Eagle Brook Church will be going into the River City Church building on Hennepin . Its definitely a cult, said Esther Mandville, a 24-year-old former member who was raised in Gospel Outreach. Jason Strand is the new pastor of Eagle Brook. How will he lead Please enter valid email address to continue. I think a lot of times the students were just looking for who was going to be the one that day, DeSoto said. I have to say, It wasnt you; it was me. Its hard to work through those things., Robinson said it took her a while to realize the full extent of how Gospel Outreach affected her. The father is the ultimate authority. The Bible is the foundation for all that we teach and we hope that we can join hands with every Bible-believing church in the Twin Cities to reach as many people for Christ as we can. Eagle Brook Church - A bittersweet experience in ministry due to poor The Outpost was unable to confirm the COVID outbreak emails and voicemails left with Gospel Outreach went unreturned, and when we knocked on the churchs doors, no one answered. You did go to any and all choir practices or else your zeal was questioned, he said. At Gospel Outreach, an all-male group of elders sits atop the hierarchy. Brainwashing is kind of an overused phrase, but it really is brainwashing.. But the workload and responsibility on Merritts plate as a seminary teacher and pastor might've gotten the better of him as he struggled with issues of anger and depression. We exist to reach people for Christand that's the heart behind everything we do. Jul 21, 2016 - Anonymous Employee in Lino Lakes, MN Wed be encouraged to brag about the spankings we got, Villareal said. Amen. I just couldn't keep up.". I mean, its molestation., DeSoto had heard about Todds crimes and said the cycle of abuse expanded. 2023 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. We had conversations about him being the guy to succeed me. Most of the marriages are arranged, said Anne Robinson, another former Gospel Outreach member. And they unloaded. I lived VERY close to there at the time. What did you hear about it? It did take me a year to realize that, but I would definitely describe it as a cult.. Abigail said Joshs suicide continued to weigh on her, though she stayed in the church for more than a year afterwards. 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.. Come for some fun, worship and fellowship. Each weekend service lasts about one hour. | Photo by Andrew Goff. We love the church. All of us were just constantly sick. 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. If the elders decided he qualified, theyd recommend someone to him for marriage, she said. Several of the people we interviewed for this story remember Josh, a young man who left Gospel Outreach when he was 17 years old. As she grew older she tried harder to fit in and make people happy. We were charged $20 fines if we left something at home, Esther Mandville said. Like, Im 9 and I forget my notebook thats $20. She paid her debts by doing odd jobs like babysitting and car washing. Embarrassingly to admit, I was horrified, Chauvin said. As a child theres how I describe it is brainwashing, she said. Gospel Outreach of Eureka. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 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. In the church, when they find out youve been touched, youre [considered] dirty. Trusted by 5,200 companies and developers. Retiring pastor of Minnesota's largest megachurch opens up about his So the key is never to get close to that line. And by the way, we've never had a scandal at our church.. Much of the education at Gospel Outreach reinforced the churchs strict gender roles, which call on women to be subservient, according to the former members we spoke with. in Fullerton, but they so not remember this building or site. Early life and education [ edit ] Merritt's father was Calvin Merritt, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Neshannock Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania . You dont think of a cult as something you see every day you think of it as, like, sister wives and all that, she said. You are watching today's LIVE service, broadcasting from - Facebook *Empowered by God to reach others for Christ* Long hours with little respect for time away from full time ministry. Merritt said he plans to take the next few months to quiet his mind to figure out what God is calling him to do next. "We've tried to eliminate all the barriers," Merritt said. If you had a disagreement, you could be ostracized from the community in a moment, he said. Put this image on your website to promote the show -, Report inappropriate content or request to remove this page. Looking back she thinks that this containment, this narrowing of the world into a hermetic and rigidly controlled society, is as damaging as anything else at Gospel Outreach. By year 10, Merritt said the church had grown to over 5,000 people. Because criticism and conflict are never comfortableand often we don't know how to deal with them. Shed make fun of how I dressed. (Though the school is only accredited through 10th grade, Villareal said, The boys generally continue taking classes until grade 12, [and] the girls will only take select classes if any at all past age 16, as theyre generally placed in teaching positions. The last time I was there, Robinson said, he was teaching the kids Sunday school.. The multisite Eagle Brook Church in Minnesota announced it has dropped the plan to build its 11th metro-area campus in a residential neighborhood in a Minneapolis suburb after backlash from local residents. An irregular but steady stream of young adults have defected from Gospel Outreach in recent years or escaped, as several of our interviewees characterized it. Eagle Brook . He would punch me, push me into the wall, this or that. He was definitely a major reason, she said. 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. She freaked out. Jason Strand is the new pastor of Eagle Brook, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eagle_Brook_Church&oldid=1135337933, Evangelical megachurches in the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Minnesota articles missing geocoordinate data, Articles missing coordinates without coordinates on Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 24 January 2023, at 01:50. Below youll find some suicide-prevention resources: Advertising supports our journalism. I just had a couple of really discerning board members who saw it. In his messages, Merritt often speaks of his past personal struggles. We are one church in nine locations. Boys and girls were very much equals., Villareal remembers an elder or pastor from the church in Grants Pass questioning this practice. I definitely suffered from sleep deprivation and insomnia, Esther Mandville said. The very first weekend the Anoka location opened, 6,545 people showed up, with some watching from the hallway as the venue flooded with visitors. Youre ripped away from everything youve ever known thats really hard, Mandville said. I should be in the office, interacting with my colleagues and thinking about the message and getting busy with writing that. He volunteers with the church's recovery support group. Therefore, I apologize for what Wednesdays front page article may have communicated about our church. They left and financiallythe church didnt feela thing (All this is initial. That never would have happened had I not dealt with my dysfunctions.. Pat Anderson is a big tent Republican. And the fact that Humboldt Countys mental health services are just not enough to address the need. I know a lot of other girls had health issues when they were there that subsided when they left. Its 300 members exploded to 25,000 over the years, and the church took a new name, Eagle Brook. At the height of her depression, she started having dark fantasies. My parents didnt intend on being morally wrong [or] bad parents, but they take all their issues to the church. Eagle Brook's thriving environment caught the attention of Augsburg religion professor Hans Wiersma. Bob Merritt | Message 25 of 127. As a child you see this weird inner sanctum vibe going on, he said. 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.. 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. Sczepanski is the executive director and sole administrator. Well call her Sarah. All of that, as a child, thats [treated as] your problem: Why cant you talk right? [8] According to a church census released in 2020, it claimed a weekly attendance of 25,340 people and 9 campuses in different cities. And this guy basically interviewed all my friends, my family members, my staff, anybody who knew me and asked two questions: What's good about Bob? I would cut my legs, just places nobody would see higher up on my thighs. Every year, there are seemingly a handful of pastors who garner headlines because they were booted or forced to resign from their church over some kind of personal failing, whether it's sexual immorality or some other form of sin. Get started with your Free Employer Profile. The 8,000-square-foot church resembles a convention center, with the peaked roofline of its cream-colored exterior set off against a backdrop of spindly redwoods. Her dad followed her and tried to order her to come back home with him but she resisted, with support from her friends family.
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