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Originally Posted by JB482
I agree with you on the church in San Diego not being as chaotic as some other churches. John smith really cared about the saints. He wasn't a cookie cutter cut out. And he was very stable and mature. What made me sense the Lords blessing was leaving in 1974 was uprooting and disrupting those new churches that were formed in the summer of 1972. And the centralization with Anaheim becoming the seat of authority. It was a sadness I felt and I know other saints felt it too. But we have all learned a great deal over the years from everything that happened.
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In January of 1974, W. Lee formalized these changes into an instructional format directing the ministry of all the LC's. That list is quite telling, and was posted here a while back. At its core were the demands of who could minister and what they were allowed to minister -- all based on Lee's teachings.
The clock was thus wound for shepherd leaders like John Smith to depart.
History teaches us that W. Lee never let a crisis go to waste. With each successive chaotic "storm," further regulations were set in place for LSM to take over every LC. What started out as seeking Christians longing for "
Christ and the church" was consciously transmuted into zealous Christians sold out for "Lee and his ministry."