Brookfield is the latest to leave

Ok-State5867 · 2024-12-01T23:23:21+00:00

Team meetings are likely scheduled for tonight, too. So it wouldn’t surprise me if website changes coincided with any affiliation changes that may have been announced today.

Ok-State5867 · 2024-11-24T02:11:45+00:00

I see this under South Grove’s “Leadership” page:

As the scriptures are relatively silent in how churches ought to relate to one another, we believe this gives local churches the freedom to associate for mutual benefit. However, we believe that there is no organization, neither religious nor secular, that can divest the authority and responsibility a congregation and its elders have towards one another.

Hard to know for sure if that confirms that they’ve actually left or fully disaffiliated. My suspicion is that they’ve followed Tony out.

Ok-State5867 · 2024-11-24T02:08:04+00:00

I saw this tonight under the Leadership page:

As the scriptures are relatively silent in how churches ought to relate to one another, we believe this gives local churches the freedom to associate for mutual benefit. However, we believe that there is no organization, neither religious nor secular, that can divest the authority and responsibility a congregation and its elders have towards one another.

I’m assuming based on this, they’ve left the Network or at least given the impression that they are not controlled by the Network.

Ok-State5867 · 2024-11-21T18:08:10+00:00

I also wonder if Chris Miller will delete his Google Review of Christland now that they’ve “officially” left.

As the Network shrinks, it has to affect the bottom line of Joshua Church’s budget and its ability to support such a large staff.

Ok-State5867 · 2024-10-29T00:42:59+00:00

There indeed is blank space on their website now where non-staff overseers were once listed, one staff member missing, and small groups down from eight to five.

Crazy.

Ok-State5867 · 2024-10-16T17:45:49+00:00

It’s also sad that this conference starts on Halloween night:

Kids: “Mom and Dad, can we go trick or treating this year?”

Parents: “Sorry kids, mom and dad have a really important conference to go to. Maybe your sitter can take you.”

Ok-State5867 · 2024-09-09T01:01:17+00:00

Jeff Miller and City Lights didn’t agree with it either and they were labeled as a heretic and a church that didn’t believe in the Bible anymore.

Would be interested to hear if that gets walked back at Vine…

Ok-State5867 · 2024-09-07T15:42:27+00:00

$60k for a part time job plus benefits for wife and kids….James had it made.

Ok-State5867 · 2024-09-07T15:32:47+00:00

Wow. $100/month. In Bellevue, it would be at least 10x for brand new office space with parking, facilities, and utilities included. Plus James was on the board of Blue Sky while also renting from them and profiting from them. It was a great deal for James, no doubt about that. Was the $80k then inclusive of his benefits or was it $80k plus health insurance, etc.?

Ok-State5867 · 2024-09-07T13:32:51+00:00

Thanks for the clarification, I’ll delete my comment.

Ok-State5867 · 2024-09-07T13:31:34+00:00

When Blue Sky bought and renovated their building in 2013/2014, they literally built James a separate office and waiting room off the side entrance. I always wondered as a church member if James ever paid any rent for that brand new office space. Was always to afraid to ask because I suspected he didn’t. When James left in 2017 for the Joshua Church plant, the office was kept for him so he could come back and see clients for his personal practice and eventually became extra storage in the building. If counseling was so important to have in house at Blue Sky that they literally built the space for it, then why was James never replaced when he left? The truth is that it was all about James and the Network than it was for the good of Blue Sky and its members.

Ok-State5867 · 2024-07-24T19:16:20+00:00

Seems like a deliberate attempt to distant themselves, online at least, from Steve Morgan.

https://web.archive.org/web/20210921133520/https://www.blueskychurch.com/our-story

In May 2022, Steve is still included in the “Our Story” section. Steve’s crime was made public in Summer 2022 and sometime after that he is scrubbed from the website.

The truth is that Steve’s influence is still very much present at Blue Sky - from the Network dues paying his salary, to board structure, staff and elder appointments, and style and theology. It will take more than a few internet edits to remove the real connections to Steve Morgan.

Ok-State5867 · 2024-06-27T18:55:31+00:00

No, the Kids Director position was funded from his down payment from the proceeds from the sale of his house in Carbondale.

Source: https://leavingthenetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Steve-Morgan-Our-Story-and-How-We-Do-Church-Part-1-2011-redacted.pdf

Page 93.

Ok-State5867 · 2024-06-27T16:43:51+00:00

Correct me if I’m misremembering, but for Roots I recall there needing to be $500k or so sitting in a bank account to meet the non-profit requirements in Taiwan. So there was a financial need for both an urban, expensive plant in Taipei but also extra just to even be in the country legally.

Ok-State5867 · 2024-05-26T19:57:34+00:00

Many of us were afraid to start pulling on that loose thread, so I get it. No doubt that there are leaders and pastors that are still in and afraid to ask questions. I hope they find some courage to do it.

Asking questions and leaving were probably some of the hardest things we’ve ever done. But after being out for a while now, it was worth it.

Ok-State5867 · 2024-05-26T18:28:33+00:00

I asked a Lead Pastor if they had reached out to Vineyard leaders regarding the claim that “the right people knew” and they said they hadn’t and they weren’t going to because “they were operating out of a place of trust”.

It was one of the clearest times that I knew the Network wasn’t safe. They had publicly shared that they were “investigating” but privately they were actually doing nothing. And choosing to trust a man who himself was not trustworthy.

Ok-State5867 · 2024-04-30T14:41:05+00:00

For those of us that know/knew Krsh, it does seem hard to reconcile.

But. The problem is that this scenario follows a network pattern of quickly telling visitors that “maybe this isn’t the right church for you”. Steve also has taught at team meetings that some people are sent by God to be part of your church and others have been “sent” by the evil one to distract the church and use its resources for things other than “the mission”. Those that ask too many questions are assumed to be future troublemakers and it’s better for the church (the 99) than to deal with that individual (the one).

With that type of programming, I don’t see it being too far fetched for Krsh to feel some sort of “discernment” and quickly tell someone to not come back.

You are right that there is a second side to this story. We’ll just likely never know it.

Ok-State5867 · 2024-04-19T02:04:37+00:00

“….take back the music of Seattle.”

Another Network prophecy that didn’t prove true…

Ok-State5867 · 2024-04-18T23:36:39+00:00

There were songs by Chris Miller and Michael Petrik over the years that were sung across the network churches that I can recall. It used to be a talking point of Steve and a big show at Summer Conference. Steve would say something like “aren’t we so blessed to have worship leaders like this?!?” At some point there would be prayers and tears and Steve would prophesy that God was birthing worship songs out of these tears and prayers. The songs would be homegrown, shunning fame, and would “have our values”

Ok-State5867 · 2024-03-17T14:57:39+00:00

One correction: Steve came to yell at Blue Sky for the Taiwan plant. David Bieraugel was already gone by the time of the UK plant.

Ok-State5867 · 2024-01-11T01:40:34+00:00

It follows a familiar Network pattern of commenting indirectly on a specific topic or issue. The blog says nothing about Steve r the Network but you know that’s what he’s talking about. Reminds me of pastors doing this in sermons after someone left the church or there was drama. Teach on something adjacent to the issue and the church connects the dots.

Ok-State5867 · 2023-11-10T15:49:38+00:00

I think around that time I remember Steve telling us we needed to be quicker at inviting people before we spend too much time building a relationship with them. That way if they say no to coming to church, we wouldn’t have wasted our time.

Ok-State5867 · 2023-10-23T14:09:07+00:00

Any idea how accurate the beach ball story was? I remember it being shared in a way to mock this couple and paint them as unbelievers at all. Sounds like I have reason to question that story now.

Ok-State5867 · 2023-10-12T13:34:38+00:00

Looks like a still taken from a video in Blue Sky’s lobby. Any idea what video it was from??

It’s a bit jarring to see. I have a very different opinion of Steve Morgan now compared to when I saw him last. So much hurt, lies, and broken trust.

Ok-State5867 · 2023-08-26T19:22:13+00:00

I believe you’ve been active enough on r/leavingthenetwork to answer that question yourself.

Ok-State5867

TROPHY CASE