Recommended Reading

By Agatha L’Orange

Dipping suggested that we needed a recommended reading site. So here it is! It will also be filed under forums. So have at it. If you list a book, article, website or something else… please give complete info… at least title and author. It would also be helpful if people included a summary and how this selection helped them.

Thanks, and I look forward to hearing your reading suggestions!

Who’s Your Daddy/Parent Organization?

A Wikipedia Battle

By Agatha L’Orange

Alright so I have my original post at the end. Here’s an addendum. Thank you everyone for clearing it up! I really appreciate that, because I was incredulous that GC&Co. would change the wikipedia entry instead of expanding on it!

Anyway.. turns out we’ve got the conspirators on our side! And they have a plan to produce a well-balanced, fair description of GC&Co.

I apologize to GC&Co for suggesting that someone there took it down. Someone did, but they weren’t affiliated with the leadership of GC&Co. So that’s great. Here’s my original post…

Someone put up a really nice criticism of GCM/GCA on Wikipedia. It was completely factual and supported with at least 13 citations. It was pretty balanced and mentioned opposing viewpoints defending the movement. I was impressed and thought GCM warning put it up. Then today, there was a post from Joshua referring to it on “About” and I thought maybe he had put it up. So I went and checked it again. Guess what!!!! As of this morning it has been deleted as well as the

Happy Thanksgiving!

By Genevieve Jones

This is a little late, but I wanted to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. In the spirit of the season, I thought I’d list a few things I’m thankful for.

Questions for Larry Pile

A couple weeks ago Larry Pile left a comment on the “About” page, volunteering to answer questions we have. Larry is an ex-Great Commission member from back in the old days, a former Wellspring employee, and the author of Marching to Zion, a book which will most certainly be on my Christmas list. Let’s post our questions to this thread, so Larry doesn’t have to hunt across 30 posts and 800 comments.

What is GC’s Gospel?

When I was growing up, we had a map of the US in our church with little pins stuck into every city that had a GCM church. I remember looking at it, my heart swelling with pride, and imagining each pin as a small point of light in an otherwise dark world. All we need is a church in Seattle and then one in Utah, I thought. Slowly the world will be reached. What I didn’t think about were the churches already there carrying out the work of God.

Where does GC fit in with the larger body of Christ, the Church with a big C? And why do they continue to plant churches in cities already bursting with them?

GC’s To-Do List

On a recent “Are You Cool Enough” post, wise readers have suggested some good next steps for GC. I’ll try to summarize those here, and, hopefully, you can add others I’ve missed. I’ll try to put these in order, but it’s late, so I may have trouble prioritizing. Feel free to help!

GC’s To-Do List

On a recent “Are You Cool Enough” post, wise readers have suggested some good next steps for GC. I’ll try to summarize those here, and, hopefully, you can add others I’ve missed. I’ll try to put these in order, but it’s late, so I may have trouble prioritizing. Feel free to help!

Discipline? (Don’t talk to that divider!)

By Gene Prince

How many of you were shown the door, and how many left via your own accord? Personally I’ve never experienced church discipline and have only seen it practiced on other friends. In these instances I was never told why they were being disciplined but rather that I shouldn’t talk or associate with them until I was given the OK by the higher ups. I tried to ignore the rules as much as possible but often the person under discipline was extremely hesitant to talk. They truly believed that they had wronged the church and that any further infractions would result in further punishment.

Are You Cool Enough?

A few years ago, a long-time staff member became a pastor, and, surprise, got a makeover in the process. He shaved his head, got an earring, and was given a gift certificate to the Gap. He was filling the shoes for someone who was most definitely cool, so he needed to take his game up a notch. He was married with kids, but his wife and kids didn’t get new clothes or new haircuts. It was just him. He looked like he didn’t even belong with his family anymore.

I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now.

One thing I really hate about this blog is that how I feel, how I really, really feel about the people of GCM is not getting out. In the past few days, so much of the comments I’ve made have been about exposing problems that generally have happened in GCM across our region or across the country or in the past thirty some years. I am impassioned about the cause. We care about you guys. All of you–attenders or not.