After a week touring Israel we were once again back in Louisville. Prior to our encounter with Zimbabwe immigration we had expected to give birth to Abigail at a private hospital in Harare. We didn’t have health insurance in the USA, but we did have a close friendship with Tom and Marcia Benninger whom we had met at “The Meeting” [See chapter 62—The Brothers In Responsibility [https://confessionsofawanderingjew.blogspot.com/2009/06/brothers-in-responsibility.html].
Tom had a thriving obstetrics-gynecology practice. He not only offered his medical services gratis, but also arranged for us to prepay the hospital delivery costs for only $800 dollars. (Other friends who supported our work in Africa opened up their homes to us during our stay in the States.)
Pegi and I were in our mid-30s and had been married for 10 years when Abi was born. We knew that she would change our relationship and our lives, but had no inkling of how she would impact our spirituality. In the meantime, we reveled in parenthood and turned our thoughts to returning to Zimbabwe where we expected to live out our futures.
As soon as Abi was old enough to travel we began visiting supporters across the country. Louisville and Houston were the main hubs of that support, so we rented a car and drove to Houston where we met up with Ken and Jill Duckman as well as those supporting us at Lakewood Church under John Osteen. Lakewood was already a megachurch in 1986 and provided us with housing on their large “campus” in the industrial section of Houston—not the ideal place to be, but a place for us to stay. Houston in the summer is no fun and even though our bungalow was air-conditioned, the carpeting, drapery and furnishing were musty with a constant smell of pesticide to fight back the cockroaches which are endemic to life in Houston. In addition, the industrial section was a 45-minute drive to the familiar residential areas of Houston where we had lived and where Pegi had grown up. We felt really isolated. This was long before the advent of cellphones.
At Lakewood, our only contact was with Bill Dearman who was their missions director. We only “saw” John Osteen at regular weekly worship services. We didn’t feel like guests and we weren’t invited to share our experiences with the congregation or anyone else. Lakewood was all about the Osteens. No other notoriety was permitted. Even God was a tool employed in service to keeping the Osteen ministry going.
This was not a surprise. It was just a more mature version of what we experienced with the Deuschles in Africa. It was disheartening. Instead of promoting the kingdom of God, these Christians were focused on on their own kingdoms. Could it get any worse? We were about to find out.
Tom Deuschle had arranged for us to meet his parents in Denver and then fly to Seattle to visit the ministry of Casey Treat, a charismatic pastor with a megachurch ministry that was supporting Tom. Tom thought that Casey was doing innovative stuff that might be applicable to Rhema-Harare.
We caught a ride with Dave Broom who was a former partner of Tom at Rhema. Dave had come to Houston to pick up a twin-engine Cessna that had been donated to his ministry in Africa by the charismatic superstar, Kenneth Copeland. Dave flew us to Denver where we spent several days with Tom’s parents. They were generous with their time and drove the three of us on a tour of the Rocky Mountains near Denver. They couldn’t have been nicer. I didn’t get the impression that they were committed to the charismatic extremes of the Rhema/Word of Faith movement as was Tom. They were pleasant hosts to their son’s associates. They didn’t broadcast their faith. I am not even sure they shared anything other than a nominal Christianity. They were so pleasant and normal!
Flying commercially to Seattle was a lot more relaxing than squeezing into the rear seats of a Cessna being piloted by Dave and his pilot instructor! We were greeted at the Seattle airport by one of Casey Treat’s lieutenants. He dropped us at the home of the leaders of one of 20 or so “cell groups” (small home-groups).
That evening they were having their mid-week meeting in their home to “shepherd” around 10 couples. It was supposed to be a casual Bible study, but it quickly became obvious that the only sharing would be from the couple who were hosting us. It was an unannounced structure to the event that you could feel. It was not a good feeling! There was just something odd going on. It seemed very cultish to me as certain individuals in the group seemed to be following an unwritten script. However, at one point I jumped in with a comment based on my biblical knowledge and experience. It was like a thick cloud enveloped the group. It was obvious that my contribution was not welcome! It was really uncomfortable. It seemed cultish to Pegi and me.
The next day we were taken to their Ministry Center, were introduced briefly to Casey Treat and shown around the facilities and the auditorium before the evening “worship.” At 3 months Abigail was never separate from us. This seemed to make Casey and his staff uncomfortable to have a nursing child in their big fancy ministry machine. The offered to let us leave Abi in the care of the nursery that was fully staffed for the employees of the ministry. It was clean, bright and colorful. The nursery workers seemed friendly and attentive. We met with Casey for about 30 more minutes as he explained his philosophy of ministry. This was followed by the evening worship service/Bible study led by Casey.
It became clear that we had learned all that they had to show us of their “innovative” ministry. I didn’t think it was innovative—I was worried that it was just a modern cult in the making. There was this feeling of compulsion in the atmosphere.
Everything was about doing things Casey’s way and he was very particular. Apparently, he had been a rock drummer and would play the drums as part of the worship group. There was a buzz among his minions (especially among the young women) that “Casey is going to play tonight!” He didn’t play all of the songs—just enough to establish some sort of authority over the whole proceeding. His red hair was carefully coiffed and he dressed in expensive business attire with long sleeves and expensive cufflinks. He seemed to suffer from some sort of lisp and condition that caused him to constantly daub his lips with an expensive silk handkerchief. His whole “shtick” seemed carefully curated to give him aura of celebrity and authority. It was really creepy! And the worship service itself was really vanilla charismatic pablum. Casey’s drumming wasn’t noteworthy and his “teaching” was psychological rather than spiritual.
Pegi was getting antsy being separated from Abi for so long, so we went back to the nursery to pick her up. We got some pushback about that, but we were not their property and I insisted that they return Abi to us. I was tall with a black beard and could be intimidating. It became clear to them that I wasn’t going to be messed with—and you better not mess with my wife or daughter! I wasn’t going to cower before a Muslim on the Temple Mount and I wasn’t going to be intimidated by some cult functionary! I can’t remember the specifics, but Pegi and I had a suspicion that Abi was not being attended to properly. Something was very weird here.
The next morning we were invited to join Casey and some of his lieutenants for a Fellowship of Christian Businessmen luncheon at a restaurant in downtown Seattle. We were instructed to leave Abi at the nursery. That wasn’t going to happen. By now I was suspicious of Casey and the whole operation. Had Tom sent me there to get my insights into what Casey was doing that could be relevant to Rhema-Harare? Or maybe he had sent me there to indoctrinate me. I already felt that whatever was going on, Casey could not be trusted. Apparently, Casey was supplying Tom with $5000/mo support. So, he probably figured that since he “owned” Tom that he also owned us!
The luncheon was all about Casey and his ministry. These “businessmen” were potential financiers of his ministry. Casey seemed really off his game with Pegi, a quiet baby Abigail and me sitting at the table observing. After the meal one of the minions mentioned that Casey was “not pleased” that Abi had been with us. I realized we were messing up his carefully crafted pitch to his moneymen.
As we were driven back to the home where we staying, I was asked what I thought of the whole experience—the Casey Treat experience. I spoke frankly to say that I was concerned about the communal nature of the home groups and the aura of authoritarianism that I sensed. I connected it to the Shepherding/Discipleship Controversy that had plagued the early charismatic movement in the 70s-80s under the ministries of Bob Mumford, Charles Simpson, Don Basham, Ern Baxter and Derek Prince (a British evangelist who made his home in Jerusalem of all places!). Obviously, my thoughts were not exactly well-received!
I never did have a chance to discuss with Tom Deuschle our pleasant time with his parents or my concerns about the authoritarian and cultish atmosphere of Casey’s ministry in Seattle. I wondered if Casey would send a negative report about us to Tom. At the time, I was still operating on the premise that Tom had sent me to scope out Casey’s ministry and see what could be adapted for use at Rhema. It would only be after our return to Zimbabwe that Tom would treat us as “out of sight—out of mind.”
From our perspective, our road trip was coming to a successful end. We flew back to Louisville to attend to some final details before returning to Zimbabwe. We had no idea that we would find ourselves stuck in the States for several more months.
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