roz (roz)
10-19-2005, 04:08 PM
I went to CCBTC from the late ‘70s until the split. I try to keep up with old friends, enjoy getting updates about people who used to attend there, and I visit CCG occasionally although you could qualify me as a lurker. I was going to be a lurker here until an interesting thing happened to me while visiting this board last night. I checked out some other threads and happened upon Faith Assembly and Hobart Freeman. There’s a lot of info here.
Most of you may not know about them. Located in Indiana, their church was also known as the Glory Barn. They were heavily into the WOF (word of faith) movement so much so that nearly a hundred people died including their charismatic leader, Hobart Freeman, because they did not believe in seeking medical attention. Many lawsuits were brought. I haven’t had time to read the copious amount of information available yet (there’s even more on a google search), but it sounds like the church blew apart just like we did.
This is of great interest to me for 2 reasons. First, a close friend of mine in high school (whom I’ll call Jony) attended CCBTC for one year and left to join this church. Second, the parallels to CCBTC are uncanny. When I quickly glossed over a few threads, I was absolutely amazed by the similar tone so many posters used – it would be hard to know if they were writing about FA or CCBTC if you took out names and other specific information.
Jony was a wonderful saint of God, totally desirous for the Lord and would climb mountains to be close to Jesus, if that’s what it took. I looked up to her as an older sister, a mentor, and she had a tremendous impact on my walk with Jesus during high school (she graduated a year ahead of me and headed to Seattle while I was a senior). Jony was a major influence on my decision to attend CCTBC. Even though she wasn’t returning, she advised me that Seattle would be better for me. Joni and I had a mutual friend who never came to CCBTC or went to FA, whom I’ll call Pat. Pat and I graduated together and were very close.
After we graduated, I left for Seattle and Pat went to another college for half a year, met a man, got married, and they moved back to our home town. Pat stayed in touch with me by mail and with Jony through many personal visits since they didn’t live far apart. During my early years of CCBTC, Pat was becoming more entrenched in the WOF movement because of her friendship with Jony. I didn’t particularly have a problem with this; I was pretty ignorant about WOF. Pat never used to believe in speaking in tongues, but that quickly changed as Jony got deeper into FA and their friendship grew. I thought this was a good step. But, Pat also shunned holidays and this deeply hurt her family who were all born-again Christians. I didn't agree with how she handled it. This is just the beginning. It gets more bizarre.
One time, on a visit back home, I spent a morning at Pat's house. Her 4-year old son skinned his knee while outside playing. He came running into the house screaming with tears flowing. Pat hoisted him up on a table, surmised the damage and instead of cleaning and tending the wound, she began to repeat over and over, “You’re not hurt, you’re healed in Jesus’ name….” She instructed him to repeat, "I'm not hurt." She laid hands on him and prayed for several minutes and that was that.
Pat had 4 children 4 years in a row because she didn’t believe in birth control (another FA influence?). I asked her once, what if you get pregnant every year you are fertile? She answered, “If it’s God’s will, it’s OK with me.” Pat never had a chance to experience any more years of fertility because she was killed in a car accident shortly after that conversation. Ironically, Jony was with her and both of their babies were in the back seat. Only Jony survived and she barely survived because she and her family demanded she be removed from the hospital. The story I got was that IVs were yanked out as she was carried out by her family while semi-conscious.
I saw Jony once briefly while she was visiting my home town in the early ‘90s. CCBTC was by then a distant memory and I’m guessing when I saw her FA was history, too. We only greeted each other and never talked about any details. I’ve never talked to her about those years. Sometimes I wish I could, but I don’t really feel a need to.
I’m in my 40s now and will never be able to erase all these memories. Even before all this, I remember working with a family the summer after being saved. They had a cotton candy stand and traveled all over the region to work local and state fairs. We’d be gone for 10 days at a stretch. It was typical for a religious group to come in and have a booth and hold services for the “carnies” on the weekends. I got a flyer from a place called the “Glory Barn.” I was newly saved and it was a wonderful service. I can still remember the picture of that barn on the little flyer.
Over the years, they’d pop up on my memory radar and I’d attempt to do a search on the internet but found nothing. Little did I know -- until last night -- they were part of Faith Assembly which is where Jony eventually ended up.
Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.
So now, I’m going to offer up some of my time to throw myself into a history lesson on FA. I’m not sure why I want to do this. I’m curious, of course, but I’m way past needing anything to help me salve any old wounds from CCBTC. I guess it’s nice to know that we weren’t as “out there” as we thought we were.
Good day.
Roz
PS – Here’s an interesting thread that shows what I mean.
http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/3/9300.html?1125087568
Most of you may not know about them. Located in Indiana, their church was also known as the Glory Barn. They were heavily into the WOF (word of faith) movement so much so that nearly a hundred people died including their charismatic leader, Hobart Freeman, because they did not believe in seeking medical attention. Many lawsuits were brought. I haven’t had time to read the copious amount of information available yet (there’s even more on a google search), but it sounds like the church blew apart just like we did.
This is of great interest to me for 2 reasons. First, a close friend of mine in high school (whom I’ll call Jony) attended CCBTC for one year and left to join this church. Second, the parallels to CCBTC are uncanny. When I quickly glossed over a few threads, I was absolutely amazed by the similar tone so many posters used – it would be hard to know if they were writing about FA or CCBTC if you took out names and other specific information.
Jony was a wonderful saint of God, totally desirous for the Lord and would climb mountains to be close to Jesus, if that’s what it took. I looked up to her as an older sister, a mentor, and she had a tremendous impact on my walk with Jesus during high school (she graduated a year ahead of me and headed to Seattle while I was a senior). Jony was a major influence on my decision to attend CCTBC. Even though she wasn’t returning, she advised me that Seattle would be better for me. Joni and I had a mutual friend who never came to CCBTC or went to FA, whom I’ll call Pat. Pat and I graduated together and were very close.
After we graduated, I left for Seattle and Pat went to another college for half a year, met a man, got married, and they moved back to our home town. Pat stayed in touch with me by mail and with Jony through many personal visits since they didn’t live far apart. During my early years of CCBTC, Pat was becoming more entrenched in the WOF movement because of her friendship with Jony. I didn’t particularly have a problem with this; I was pretty ignorant about WOF. Pat never used to believe in speaking in tongues, but that quickly changed as Jony got deeper into FA and their friendship grew. I thought this was a good step. But, Pat also shunned holidays and this deeply hurt her family who were all born-again Christians. I didn't agree with how she handled it. This is just the beginning. It gets more bizarre.
One time, on a visit back home, I spent a morning at Pat's house. Her 4-year old son skinned his knee while outside playing. He came running into the house screaming with tears flowing. Pat hoisted him up on a table, surmised the damage and instead of cleaning and tending the wound, she began to repeat over and over, “You’re not hurt, you’re healed in Jesus’ name….” She instructed him to repeat, "I'm not hurt." She laid hands on him and prayed for several minutes and that was that.
Pat had 4 children 4 years in a row because she didn’t believe in birth control (another FA influence?). I asked her once, what if you get pregnant every year you are fertile? She answered, “If it’s God’s will, it’s OK with me.” Pat never had a chance to experience any more years of fertility because she was killed in a car accident shortly after that conversation. Ironically, Jony was with her and both of their babies were in the back seat. Only Jony survived and she barely survived because she and her family demanded she be removed from the hospital. The story I got was that IVs were yanked out as she was carried out by her family while semi-conscious.
I saw Jony once briefly while she was visiting my home town in the early ‘90s. CCBTC was by then a distant memory and I’m guessing when I saw her FA was history, too. We only greeted each other and never talked about any details. I’ve never talked to her about those years. Sometimes I wish I could, but I don’t really feel a need to.
I’m in my 40s now and will never be able to erase all these memories. Even before all this, I remember working with a family the summer after being saved. They had a cotton candy stand and traveled all over the region to work local and state fairs. We’d be gone for 10 days at a stretch. It was typical for a religious group to come in and have a booth and hold services for the “carnies” on the weekends. I got a flyer from a place called the “Glory Barn.” I was newly saved and it was a wonderful service. I can still remember the picture of that barn on the little flyer.
Over the years, they’d pop up on my memory radar and I’d attempt to do a search on the internet but found nothing. Little did I know -- until last night -- they were part of Faith Assembly which is where Jony eventually ended up.
Truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.
So now, I’m going to offer up some of my time to throw myself into a history lesson on FA. I’m not sure why I want to do this. I’m curious, of course, but I’m way past needing anything to help me salve any old wounds from CCBTC. I guess it’s nice to know that we weren’t as “out there” as we thought we were.
Good day.
Roz
PS – Here’s an interesting thread that shows what I mean.
http://www.factnet.org/discus/messages/3/9300.html?1125087568