The TRUTH shall set them free!

Wow! It's been a long time since I've posted. I didn't realize that people were still coming to this site and reading and sharing. At the height of my posting on this blog, the pressure was intense. I had to take a break. Over the years, I have had numerous emails and phone calls from people I've never met wanting to share their personal experience of abuse and ask questions. If I'm being honest, it was all too much for me to hold and bear. I had to step back and focus on my family for a season. It's been a long season.

In the past 6 years, I've learned of more survivors of the abuse of Christ Church Northgate and Christ Church Kirkland. I have watched the miracle of my entire family walk out the doors of this cult and I've also seen the final closure of the doors of this "church" that abused spiritually, physically and emotionally hundreds of people who came looking for love, connection, faith and community.

There is a church still operating under a new name and by the son of one of the original "pastors" of abuse. I can't say if these people operate the same but what I can say, is this leader never stepped away from being a pastor and never took the time to grieve his part in the history of this place or question the leadership that had been imparted to him, for which he had trained and been mentored by. I would caution anyone attending to be on guard. Don't assume that abuse isn't lurking in the shadows. Generations can continue to carry forth the abuse when it hasn't been owned and repented for.

CCK closed it's doors in December 2015. Really it's a miracle. Some say this blog opened the door for people to begin to question. To start contemplating what if this is all true? To all of you who bravely shared your experience, know that it was worth it and valuable. Your bravery spared children from abuse, made a way out for those who were being abused and opened the door for others to walk out and begin to heal and live a life of authenticity.

I don't believe this is the end of the story. I had a call from someone at the Union Gospel Mission recently wanting to know about Norm Willis and voicing concern that he had been coming around wanting to be involved. Abusers are always looking for victims.

For those who were victims of the Christ Church Northgate days, I know your legal options are slim. I know that you need more current victims to come forward. I know that some of you just want to move on with your life and never look back. I've sat with detectives, I know the process is daunting. If you are a victim of sexual or physical abuse at the hands of any of the leaders or members of CCN or more recently CCK, you have options and you're not alone. If there is a group who would like to look at the legal remedies available, including more recent victims, you have options. For those who have gained your voice, you can be named in the proceedings and for those who need to remain anonymous, you can be a Jane or John doe. There is also counseling and healing waiting to help you move forward in your life. The biggest thing I need you to know is that you're not alone. Please know that you can contact me, I will help connect you with other victims if you choose and your identity will be kept confidential. You are all survivors!

"Speak out on behalf of the voiceless, and for the rights of all who are vulnerable. Speak out in order to judge with righteousness and to defend the needy and the poor." -Proverbs 31:8&9

In love and faithfulness
-Tina
freesitintime@gmail.com
425-248-3934

Dennis Peacocke

I must confess that I was always a fan of Dennis Peacocke. There was a time that I thought if he knew what Norm was really up to, he would intervene. I no longer believe that. His teachings and those of others like him are what created these top-down, untouchable leaders to begin with. On this link, you can hear part his "battle of the bulge"message:

http://vimeo.com/20946491

What is basically saying, is that if you are criticized by anyone, even those in the church just take it a sign that you are on the right track. Never does ask his followers to listen and prayerfully consider that they should take the time to listen to what the critics have to say. Apparently, he considers his teaching to be infallible. There is no room for humility. Not only that, but those who speak out are being used by the devil.

I remember a time when he spoke about the church as the "ekklesia"; a place where there was room for debate and discussion and disagreement, just like the first century church. That message interested me. This one make me sad.

New Development - "School of the Apostolic Church"

Christ Church Kirkland is starting it's own college and offering associate degrees in theology. The "School of the Apostolic Church" has Norm for it's president. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure he never finished college and doesn't have a BA. Interesting. Here is the link to their website: http://schooloftheapostolicchurch.com/. Check it out and share your thoughts. I have no idea what the requirements are to offer degrees in this state, but I'd love to know.

It always astonishes me the place humans - men or women - will go to convince themselves that what they are doing is right by God. This article speaks to various ideas that Bishop Eddie Long preaches. Bishop Eddie Long is a close companion of Norm Willis and a man that Christ Church Kirkland looks up to. In fact, he was schedule to speak at the 25th Anniversary that just took place in October. But a week prior to the event, the news broke of the allegations that he misused his place of authority and engaged in inappropriate relations with several young men in his congregation. He was quietly taken off the speaker list and quickly wiped clean from the promotional material. I don't find it a coincidence that this man is facing such allegations and that similar allegations have been directed towards the leaders of CCK. You can come to your own conclusions, but I say if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck.

Check the article out here.

More Lies!

So hang in there with me... this is going to take a little bit of explaining. I was google searching churches in  Kirkland. Up pops google map and to the right a list of churches. Second one down is Christ Church Kirkland and I see there is 1 review listed. Curious I click to read the review. What I find is a "fake" review by Kyle Willis, the marketing director for CCK, and Norm's son. Kyle is speaking as if he is a 1st time visitor and how great the church is and how his kids loved their classes and how he will be back again and will be calling this his home church. Much to my surprise is the fact that Kyle is lying and making up a review. Kyle is single, no kids, and was born into this church. Certainly not a first time visitor.

So I do the only prudent thing... I write my own review. I point out the lies and then warn those reading to stay away from this church and to please go to church just a different one. I posted a link on the Facebook page Christ Church Kirkland is a mafia and tell any one who cares to go and read for themselves and leave a review. This morning Kyle had changed his review to eliminate the lies. I posted another review pointing out this fact and questioned some other things that he had written - example CCK doesn't care about numbers or being seeker-friendly  - of which I half agree with. They are not seeker friendly this is definitely true. But isn't a church supposed to be? Shouldn't it be the place where people can come and seek and find answers they've been searching for? And why would he write a fake review to entice people to come if they didn't care about numbers?

Anyway, not to long after, the link I posted on FB no longer worked and if you search churches in Kirkland you will still find CCK listed with 3 reviews, however, when you click on the reviews it links to The City Church's review page. Now I checked and it is gone altogether.

I want to remind anyone reading this that if the truth is what it is, there is no reason to hide from it. Churches are to be open and transparent... Christ Church Kirkland is anything but that. They have a 30 or more year history of hiding the truth, covering up abuse & hurt they have inflicted on others, and now they can only hope that they can continue to cover those things up. This has nothing to do with Kyle, he doesn't know any better, he is just a pawn in Norm, Marcy, Dennis, Jim and many other's plans to keep their secrets buried until they pass from this life. What a prison that must be for them to live in.

My prayer for this entire situation is that they would repent and make right the wrongs to the best of their abilities. In doing so the truth would finally set them and many others free. Kyle, just a note,  Hitler & the communist party tried for years to keep people from hearing the truth and to control what they read or had access to. We all know how that failed. The truth will be spoken. You will not be able to hide it. And we can all thank God for that!

Written by Christina

Take a Stance

Proverbs 24:12 & 23 - 25 the Message
12 If you say, "Hey, that's none of my business," will that get you off the hook? Someone is watching you closely, you know - Someone not impressed with weak excuses.
23 It's wrong, very wrong, to go along with injustice. 24 Whoever whitewashes the wicked gets a black mark in the history books, 25 But whoever exposes the wicked will be thanked and rewarded. 


Proverbs 24:12 & 23 - 25  NLT
12 Don't excuse yourself by saying, "Look, we didn't know." For God understands all hearts, and he sees you. He who guards your soul knows you knew. He will repay all people as their actions deserve.
23 Here are some further sayings of the wise: It is wrong to show favoritism when passing judgement. 24 A judge who says to the wicked, "You are innocent," will be cursed by many people and denounced by the nations. 25 But it will go well for those who convict the guilty; rich blessings will be showered on them.



I hear this excuse from people who are just finding out or who have known for a while about the physical, sexual, & emotional abuse that hundreds of people have testified to by the leaders of CCK - "Well, I was not there. How do I know it really happened", "I didn't see it with my own eyes so I can't take a side on the matter", "It's really none of my business since that isn't my personal experience with the leaders" and on and on it goes. I have learned that these people think that by staying (with their words) "out of it" that they will not be held responsible or accountable in any way. 


It was never my experience to be a part of slavery but I know by the testimony of others that it happened and I believe it to be wrong. Therefore I take a stance on the issue... slavery is wrong. I wasn't present when my husband was abused by his father but I hear his memories and the pain and I know it happened. Therefore I take a stance on the issue... his dad and the abuse is wrong. I wasn't present when Bill Clinton inappropriately entered into a sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky but I heard her testimony and believed it to be true. Therefore I take a stance on the issue... his sexual misconduct is wrong. Come to find out, after lying to all of America over and over, he admitted what he had done and in fact her testimony was right.


Why is it then, when we hear some one reveal the truth of the sexual, physical, or emotional abuse suffered at the hands of religious leaders we immediately discredit what they are saying and make excuses for ourselves to not have to believe what is being spoken? Why is it that we think pastors or church leaders are immune from this kind of sin? Why do we want to take a neutral stance and say, in essence by doing so, that we don't believe or support the person coming forward with the pain and misery of the abuse they received at the hands of these leaders?


I think the verses at the top of this post make it very clear that all of us will be judged on what we know and even what we say we didn't know. The Holy Spirit is alive and speaking and if you honestly want to know the truth... ask. Ask if these people (anonymously or not) have any reason to make these things up. Ask if it's possible that they could indeed be true. Ask to have your conscious prompted on what you should do in response to these testimonies. I believe that the Holy Spirit wants to reveal to each of us what we are to do and where the truth lies. I think more often than not we don't really want to know. We don't want to take a stance. We want to say "I didn't know" or "I wasn't there". Please realize this kind of a response will not keep you from responsibility on judgement day. The Holy Spirit is alive and will show you the truth in these testimonies if you are really wanting to know.

We Have Our Reasons

A lot has been said on this blog about the pros and cons of remaining anonymous. There are people on both sides, including myself, who have chosen to keep their names private. There are a lot of good reasons that have been given, such as still having family members in CCK, the desire to preserve evidence for the ongoing law enforcement investigation, etc. You can read the posts for yourself.

But I am going to mention another reason. Many of us have tried talking to Norm and other leaders at CCK about our concerns. Some many years in the past, and some very recently. Some of us have tried repeatedly. What many of us have found is that leaders of CCK then make us the target. We are told that our motives are wrong, that we are betrayers, that we are damaging their ministry, and so forth. They never address our issues or acknowledge any wrongdoing on their part. In logic, this is a fallacy called an ad hominem defense. It means that you never address the problem, but you attack the character of the person pointing out the problem. Attacking the messenger doesn't change the message.

It is quite easy to point out that someone has sin in their life. We all do. It is an easy strategy if all you want to do is deflect someone's questions. We all were trained that our pastors are our authorities, so we often walked away in tears from these conversations, feeling beaten down and convinced that we were wrong for questioning them in the first place.

Later, when we've had time to reflect on these conversations, we realize that we were attacked for trying to follow Matthew 18. I was always taught that if someone comes to you with a concern, that if even 2% of what they had to say was accurate, we should repent for that 2%, not that we should attack the person showing concern. I have never witnessed a pastor at CCK repenting for anything.

In some cases, we not only have our concerns ignored and our character attacked, we find that the leaders are now using us as scapegoats and spreading lies about us. One of the reasons I choose to remain anonymous is because I know that if my name were on here, the leaders of CCK would simply try to find out everything in my life that is lacking and use that to discredit not only what I have to say, but what anyone who posts on here tries to say.

You can agree or disagree, but please know that I am speaking from very personal experiences and that I have talked to many people who have had the same experiences.

I'm willing to bet that many of who are still at CCK have had similar exchanges. You repented. You concluded that you must be wrong. You learned to accept whatever it was that you worried about. You learned to keep your mouth shut. Or maybe you were told bad things about the person who talked to you about their concerns. You decided that it was too costly to speak up and you couldn't imagine leaving so you justified staying. CCK is your community. Maybe your job is there. Maybe your family goes there. Most of your friends go there. So you go along to get along. Think about it.

You see people leave and you feel sorry for them or think they are lost. Don't feel sorry for us. We are free. I have a church and I love the Lord, but I no longer have a corrupt leader telling me how live my life. I am not about to open myself up to more personal attacks from Norm or anyone else at CCK.