What happens when a PCG church member wants to move closer to headquarters—and is told she does not fit the image?
A few years ago, I met a woman at a church festival who lived in Seattle, Washington. She told me she was close friends with Steven Flurry’s wife and wanted to move to the Philadelphia Church of God headquarters in Edmond, Oklahoma. Her employer was willing to let her transfer to its Edmond location, so she had a practical way to make the move.
According to her account, her local minister approved but said she would also need permission from the headquarters minister, Wayne Turgen.
She told me his response was that she “did not fit the image they were trying to project.”
She said she broke down crying. She was a heavy woman and believed the rejection was because of her weight. I cannot say whether that was his reason, but that was how she understood the remark—and it hurt her deeply.
Another woman, Jennifer Ladd of the Cincinnati congregation, also wanted to move to headquarters. She was a Montessori schoolteacher and administrator and believed her experience could be useful at the school on the PCG compound.
Jennifer told me she asked Regional Director Cal Culpepper for permission to move. According to her, he told her she was “not headquarters material.”
What does that mean? What makes someone “headquarters material”? Shouldn’t a religious community value a person’s character, kindness, faith, and willingness to serve?
These are two accounts shared with me personally by the women involved. I did not witness their conversations with the ministers, but I heard how they described the rejection.
To me, these accounts raise a serious question about priorities. When members are told they do not fit an “image” or are not the right “material,” where is the concern for the people behind those labels?
James 2:1–4 warns against favoritism in the assembly. First Samuel 16:7 reminds us that people look at outward appearance, while Yahweh looks at the heart.
A “church” should take those lessons seriously. Members are human beings with feelings, abilities, and a desire to belong. They deserve to be treated with dignity—not left wondering what about them makes them unacceptable.
13 comments:
See, now this is yet another damnable aspect of Armstrongism, and another one of my pet peeves! It's bad enough that there was no such thing as negotiation in these church cults, negotiation being a vital skill everyone needs in order to conduct normal business activities, and life in general! There was also no such thing as tact! This poor woman must have been crushed by Wayne Turgeon's tactless words! The fact that this story is even being shared with us shows me that it must have been very hurtful to her and those who cared about her. People have value that goes way beyond the scope of someone's concept of their little manufactured whitened sepulchre!
In my recovery from Armstrongism, I had to acquire negotiation skills, learn tact, and even brush up on anger management following my release from the Armstrong gulag! And, I'm told that we who only attended classic WCG had it easy as compared to what passes for qualifying as a Philadelphian these days!
When PCG goes down, I hope that Wayne ends up flippimg burgers or as a janitor in some decrepit old building. Karma can be a real bitch!
Pcog are anything but Philadelphia or brotherly love. A my way or the highway folks organisation. Pay your tithes and do as you are told. And let the minister make decisions for you. They are dying and declining in numbers by the week month and year. Good. The story told here would be fairly common I would suspect. The difference between the various cogs is the amount of control they exercise over the sheep. Pcog must be one of the worst out there. Sad story here.
They may have not wanted them near the PCoG "elite" at headquarters but I bet they didn't have any problem taking their $$$
Yes, Turgeon has rightly earned the nickname Turdgeon. But anyone who is eager to move to PCG Headquarters has his/her own obvious problems or issues.
The first mistake these ladies made was wanting to move closer to headquarters. The second was asking for permission. "Did not fit the image"? I would have told them that I was moving to accommodate my job and if they wanted those tithe checks to continue rolling in they should keep their trap shut!
This reminds me of a story I have told before, about a wealthy Indiana farmer who wanted to move to Pasadena. Without permission he sold the farm, bought a house on minister's row, Waverly Drive, and I assume lived happily ever after. After the move, he was told he shouldn't have done that, but he did it and got away with it. They probably checked his financials and decided it was best not to rock the boat.
I'm sensing that there's more to these stories. If the first woman was really a "close friend" of Steven Flurry's wife, Mrs. Flurry could easily have cleared the way for her friend's move to Edmond. Furthermore, if her employer transferred her to Edmond there's no way that Turgeon could have prevented it.
Judging by what I have seen around the splinters, this was likely a woman who THOUGHT Mrs. Flurry was her friend because she had been nice to her on a church visit even though other members of her congregation wrote her off as an oddball, and as a result thought HQ would treat her better than her local congregation.
As for the Montessori teacher, she should have realized that HWA's Imperial Schools didn't use (or approve of) the Montessori method, so PCG wouldn't either. You don't just show up at a splinter HQ and tell the established staff that you know better than they (or HWA or GRF) do and expect to be well received.
PCG is a toxic mess from top to bottom, not just at HQ. Like many other splinters ,it seems to attract troubled people who tend to overestimate themselves, from ailing figurehead Gerald Flurry to former members like Samuel Kitchen.
Why do they want to be at or close to headquarters? Do they think that this is the equivalent to being close to God? It's prayer, Bible study and living God's way that results in being close to God rather than some geographic location.
These women need to respect employers right to choose their employees with no explanation offered. But rights are never taught in these groups, which shows in some of the posted comments here.
As bad as herbert the liar was, it is doubtful whether fat people belong in any church since laziness and eating like a pig are just a bad as smoking and boozing and swearing.
Nobody needs permission to move.
First off, Amy Flurry is no one’s friend. They are all fake at HQ. This naive woman probably thought she had some HQ creds and, learned very quickly that she didn’t. That had to be embarrassing. Turdgeon’s and Cultpickers wives look like they still live in the 80’s at Pasadena with their rat’s nest hair and dated homely dresses. Hopefully, these women got an eye opening reality check about how hypocritical and evil this cult is. Hope they left. It is the worst of the ACOG’s. And THAT is not a good look.
Plain to see that they don’t want any women with any kind of intelligence living near there. I would tell them not to be disappointed, good riddance! Personally, I would go there anyway, you can’t tell me where I can’t live. No man-made religion could ever stop me from my personal freedom.
Headquarters material is somebody who acts like the word of gerald flurry is the word or god.
I wonder these day how many times the ministers hear, "You can't disfellowship me! I'll just go to another ACOG!"
If the members and ministers from UCG, LCG, and COGaWA know as much as we do about the craziness and stupidity ongong at PCG, the'll most likely be glad to pick up another tither!
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