These last few days have been very emotional and revealing to say the least. In this post I will tell of Morgan Sample’s struggles to regain her laptop, cell phone, sewing machine, school books, family pictures and calculator. The events that led up to the confiscation are not as critical to the purpose of this post as the events since her departure. The focus here will be her struggle to regain possession of her personal property. This story needs no embellishment. I will endeavor to recount the events to the best of my memory as confirmed by emails, text messages, pictures as well as Morgan’s narrative. Further details to the events leading to Morgan’s exit can be shared at a future time.
All of this came to my attention on August 24, 2011. Morgan contacted me via Facebook®. After realizing my typing was not fast enough to make chat feasible, we talked on the phone. I listened as Morgan told her exit story from Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). She had been a part of WOFF for about ten years. We were there at the same time, but never had regular direct contact. Again, after a brief introduction, this post focuses on her struggle to regain her personal property. Her exit story has many more events that can be told in another post.
Morgan lived in the home of Randy and Cindy Fields. The Fields were leadership at the WOFF and still remain in that position, as far as I know. Morgan graduated from the church sponsored school and had moved into a role of child care provider while also taking college classes. Events unfolded that landed Morgan in “church discipleship”. This process has been explained in previous posts on this blog. I have been in church discipleship at WOFF and am very familiar with the process. She was there for months. After this period, she took another position helping in the church sponsored school. Another series of events took place and her cell phone and laptop were confiscated by leadership, this under Jane Whaley’s direction. This limited her access to her parents as they did not live in the area. When Morgan first decided to leave, she was not allowed to call her mother to come get her. This limit on her communication with her family lasted several days. Upon her mother’s next visit to see her, she packed her things and made her exit.
All of this was surrounded by the normal WOFF-drama. Never is this process pretty or easy on the emotions. During this process, Brooke Covington confronted Morgan with printed copies of her text messages from her cell phone. The content of these messages may or may not have prolonged the recovery of her personal property. It is not known at this time. However, WOFF leadership, apparently with Jane’s approval, felt the freedom to perform this task and Brooke felt comfortable approaching Morgan with the content of the messages. Is this a normal accepted practice at WOFF to confiscate cell phones and print out personal communications? Is this used to attempt a strong-arm or even to black-mail people to stay? I am just wondering. Any other former members had this happen?
Morgan recounted that during the weeks leading up to her exit, she had a conversation with Jane. Jane began by saying, “I know everything.” The meaning was she knew about the text messages and their content. To me, this implicates Jane in this activity.
When it was decided that Morgan would be allowed to leave, she asked for her laptop and cell phone. She was told by Cindy Fields, “We are not done with them yet. We don’t want others to do what you are doing and leave….” (these statements are recounted from Morgan’s memory.)
Morgan also shared her parents failed attempts to secure her personal property after April when she left WOFF. They had talked with WOFF leadership on the phone and even left text messages for Brooke and a voice mail for Robin Webster. Still after four plus months, they did not have a valuable laptop, cell phone, calculator, and sewing machine and two school books. Morgan also realized that some of her family pictures were missing from her personal effects.
After a couple days of considering the next course, I mentioned we should talk with a detective for the Rutherford County Sheriff Department. He was off work that week but, promised to give the situation his attention when he returned on August 29, 2011. We talked that day and I gave him Morgan’s cell phone. They spoke and he promised to get back to her soon. August 31, 2011, the detective contacted us to inform us that after conferring with his team member, they contacted Attorney Mark Morris of Tomblin, Farmer and Morris. These lawyers in this firm are members of WOFF. Mr. Morris committed to “take care of it”. (Any dealings, I have had with Attorney Morris have always been handled in a professional manner.)
Tuesday, September 6, 2011, Attorney Morris contacted the detective and let him know he had recovered the big items. The detective was not able to receive the items until the next day. After an inventory was made, the detective contacted me and I went over to do an inventory for Morgan. This date was approximately five months since Morgan left WOFF. The calculator was missing as well as one of the books and family pictures. I was unable to return the recovered items to Morgan until Sptember 8, 2011. As of this post, the calculator has been returned to the detective. It will be sent to Morgan soon. The college book returned was not the right one and there is still a Business Management book that belongs to Morgan which has not appeared. The items were never listed as stolen, so technically, they were labeled as “returned items”.
Returned in the case for the laptop was a folder containing the printed text messages with notes outlining content, times and dates, names and numbers indicating to whom the messages were sent. This folder was mentioned earlier. This was a very detailed account and had to be prepared by someone with excellent investigative computer skills. In my opinion, from the notes, some handwritten; it was clear the person was charged with outlining Morgan’s every step. From that I saw, the notes were prepared by someone well indoctrinated into the WOFF-ways- a faithful member. Why? What was the point of that?
Morgan and her family are happy to have this part of the WOFF drama behind them. They are thankful for the Rutherford County Detectives that helped recover Morgan’s personal property. It is not clear as of this writing if every item will be returned, but, the electronics have been and that was vital.
- Recovered Items when First Viewed
As a personal reflection, upon entering the detective’s office to take inventory for Morgan, I was deeply shaken and visibly distraught. There before my eyes was physical evidence of the extreme radical beliefs and practices occurring at WOFF. Even after writing over 300 posts on this blog, I must admit that deep inside there was still a small glimmer of hope that something good might come from a stay at WOFF. As I walked into the room and touched and gazed on the personal property of Morgan Sample that had been confiscated for five months after her departure, it became clear that I was wrong and still had been deceived.
Danger awaits the members of WOFF. What kind of danger? Your emotions, your relationships and some say even your physical body can be in danger of injury during a stay at WOFF. If leadership, with Jane’s apparent guidance and approval will participate in keeping personal property from a FORMER member for this long, what other measures of discipline are condoned for PRESENT members? If during my stay at WOFF, you had told me that a former member would have their property kept from them for five months- I would not have believed it, OR excused it as a consequence of leaving.
Now, I see how absurd it is to say “Jane’s must have ahold of that”… Really? Was that true during my WOFF days? I was under so much deception during my stay at WOFF. I actually believed that Jane and leadership were doing “God’s will”. After seeing events like this up close, I admit, I have felt as if I was violated or actually “spiritually raped” during my tour of duty at WOFF. Can anyone else relate?
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Please, take time to read the Terms of Use for this personal blog. As mentioned, for posts written by John Huddle, any information about WOFF is from his memories and recollections as perfect as that may be or not be. Scripture references are Amplified Version unless otherwise noted. (Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation ) This is post number 342.
John, this is my first appearance on your web-site. I have been preparing a document describing my own scenario of exiting WOFF. I just couldn’t hold out any longer. I have to comment on this matter. I can’t remain silent any longer.
I remember Morgan when I was in WOFF. Similar situations happened at the time of my exit (aaahhh, that still feels like a breath of fresh air to say. I am free of that place!!!) Needless to say, I DON’T miss the “RELIGIOUS” antics displayed by that group. And by religious, I mean “RELIGIOUS!” In other words, what Jesus confronted in His day. The religious element. I will not use the “H” word Jesus used because I, myself, am not perfect. I still have a lot of the religion within myself. It is human nature. Jesus “cleaned out” the temple with a whip!!
And talk about LEGALISM. Those people thrive upon “dancing around the legal issues.” They “STOMP” upon every single law imaginable which is there to protect peoples rights.
What am I talking about? Let’s see:
How about holding back one’s personal mail. This is a Federal violation of U.S. Postal laws.
How about violating U.S. Immigration Laws by using those on student visas at “Church Leadership Owned Business'” They can’t call that a “school”, too!! I can see it now, “Oh, yes, that is On-The-Job-Training.” HOG WASH!! And should certain of these “students” happen to be “paid through the church.” Wouldn’t that also constitute income tax evasion? There are those in that church leadership who have made millions off these low waged “students” they bring in from other countries. This certainly is not over, yet!
And what about their “Night Projects?” Do they still do those? Does people in the community know about how workers within the church are required (Well, if “NOT REQUIRED”, then “STRONGLY EXPECTED” and it is NOT OPTIONAL) to go out and work on others’ homes after they have already put in an 8-12 hour day on the job? And most of these homes are owned by leadership within the church. And most of the modifications to these homes are made to turn them into multi-family dwellings without proper local permits. How many homes within WOFF have had major modifications done to them without the required permits? See, WOFF leadership believes they are above the law. This is why they pushed to get the students through law school so much. Now, they really think they are above the law. They have an entire team of attorneys at their call for free, or at least reduced rates. I wonder if any of these attorneys could be dis-barred if they were to have knowledge of illegal activities within the church? Probably not, that’s “Client-Attorney” confidentiality.
See, part of WOFF tactics is the underlying belief that a person can do or say whatever they like as long as it is “With A Smile” and get away with it. That is why you have all the “phoney” smiles on the WOFF web-site. Their entire life is made up of phoniness. They are truly not a “happy sort of people.” Their happiness evolves around money. Follow the “Money Trail.”
And I would like to say to those within WOFF who have been questioning the genuineness of your life there within the confines of WOFF, that you make your escape now. Do not be afraid to contact Faith Freedom Fund. This is why they are here. They are here to help you. When I left, I was afraid for weeks to contact them. I had believed the lies leadership had said about them. But, when I realized, “I need help.!!”, they were very happy to step in and help. In fact, they were much more willing to do more than I needed of them. Faith Freedom Fund is not just one person. It is made up of a network of highly reputable local individuals. I encourage you to do what your heart has been telling you for some time and leave, NOW!!
If they give you hassle with your things, call the sheriff or police, whichever community you are staying in. Don’t let them get away with it!!! Perhaps, my outcome would have been different had I telephone the authorities years ago and exposed them for what they are. But, like so many others with my religious upbringing, out of “fear” or respect for the institution of the church of Jesus Christ, I let them get by with their antics. I believe this organization has well over-stepped the sanctity of the Church Of Jesus Christ. I will sign off for now. dd
I forgot to mention one thing, John. A few days ago I read one of your blogs from 2010 elections questioning the validity of the WOFF’er vote. How do they know who they want to vote for since they are denied access to media? And you were correct about it comes down to the leadership controlling the votes of all those hundreds of voters. These few hundred votes can make quite an impact on any election within Ruthorford county. Especially, a low-turn-out primary. WOFF’ers DO VOTE. They are required to. This whole thing is going to take a “Community Effort” to override.
In fact, I have in my possession a document obtained from the Word of Faith Fellowship Spindale, N.C. church office. It is a duplicate (or sample) ballot with “X” marked in the boxes. I was not familiar with the candidates or issues. Nor at the time, did I even care. I was just a puppet of WOFF leadership. When I was handed the document, (prior to the election), I was told, “This is how you vote.” Is this in violation of any laws? dd
DD,
Thank you. I appreciate your time reading and commenting. Contact me by email if you would like- author@relgiouscultsinfo.com
John
DD,
According to the local board of elections, that is a violation. Please, email me.
Thank you.
John
Morgan probably did not get the right textbook back because some others in WOFF are in that class and need the book. If one family could afford college books, WOFF made sure they bought the books and then “shared” with others in the same classes. Also, Morgan is not the first person to have her personal items held. Things are taken and placed in the church vault. Also, one evening service, they decided to check all laptops for “bad” stuff. College students had to go home and get their laptops and bring them back to get checked out. I am glad Morgan received her items back, but still this is a strong violation of civil liberties…
CD, the government teacher at WOFF, would get up before elections and go over the names on the ballot. She would always stress she could not tell us who to vote for. However, she was available for you to ask questions afterwards. They would hint that one person or another was “friends” with WOFF or bring out one point that would give us all that is who we should vote for.
Morgans story hit a chord with me this am, first I am so grateful to be away from that place, and secondly no matter how much time passes things there never really change!! I have been gone for 13 years, and here is a story that could have been written 13 years ago; different person, different articles, same kind of sad story. I have known people that left with nothing but the clothes on their back and were so glad to be gone never even thought about trying to get anything back just let them have it!!! There is a testimony to not be that proud of !!
The other thing that hit me so strong this am, is I wonder if there will be people that will stand before the Lord and say I did this in your name and I did that in your name, and He will say depart from me I never knew you, Can we serve God and Man at the same time, can we obey God and the voice of any leadership Every time in every situation, and still be right with God?? Just something that hit me.