voter ID) on the ballot for the fall elections, there was critical outcry for bringing up moral issues and side-stepping the real fiscal issues. "We're trying to hit that 80 percent.". And yet, in this midst of this truth, we do well to remember our extremely high calling the Lord says we are His fellow workers (verse 9). I would be willing to talk to you about the abuse I witnessed and received. She asked to remain anonymous to protect younger siblings still in the church. Regardless, according to Robinson, Todd did go on to abuse other girls and she was one of his victims. In the 70s and 80s the Gospel Outreach movement spread around the globe, establishing churches in U.S. cities from Alaska to Hawaii to New York and sending missionaries to Europe and Central and South America. 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David Sczepanski, the pastor and sole school administrator, was brought in. Were building in Woodbury because God loves Woodbury, and there are people there He wants to reach. Anyone who finds themselves on the outs will be shunned completely. Ah, yes, but the next statistic was even more interesting to me: 1,000 people leaveand giving stays the same? [8] According to a church census released in 2020, it claimed a weekly attendance of 25,340 people and 9 campuses in different cities. Thats frowned on., Chauvin, who is now 34, was entering sixth grade when the Gospel Outreach school opened, and she remembers it as a turning point. The former Gospel Outreach members said punishment was typically meted out both at home and at school in one of three ways: monetary fines, psychological torment or physical violence. "Not everybody likes it, and that's OK," Merritt said, describing the sound, which is full of electric guitars and big drum beats. Another girls mom approached her and commented on her appearance. All of us were just constantly sick. Any success weve experienced has little to do with us, and everything to do with the grace of God. If you had a disagreement, you could be ostracized from the community in a moment, he said. Worse was getting singled out for judgment. Females are not as respected as the church would like you to believe. Bitterness. 2023 Eagle Brook Church . Why bring this up? At one point it was all I could do to feel. We're glad you're here! Theyd say [to students], The sky is green? and wed say, Yes. The grass is blue? Yes. Youre supposed to repeat back illogical things to teach you not to disagree with what the leadership tells you.. And until you give someone the permission to dig around in your life a little bit, you may not ever find out until it's too late.. And they unloaded. She told me if I just put my head down and come under, if I became virtuous, then the Lord would give me a husband to take me away from all the abuse.. And it just about took me out.. Can doubts and faith coexist? A sign for Gospel Outreach faces Harris Street near the entrance to the McKay Community Forest. My poor husband has had to deal with it. But if lying is your pattern, its most certainly hurting your relationshipswith the people in your life and with God. Her dad followed her and tried to order her to come back home with him but she resisted, with support from her friends family. But what about you? (It sounds like you might be harboring bitterness toward that grumpy neighbor) Time to let it goit'll lead to healing in you and your relationships. Whether it's the temptation of clicking buy now on Amazon or the seemingly endless pursuit of a life-long dream, no one is immune to discontentment. The best Podcast API to search all podcasts and episodes. It is a high privilege, to be sure, but again, tempered with the truth whichPaul reminds us toward the end of the chapter: So,he will say in verse 21, Let no one boast in men.. Anything like this is dealt with in the mens meeting because women are not in charge of anything, Chauvin said. I decided this is a cult and I left.. There wasnt any pressure from him. Now I think, Thank God Im out., Sarah said shes not surprised that most Humboldt County residents have no idea such a community exists right here in Eureka. Watching. DeSoto said the cruelty of these scenarios didnt really become clear to him until after he left the church and had some time to reflect. You might be surprised to know that most (if not all) Christians have experienced doubt in their faith. Eagle Brook is Baptist in origin. I couldn't believe that I didn't see it. But one of the aspects of cults is that they push teens to make bigger ultimatums youre either all in or all out, he said. At the height of her depression, she started having dark fantasies. I remember looking around the room going, Were all depressed and just not talking about it., All of us were just constantly sick. Two to three days a week that would happen.. Watch Featured Messages Series Teaching Pastor Category I thought of them like brothers. The teachers were women from the church, none of them accredited. Its all very interesting, looking at it afterwards, she said. That situation developed into [some of] those young kids, the victims, reenacting those experiences with other very young children, he said. 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