But Merritt is happy with the fact that in all the years he has been with Eagle Brook, there has not been a single scandal. If the elders decided he qualified, theyd recommend someone to him for marriage, she said. I wasnt doing well, he admitted. There was also a huge emphasis on music. There were these ingrained gender roles. Several of the people we interviewed for this story remember Josh, a young man who left Gospel Outreach when he was 17 years old. Well call her Sarah. Chauvin started college at age 30 and is now in the nursing program. The church has six campuses across the. I remember seeing Chuck Swindoll at an E.V. (He can be seen in video clips from the period.). Therefore, I apologize for what Wednesdays front page article may have communicated about our church. Its just a cycle of abuse.. Jason Strand is the new pastor of Eagle Brook, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eagle_Brook_Church&oldid=1135337933, Evangelical megachurches in the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Minnesota articles missing geocoordinate data, Articles missing coordinates without coordinates on Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 24 January 2023, at 01:50. Each one is around 30 minutes. Every weekday at 7 a.m. they hold a mens meeting where they pray, drink coffee and discuss various matters, sometimes rendering binding decisions on issues ranging from child discipline to marriage approvals. Most of us have. Abigail said Joshs suicide continued to weigh on her, though she stayed in the church for more than a year afterwards. Sometimes wed come back in the evening for more singing.. I taught pre-algebra. The Bible is the foundation for all that we teach and we hope that we can join hands with every Bible-believing church in the Twin Cities to reach as many people for Christ as we can. There wasnt any pressure from him. In the first year, almost didnt make it, he recalled. Today, we have the advantage of learning from the conversations that followed. In the church, when they find out youve been touched, youre [considered] dirty. I also wasnt eating properly. Eating disorders were common among girls in Gospel Outreach, Mandville said. Skipping meetings and playing hookie werent really options, according to DeSoto. After the attempt, she remained despondent and numb. The church was founded in 1948 as a house Bible study group called the First Baptist Church led by Sam and Ethel Hane in White Bear Lake, Minnesota. After over nearly three decades of leading what has grown to become the largest church in Minnesota, pastor Bob Merritt has retired from the nine-campus Eagle Brook Church. Thats you. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. The teachers were women from the church, none of them accredited. [1] The senior pastor is Jason Strand. But I knew in my spirit that he was ready. And they began hearing things from the staff and they began digging deeper., Merritt said there was one board member in particular who went through similar issues and began to lean in on it., He saw my verbal misconduct, impatience, harsh language, those kinds of things. Its got to line up with my giftings. The more immature people on the other hand they were followers of a celebrity pastorand werent giving anything anyway. Back in May, two former members of Gospel Outreach of Eureka, a church that grew out of the Christian hippie commune at Lighthouse Ranch, contacted the Outpost to report a COVID-19 outbreak among the congregation. April 17, 2017 / 10:10 PM This time, lets talk about arrogance. They would push you for honesty but if you werent giving them what they wanted you had to make it up, Mandville said. It was a mixture of clinical depression and the churchs lack of response, or inappropriate response to it, she said. Her mom suffered from gaps in her memory due to the emotional and physical trauma, Villareal said, but when she tried to talk to other women in the church about the abuse she was told to come under and stop gossiping. My teaching pastor, Jason Strand, has been with me for 12 years, he said. Eagle Brook Church is a Baptist Evangelical multi-site megachurch based in Centerville, Minnesota. The writer serves on the Republican Partys 6th Congressional District Executive Committee as vice chair representing Anoka County. When there was a potluck, girls would bring a dish. Our values are to pursue God, build community, and unleash compassion both locally and globally. We love the church. And with 240 staff members and 27 weekly services, the audience is growing. First published on April 17, 2017 / 10:10 PM. At the height of her depression, she started having dark fantasies. Its 300 members exploded to 25,000 over the years, and the church took a new name, Eagle Brook. As of March 1, 2020, Pastor Jason Strand, 41, is leading Lino Lakes-based Eagle Brook megachurch. At Gospel Outreach, an all-male group of elders sits atop the hierarchy. I remember looking around the room going, Were all depressed and just not talking about it., All of us were just constantly sick. He says it's music people can relate to, and relatability is what Merritt, who's been at the church since 1991, is all about. Notably, Guatemalan dictator Gen. Efrain Rios Montt became a convert and, following a 1982 military coup in that country, he employed Gospel Outreach in the notorious rural pacification program known as beans and bullets. Church members supplied food, medicine and clothing to local residents before Montts forces came in and razed their villages, killing hundreds of indigenous Mayans and rendering survivors wards of the government. It starts with spanking but leads to much more and reporting it is considered uncovering your fathers nakedness., Sarah said she was beaten and molested by a younger church member. Thats frowned on., Chauvin, who is now 34, was entering sixth grade when the Gospel Outreach school opened, and she remembers it as a turning point. Embarrassingly to admit, I was horrified, Chauvin said. / CBS Minnesota. He never put that kind of pressure on me. Eventually, we spoke at length with seven former members of the church, all of whom felt it was important for the larger community to know what goes on there. The most stressful scenario for many of the kids came during the morning circle meetings, where students would gather with Pastor Sczepanski to talk about his latest sermon and other spiritual matters. I taught for the next three years. Abigail said Gospel Outreachs instruction used similar tactics. Theyre fallen from grace. Unfortunately, the cons are many. Eagle Brook Church Overview 60 Reviews 32 Jobs 25 Salaries 4 Interviews 9 Benefits 9 Photos 18 Diversity Follow + Add a Review Employee Review See All Reviews ( 60) 2.0 Former Employee, more than 1 year A bittersweet experience in ministry due to poor leadership and negative environment. I told my mom and [my parents] had him buy me a new pair of rollerblades. I had an associate who basically wanted my job and he didnt get chosen. The father is the ultimate authority. Im hoping if someone is having doubts and they know about this article, Im hoping they can get some clarity, she said. Hes very loving but Im always waiting for him to hit me or berate me. She was a proponent of pro-abortion, pro-gay rights Republican. "The first message that I heard the day I walked in I felt like I was the only person in the room," she said. Gospel Outreach School is registered with the California Department of Education as a nondenominational religious private school offering first through 10th grades. The church staff turned an old K-Mart into an $18 million facility. Chauvin was working as a part-time teacher when she first heard that Todd had molested two girls. He wrote a book on leadership, but he may be even more famous for the person he followed in pastoral ministry. Merritt said the church graciously hired a counselor to serve as his leadership coach. If you werent daily giving your all for the glory of Christ, why were you even here? "It's not a suit-and-tie place.". Jason Strand | Message 24 of 127. Please enter valid email address to continue. I don't think the congregation was aware of all the backstory. OBITUARY: Dwight Galen Griffith, 1990-2021, Quarantined: A New Law Is Disrupting California School Reopenings . ), Swindoll was probably the biggest radio preacher of that golden age. Sczepanski is the executive director and sole administrator. What was the story? Other voices: From the lab or nature, look to China for COVIDs origin, Jermaine Fowler: How forgotten Black history has been recovered by rogue scholars, Hastings delivers improbable rally to stun defending champ St. Michael-Albertville in 3A wrestling final, John Shipley: Timing on Lindsay Whalen decision seems odd, Two graduates allege in lawsuits sexual groping by fellow students, frat-like culture at St. Thomas Academy, Boys section hockey: Mahtomedi breaks away late from Chisago Lakes to earn state tourney return, How much is too much? It could have been a number of things. But if lying is your pattern, its most certainly hurting your relationshipswith the people in your life and with God. A sign for Gospel Outreach faces Harris Street near the entrance to the McKay Community Forest. But what about you? Sorry, Im gonna cry. "I think it's a sin for people to come into a church and be bored," he said. " Bob Merritt is the retired senior pastor of Eagle Brook Church in suburban Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, USA, a megachurch. If you do something evil? 'Resenting God': When Christians Feel Anger, Where Churches Fail, and Why the Bible Is Vital, Actor Corbin Bernsens powerful message about hate and anger', Harvest Bible Chapel formally disqualifies former pastor James MacDonald, citing 1 Timothy 5, Pastor Jonathan Stockstill says ministry leaders should have character, not just gifts. Young women tend to accept their fate. Return to homepage. Its neat to see how far Ive come, not just physically but also mentally, she said. I was going so fast. 33% of this went to "HR" costs, 11% into capitol and campus expansion, 22% to ministry and administration costs, 29% to cash reserves and future expansions, 4% to facilities. Eagle Brook is one church with multiple locations. I dont know anything about the location. They're not even allowed to drive from our office to our main campus, which is just a mile away from our office.. Little white lie or major fibdishonesty can happen to the best of us. The other campuses have their own campus pastor but watch the message from Merritt or another speaking pastor on a big screen. She explained that the men will often talk among themselves and decide, My son will marry your daughter.. We've all been thereyoure in school, the teacher asks a tough question, and all you can do is avert your eyes and pray not to be called on. Eventually she decided she needed to get out. Theyre listening to the devil.. "We're trying to hit that 80 percent.". I think a lot of times the students were just looking for who was going to be the one that day, DeSoto said. As a child theres how I describe it is brainwashing, she said. Instead, there are lots of blue jeans. He would punch me, push me into the wall, this or that. One night, he was told at a church board meeting that he needed to get help or he was going to be fired. But I see a lot of the baggage in my marriage. Your email address will not be published. The former Gospel Outreach members said punishment was typically meted out both at home and at school in one of three ways: monetary fines, psychological torment or physical violence. He compiled 240 pages of feedback from all these people and spent three days reading it back to me. Reached by phone, her stepfather declined to comment on any specific things Celeste alleged, but in general, he said, I really dont want to tear down the church and I think that shes not accurately representing the way that I raised her.. They wanted you to adhere: Dont stray off the script., Chauvin got the same message. We are one church in nine locations. So he was tough to deal with for a year. Back in May, two former members of Gospel Outreach of Eureka, a church that grew out of the Christian hippie commune at Lighthouse Ranch, contacted the to report a COVID-19 outbreak among the . We never really got much science or literature. Every year, there are seemingly a handful of pastors who garner headlines because they were booted or forced to resign from their church over some kind of personal failing, whether it's sexual immorality or some other form of sin. 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. Anything like this is dealt with in the mens meeting because women are not in charge of anything, Chauvin said. [2] In 1991 Bob Merritt became the senior pastor of the 300-member church. The message is beamed. "It's not about being big, never has been," he said, adding, "It's justGod keep using us, and we'll try to follow.". *Empowered by God to reach others for Christ* Traditional, non-traditional, doesnt matter. There is a real grieving thats going on in my own spirit.. Eagle Brook is a satellite church and has campuses all over the metro and Rochester. Some readers may be unfamiliar with Chuck, but many will know that he is the longtime radio preacher for the radio program Insight for Living. Each weekend service lasts about one hour. So, what keeps people in it for the long haul? What, after all, was even the great ApostlePaul? She asked if anything was sexual, Villareal said. After all that was said and done, our church took off again. If you had a disagreement, you could be ostracized from the community in a moment, he said. According to the Pew Research Center, since 2007 the number of Minnesotans who attend church regularly has dropped by 4 percent. About this app. You dont think of a cult as something you see every day you think of it as, like, sister wives and all that, she said. Help keep The Christian Post free for everyone by making a one-time donation today. It does not award high school diplomas or offer special education. For more information about Eagle Brook Church, visit eaglebrookchurch.com. But ultimately, the Lord is the only One who ever deserves praise. As evidence, she and others described a pattern in which children attend a church-run school, girls primary career path is teaching in the school, boys can aspire to work in a handful of businesses owned by church members, male elders confer to arrange marriages and family ties make the prospect of leaving feel nearly impossible. Villareal was at a loss. Around 1999, Villareal said, leaders from Gospel Outreach Eureka began meeting more frequently with leaders from sister churches in Grants Pass and Olympia. His messages are also posted online, with viewers in all 50 states seeing them. And until you give someone the permission to dig around in your life a little bit, you may not ever find out until it's too late.. The skinny (as my aging brain remembers) that I once heard was thatwhen the famous preacher Chuck Swindoll left Fullerton, attendance dropped by 1,000, a huge hit even for a mega church seeing attendance in the 6,000 range. Eagle Brook . Females are not as respected as the church would like you to believe. Then in the second year, we went from 300 to 400 [members], then from 400 to 500 and then it just started to climb.. I was at school with [the mom] that next day, and she privately spoke [to another teacher] in the kitchen. Now that the Democrats are in control and are pushing for legalization of same-sex marriage, not a word of criticism appears about their not giving the real fiscal issues first priority. Now I think, Thank God Im out., Sarah said shes not surprised that most Humboldt County residents have no idea such a community exists right here in Eureka. and State College Blvd. You Betcha: Real advice for real marriages. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. DeSoto said the cruelty of these scenarios didnt really become clear to him until after he left the church and had some time to reflect. Wed all be in the classroom early before school, listening to Bastille or some other emo music. Lutherans and Catholics make up almost half of the state's faith population. Eagle Brook's approach to church has Minnesotans showing up in droves, and senior pastor Bob Merritt says it's partly because Eagle Brook tries to make the church experience less weird. Theyd say [to students], The sky is green? and wed say, Yes. The grass is blue? Yes. Youre supposed to repeat back illogical things to teach you not to disagree with what the leadership tells you.. Its all very interesting, looking at it afterwards, she said. Merritt said he plans to take the next few months to quiet his mind to figure out what God is calling him to do next. Im pretty sure it was a Promise Keepers event. It was part of his controlling thing, she said. And recently, she lost her national committeewoman position to someone more conservative, after serving only two years. Worse was getting singled out for judgment. | Photo by Andrew Goff. He said, Oh, you let girls play paintball and tug of war with the boys? she said. At some point I think it was when we went swimming in the summer he saw the scars on my legs., She was told to go talk to Pastor Szcepanski and his wife. If you would prefer not to see ads, we have another option. "Most of my adult life I had not attended church except for maybe on the holidays," she said. As a child you see this weird inner sanctum vibe going on, he said. [8] According to a church census released in 2020, it claimed a weekly attendance of 25,340 people and 9 campuses in different cities. And by the way, we've never had a scandal at our church.. Gospel Outreach of Eureka. With engaging music, great kids and students services, and the personal teaching style of Pastor Gene Appel, we're a place where you can . In a phone interview, Merritt looked back on his time at Eagle Brook with fond memories, though some times were harder than others. 1 Corinthians 3:4-7 (ESV). Eagle Brook is one church with multiple locations in Minnesota's Twin Cities metro area. Eagle Brook is Baptist in origin. By the time you got to a certain age, 11 or 12, you would be expected to join the worship team and the choir that sings every Sunday, Abigail said. At first my dad didnt think it was that big of a deal he thought it was just my hands, Abigail said. Looking back she thinks that this containment, this narrowing of the world into a hermetic and rigidly controlled society, is as damaging as anything else at Gospel Outreach. 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Gospel Outreach emerged from the hippie utopia that was Lighthouse Ranch, a commune of ragtag spiritual seekers, recovering addicts and countercultural Jesus People who, during the 1970s and 80s, lived and worshiped at the abandoned Coast Guard station that once sat atop Table Bluff. And we never talked about it again., Sarah blames the church culture more than her own parents. But one of the aspects of cults is that they push teens to make bigger ultimatums youre either all in or all out, he said. After [these meetings], church families would go up to Lighthouse Ranch, and thered be just hours of us kids doing whatever we wanted, she said. And they unloaded. Perhaps Pat Anderson is smart enough to realize that those who voted her out will not let her aberrant opinions become the policy of the Republican Party. Although Eagle Brook will still be his family church, Merritt said he is now just a church member. Chauvin said that when she turned 16 she was told that it was time for her to be done with school, so she took the high school proficiency exam. She stopped it immediately and told the leaders. That was one of those things that was swept very much under the rug. Suggested duration 1-2 hours Maybe. What kind of church would remove the Bible from their teaching? Search past episodes of Eagle Brook Church Podcast. The building sits at the back of a large parking lot down a dead-end street originally called Holy Spirit Lane. Jutting off Harris near Redwood Acres, the short road is now named St. James Place, though people familiar with the church even some of its members refer to it as the cult-de-sac. The suburban-style tract homes lining St. James Place are filled almost exclusively with members of the church. It messed with your immune systems, the stress and the amount of sleep we were getting it just wasnt good for your body., As a teenager, Sarah was prone to illness and infections, which she later attributed to stress. 25K views, 519 likes, 239 loves, 381 comments, 197 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from Eagle Brook Church: You are watching today's LIVE service, broadcasting from Lino Lakes, MN. In the early years it morphed and expanded under the charismatic leadership of Pastor Jim Durkin. The church has six campuses across the metro: in Blaine, Lino Lakes, Woodbury, Spring Lake Park, and White Bear Lake. Because he was a minor when the alleged abuse took place and has not been convicted of the crimes, well call him Todd (not his real name). The one building grew to nine campuses, from Wayzata to Woodbury to Rochester, making Merritt one of . We were charged $20 fines if we left something at home, Esther Mandville said. We also sent emails and left voice messages asking to speak with church leadership for this story but got no response. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. Any success weve experienced has little to do with us, and everything to do with the grace of God. This employer has claimed their Employer Profile and is engaged in the Glassdoor community. Eagle Brook Church will be going into the River City Church building on Hennepin . He would abuse us both, but instead of banding together, we would turn against each other, Villareal said. I was like, What do you mean? She said, If you have to think about it, it probably wasnt., She told me if I became virtuous then the Lord would give me a husband and take me away from all the abuse.. With her mom stuck in the same cycle of abuse, she had gone to the only person she could think of who might be able to help and instead felt dismissed. Watch Featured Messages Series Teaching Pastor Category The church teaches that depression and other mental health issues are the result of selfishness, Villareal said. It messed with our immune systems, the stress and the amount of sleep we were getting it just wasnt good for your body.. We're not allowed to have a female or male drive in a car alone together if one or the other is married. I decided this is a cult and I left.. "It's just less formal.". Abigail Mandville began cutting herself around the time she turned 17. He worked out an agreement with Strand that he will always be available to offer advice but will not do so in an encroaching manner. Up to 40,000 people attend Eagle Brook services in a given week. That probably saved me, saved my career. I was so relieved to have someone give me permission to do that, he recalled. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. And the fact that Humboldt Countys mental health services are just not enough to address the need. All that's just to help people who've never been to church before or people who've gone away from church.". Well never sell your personal information. The thing thats really hard for people who grew up in this religion is knowing how to explain how its a cult.
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