[Ohio]

I saw the abuses and bully tactics on all levels -- national, regional, and local -- as I looked back on my 30 years of loyal service. I had heard endless messages about reconciliation, yet saw none of that in action with the leadership. The basic message of Christian love -- love your neighbor as yourself -- was hidden on the shelves full of ministry books. No Christian group talked so much about the oneness, yet every church I knew was carved up into camps loyal to their man. We would shake our heads at all the failures in the church in Corinth as we lived out the exact same events in the Recovery -- divisions, backbiting, lawsuits, immorality, failed marriages, chaos in the communion service, etc.

Jo S you are right about bad leaders and bad teachings. Isn't there a saying about deceiving people with "big lies?" No lie was so big as the one we heard about being "local" churches.