Maxwells History

[Guest Anonymous]

Thanks for the background on the Maxwell's, everyone.

Was Steve the fundie that prayed over his newborn daughter's ovaries?

Nope, that was Geoff Botkin, father of the RoboBotkins, Anna Sofia and Elizabeth.

[Visionoyahweh]

Nope, that was Geoff Botkin, father of the RoboBotkins, Anna Sofia and Elizabeth.

Thanks! Man, we need to see a Maxwell/Botkin/Duggar/Keller/Bates intermarrying dynasty, just so the crazy could all be contained to one family.

[VodouDoll]

The thing that gets me about Steve, I think, is how the way he sees himself and thinks he's portraying himself on his blog and in his ministry - as a kind, gentle, sensitive, loving man - is so incredibly off base. It doesn't even take much reading between the lines to see that he's really a militantly anhedonic death obsessed control freak perv.

Over the past few days I've formed a theory about why he might have left his church and started up his totally unqualified one man show at the nursing home. He's already said one of his goals was to isolate Chris and Sarah from peers and keep his children from talking to anyone who wasn't part of the immediate family, lest they encounter an influence he couldn't control. But looking through the wayback machine I was struck by how many times he mentioned his men's group at church, back when they belonged to one. He found great comfort, friendship, and spiritual companionship with these men. He frequently talked about how he confessed private problems to them (like that time he secretly hated Teri for no reason) and they'd pray with him and for him and help him out. He also frequently mentioned times when they'd challenge him on the decisions he made, because he wasn't on the right track, and he'd think about what they said and straighten out.

The entries he wrote about the group are actually quite nice, if you can leave aside the fact that he mostly discusses them in terms of how he's been a jerk to his family and they show him the error of his ways. It's strange to me that he was so willing to just turn his back on an organization that was such a source of comfort and encouragement to him and go it alone instead. I wonder if part of the reason he left is because their challenges started to rub him the wrong way. He is not a man who takes kindly to being told he's wrong. It doesn't seem like he was always this way, but as he got more and more rigid, became more and more convinced that he had all the answers about how to live if you want to get into heaven, and steered more and more toward turning his family into his own personal death cult and making himself over from an electrical engineer into a self-proclaimed minister of his own flock, I wonder if he started to think he was above the peer regulation of this prayer group. He went from writing like this (June 1999, an entry about getting rid of the TV):

A word of caution before reading on! This month’s Corner is a tough one to share. It is possible there could be some reaction to it. Please don’t shoot the messenger. Take this before the Lord, and if you then feel God has this for you, receive it. If after praying about it, you are convinced it isn’t of the Lord, just use the delete key and it is gone forever. Easy!

To this November 2008 entry about sports, which is honestly one of the most self-righteous and passive aggressive things I've ever read. If you disagree with him that sports are evil, you're obviously unsaved, ignoring scripture, and actually finding fault with Jesus, not Steve Maxwell. He's just the infallable mouthpiece here (He actually flat-out says he's "sharing the Lord's heart!"), laying down the law in the name of Christ, and if you disagree with Steve you're going to answer for it on Judgment Day.

If you are a Christian and committed to sports, I'm not trying to pick a fight because I have more profitable things to do with my time. If you can't read this with an open mind, then please simply stop reading now. Each of us will give an accounting to the Lord Jesus for the way we use our time and the decisions we make, so let each be persuaded in his own mind. This Corner is for those families who would like to hear what Scripture says about sports as the writer above has requested. Please pray that I will be faithful in sharing the Lord's heart in this matter.

This Corner is not written to the lost because, frankly, for them sports may be a better use of time than many pastimes in which they could be engaged. However, even for those who don't base their lives on the Bible, logically speaking, sports may still not be the best use of a child's time, provided the parents have normal, vocationally-related, long-term goals for their children.

Therefore it is important to clarify that this Corner is written to families where Dad is:

•saved

• striving to raise his children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord

• deeply committed to leading his family consistently with Scripture

• sincerely desiring God's best for his family

• not simply avoiding sin

I don't know how someone with any self-awareness or sense of humor at all could come up with the above without realizing he's being ridiculous. He's absolutely positive that he's speaking for Jesus, interpreting the Bible 100% correctly, and that anyone who doesn't see things completely his way is hard hearted and in opposition to God. I can imagine that causing quite a bit of friction in a group that's supposed to be about discussion and prayerful support and kindly challenging people who are heading astray. I wonder if some of them tried to tell him he was going off the rails and when he realized they didn't listen to him as the mouthpiece of the almighty, he flounced.

[emmiedahl]

I'm a little interested by the 'not simply avoiding sin'. wtf is that supposed to mean? Like, a normal religious person who avoids sinning is not nearly as good as the God-like Steve? Again, wtf?

[defrauding]

Cos you woudn't want your precious blessing showing you up by humming "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" around the grocery store, when they could be belting out a chorus of "Daddy on his knees", now would you.... :whistle:

The Maxwells: Greatest Hits: now available at Vision Forum and Circus of Books!

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I love (in a snarky fashion) the way that Chris Max has fallen hook, line and sinker into the infantilised fundie-adult-at-home way.

On the families for Jesus he has written one section of the piece on teaching materials, and the section is headed "By Christopher Maxwell, Aged 26". I haven't put my age on something I wrote since I won a writing competition in Junior School and labeled it "By Annie-C, aged 9 3/4" :lol:

I shared an apartment with an artist for a while when I was in college - a guy professionally employed as a graphic designer. He would do lots of practice drawings, drawings of animals from life and the like, just doodling around the house, and they were always amazing.

So we'd hang them on the fridge sometimes, at which point he would write "By John Doe, Aged 26" on them, but it was DEFINITELY a tongue-in-cheek thing! I can't imagine someone being serious about it... but then this is the Maxwells :)

[hoipolloi]

Great analysis, VodouDoll! Would love to see Steve's face when he reads it.

As for this:

"This Corner is not written to the lost because, frankly, for them sports may be a better use of time than many pastimes in which they could be engaged.

[VodouDoll]

I'm a little interested by the 'not simply avoiding sin'. wtf is that supposed to mean? Like, a normal religious person who avoids sinning is not nearly as good as the God-like Steve? Again, wtf?

Correct. He says in another entry that I can't find right now that true Christians, when it comes to sin, don't figure out how close they can go to the line without crossing it. Rather, they figure out how close they can draw to Jesus. That's why, even though sports might not be evil in and of themselves, the Maxwells avoid them anyway in case they become an idol. They've never touched a drop of alcohol even though drinking isn't a sin, just in case they overindulge, which is a sin. They don't have fun, even though there's nothing wrong with fun, because there's something wrong with doing nothing but having fun. Basically, rather than trust themselves to do things in moderation, they avoid anything that could possibly be taken to extremes. Except praying and working, because those are cool with Jesus.

Thanks, hoipolloi! I have probably spent more time than is good for me pondering the twisted inner workings of Steve and Teri Maxwell. I love talking about them. They're fascinating.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I'm a little interested by the 'not simply avoiding sin'. wtf is that supposed to mean? Like, a normal religious person who avoids sinning is not nearly as good as the God-like Steve? Again, wtf?

Oh, this is KEY to the entire Maxwell philosophy. Basically their creed is that "that which is not explicitly mentioned as a way to serve God, is forbidden."

Meaning, it's not enough to not sin, to not transgress, to not break the various "do not XXX" rules. Heavens no.

Rather, you're supposed to use every moment you have, of your entire life, serving God or directly enabling others to do so. That's why fun is forbidden - any time you're using for fun, you COULD be using to directly serve God, either by proselytizing, working on your "ministry," being a helpmeet to your family, or studying the scriptures. Again.

This is why anything secular is forbidden, also - it's not only the possible dangerous influences, but also the lack of religious content. Your brain has limited space, and you don't want to waste any of that limited space on "Row Row Row Your Boat" when you could be humming a hymn instead and thereby directly pleasing God. Any time you might spend reading a novel would be better spent reading over the Bible for the 234057230346103946th time this week.

Completely batshit crazy? You bet.

[VodouDoll]

Oh, this is KEY to the entire Maxwell philosophy. Basically their creed is that "that which is not explicitly mentioned as a way to serve God, is forbidden."

You put it much better than I did!

[ophelia]

Wow, this is a really interesinting inside look into the whole Maxwell-Universe. I'm not following them that much, but now I think that I maybe should.

But how does Steve feel about marrying off his kids? If he forces them to avoid any contact outside the family, how are they supposed to meet their future spouse?? Does he "explain" that somehow?

[hoipolloi]

Basically, rather than trust themselves to do things in moderation, they avoid anything that could possibly be taken to extremes.

Wouldn't a failure to trust themselves to avoid sin, as saved Christians, also be a failure to trust in the Lord, and therefore a sin?

The Maxwells, especially Steve, are pathologically warped.

[Edited for clarity]

[Justme]

Wow, this is a really interesinting inside look into the whole Maxwell-Universe. I'm not following them that much, but now I think that I maybe should.

But how does Steve feel about marrying off his kids? If he forces them to avoid any contact outside the family, how are they supposed to meet their future spouse?? Does he "explain" that somehow?

Nathan married at 24. He met Melanie at church (before they started their own). Chris just married at 31. He was engaged a few years before, but it didn't work out. He met Anna at a Maxwell conference. Her familie was equally as fundy, so she was considered ok as a future wife. Sarah will be 30 in Jan. She's no potential mate (that we know of). The other kid are teens or early 20's.

Steve blogged once not long ago that it was their "desire" for Sarah to find a husband. I think they believe future spouses will "appear" when the time is right. :?

[fundiefan]

Nathan married at 24. He met Melanie at church (before they started their own). Chris just married at 31. He was engaged a few years before, but it didn't work out. He met Anna at a Maxwell conference. Her familie was equally as fundy, so she was considered ok as a future wife. Sarah will be 30 in Jan. She's no potential mate (that we know of). The other kid are teens or early 20's.

Steve blogged once not long ago that it was their "desire" for Sarah to find a husband. I think they believe future spouses will "appear" when the time is right. :?

I don't believe he's ever given insight into how he believes marriage will or should happen for his children, or any insight into what he does, if anything, to actively participate in the process. If he has gone into any detail or even general ideas of it, it was probably buried in another diatribe that was too much to actually read or finish. For me, at least.

He seems to think they'll get married - he recently did a post about the clock ticking on their conferences, in part because things will change when the kids marry. How he thinks that will happen is a mystery. When your adult children are never allowed out of your sight, can't have a private conversation with anyone, can't meet someone randomly or even through friends or activities, or even online somewhere, I don't have a clue how it could ever even be possible. Then again, I am not living his life and maybe he thinks god will just drop spouses into his lap (yes, his lap, not his kid's laps; they don't get that much control over their own lives) as a reward for being such a perfect, smart, dedicated bible freak.

[Guest Anonymous]

The thing that gets me about Steve, I think, is how the way he sees himself and thinks he's portraying himself on his blog and in his ministry - as a kind, gentle, sensitive, loving man - is so incredibly off base. It doesn't even take much reading between the lines to see that he's really a militantly anhedonic death obsessed control freak perv.

Over the past few days I've formed a theory about why he might have left his church and started up his totally unqualified one man show at the nursing home. He's already said one of his goals was to isolate Chris and Sarah from peers and keep his children from talking to anyone who wasn't part of the immediate family, lest they encounter an influence he couldn't control. But looking through the wayback machine I was struck by how many times he mentioned his men's group at church, back when they belonged to one. He found great comfort, friendship, and spiritual companionship with these men. He frequently talked about how he confessed private problems to them (like that time he secretly hated Teri for no reason) and they'd pray with him and for him and help him out. He also frequently mentioned times when they'd challenge him on the decisions he made, because he wasn't on the right track, and he'd think about what they said and straighten out.

The entries he wrote about the group are actually quite nice, if you can leave aside the fact that he mostly discusses them in terms of how he's been a jerk to his family and they show him the error of his ways. It's strange to me that he was so willing to just turn his back on an organization that was such a source of comfort and encouragement to him and go it alone instead. I wonder if part of the reason he left is because their challenges started to rub him the wrong way. He is not a man who takes kindly to being told he's wrong. It doesn't seem like he was always this way, but as he got more and more rigid, became more and more convinced that he had all the answers about how to live if you want to get into heaven, and steered more and more toward turning his family into his own personal death cult and making himself over from an electrical engineer into a self-proclaimed minister of his own flock, I wonder if he started to think he was above the peer regulation of this prayer group. He went from writing like this (June 1999, an entry about getting rid of the TV):

To this November 2008 entry about sports, which is honestly one of the most self-righteous and passive aggressive things I've ever read. If you disagree with him that sports are evil, you're obviously unsaved, ignoring scripture, and actually finding fault with Jesus, not Steve Maxwell. He's just the infallable mouthpiece here (He actually flat-out says he's "sharing the Lord's heart!"), laying down the law in the name of Christ, and if you disagree with Steve you're going to answer for it on Judgment Day.

I don't know how someone with any self-awareness or sense of humor at all could come up with the above without realizing he's being ridiculous. He's absolutely positive that he's speaking for Jesus, interpreting the Bible 100% correctly, and that anyone who doesn't see things completely his way is hard hearted and in opposition to God. I can imagine that causing quite a bit of friction in a group that's supposed to be about discussion and prayerful support and kindly challenging people who are heading astray. I wonder if some of them tried to tell him he was going off the rails and when he realized they didn't listen to him as the mouthpiece of the almighty, he flounced.

Fascinating analysis! :clap:

Do we know the name/location of their former church..... :think:

[fundiefan]

Fascinating analysis! :clap:

Do we know the name/location of their former church..... :think:

It is fascinating, and hits it head on, I think. While fascinating, it's also scary as shit.

How anyone - anyone - can claim to speak for god or tell others what in 'god's 'heart' is beyond comprehension. And damn, he is a dangerous, scary being.

He's always bothered me beyond reason. Lately, he's been terrifying me beyond reason.

[Rainbowcolor]

I think spouses dropping from heaven into Steve's "time with the Lord" would be a decent guess. However she better be clothed in a full burka deal or he'd toss her right back up there. If it was a husband for Srarah he better not arrive with a parachute. That would demonstrate his appetite for fun. Nope - back you go! And back to prayer... "Oh Lord please send me APPROPRIATE spouses. You just don't have it right yet. I'll wait. I KNOW you, so I know you can do better."

[VodouDoll]

It is fascinating, and hits it head on, I think. While fascinating, it's also scary as shit.

How anyone - anyone - can claim to speak for god or tell others what in 'god's 'heart' is beyond comprehension.

Never mind saying "God dammit," or something. I'm an atheist and even I can see that holding yourself out as the mouthpiece of the Lord is probably the most revolting blasphemy a person can commit. If it's not taking His name in vain to put words in His mouth and tell people you know His heart (About things as trivial as sports, no less! From someone with no education whatsoever in theology, ministry, or even church history.), then I don't know what is. It's so arrogant and presumptuous. Who is Steve Maxwell to claim he speaks for the creator of the universe? Honestly, how dare he? It is grossly offensive and irreverent.

He would tell you he's a humble man, but his ego is out of control. I get the impression that when it comes to Steve Maxwell and God, he sometimes forgets there's a difference. Not that he actually thinks he's God, but that he thinks the two of them are so in sync that he knows God's thoughts just as God knows his. That must be easier to believe when God wants everything you want, hates everything you hate, and confirms every choice you make, especially after you've cut anyone out of your life who might disagree with you and only kept the people you've brainwashed into validating every choice you make. But what can we expect from someone who's flat-out said that he shuns education for himself and his children because it might end up not perfectly confirming everything he already thinks? Why should his relationship with God be any different?

It's just..agh! He wasn't always like this! What bizarre or deeply traumatic thing happened to this man to drive him off the deep end like this?

According to the August 1997 Mom's Corner, Teri's parents went to a church called Main Post Chapel. I assume that's where the Maxwells went too until Steve lost his damned mind. I googled it and, actually, I think it's the stone church where they took the photo in their freaky new banner.

[MamaJunebug]

I was wondering if Steve's men's group had been in Washington state or in Kansas.

If Teri's folks were attending at the Main Post Chapel at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas (the fort is totally adjacent to the city of Leavenworth, where the Maxwells live) it was during one of these services:

http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/Staff/chaplain/index.asp

I've wondered why the fam uprooted from the rainy but clement northwest to go to eastern Kansas, which has some of the worst weather in the continent - blistering, ultra-humid highs and ice-stormy lows that don't quit. If Teri's folks were there, that explains it. Maybe they also figured that they could operate more efficiently out of a mid-continent base than from a coast.

Dang me, i'd love to have the timeline! Where was Steve's men's group? When did they move inland and why? (stated reasons would be accepted, since I doubt they'd tell me what was really "on their hearts")

ETA: Okay~! I have spent way more time than I ever expected to and have come up with this timeline, admittedly incomplete. It looks though as if Steve parted company with his employer while in Kansas, which is interesting. I know Boeing had/has facilities in Wichita, but not Leavenworth. So many questions still remain:

Early 1980s: lived in Clearwater, Florida, where members of their conservative church accepted surgical sterilization as a practical way of protecting Teri's fragile mental/physical health (there's an RH Factor component to their decision)

Around 1984: sterilization

1985: moved to the state of Washington, re-evaluated the sterilization, had reversal surgery, began homeschooling

1990: started going to a nursing home for worship music on Saturdays in the Lansing, KS, area.

1993: Put up the playhouse in Kansas

1997: the Lord brought Steve home to run his own business

2002: started having Sunday morning service at the nursing home

So, they moved to Kansas between '85 and '90. Fascinating! And he was still apparently employed OTH when they moved.

It super-makes-sense, now, that he has pulled in any comments about his ex-employer if this all happened in KS. For some reason I'd figured he had quit work while still in WA. Even in this cyber-age, it's really silly to speak openly about your ex-boss if he's closer to you than not, physically.

I'm dyin' to know Teri's maiden name and how her fam happen/happens to worship on-post at the fort. Did Steve's family come from Omaha? If not, why is the elder Mrs. Maxwell wasting away there, unvisited by her righteous son 363 days out of 365?

Because I'm nosy, and I want to know more. That's pretty much the reason why.

I mean, one of my favorite old-lady rockers, Melissa Etheridge, is from Leavenworth, after all. Small towns have big stories! ;)

[Witsec6]

From their music site:

Yeah. My freshman year college roommate was majoring in violin performance. She'd been in lessons since age two. I'm sure that's all her teachers and professors did her entire life: just remind and encourage her to practice. Her parents could've homeschooled her into the exact same skills and saved a lot of tuition money.

Are the Bates's Maxwell followers? That would explain Erin's terrible piano technique, at least. She's actually pretty good for being self-taught.

[MamaJunebug]

Whoo, bonus! Thanks to the folks over at "Teri maxwell on Modesty" I've discovered that in 1999 they were still going to a church where there were people the kids' ages!

Here are two articles by my Mom that I thought you girls would enjoy! These were written in 1999.

~Sarah~

I am going to share with you two posts I once wrote to the MOMYS digest on the issue of modest dressing..

In addition to what is in the posts, we also discovered this year that necklines in the back were a concern for us. I purchased two dresses of a similar style that were just on the border of okay for us at the front neckline. However, the back neckline was just a bit deeper than I would normally wear. No big deal, I thought. My hair will cover it up. What I didnt consider was how a dress with a rather large neck shifts. It wanted to come forward because of the larger back neck. I did discover this in my family style show before I had worn the dresses so that they could be returned.

The first post I am copying here had to do with how we have tried to teach our daughters to dress modestly. The second one was in response to another post asking for specifics on eye traps that I mentioned in the first message.

Trusting in Jesus,

Teri Maxwell

Modest Dressing

Post 1

It is interesting for me to look back on how we have passed on the idea of modesty to our oldest daughter (our other girls are young enough to still be in the learning stages in this area). As with so much of our parenting we have no plan, simply a continual crying out to the Lord for His wisdom and direction.

For the last ten to twelve years of my walk with the Lord, I have been more aware of the issue of modest dress for women. Because of this, it has been something Sarah and I have regularly talked about as I share with her the choices I make in clothing and why I make them. She has readily accepted these same standards.

One of the most helpful things we did was when we had a school assignment on dressing modestly. There were some very specific examples with drawings given of eye traps. These were styles of womens clothing that draw the eye away from the face and to other parts of the body. Some were a revelation to me! I had to go to my husband and ask, Steve, if you see a woman with a slit in her skirt does it draw your eyes to her legs? We went through each of the examples and he confirmed that they were eye traps for men. We also went to the airport and sat the family in a busy spot. We watched the people specifically watching mens eyes as they looked at women with some of these clothing styles on. Ugh! What a lesson for our daughter!

Sarah and I discuss our clothing when we are shopping, sewing, or something is given to us in light of its modesty and how it looks on us. We style show for Steve getting his opinion as a man and the head of our home on something we might wonder about. We have some styles that we know we would not wear; no discussion or decisions there. Other things will sometimes depend on how the outfit actually fits.

Sarah has come away with a great modest- but-lovely way of dressing. She is out of vogue with some of the girls in our church. Quite often this is a topic of conversation between she and I that she will bring up after church. It will go something like this, Mom, did you notice what so and so had on today? I dont understand how she can choose to dress like that. I wonder why her parents dont encourage her to dress modestly. She and I are quite aware of this because we know that my husband, twenty-three year old and twenty year old sons are sitting there in church with us, easily able to observe any clothing (and the one wearing it) that isnt modest.

Not dressing the way others do, even within our church, has given Sarah and I many opportunities to discuss the importance of her knowing why she does what she does. If she is simply following what Steve and I want her to do, then she will not have a strong testimony when others question her on her standards. If, on the other hand, she understands that the choices I make are out of my love for Jesus Christ and how I interpret following Him and His Word and she makes her choices based on the same, then she will gain a hearing and perhaps even the respect of those who question her. Let me tell you; they do question her! When she helps out at the home of a family with young children, almost always the parents will ask her many, many questions about what our family is really like behind the scenes even concerning our dress standards!

I love seeing the beauty and radiance of the young ladies in our church who have chosen to dress modestly. It brings such delight to my heart as I observe them.

Trusting in Jesus,

Teri Maxwell

[VodouDoll]

Mama J, this paragraph in their August 1997 Mom's Corner, "Who is the Maxwell Family?" answers several of your questions:

For many years our family had a heart's desire to be near our extended family. In 1990 God opened the door for Steve to find a job working for Wilcox Electric in Kansas City. My parents lived in Leavenworth so we were excited to be coming back to the Midwest. Although we had thought we would live in Kansas City, housing in Leavenworth met our needs better. After a year of renting a house to see how we would adjust to Steve's longer commute time, we purchased the house next door to my parents. Some of you may know them through Main Post Chapel. They are Rex and Jan Frazer. We have loved the relationships which we have been able to watch grow, develop and change between the various members of the family: parents, daughter, son-in-law, grandparents, and grandchildren.

So Teri was Teri Frazer. The Maxwells moved to KS in 1990 to be near her folks. Steve didn't move to KS for a job at Boeing, though he might have worked there in OR. I know they lived in Florida somewhere in there too (can you just imagine young Teri and Steve partying it up at Florida State or something?). I wonder if Wilcox Electric in Kansas is the job Steve took his moral stand from, whatever that was all about. I don't recall them ever mentioning him switching jobs until the Lord Brought Him Home so it could be. In this same Corner, they call Communications Concepts their "fledgling business" which employed Christopher to design websites, so they must have just started it around this time. Mr. and Mrs. Frazer probably went to church on the base because he's a veteran. I think we just recently learned that when the Maxwells made Memorial Day all about praying for the souls of aborted fetuses, and when people told them that was gross Steve said, "No it's not, I asked my father in law who was in the army and he said it's fne!"

I get the impression Steve's men's prayer group was in Kansas too. They had a normalish (still really fundie, but normal compared to how they are now) thing going on: church with an actual pastor, social lives, prayer groups, jobs outside the home, etc. They walked away from all of it. Gradually, but still.

[MamaJunebug]

Mama J, this paragraph in their August 1997 Mom's Corner, "Who is the Maxwell Family?" answers several of your questions:

So Teri was Teri Frazer. The Maxwells moved to KS in 1990 to be near her folks. Steve didn't move to KS for a job at Boeing, though he might have worked there in OR. I know they lived in Florida somewhere in there too (can you just imagine young Teri and Steve partying it up at Florida State or something?). I wonder if Wilcox Electric in Kansas is the job Steve took his moral stand from, whatever that was all about. I don't recall them ever mentioning him switching jobs until the Lord Brought Him Home so it could be. In this same Corner, they call Communications Concepts their "fledgling business" which employed Christopher to design websites, so they must have just started it around this time. Mr. and Mrs. Frazer probably went to church on the base because he's a veteran. I think we just recently learned that when the Maxwells made Memorial Day all about praying for the souls of aborted fetuses, and when people told them that was gross Steve said, "No it's not, I asked my father in law who was in the army and he said it's fne!"

I get the impression Steve's men's prayer group was in Kansas too. They had a normalish (still really fundie, but normal compared to how they are now) thing going on: church with an actual pastor, social lives, prayer groups, jobs outside the home, etc. They walked away from all of it. Gradually, but still.

Oooh, Vodou, that voodoo that you do! Thank you so much! So now we have, in my ever-lovin' bulleted-list form:

Early 1980s: lived in Clearwater, Florida, where members of their conservative church accepted surgical sterilization as a practical way of protecting Teri's fragile mental/physical health (there's an RH Factor component to their decision)

Around 1984: sterilization

1985: moved to the state of Washington, re-evaluated the sterilization, had reversal surgery, began homeschooling

1990: Moved to Leavenworth to be near Rex and Jan Frazer, Teri's parents,

who had been attending services on-post;

and Steve took a job at Wilcox Electric;

they started going to a nursing home for worship music on Saturdays in the Lansing, KS, area.

1997: the Lord brought Steve home (from Wilcox? or other?) to run his own business

2002: started having Sunday morning service at the nursing home

....So, it looks as though sometime after Steve parted from Wilcox Electric, that nursing home ministry began to look pretty good to Saint Steve The Pontificator.

Thanks a million, Vodou, again! I'm gonna go see what there is on Wilcox Elec. What do you wanna bet it turned into a female-owned/operated business after Steve had joined up....? ;) Ah, the dramz potential....

[MamaJunebug]

Info on Wilcox.

Located in the heart of the United States, we began as Wilcox a small three - person radio communications firm, founded in 1931 by entrepreneur Jay V. Wilcox. In 1988, Wilcox was acquired by Thomson Corporation of America and our name was later changed to Airsys ATM Inc. Airsys ATM has become a 100% owned subsidiary of Thales S.A., formerly known as Thomson-CSF, and thus on June 21, 2001 our name was changed to Thales ATM Inc.

And Thales is

the world's leading supplier of Air Traffic Management systems and services, with installations in over 160 countries. We are the international leader in ground based navaids for aircraft, serving civilian and military clients world wide.

Might I mention that curiously enough, Thompson-CSF was French-owned? that couldn't have sat well with Mr. America Maxwell. ;)

Anyhoo, the KC Business Journal reported this in 1996:

Move would leave a valuable space empty

Kansas City Business Journal - by Jim Davis , Staff Writer

Date: Sunday, February 16, 1997, 11:00pm CST

Less than a year after losing a big contract that caused its work force to shrink by nearly one-half, Wilcox Electric Inc. wants to sell its Kansas City, North, headquarters and hopes to relocate this summer to a smaller space in the metro area.

Which may/not mean anything insofar as Rev. Mr. Maxwell's time there is concerned. But there it is.

[VodouDoll]

Thanks, Mama J! And great finds! Could they have wanted him to help evaluate his colleagues and choose who's laid off, like the Bobs in Office Space or George Clooney in Up in the Air? Nobody would be happy being asked to do that.