[UntoHim]

Originally Posted by Dave

Even though WL later asked me to come to Detroit I wish I had stayed in Santa Cruz. It was the highlight of my LC experience.

From my understanding, Santa Cruz was far enough away from LA and Anaheim that it could actually function as a genuine "local church", and not a branch office of the Local Church of Witness Lee/Living Stream Corp. I believe the same was true for Berkeley and maybe some others as well. Having been "born and raised" in Orange County (just minutes from Anaheim) I never got to experience anything like you did in Santa Cruz. The closest thing may have been when Lee initiated "The Young People's churches" (circa 1977) in Orange County - Costa Mesa, Irvine, Fullerton and some others. Those were some exciting times, and brought a breath of fresh air...but of course it was short-lived...Lee and some of his minions cooked up a great "rebellion", which of course had to be quashed. I was bussed up to Berkeley to that crazy, infamous Memorial Day conference (78?). We had barely been back a day or two and there was an emergency meeting called where Lee put down the hatchet. I remember that meeting well...one young person, usually an older one chosen to be the representative, was chosen to stand up and "repent" to Witness Lee as he sat in the front with a smug look of satisfaction. Looking back, if that didn't seal the deal of making us a personality cult, then I don't know what did.