Another Blogger Joins the Fray: The Articles of Indignation: Exposing the Corruption of Kip McKean's "Churches" (The ICC)

I am glad to welcome a new blogger to the fray today, a former member of Kip McKean's International Christian Church (ICC) with quite a few things to say about his time in the cult. His conclusions about the group are strikingly similar to mine. I think it adds strength to both my statements and his that we both were able to come to such similar conclusions about the abusive nature of this group. (Well, he and I and a few thousand other people before us.)

Kip McKean: Closet Atheist?

a·the·ist - "a person who lacks belief in the existence of God"

Kip McKean for decades has always liked to present himself as a sort of "super Christian" and even at one time believed that he was literally a full-fledged apostle of Jesus Christ - just like Paul and Peter and the rest of the twelve or so historical apostles, who died out about two thousand years ago, never to be replaced until Kip walked the earth. 

But when we look a little closer, we can come to no conclusion other than Kip must be a closet atheist. 

Either that, or he has invented a "god" in his own mind (which makes him no different from a pagan or idolater). What other possible could explain Kip's bizarre statements and behavior?

You Know You're A Member of Kip McKean's Sold Out Movement When

Guest post by anonymous writer via the comments section of a previous post (thank you and please keep the great comments coming!):

10. You're not permitted to wear swim suits, ride alone in a car with the opposite sex, go on solo dates and must look away during kissing scenes on tv/movie "to protect your purity". Yet, there are no shortage of sisters who show up for church in skin tight clothing, wearing hooker heels with hair/make-up all done in a way that would rival any hard working stripper.

9. You're told that you must IMITATE, OBEY and SUBMIT to the authority of your 22 year-old church leader who barely had enough credits to graduate high school, never had a job other than his stint as a bus boy at Frosty Freeze and brags during every sermon that he has a degree from the church's unaccredited school the ICCM. Meanwhile his wife (the women's ministry leader) still reads Teen Vogue and is obsessed with taking selfies.

8. Every Good News E-Mail is inundated with pictures of Kip, Elena and other ICC Leaders traveling the globe (in style) visiting places like London, Paris, Spain, Australia, Hawaii, Chile, etc. While you're struggling to pay the rent/bills, living off of top ramen and can barely afford the gas to shuffle your 6 roommates to and from church events because you are constantly brow beaten to "sacrifice" so as to fund these vacations, ahem, I mean "missionary" trips.

Kip McKean's Salary: $200,000+ (And Growing)

This is one of the best-kept secrets in Kip's Kingdom - Kip McKean's salary.

The church does everything it can to conceal this information, and with good reason. Many, if not most, members might be quite a bit more reluctant to sacrifice their own money if they knew just how much of it goes to lifestyle expenses for the McKeans.

Let's look at the year 2010, as I have the information on hand from the financial presentation that was given at the end of November, 2010. (As of this writing, the audio is still available on the official church websites if you search for it.)

At the end of November, (according to the audio) the church had taken in $780,000 for the year. And weekly contribution was $15,000, which multiplies out to a similar annual figure.

The International College of Christian Ministry (ICCM)

Well, it seemed amazing that the International Christian Churches could set up a whole university in a couple of weeks, and even decorate founder Kip McKean with a doctorate degree almost as quickly.

How did they do it? Easy!

IT'S. NOT. ACCREDITED!

That means, any "degrees" it issues are COMPLETELY IMAGINARY and not worth a 5 cents. The ICCM is NOT A REAL SCHOOL.

Kip McKean's $650,000 Condo

(Cussing warning - but it's a quote, and in context. And you'll NEVER guess who it was.)

I was recently reminded of the following:

Kip McKean lives in a $650,000 luxury condo that he purchased in 2010. (For the record, as seen in the link, Kip's legal name is "Thomas Wayne", not "Kip".)

This condo has a special significance to me. This is where I visited Kip in 2011 to talk about lying, theft, abuse and threats by one of his top leaders. And was completely shot down.

If I were better informed about Kip's history, I would have known in advance how the meeting would turn out. Kip would categorically defend the higher leader (Victor), and systematically attack the lower leader (me). Because leadership is from God and leaders are always right. And the most important thing is to maintain order. Leaders on top, and Kip on top of the leaders.

So, my Kip McKean luxury condo meeting was short and ended abruptly. I started talking, and for several seconds started to tell Kip how Victor had lied to me and abused his position in the church to steal from me.

Kip then interrupted me to insist that nothing of the sort had happened. Victor was innocent of all charges (except of possibly being "insensitive"), and that everything was certainly just a "misunderstanding."

Never mind that Victor had already confessed to everything in front of a witness.

Outrageous Ministry Compensation

How much should ministers make? A reasonable middle-class salary? Something in line with what the members of the church earn? Maybe, like Jesus and the apostles, earn nothing or next to nothing?

Or how about, oh, say, $300,000.00 per year?

Check out the following link:

http://www.icocinvestigation.com/Documents/aces1212.pdf

It is to a copy of payment information for payments made to certain church leaders, including Steve and Lisa Johnson, in December, 1996.

It shows the Johnsons earning a combined bi-weekly base salary of $3,692.13. Now, if you multiply that out a bit, it comes to $95,995.38 per year, just base salary. After you add in parsonage (they live rent-free in church-funded housing) and other benefits outlined in that document, the compensation package comes up to $11,793.45 every two weeks, which is $25,552.48 per month or a whopping $306,369.70 per year!

This blew my mind. I suspected it was extravagant but this just seems surreal.

The Church of Jesus and The Apostles Today?

Kip McKean and the builders of the International Christian Church claim that the ICC is the reappearance in modern times of Jesus' Church.

God's One True Church!

YHWH's Sovereign Movement! Of Sold-Out Disciples!

(Aside: Ever think about the term, "Sold-Out"? And the fact that it refers to money? And materialism?)

They claim that the Faithful, Baptized members of the ICC are (almost without exception) the Only True Christians and Saved People in the Whole Wide World.

Let's see... These are pretty dramatic claims. Do you think they will hold up to scrutiny?

One, money. In Jesus' church, there was not a constant drumbeat for the members to give more and more and more money. In fact, many leaders in the early church took no salary, and those who did received the same meager amount that was given to widows in the church to live on. That's not much!

No $650,000 condos or $300,000 annual salaries like in Kip's churches in more recent times. Here's a blog post I wrote a couple months ago talking more in depth about how Kip's church treats the topic of money differently than Jesus' church did. And here's a bit more on the topic of money in Kip's churches. And there will be more still, later.

Two,

KipMcKean.com And Church Bullying

I'm starting to recognize a pattern here. So sad that it took me as long as it did to connect the dots.

Did you ever see the website KipMcKean.com? A former member of one of Kip's churches set it up to give the public information about Kip's controversial ministry and the story of the churches that he leads. That is, until Kip and his agents bullied the site owner into turning over the domain to the church so that they could use it as a propaganda tool. This is great for the church because all of the links that used to go to the objective website, KipMcKean.com, now lead to the propaganda website that Kip controls at the same address. So most Google searches that had previously lead to accurate, objective, and true information about the church, now lead to rosy-colored, "official," church-sponsored propaganda.

Kip used a bullying tactic to seize the domain, including legal threats like this letter, written, by the way, by a former roommate of mine.

A Letter To A Young Disciple - Control

This is the third in a series of letters written to new or prospective members of the International Christian Church (ICC) led by Kip McKean. These are things that I wish that someone had brought to my attention at age 18 when I joined, and before I wasted 15 good years of my life.

The purpose of the church is control. The church exists to control. If the church is not controlling, it is not fulfilling its function.

Letter To A Young Disciple - Lost And Saved

Are you baptized, or thinking about doing it? Is someone you love studying with the church or become a member already?

This is the second in a series of letters that I am writing about things that I wish I had known or fully realized before investing years of my life in Kip McKean's churches.

There is no other way to say this. Kip's church believes that it is the only one saved on the planet. Yes, they will say that this is not true, but this is more for political reasons than anything. Coming right out and saying, "We are the only saved ones on the planet!" tends to turn people off pretty quickly.

Letter To A Young Disciple - Money

Thinking of getting baptised? Already did? The following is the first in a series of letters describing what I wish I knew before I spent so many of my prime years in Kip McKean's churches.

Jesus is represented by the church in modern times and he - they - want(s) EVERYTHING. When I left the church, I was giving approximately 25% of my disposable income to the church, and they were pressuring me to give even more. I was also doing church activities 6-7 days a week besides working a full-time job and raising a family.

Conclusions To Be Drawn From My Experiences In Kip McKean's Church

Money is King

Kip's church is, as far as I can tell, much more focused on money than the church in the Bible. Minister compensation, while not as exorbitant as in some denominations known for pastors in giant mansions and brand-new sports cars, is a far cry from the vow of poverty of the original church or even that of nuns in the modern Catholic church. (Here is a longer post with my observations about minister compensation in Kip's churches).

In my meetings with Kip to discuss the abuses suffered under VGSr's leadership, I got the definite and distinct feeling that the main concern on Kip's mind was how much...

How Much Money Does It Take?

In my judgement, one of the biggest ways that Kip's church* differs from Jesus' church of the first century is how it deals with money.

Kip's church is, and always has been, very money-focused. Money focused as in, constantly pressure all members to give more of it to the church. There is a weekly contribution to which members are "encouraged" to give 10-plus percent of their pre-tax income. Then a separate weekly offering for the poor. Then a once-or-more-per-year "Special Contribution" where members are sent out to fund-raise amounts expected to be 10-15x of their regular weekly contribution...

Lying, Stealing, and Threats, Part III

(Intro) (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (En Español)

So that fateful day, not too many months after the lies, stealing, and threats, described in the part one and part two of my story, VGSr asked to meet with me and my wife at his apartment, which was near where I lived.

We went there and met him, and he had another married couple there waiting, DJ and VJ. VGSr told me that he was concerned about how I was doing spiritually. (The issue was that I had not given my weekly $$$ to the church for the previous couple of weeks). I told him that I was not sure if I wanted to remain a member of the church, and that I did not see eye to eye with the church on some different issues any more (I won't bore you with the details about the differences in beliefs right here, but might do so later for those interested in such things).

VGSr got very mad. He started telling me why I was so wrong and messed up, that I would become an enemy of God and end up going to hell...

Lying, Stealing, and Threats, Part II

(Intro) (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (En Español)

So a couple of years went by. My doubts of the integrity of VGSr continued to mount. Ever since I met him, I would constantly get this feeling like he was lying. Except I could never catch him in a direct lie. It was usually over things that I could not verify, and the couple of times that I asked him about things he seemed to get offended, so I didn't press. I figured, if he really is lying, it will eventually come out - he can't hide it forever. If he's not, I'll just be making a fool of myself.

So after undergoing the same sensation dozens if not hundreds of times, or possibly every time VGSr opened his mouth, the time came where I was able to definitively prove for myself whether my suspicions were well-founded or not...

Lying, Stealing, and Threats, Part I

(Intro) (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3) (Para leerlo en Español)

Small bits of money lent bit by bit, and always with fervent promises of soon paying back everything, turned into thousands of dollars (yeah, I know, I was pretty dumb). Part of it was from lending a phone line in my name, which added a couple of hundred dollars every month for several months.

But it came to the point where I realized that the promises to repay were empty at best, and blatantly deceptive at worst. I watched as VGSr* spent money all over the place on many frivolous things that I would consider much less important than trying to pay back even a dollar of what he owed me. So I cut him off.

But being the wily and manipulative sort that he is, and me being the slow and over-trusting fool that I was, let myself get trapped one more time...

Why I Left the City Of Angels International Christian Church

(En español)

The description of my experiences has been divided into three main parts:

Part One, where one of the main leaders in the church bilks me out of thousands of dollars with lies and tricks and then threatens me (temporarily) into silence;

Part Two, where it it revealed that the lies go much farther than had at first been evident; and that going to top leadership (aka, Kip McKean) is useless,

Part Three, where Kip McKean and other leaders in the church threaten to try to destroy my family.

And finally, conclusions that can be drawn from all of this.

Please note that I have since left the City of Angels International Christian Church and its respective "Sold-Out Discipling Movement" and moved far away in an attempt to protect my family and our respective mental, social, spiritual, and physical health.

These things are far from pleasant for me to talk or write about. However I am sharing my story here publicly so that others can be made aware and in the hope that I can prevent at least someone from having to go through similar trauma or abuse.

Thank you for reading and for sharing these posts with others.

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