Fundamentalist Churches in WA

[MsSocialWork]

Hello- I am not an avid poster here but I certainly am an avid reader. I am currently setting out to do some qualitative research on fundamentalists and their views on social work, CPS, DSHS, the police etc etc etc. Right now I am in the very early stages of this, gathering sources and trying to get some more first hand experience. I am currently a professor at a University in Seattle and was wondering if anyone knew of any fundamentalist* churches in the area? Or around the area, I am willing to drive even out of the county.

 

Or if there are any fundie families in Western Washington that may have blogs that I can start to read as a way to survey the climate in the area. Thanks for any information you may have!

 

Please excuse my grammar/typos, on my phone. Thanks!

 

*Gothard/Vision Forum/Dresses only/Headship fundamentalists not the (just as insane) Mars Hill variety

[19 cats and counting]

IIRC Erika "Control Freak" Shupe (Large Families on Purpose) lives in the area.

I came across her blog from my FB last year and she makes the Duggars look sane.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

Anna Marie Maxwell comes from WA, her family attends this church: bibledirectionforlife.com/

These are all IFB churches:

fundamental.org/fundamental/churches/index.php3?action=listchurchesinstate&statename=Washington

Of course CabinetMan lives in WA but his church isn't crazy like he is

Reformed churches can be very fundie.

This is interesting, and there is info in the comments

youtube.com/watch?v=0kvh3YEotqo

[Marian the Librarian]

Not a church, but you might be interested in exploring the deep rabbit hole that is the Christian Heritage Home Educators of Washington. Michael Bradrick, patriarch of the Bradrick clan, is the VP of their Board; he and his wife Susan have been involved with the organization for years. Bradrick's son Peter was Vision Forum leader Doug Phillips' right-hand man, until he confronted Dougie about his naughty extramarital activities. Peter Bradrick is married to Kelly Brown Bradrick, oldest daughter of Scott Brown of NCFIC fame. It's a tangled web...

Helpful links:

christianheritageonline.org

facebook.com/christianheritagehomeeducators

familydiscipleshipmin.com

ncfic.org

Christian Heritage Home Educators of Washington holds a conference every April at Overlake Christian (Mega-) Church in Redmond - I'm not sure where Overlake lands on the fundamentalist meter, but they're happy to serve as venue for this annual event. Voddie Baucham is this year's scheduled keynote speaker; if you check out the conference web page, you'll see lots of other speakers who are big names in Washington State's fundamentalist homeschooling world. Many of these folks have public Facebook pages, which make for some pretty interesting reading. Past conference speaker rosters have included fundie movers and shakers like the Botkin family, and Kevin Swanson (Generations With Vision).

I think it's pretty safe to say they hold a dim collective view of CPS, DSHS, the police, and anyone else who might come knocking. They're a separatist bunch.

[Black Aliss]

There's a Vision Forum congregation that meets on Sunday afternoons in a church in Hobart, WA.

[defraudingjezebel]

Being so close to the SeaTac area makes me want to scope these places out in person. I have a sort-of anthropological fascination for them.

[nolongerIFBx]

http://riverviewbaptist.org/ It's in Pasco. I have no clue how close that it so Seattle.

[Black Aliss]

http://fundamental.org/fundamental/chur ... Washington

[Georgiana]

http://riverviewbaptist.org/ It's in Pasco. I have no clue how close that it so Seattle.

You can get just about anywhere in WA and most places in OR within 6-7 hours of Seattle. Just about anything in state is day-trip doable, but the closer you get to ID/Southern OR the more annoying it is to do round trip in one day.

Last time I went to Pasco I think it took me 3-4 hours. But that was YEARS ago.

[MsSocialWork]

Thank you all so much! I have a lot of internet black holes to fall down today! haha

Marian the Librarian-- That is interesting about the conference being at Overlake Christian Church. I actually went there in high school and would classify it as fundy-lite or even a step down. They actually just became 'third way' church meaning that they have no stance on homosexuality and gay couples can serve in the church etc. They even have an affirming support group for gay Christians ran by Linda Robertson (the just because she breathes blog). Fascinating that they A) have that group come and B)that they group willingly would go there. But then again it is the largest church int he area and has a HUGE auditorium etc. I wonder if that group knows about their new stance.. hmmm.

[bionicmlle]

A blogger we used to discuss (Laurel of MamaDsDozen or ImGhanaAdopt) lived in south west Washington but she flounced a few years ago and I think is off the radar. I'm not quite sure what church she went to but at one point she was with a church, IIRC, in which several families adopted from Ghana and several of the adoptions went south. One of the three children she adopted had an "interrupted" adoption due to some sexual abuse issues and one of the other children she ended up sending to a residential facility. For a few years she and her husband were "ministering" on the San Juan Islands, I think, but moved back when Papa lost his job there. She was a basket of interesting.... I miss her.

[littlemommy]

A blogger we used to discuss (Laurel of MamaDsDozen or ImGhanaAdopt) lived in south west Washington but she flounced a few years ago and I think is off the radar. I'm not quite sure what church she went to but at one point she was with a church, IIRC, in which several families adopted from Ghana and several of the adoptions went south. One of the three children she adopted had an "interrupted" adoption due to some sexual abuse issues and one of the other children she ended up sending to a residential facility. For a few years she and her husband were "ministering" on the San Juan Islands, I think, but moved back when Papa lost his job there. She was a basket of interesting.... I miss her.

I have never been quite the same since Mama D flounced.

[Marian the Librarian]

Thank you all so much! I have a lot of internet black holes to fall down today! haha

Marian the Librarian-- That is interesting about the conference being at Overlake Christian Church. I actually went there in high school and would classify it as fundy-lite or even a step down. They actually just became 'third way' church meaning that they have no stance on homosexuality and gay couples can serve in the church etc. They even have an affirming support group for gay Christians ran by Linda Robertson (the just because she breathes blog). Fascinating that they A) have that group come and B)that they group willingly would go there. But then again it is the largest church int he area and has a HUGE auditorium etc. I wonder if that group knows about their new stance.. hmmm.

Very interesting! My sense is that the Christian Heritage crowd uses Overlake as its venue because they need/want the large auditorium, and the vendors' hall. Past vendor lists have been huge, it's a big opportunity for the "like-minded" to sell their wares to one another. But wouldn't it be great if Overlake now displays info declaring its 'third way' status?? I'd love it if the first thing the conferees saw inside the building was a huge "We love gay Christians!" rainbow banner. :lol:

[EmiGirl]

Very interesting! My sense is that the Christian Heritage crowd uses Overlake as its venue because they need/want the large auditorium, and the vendors' hall. Past vendor lists have been huge, it's a big opportunity for the "like-minded" to sell their wares to one another. But wouldn't it be great if Overlake now displays info declaring its 'third way' status?? I'd love it if the first thing the conferees saw inside the building was a huge "We love gay Christians!" rainbow banner. :lol:

I would love to see stevehovah's face if that happened.

[shedemei]

Christian Heritage Home Educators of Washington holds a conference every April at Overlake Christian (Mega-) Church in Redmond - I'm not sure where Overlake lands on the fundamentalist meter, but they're happy to serve as venue for this annual event.

I have a friend of a friend who's a member and I went to a wedding there once. They're one of those mega-churches that has bands and tries to be unchurchy, if you know what I mean. I got the impression that it's very very conservative, but not fundie.

[older than allosaurs]

Erica Shupe goes to Spring Creek Bible Church in Bellingham. My impression is that the church is a bit less hard-core than she is.

Also in Whatcom County are a batch of hyper-Calvinist churches and associated Christian schools, most of them in the east county, near Lynden.

[KittenMitten]

MsSocialWork. Nothing to add, sorry. But hi from a social worker in New York. Good luck with your research. It sounds fascinating.

[tigerchild]

Cedar Park in Kenmore. http://www.cedarpark.org They also have a school. The minister has made some...interesting comments over the years.

[Marian the Librarian]

Cedar Park in Kenmore. http://www.cedarpark.org They also have a school. The minister has made some...interesting comments over the years.

Yep - he maintains a separate, non-church website in order to tell the faithful how to vote.

pastorspicks.com

[jegfile]

A blogger we used to discuss (Laurel of MamaDsDozen or ImGhanaAdopt) lived in south west Washington but she flounced a few years ago and I think is off the radar. I'm not quite sure what church she went to but at one point she was with a church, IIRC, in which several families adopted from Ghana and several of the adoptions went south. One of the three children she adopted had an "interrupted" adoption due to some sexual abuse issues and one of the other children she ended up sending to a residential facility. For a few years she and her husband were "ministering" on the San Juan Islands, I think, but moved back when Papa lost his job there. She was a basket of interesting.... I miss her.

She's back! She is now blogging under ANewJourneyOfFaith and it's the same old, same old. She had a full-time job but it wasn't the Lord's will so she resigned it... Papa needs prayers so he can be hired as a teacher... Rachel is still in exile... It's like she never left!

[bionicmlle]

OMG!!! Thank you!! An Easter miracle! Going to check it out now......

[bionicmlle]

Just caught up... Hmm.... Must be Ben expecting a new "miracle" judging by her less-than-detailed account.

[GiggleOfGirls]

There's a fundie church in Poulsbo called Scandia Bible Church (google and their website will pop up). It's small without much of an online presence, but they were well entrenched in the VF/Botkin/Above Rubies beliefs last I know of and it's not far at all from Seattle. I'm no longer in the area so I'm not sure what happened after VF's downfall, but the man who was getting really involved in the 200 year vision plans, QF, and such is apparently now the "pastor" so I'm guessing it's only gotten worse.

The "pastor" is on this Christian Heritage speaker list with a good many of the big FJ names, as well: www.christianheritageonline.org/product-category/speaker/

[wantondisregard]

Just caught up... Hmm.... Must be Ben expecting a new "miracle" judging by her less-than-detailed account.

Josh and Hannah are the couple in Washington expecting. They live in Spokane. The Chuch Jim was the pastor of is called Christ the King. A ton of these around Washington. Not sure what church they belonged to before because they've attended a lot until their grifting tendencies have been figured out. If you want to view her blog I would suggest doing it through your reader. She looks up IP addresses. She's bonkers.