Tag Archives: WOFF

Uncategorized, WOFF Updates

The Federal Injunction: The Cure Becomes the Disease (1)

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About a year ago, I hinted at a post which would include a review of the ominous “Federal Injunction.” Time passes quickly and this seems to be the time to bring to you a short background and review of the results of the lawsuit Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) brought against the Rutherford County Department of Social Services (RCDSS). The basis for the legal action was the investigative techniques taken by RCDSS workers during their investigation of WOFF. Let me say I am no legal scholar. At this moment, I do not have a copy of the entire case file. I only have the document from which the new guidelines were put forth. I have no intentions of reviewing the entire case file in this post. That review is for another time and another venue. Today, we will take an overview of the “Stipulation for Compromised Settlement Thereon” filed June 21, 2005 in the United States District Court for the Western Division of North Carolina Asheville Division pertaining to Case File No. 1:03CV298. From the case file number- we can learn that this case started in 2003.

The perspective I bring to this discussion is unique in several ways. First, I was inside WOFF during the investigation. At the very beginning of the whole ruckus, I lived in Greenville, SC and was a part of Word of Life Church – otherwise known as Grace and Truth Fellowship. During the frenzy around the Inside Edition investigation, we felt the pressure in Greenville. Looking back, I know we were not privileged to the entire scoop, but we heard enough and saw enough to feel the same pressures and fears even though we lived several miles away. The news investigators came to Greenville and attempted to interview Gerald and Linda Southerland during 1995. During the years between 1995 and 2002, we were becoming more and more part of the WOFF drama. Looking back, I understand we were only told what was okay for those at our level of the WOFF pyramid to know. I am sure I do not have complete knowledge of the inside drama during those years, but I was aware of the main steps and what DSS did to investigate the children inside certain of WOFF. As mentioned previously, in 2002, we moved inside the group into a WOFF household. We were in the meeting where Jane introduced the idea to the congregation asking the question if we felt that suing DSS was the right thing to do. There was apparent agreement expressed. Jane then announced we would do just that…

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Behavior Control, Information control, Uncategorized, WOFF Updates

Three WOFF Survivors Speak Out!

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tears of pain
tears of pain

This has been another busy 48 hours on certain social media outlets. During this period three Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) survivors have put short versions of their plight inside the group. Each left at different times, but you will see certain commonalities in their stories. You may ask John, why would you repost here? The answer is simple. Not everyone is on Facebook® nor does everyone care to be socially connected in that way. In light of that, I have asked for and received permission to repost these short stories here. I have been in contact off and on with Morgan Sample for longer than any of them. She told me this part of her story when we first connected and yet, she did not feel comfortable to share it here on this blog or other social media outlets. Now, she has let others know what she had already told in private. Continue reading for the survivor stories…

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Uncategorized, WOFF Updates

DSS Returns WOFF Escapee

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Friday, I received an email about an incident on Wednesday in Rutherford County. I read the email, read it again and then read it again before I understood the impact of the content. Here is the important part of the email—

“…DSS… they had a girl about 17 try to leave WOFF Wed. She came to DSS. They were so afraid of WOFF that they put her in a room by herself and immediately called WOFF. They of course came and took her back with her head slumped forward.”

It seems this drama had been playing out for a couple of days and I was just being included. Sources confirmed the story of a young girl from Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF) who ended up at Department of Social Services (DSS) in Rutherford County. Because of their fear of the dreaded Federal Injunction… they were kept from doing their duty and as the email says, “…put her in a room by herself and immediately called WOFF.” That is not the official version, but a version from someone INSIDE the DSS who was there when it all went down. The official version will include a retelling of the events as if the young girl willingly went back into her parents home after the situation with a cell phone was resolved and she was expected to live happily ever after.

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Behavior Control, Criteria for Cults, Uncategorized

She has no self awareness….

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As with many posts written previously for this blog, I begin this one in the early morning hours. It has been a long work day, but the drive and need to write the thoughts from today lead me to yet again delay reasonable sleep time and explore the musings over a series of thoughts and observations from earlier on Wednesday. I won’t pretend to be able to completely cover the scope of the subject which is introduced here. My hopes are to write until some more answers come and hopefully spark some more interest and understanding in those who read this post.

Wednesday afternoon, a coworker and I were tactfully going over the observations she had about another one who works on the team. This following statement was not intended to be harmful; I felt as if the person who made it was trying to explain their difficulties with the other person in hopes of finding more patience in dealing with them. She said the person “has no self-awareness.” Honestly, I don’t interact with the person in question enough to be qualified to make such an observation. My hours are only part-time whereas the person talking worked with the young person in question much more than I. I simply listened and as with certain statements made to me or around me during the day, I registered them somewhere in my conscious or sub consciousness. This scenario landed in the consider later stack.

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Books, Resources, Uncategorized

Have you ever been shunned or disfellowshipped?

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This week had a wide array of experiences and I found some of them to be related in some unusual ways. In town where I live, there is a shortcut to the local grocery store that has sharp turn that ends at a traffic light. If you are going to the store this way, you may end up being held at the light until it turns green. While parked in the first position at the light, other cars leaving the main road turn right in a tight spot that requires them to make a sharp turn to the right in order to stay in the proper lane. While those folks are negotiating that turn, they come awfully close to the driver’s side of those who are waiting!

One day as I was the person making the right turn, I saw the concerned face of the driver going the opposite direction. They looked as if they were expecting me to hit them! Of course, I did not. But, as I drove away, I mulled over their expression and realized it was for the most part totally unfounded. I had just as much desire to NOT hit them as they had desire to NOT be hit. It works the same on a two lane road. The constant flow of drivers going 55 mph in opposite directions with only a few feet of space between them works for a few reasons. One is proper training, but the main reason- each one desires to live and not have an accident. All things being equal and with no one operating a handheld electronic device while driving; this common desire to survive; keeps drivers safe and traffic flowing. When this desire to survive or continue living becomes shaky, then people have used vehicles to commit suicide or worse- car bombings. Yes, tragic but true.

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Uncategorized, WOFF Updates

Michael Lowry tells — the rest of the story (long read)

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 As I sit here watching a beautiful sunrise on Friday morning, I reflect on the events over the last year. It was January 2013 that three young men left Word of Faith Fellowship (WOFF). One of them, Matthew Fenner, we featured in the last post. It was very soon thereafter Michael Lowry went back in WOFF. What a perplexing time! There were indictments pending at that time against a few WOFF members for their part in the incidents Michael Lowry described which could have put many of the destructive WOFF practices in the public eye. But, alas Michael was taken back in and the confusion would soon thicken over the next few weeks as authorities would hear Michael recant and say the events he told of never happened..???

For those less familiar with Michael’s journey, let’s recap how events unfolded up to the first week in February 2013.  Michael was born into WOFF and spent his whole life inside until November 2011. After much intense emotional drama, Michael Lowry was taken to a motel in Forest City, NC on or about November 19, 2011. After two days, I was contacted and agreed to meet with Michael. We spent time at a local restaurant while he told his emotional exit story. After a few phone calls, we were able to secure his personal items which had previously been withheld. His steps after this time would include trips to see relatives as well as other moves to find Michael’s next place in his life.

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