Hello everyone,
I feel compelled to add my perspective to this thread. I was in Covenant Players from 1984-1985. I agree that it is a Christian-based ministry, BUT it has many cult-like characteristics. I wish to first address a few things other posters have said.

J.S. Fugate wrote “ . . . that THEY turned Chuck Tanner into an almost omnipotent leader . . . but that was their doing, not his.”

I disagree. This is an excuse, saying it was “their doing”, as if it were solely their responsibility. Chuck Tanner did nothing to counter these feelings and rumors. He allowed them to continue. So yes it WAS as much his doing as the people who placed him on a pedestal.

J.S. Fugate wrote “He was a genius, and one of the most prolific playwrights that ever lived .”

I realize this is a matter of opinion. I feel his single/double page “plays” left much to be desired. Yes he had talent with writing but genius level? Highly doubtful. So many of his characters were stereotypical and when I performed one of his “sci-fi” plays, being a science fiction reader I had a lot of problems with how the characters were portrayed and the general story line. It just wasn’t good science fiction.

J.S. Fugate wrote “Chuck never received any salary or took any of the funds raised by any unit. He lived on the royalties of outside groups performing his plays, and the sale of his play books”

What outside groups performing which plays? What royalties?? These outside groups charged admission? Never took any funds raised by the units? Who sold the playbooks? The units did.

S. Fugate, in an earlier post you said that Chuck Tanner bought and paid for his home when he was working as a Hollywood writer/director and that he “left that life’. Yet in a later post you claim that his filming was for the military, that he did “no commercial films" Which is it?

S. Fugate wrote “have heard murmurs over the years of people referring to this group as a "cult" - and I find that offensive. It undermines the personal growth I experienced, and all the wonderful work that the group has done, as well as the plays written by Charles M. Tanner.”
With all due respect for your years in CP, I get a strong sense of hero worship regarding your views of Chuck Tanner, due to you repeatedly calling him a “genius” and in your opinion one of the greatest playwrites that ever lived and that the *world* would agree with you if his works were more widely known. The fact that you feel there is a strong possibility that “Twilight Zone” stole some of Chuck’s ideas?! Can’t you see how absurd and unrealistic that is? Nothing wrong with role models, but this goes beyond that. And I think it clouds your judgment.
Yes a lot of folks had personal growth, but the opposite is also true. A lot of folks were injured by CP physically(indirect), psychologically, and emotionally. Yes the group has done wonderful work, and it also has done damage. Both deserve equal time and attention. Does all the damage negate the wonderful work? I’m not sure. But the fact remains that people in the group, their families, and others the group encountered have been hurt. Covenant Players had a responsibility to the safety of its members, and the fact that you said you had to recover from post traumatic stress, and that it put young immature inexperienced kids in charge of the lives of others is incredibly irresponsible. Having to be “forced to grow up” is not a good thing! It implies traumatic experiences that in this type of situation need not/should not happen!

As far as you learning more in CP than in college, that is true for all Real Life experience as opposed to book learning in a class room! Not just time with Covenant Players.


Now I wish to address some of the elements of Covenant Players that I found to be damaging/cult-like, some of these being responses to some of the questions the moderator had for Fugate.

One of the worst things to me was the way Covenant Players habitually used people. For example taking anyone with experience in auto mechanics and having them work hours on end into the wee hours of the morning working on the fleet of vans. No they weren’t paid. Utilizing your members knowledge and experience is smart, but this went beyond that. It was in the attitude shown; one of entitlement. *Any* thing a person had, be it experience or material objects, they were *expected* to throw them into the general pool so to speak. This attitude of entitlement also showed in the expectations of staying at people’s homes while touring. I saw people treating these homes as if they were their own, as if it was their right to stay there, not a privilage.
Using people even went as far as the following; A Covenant Player had been seriously injured in an auto accident. From what I heard, the van had been parked on the shoulder of a highway and the girl was in the back of the van doing some typing work. A truck slammed into the van. I’m not sure the extent of her injuries, only that she had been badly hurt. Chuck Tanner made the incident into a play. Okay, no problem there on the surface. But the way the girl was presented, the whole of the play, it left a bad taste in my mouth. It seemed artificial, I wish I could describe it better! Almost presenting her like a saintly martyr.

Covenant Players were VERY discouraged about leaving the group at the end of their commitments. Overall the attitude was that if God called you to CP, he doesn’t call you away. People were encouraged to believe that the best use of their life was in CP, that it could fulfill anything they wanted to do in life, and fulfill it better than anything outside of CP. Many Covenant Players were extremely obsessed with CP, everything they did, they somehow tied it to CP.
Chuck Tanner discouraged couples who found each other in the group from marrying because then he would loose two members, not just one.
Any negative or critical remarks about CP were discouraged. Even to the extent of referring to people who had fulfilled their commitment and left for good as “Covenant Players who are not touring right now.” The senior members of the group took pains to pat Cpers on the back, in a “look at us, we are so much better” type of thing. For instance at the all night awards ceremony, pointing out how CPers were so much better than those at the Academy awards because we always thanked God, and they don’t. Which isn’t even true. They would mention CP reunions, how “those who aren’t touring right now(ex-CP) always looked so wistful, and said how they missed it, they shouldn’t have left, etc. What wasn’t pointed out was the fact that people who left CP and were content, or wanted nothing to do with them, didn’t go to the reunions! Those who missed it, did go.
I witnessed Unit members discouraging kids from going to college, trying to convince them CP was the right way for them instead of saying, hey it’s up to you, they are both important.

It was expected that if Chuck can do it, so can everyone. The best concrete example I have of this was the fact that Chuck could do fine on 4-5 hours sleep a night. I remember seeing Chuck’s son-in-law at a gathering. He looked so ill, absolutely exhausted, because he wasn’t sleeping enough. You were encouraged to only sleep a little, so much to do why sleep? And people who were ill and went on stage anyway during a playdate were heralded as having “stamina” and were praised. The story I was told was about someone who went on with the show even though they were ill with pneumonia! Isn’t that great, they said. Umm, no, it was foolish.

Oh and the poster who commented that it was more important to send the HQ money than it was to eat; I can verify that as well. I went through that myself.

I did have a lot of excellent experiences In CP and I have had a lot more excellent experiences outside of CP. Unfortunately, the negative outweighed the good. When I left, I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. It did attract a lot of Bohemian types, but even within the group, those types were ridiculed.

So in closing I do feel that Covenant Players exhibited a lot of cult-like characteristics, that even tho it feels it helped people in regard to CP’s religious beliefs, it hurt plenty of people as well. CP fostered some of its own volcabulary, most members seemed not to be able to think about anything else except CP, there was sleep deprivation among other things, there was pressure to stay and make huge time commitments(even life), that it was run by one man who was charismatic, that the members were paid little to no money, sending it all to HQ, etc.

Thank you for reading this!

I came across this thread as I was typing in CP. I was a member. Finished my committment and left. It was during formative early adult years. My time there was very difficult for me and there is a huge part of me that wishes that I never joined them at all. Is it a cult? I am not sure what exactly is a cult. Before I run to defend it or run the other way and yell 'cult!' - I need to know what exactly is a cult.

I am hopeful that sorting some of this out will help me heal after about 20 years. I am trying to reconnect with that person that I was before I joined. That probably does not make any sense. I just want to be free from all the jumble that I have surrounding my time there that even today I have.

I would appreciate any info you have. I also feel like I need to connect with Cpers who left, how they feel. What were their experiences? This maybe difficult to get honest answers because when I was there - it was considered taboo to discuss its inner workings with the outside world.

I remember, I started to keep secrets from my family as I was told at training and while on the road that I should because "they would not understand and they may convince me to leave." I remember once confiding some to my parents while on the road and they were concerned - asked questions that I could not answer. This even made them more upset and it made me upset with their demands to know. I quickly made excuses and tried desperately to get off the phone. I was upset and told my unit. They did not like that I broke confidence, but then they comforted me and they said "see, thats what I mean - they won't understand - its better just to keep it inside our unit." Like somehow - I learned a good life lesson. These questions and concerns with the outside world caused me so much turmoil when I was in CP.

I could go on about other things. Much more. I realise that not everyone will share the same experiences that I did. I feel I need to hear honest answers about other's experiences. Am I alone?

No you are NOT alone!!!

I hadn't thought of this thread in ages and was surprised to see an email from it just now. I have company, and can't write in detail now, but if you need to talk, please feel free. In fact, I'll write more later, I don't expect you to share with a pure stranger.

take care okay?

Lynn

Hello Gladitsover! Not only are you not alone, you are in good company. There are forums in Yahoo and Facebook that can connect you to folks who shared your experiences and will be more than willing to share. Talking about it really does help - and connecting with people who don't need to defend CP or Chuck is tremendously healing.

Hi! Wow - thank you for writing back. When I read those messages - I was encouraged. I have carried so much stuff from that period of time for far too long. Its time.

You are very welcome. It's time to unload?? Go for it! You can say anything you want for or against CP. Except perhaps for Fugate, no one will think bad of you if you do!!

hi there! Thank you for responding with such empathy and honesty. It was so frowned upon about divulging to outsiders how CP really was - for fear of quote: 'hurting CP' or 'hurting the ministry' - but as a consequence so many secrets were kept that should not have been kept. Even today I cringe a bit with being honest in regard to CP for fear of something. When you say there are others - what forums are you talking about. Are they private or open like this?

Thank you for responding. I would love to hear more of your story. Which forums or pages are you referring to? Could you direct me to them?

Hi Gladitsover,

Could you please put my name on your response so I know which one is to me? :) Thank you much!!

Oh yes, I do remember how many things were frowned upon! I also recall how certain team leaders were little tyrants, thinking that since they wer emade team leaders, they were entitled to boss around anyone they felt like, or "correct" any undesirable behavior. CP has no hold on me at all, so you will find that I am quite blunt and do empathize with anyone who struggled there. Hurt the ministry? Pfft, I could care less! I would sooner see them fold and disappear off the face of the earth before they hurt anymore vulnerable kids!

I personally don't belong to any forums or groups that are for x-CPers. But that being said, I could do a search to see what comes up.

When I said hundreds, it was due to people I have personally come across both online and off. CP was always very careful to paint a rosy picture, even down to not calling anyone an "X-CPer" Nope! They wanted you to refer to them as a "CPer who is not touring at the moment." What utter baloney!!

I can't recall if posting links to other forums is allowed on this forum.

(Moderators?? Is it okay if I post info about other groups here or should I email or pm the info? )

kayo, I 'll see what I can come up with and in the meanwhile, perhaps "Recovered" will have some info too. :)