David
Covington's Resignation Letter to W. Joseph Tkach
| This letter covers the exploitation
members endured in the Worldwide Church of God,
the deceitful and abusive way the changes were made, and problems still
remaining inside. A copy of the following 11 page resignation letter was
mailed to the Exit & Support Network™ on May 11, 1996. Covington stated that he mailed this letter to all the Christian
groups he could think of, and it has circulated among many others,
including being posted on other websites. Also be sure and read: David Covington's Letter to Greg R. Albrecht
Covington's Cover Letter: May 11, 1996 I am pastor of the Worldwide Church of God (WCG) and contributing writer for its publication The Plain Truth. This past year I traveled to all six of our United States ministerial regional conferences as a workshop presenter on healing from spiritual abuse. The WCG has long been identified as a cult by such authors as Walter Martin, Kingdom of the Cults, and it has a long history of inflicting spiritual wounds. However, in the past couple of years, our group has been able to convince many outsiders, such as Hank Hanegraaff (Bible Answer Man), Ruth Tucker (Trinity University), and Christianity Today, of our repentance and move toward orthodoxy. I implore you to take a closer look at the underlying dynamics of the WCG. I feel this group is still very toxic and has fundamental changes it must make in order to be accepted into the Christian community as not being spiritually dangerous. My resignation letter is enclosed. Standing up for Jesus, David Covington David Covington,
NCC Saturday, May
11, 1996 Pastor General Joseph Tkach
Please circulate! Dear Mr. Tkach: Thank you for the opportunity to help present the 1995-96 Worldwide Church of God (WCG) ministerial regional conferences. I facilitated 24 groups on spiritual healing for over 600 ministers and their wives at sites in Oklahoma, California, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Illinois. The feedback has been excellent, both from the workshops and my 100-page Living Grace--Fully sermon series on the healing of the gospel. Based on a post-workshop survey, 75% "strongly agreed" and 22% "agreed" that addressing incidents of spiritual abuse was effective in establishing a need for healing. I have heard their stories, well over 100 incidents of spiritual abuse, both past and present. I have counseled and prayed with some and cried with others. And, many ministers have conveyed to me that they feel trapped by the current system, but are afraid to speak up. Since September 1994, I have corresponded at length with you and your father on a number of issues regarding manipulative tithing, legalism and our freedom in Christ. My 18-page paper outlined a plan for a "Ministry of Healing" (January 1995) toward becoming a healthy Christian church and served as a foundation for the present series of conferences. In August 1995, Greg Albrecht, editor of the Plain Truth, Norman Shoaf and I met in Pasadena to plan our conference sessions. As a listed contributing writer for the Plain Truth, I am featured on page 1 of the current May/June 1996 issue with the cover article, "The Healing Ministry of Jesus." The February issue contained my article, "Burdened by Debt," and I have two more articles scheduled for later this year, "Lazarus Unwound," with Roger Ludwig (Sept/Oct), and "Recovering from Spiritual Abuse," (Nov/Dec). In my paper I suggested utilizing respected and qualified field ministers to facilitate workshops at the conferences. However, you chose me because of my masters degree in counseling and in-depth research on spiritual abuse. In fact, I was also chosen, along with Larry Omasta, to produce a spiritual abuse video for sale in the Plain Truth, and I have completed a sermon message on Romans 10:9, one of seven lectionaries to be distributed nationwide for speakers to give at this year's festival of tabernacles. I write the preceding to demonstrate that I am not a disgruntled pastor, but, rather, a person favored by your administration and well acquainted with the significant problems of the WCG. I grew up in this fellowship; it has been my home for 25 years. I have been employed full-time in the ministry for five years. In this past year, I have had opportunities to interact with the vast majority of U.S., Canadian and Caribbean field ministry, and to have numerous private discussions with you, Mike Feazell, director Church Administration, and Greg Albrecht. These interactions have led me to a painful conclusion: Your administration shows no willingness to address the core, most damaging cultic aspects of the WCG system. As a result, I must resign from the full- time ministry. I am encouraging WCG congregations to hold open forums to prayerfully consider local incorporation, local governance, and local maintenance of funds. Where that is not possible, I am encouraging members to leave and join healthy Christian churches where they can find help and healing. This is not a decision I have reached lightly, nor is it one I desired. However, after 19 months of addressing these issues with your administration, it became apparent that I was actually enabling a sick system that does not desire genuine change for Jesus. After I returned from the Portland conference in March 1996, the Holy Spirit convicted me to confront openly your administration's on-going problems. This is not against you. I love Mr. Albrecht, appreciate Mr. Feazell's efforts and validate what you have tried to accomplish. Yet, you have implemented these changes through our historically abusive dynamics. In your present position, I am convinced you aren't even capable of seeing, much less addressing, the genuine problems. I compare the 1996 WCG to a husband who used to beat his wife seven days a week and now has cut back to four. And, the wife is supposed to be satisfied with his progress! Worse, still, he's holding seminars on domestic violence! Your administration continues to be abusive, but you hold spiritual healing conferences. I can no longer accept this!
Two
Legs of Abusive System: I shared with you at dinner in Atlanta (January 8, 1996) how I asked Ken Blue1, author of Healing Spiritual Abuse, what symptoms might indicate one was in a spiritually abusive group. His response: "The first thing you look for is a hierarchy. In the New Testament we are all brothers. There are no number ones, twos and threes. . . . The second thing I would look for is an emphasis on rules and regulations rather than on a relationship with Jesus" (Plain Truth interview, December 20, 1995). The abusive organization has two major empowering dynamics, two legs which work interdependently: an authoritarian hierarchy and legalistic rules. In the many stories of spiritual abuse that have been related to me, both historic and on- going situations, the main problem has been one of your pyramidal-style government with its concomitant lack of true accountability. Without addressing these fundamental structural issues, the doctrinal changes of the past five years seem merely cosmetic. Over a year ago (February 17, 1995), when I addressed with Greg Albrecht my perception that the changes were superficial in nature and that structural change was needed, I was told I ought to consider the incredible distance the WCG has come and what other Christians are calling a miracle. You yourself often refer to the changes in the WCG as having magnitude of historic proportions. In their book, The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse, David Johnson and Jeff VanVonderen describe the way in which the spiritually abused person fails to compare his/her situation to "normal" and thus is appeased with occasional adjustments toward normal. "If a victim does compare their situation to normal, they would be able to see how many unhealthy adjustments they have made and how really abnormal and unhealthy the relationship has become" (p. 186). Janis Hutchinson lists "periodic accommodations" as a basic strategy and principle of cults to placate their members and/or society, when necessary (Out of the Cults and Into the Church, p. 128). However, the dramatic extent of the WCG's doctrinal shift toward orthodoxy has indeed led some outsiders to believe genuine repentance was taking place in this group. You have often mentioned Hank Hanegraaff and Ruth Tucker in this vein, as well as, of course, the article in Christianity Today, "Road to Orthodoxy" (Oct. 2, 1995). These observers cannot possibly understand what it is like to be a member of this church. They miss the dynamics of this system which remain abusive. I believe strongly the changes that have occurred thus far are what cybernetically-oriented family therapists would call "first-order change," "in which the family changes some behaviors but those behaviors are still governed by the same [dysfunctional] rules" (Family Therapy, Nichols & Schwartz, p. 94). Your assertion that the church is now here to serve the membership and not the other way around seems characteristic of past propaganda given the lack of "second-order change," that is basic change in the structure and functioning of the system (ibid, p. 594). The following are fundamental areas I believe the WCG must change to become a healthy Christian church (if that is even possible):
Theologically, the WCG still rejects the doctrine of eternal punishment, holds observances on the Jewish sabbath and festivals (unleavened bread, atonement, festival of tabernacles), and teaches as doctrine the debatable matter of post-mortem evangelization (or divine perseverance). It is true you have ostensibly accepted orthodox Christianity on core issues including the Trinity and salvation by grace. Yet, without accompanying sociological and structural changes in the aforementioned areas, I believe the spiritually abusive system continues, and doctrinal reversals on core issues are not only possible, but likely. Almost all the doctrinal issues now being discussed were reviewed during the 1970's by WCG administration and suppressed when Herbert Armstrong put the church "back on track." This is likely to occur again. Note the following curious excerpt from a recent WCG ministerial journal: "We ought to view all human knowledge, including our own doctrinal positions, as always subject to correction. Anything else is clearly not supported by the NT and flirts with the notion of infallibility" ("WCG & American Mainstream," Reviews You Can Use, May-June 1995, p. 19). It would appear you are already heading down this road, with continued double-speak regarding tithing and festivals. 1. Authoritarian
hierarchy: Totalistic nature; "Pastor General" all-powerful.
However, while at least ten of these 18 "truths" have been comprehensively dealt with in WCG literature as heretical, your current administration has not addressed the "government of God" with the same zeal. When I confronted Greg Albrecht about this problem (February 17, 1995), he stated that you would not have been able to accomplish what you have without your [power] structure. At the conference in Portland, Oregon, at the end of March 1996, he reiterated that point saying he and Mike Feazell had just discussed this matter. He said, "We are using the `old factory,' to build the new one." I do not believe the end justifies the means, and neither would Arterburn or Felton. Their book, Toxic Faith, lists ten characteristics of a toxic church, number two of which is authoritarianism. They write:
Recently, this was
demonstrated at a conference when one minister asked if the salaries of
WCG "top executives" could be disclosed. The response:
"Would depend on the board's decision . . . What's to be gained? Is
there a down side? Would certain areas of the country be not able to
properly judge?" ("Q & A," Bernie Schnippert,
Harrisburg, March 10, 1996; Pastor Gilbert's notes circulated on
e-mail.)
Also, last Summer,
and not coincidentally, approximately 140 ministers left this
fellowship. I do not believe doctrinal differences were their only
motivation. It was also the fact that your administration was unwilling
to discuss these issues in open forum. Your decisions had to be
accepted. Such is the case in a military- style, top-down structure of
authoritarian hierarchy, a system that fosters arrogance. 2. Lack of
accountability: "Pastor General" legally accountable to none.
I have not heard
you make the statement "I am accountable only to God," nor do
I believe you would do so. But, in actuality, to whom are you legally
accountable? It would seem no one. A publication critical of the WCG
recently published an alleged, smuggled copy of WCG by-laws (Ambassador
Report #58, April 1995) which, in essence, list the pastor general as
the sole-owner of the organization. Of course, this is impossible to
verify since the by-laws are not available to the ministry or
membership. Of course, without accountability no such consensus is necessary. Not only can 140 ministers leave the fellowship in disagreement without repercussions to you, but tens of thousands of members as well. You stated the following in March 1996:
It should indeed
have told us something was wrong. But, it goes much deeper than
doctrine. The structure and dynamics were, and continue to be, abusive.
During dinner in Portland, Oregon (May 23, 1996), with you, Mike
Feazell, Greg Albrecht, and Janis Hutchinson, I was surprised to hear
Ruth Tucker make the statement that you (the leadership) had completely
changed the whole course of the church on its membership. To my best
recollection, Greg Albrecht replied "we can't say that because
there might be a lawyer present." Dr. Tucker replied, "but,
that is what you've done, isn't it?" As I wrote your father in
December 1994, "no one can ever obligate, demand or require us into
. . . walking according to the Spirit. . . . The Spirit does not work in
that way. . . . You simply cannot arm-twist people into agreement. . .
." The following is needed: Publish the by-laws of the WCG and make necessary changes to institute legal accountability. Explain your qualifications to be the "general of pastors." Disfellowshipment should undergo major review and policies should be instituted to include consensus on such matters to avoid the abuses of the past year. 3. Closed communication: Open and honest discussion still thwarted by structure.
I wrote you the following in November 1995 regarding the new policy of mandated employee tithing:
You did not
respond. Mike Feazell wrote me a note simply stating, "We will talk
about it in Tulsa." Of course, that was several weeks later after
it had already been printed in the Worldwide News. This example
is by no means an isolated exception; it is characteristic of your
closed communication style. 4. Manipulative tithing: Current heavy emphasis seems characteristic of past exploitation.
I sent you the preceding quote in November 1995. However, in March of this year there appeared numerous messages in church literature on the importance of tithing to the organization, with 10% plus emphasized. There were requests in your circulated video tapes, and the ministry were encouraged of their responsibility to preach about tithing "on a regular basis." This seems to contradict your strong stance on old covenant stipulations being obsolete unless reiterated in the New Testament. More striking, it seems very suspect when numerous cuts are being made in services to local congregations and ministerial benefits at the same time you receive a raise in pay that is not widely publicized.
These preceding
quotes all appeared about the same time your raise was mentioned by
Bernie Schnippert to the ministers in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He said,
"Until about 2 months ago, Joe wasn't the highest paid person in
the church. . . . [We] set his [new and higher] salary in his absence. .
. ." ("Q & A session," Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,
March 10, 1996; Pastor Gilbert's notes circulated on e-mail.) The following is needed: A much fuller and more detailed financial disclosure should be made available, and, given WCG's egregious past abuses in this area, you should avoid appeals for money and rely upon free-will offerings and pledges. 5. Financial
control: Congregations still send 100% of their donations to
headquarters. Current regional pastor Craig Bacheller told Mike Feazell and me at dinner, in January 1995, he had determined his congregation received 19 cents back in services for every $1 sent to Pasadena. Where does the rest go? While there are annual budget reports in the Worldwide News, they do not reveal very much. Most are really unaware of how the vast amount of money that does not return to local areas is actually spent. To my knowledge, it has only been recently disclosed that up-keep for the Pasadena property is 8 million dollars annually (Worldwide News, March 12, 1994, p. 1). This fact was not disclosed until the decision to sell the property was announced. In the previous five years that there was no university on the grounds and only a small number of employees, this fact was virtually unknown. The explanation is given that our church has already tried collecting money locally, but some ministers stole a portion of it. So, your administration will continue to collect it centrally and you will decide if, and when, you will return 75% to us (Bernie Schnippert, Harrisburg, March 10, 1996), or 65% (Joseph Tkach Video, May 4, 1996), or some other yet to be decided lower percentage. The problem is that the members do not compare their situation to the thousands of other Christian churches where 100% is collected locally and a small percentage is then sent by the congregation to a governing body.
The following is needed: Each congregation should locally incorporate, collect their funds and develop recognized by-laws and local governance. Those fellowships who decide the benefits of affiliating with WCG are mutually beneficial should work with you on an appropriate percentage (5-15% is customary; definitely not your taking 100% and then deciding how much to return). 6. Local
congregations not a true priority: E.g. $250 million campus sale
proceeds. It seems to me that the true priority continues to be a corporate presence. You continue to spend about $6 million annually to subsidize Ambassador University and $8 million to keep the campus in salable condition. The ratio of headquarters personnel to full-time ministry is still appalling: more than 300 employees and fewer than 250 full-time ministers in the United States. I was flabbergasted when Greg Albrecht mentioned to me in Portland (March 23, 1996) that his budget for the Plain Truth had just been cut from $16 million to $4 million. I had assumed it had been cut much lower several years ago. Many of our members were amazed to discover the concert series was costing $2 million per year. It seems you only disclose how much something costs as a justification in the event you choose to cut it. Many of our members believe when the campus is sold you will begin to reverse this trend and services will begin to come to local areas first. I do not believe this will be the case. I implored Mike Feazell in Atlanta (January 7, 1996) to consider moving the headquarters to Nashville, Tennessee, or any other site East of the Mississippi. I explained how nearly 80% of our members and churches live on this side of the country. I told him how this would send a visible message to the membership that the corporate body was available and poised to serve. He was firm he was going to stay in California. In fact, 2/3 of the sites mentioned in the Worldwide News for possible relocation are near the West coast. Additionally, it does not appear congregations will benefit from the $250 million you expect to receive from the sale of the campus. I have heard your Q & A session several times and recall your response about how it will be spent as including the following: 1) an endowment for the corporate headquarters, 2) a ministerial retirement program, and 3) an endowment for Ambassador University. On one occasion you mentioned lastly that some might be used to help congregations toward a building fund. But, given your administration's record, I doubt there will be adequate disclosure of how it is actually spent. I believe the very first priority should be the congregations, not a last, if there is anything left over, priority. At the very least, I believe a decision of this magnitude should have meaningful input from the membership and ministry. Rather, it seems to me you are already discovering new ways to spend the money. Recently, there has been much focus on a daily radio program you would do starting in November (Harrisburg, Penn., March 9, 1996; Minister Gilbert's notes circulated on e-mail). The membership got very excited when the Worldwide News had cover stories on the building program and how all the congregations would be receiving one. There were even pictures of what they would look like. But, once again, it was not to be, and in hind sight, seems characteristic of past propaganda. At one of this year's ministerial conferences the question was brought up regarding buildings. I recall you replied the WCG was always getting into things when other churches were getting out. You said, "Other churches now know buildings are a bad idea, and it's only now that we [WCG] want buildings." To me, this seemed like another dishonest political maneuver to substantiate our current system. The following is needed: The vast proceeds from the sale of the campus should go to local congregations that have been short-changed for 30 years, not only spiritually and doctrinally, but in terms of service. Prove to the members you exist to serve them, or get out of the way! 7. Chaos and confusion: Jesus lost among ever-changing policies, programs and crisis.
I pleaded for spiritual rest for our ministry to my regional pastor, John Comino (November 28, 1995):
I traveled to a
planning/idea conference in Big Sandy, Texas (Nov. 21- 22, 1995), for
the newly instituted Family Ministry department only to find out upon
arrival that the program had been canceled. Ron Kelly was promptly given
yet another new job, ministerial development, where he started a program
for tuition reimbursement. This new program seemed to last little more
than a month; it joined a WCG grave yard littered with such short-lived
policies. The roller coaster goes up and down, and people's lives are
thrown from side to side. It has been my experience with the historic
culture of the WCG that the message of salvation through Jesus gets lost
in an overflow of programs, policies and crisis. I feel strongly this
structural dynamic in the WCG remains unchanged. It is systemic. 8. Lack of respect for members and ministry: Current administrative approach condescending. "[One] reason for secrecy in a church is that the leadership has a condescending, negative view of the laity. This results in conspiracies on the leadership level. They tell themselves, `People are not mature enough to handle the truth.' This is patronizing, at best" (Subtle Power, p. 78). At the conference
in Palm Springs (December 17, 1995), you responded to a pastor's
question in the Q & A with the following: "I don't want to make
this person look stupid, but . . ." and then proceeded to belittle
their question, exegetical abilities and theology. The person told me he
was devastated and felt humiliated. After dinner in Portland, Oregon
(March 23, 1996), you, Mike Feazell, Greg Albrecht, Don Mears and I were
out in the hall talking. You mimicked two current, long-time,
much-respected church leaders making fun of their mannerisms and the way
they responded in doctrinal meetings. I agree with your doctrinal changes, but absolutely disagree with the method by which you have imposed them upon the fellowship, instituting one change at a time. I believe this has bred suspicion and facilitated further denial in our membership. Many feel it has been abusive and tormenting! One person described feeling like they had been spiritually raped in the past year. A WCG pastor compared your approach to bobbing a dog's tail, one painful inch at a time. Cruel! Jesus respects us and our ability to make choices and does not violate our autonomy as you have repeatedly done. There has been a similar disrespectful approach to those who have left. "If the whistle-blowers reveal the group's problems to the outside world, the group will mobilize to discredit them. Sometimes trumped-up countercharges are aired, but most often the troublemakers' mental and emotional state is brought into question" (Healing Spiritual Abuse, p. 75). One member wrote to me: "So the smear campaign has begun in earnest. . . . When the war they have now begun is complete, my reputation will be mud." I have recently seen this dynamic myself. One African American pastor who left our fellowship over some of the same issues I am delineating also received this kind of treatment. I was sitting at your dining room table in your house on July 24, 1995, with Craig Bacheller, Don Mears and yourself. A leading church administration supervisor who was present said this minister, who had left our fellowship, just "wanted to be white," was in it for the money, and possessed mental problems. The following is needed: Openness and honesty on the part of the administration with a much higher level of expression of love and respect for the members and ministry. 9. WCG
organization most important, more than Jesus or people: Corporation 1st,
church 2nd. In short, I have been asking your administration for 21 months to act in faith and allow Jesus to have control instead of working it out yourselves via abusive dynamics. Greg Albrecht, in a conversation with Norman Shoaf and myself (February 17, 1995), rationalized saying that you had to consider the livelihood of hundreds of employees. I responded that, in the past, your administration was in no way reluctant to tell members to have faith and pay their three tithes and seven offerings. He replied that maybe I was just further down the "grace road" than he was. What I do know by overwhelming evidence is that the WCG places its own continuance above Jesus' will or the members' welfare. The following is needed: Organizational surrendering of the will, not cosmetic doctrinal change. Life has enough of its own trials without one's church being a source of abuse as well! Yet, you say it's going to take five or ten years to reach the place we want to be. One member in my congregation suggested this is somewhat akin to the plight of the African American during the civil rights period. He said, "The black man learned that when the Northerner said `not yet' and the Southerner said, `no,' they both meant exactly the same thing." The truth of the gospel, we are all one in Jesus, ought not be delayed. When it is, it is denied! As one minister wrote, "the ground is level at the base of the cross." My second series of sermons has been distributed to over 150 ministers. Sermon #18, "Because I'm the Pastor," addresses this issue. This material is espoused but not put into action! There are many healthy Christian churches where our members could find the healing they need, with pastors who would love to serve them. "What could have been a place to find shelter from the storms of life becomes a place where the religious addict `sets up camp' to stay out of life. . . . Sacrifice for the church completed in the name of God sacrifices the family" (Toxic Faith, p. 137). Yet, you encourage us to strive on, our members and pastors driving long distances, our ministers physically and emotionally exhausting themselves, serving two, three, or four congregations, and to what end? "This level of service often becomes overwhelming. People become so drained they can't think clearly. Their emotions become distorted. Deep depression, extreme anxiety, and a general numbness are common in overwhelmed religious addicts" (ibid, pp. 177-178). I realize those who read this letter will not agree with everything I write. However, I want them to know it is all right to dissent, to ask questions and expect change. And, I want them to know it's O.K. to disaffiliate from, or leave, an organization that continues to exhibit so many toxic tendencies and either become, or find, a healthy church where they can worship and find healing. We have been bought with a price. We ought live accordingly. Galatians 5:1 states, "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Do not therefore be enslaved again with a yoke of bondage."
You continue to
engineer us videos and materials to design a Christian church out of a
destructive system. We pastors follow the instructions carefully and
paint by numbers the fireplace on the wall, according to your
specifications. Then, our members all gather around this facade and rub
their hands waiting to get warm. We wait but grow weary. Many ministers
are on the verge of emotional breakdown, and you are financially cutting
them off! Our structure shuts out and stifles Jesus. It must change! I
beseech members not to wait on you, but follow the Spirit. He is the One
waiting! David Covington
Footnotes by ESN: 1 Unfortunately, Ken Blue, along with countless others, has been influenced by John Wimber and the Third Wave Movement. For more info, read: John Wimber and the Vineyard. 2 On 4-30-96 and 5-1-96 Joseph W. Tkach Jr. was interviewed on D. James Kennedy's Christian radio program Truths that Transform. 3 Read Hank Hanegraaff's words from his Oct. 1995 co-worker where he states that the WCG leaders met privately with him behind closed doors. Also see Letters to Hank Hanegraaff. Note: Excerpts from David Covington's resignation letter to Joseph W. Tkach Sr. were printed in the July 1996 Ambassador Report (AR#62) and are in the public domain. David Covington stated: "In February 1995 I was sharing my concern for the members and the truth of the gospel with one of the three current leading WCG administrators. He told me that I needed to understand how much 'Armstrong worship' they had to deal with among the membership. I responded that they in the leadership facilitated this approach by continuing to use Armstrong to control people, long after his death. Privately, one of the other three told me he had come at one point to view the church founder as a 'charlatan.' Yet, nonetheless, these private views seem to be put aside. The July 4, 1995 Worldwide News again hearkened back to his false teaching. 'Recalling the Final Sermon of Herbert W. Armstrong.' It stated, 'And if that should ever happen [the pastor general die and be succeeded by another], you will follow [him]...and your eternity depends on that. Everyone of you. Don't forget it...' [Read exact quote from Worldwide News] This was a few short months before the installation of the current pastor general and several months after the 'changes regarding salvation.' The January 1997 Worldwide News demonstrated the ongoing use of Armstrong to control members keeping them on a sinking ship." (Taken from David Covington's Ministry of Healing website, 1995) [no longer online] NOTE: The last Exit & Support Network™ heard from David Covington was when he told us that he "spends most of his time in Fiji now," and "doesn't have much time for the WCG stuff anymore." Following is his email* to an ESN worker:
In April 2000, Covington's email address was no longer valid and as of August 2000 David Covington's "Ministry of Healing" website was no longer up. We have no word as to what he is doing today or where he is. In light of what happened in the ensuing months after this letter was sent, Covington sadly appears to have been used only as a pawn by the WCG to further their agenda (read Exit & Support Network's Open Response to Worldwide Church of God Regarding David Covington for more on this) and then was discredited and cast aside. *Original email in ESN's files. Update on WCG: In November 2004 the Worldwide Church of God moved its headquarters from Pasadena to Glendora, California. (Pasadena Star-News, October 25, 2004) Read letter to ESN concerning this. By May 2006 all their offices were moved to Glendora. (Together May-June 2006).
In 2006
Worldwide Church of God was considering
a name change. Read:
Worldwide Church of God is Changing
Their Name.
David Covington's Letter to Greg. R. Albrecht Lamb With Wolf-Like Jaws (An amazing letter exposing the deceit, abuse and hypocrisy of the Worldwide Church of God. Written during their new doctrinal changes and mailed to ESN, David Covington, counter-cult apologetic ministries and local members.)
Letter Exposing Outright Lies, Abuses and Sociopathic Behavior
(Tells the truth about what was really going
on at the time of the changes.) ESN's Email to David Covington (Regarding his resignation letter; shows ESN's early work) ESN's Open Response to WCG on the Internet (Re: David Covington's Resignation Letter. Covers WCG's deceitful, abusive tactics) Back to Research Letters Concerning Worldwide Church of God Changes
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I hope and pray many members will find freedom, love, joy and peace in
healthy Christian churches outside this organization. I pray that those
who stay will expect the aforementioned to be addressed in their local
fellowships. I pray they will not give up their health and/or families,
burning themselves out, for your personal prestige and
prominence. The members are worth more! And, Jesus is worthy of it.
