Over the years, I have been through definitive phases while writing this blog. In the beginning, the purpose was to tell my experiences inside Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). The more I wrote, the more I needed to write. The process helped me sort the surreal and the confusions which came as a result of involvement in WOFF. The cathartic effects were priceless. The process did not stop there. As the months turned into years and the drive to share evolved into the desire to learn about other religious control groups; I made comparisons between WOFF and groups such as FLDS, Exclusive Brethren, Strong City, NTCC and others. Survivors of others groups read my posts and confirmed the likeness of their own experiences.
This phase led into reading and reviewing different resources that helped me understand my experience as well as the experience of others. For those readers who have visited over the years, you have seen these transitions. I have also chronicled the struggles of other survivors of WOFF. Helping them has been an honor and a privilege.
In the last few months, the pace of my postings has slowed, but the interest has not. My time has been spent compiling my experiences into a different format. It has been humbling and another type of struggle putting my thoughts, opinions and recollections into a book format. The process is near completion and I will share more about the finished product in the near future.
Earlier this month, I spent about ninety minutes sharing my experiences and what I have learned with two young college students. They had a beginner’s understanding about religious cults and were full of very good questions. They found me through a simple Internet search. After this experience, I realized that at least a portion of my readers are not searching for information about WOFF. Also, I know that a certain portion of my readers consists of those affected by WOFF and groups like them while never actually being a member of such a group.
It is with these background thoughts that I share the resource of the YouTube channel for the International Cultic Studies Association. I trust the source and actually met several of the presenters during the conference in July of 2014. The main channel link is here.
The first video I recommend has K. Gordon Neufeld as the presenter. I met Mr. Neufeld this past July and enjoyed his humorous reading from his book- “Cult Stories.” In this video he explains his time in The Unification Church (Moonies). He also goes into detail about his struggles with the questions about leaving the Moonies and reconciling the decision after he did leave the group. A note of irony, his initial exposure to the Unification Church came at a time when he was searching for answers about something totally different- Primal Scream Therapy. When I first read that in his book, I cackled.
“Writing Down the Pain: A Case Study for the Benefits of Writing for Cult Survivors”