Anyone here have any experience with or information on The Potter's House or The Door Christian Fellowship? They are based in Prescott, Arizona and are lead by a man named Wayman Mitchell.

They are a legalistic sect and practice a form of shepherding/discipleship.

Any information or help you could provide would be appreciated.:confused:

There is a large section within the website.

See [www.culteducation.com]

There is also a personal testimony about the group within the book by Ronald Enroth titled, "Recovery from Churches that Abuse" Zondervan Press.

Another website with information about the group is--

[www.geocities.com]

Christian Research Institute also prepared a report about the group during about 1990. They would not recommend the group.

There have been many church splits from the group and pastors who have quit the organization.

Rick Ross

Also check [www.slamthedoor.50megs.com] for current info about this destructive group.

Mitchell lost nearly 200 churches last 2 years...more leaving soon. His own daughter, Sharon and her husband Mike who pastored in CFM left!

Stay far away from CFM!

The Potters House/Door/ Victory Chapel has been enmeshed in controversy since the beginning. I can personaly testify to the abuse that goes on there and have collected numerous testimonies of people hurt by the organisation. I have also collected several links to sites which report on what the Potters House has been up to over the years.
Anyone interested can visit a message board at

[groups.yahoo.com]

Feel free to post your own personal experiences on the board or anywhere else that gives people the opportunity to speak out. You testimony may help someone.

God bless you.

Hey there, I am a current member of CFM aka The Potter's House and find none of the accusations true. I also have caught people lying about the church and using every ANONYMOUS means possible to enlargen their lies. They were caught using mutiple usernames on "slam the door", a yahoo group, and also ran a Pro Potters House site. They were exposed as frauds. I suspect that much about CFM on this site could be those same people.

[groups.yahoo.com]

Here are some other links that might be of interest about this subject

[www.pottersclub.com]
[www.waymanmitchell.com]
:D

The above comments are very misleading.

There has never been a duplication IP address problem here and given the track record of the Potter's House and Christian Fellowship Churches anything said by its leaders and/or members should be taken with a "grain of salt" to say the least.

The testimonials at this database about the Christian Fellowship Churches (CFC) page were chosen as they came in and those that authored them wished to remain anonymous as many people do that share their personal histories and pain here about "cults" and destructive "cult like" groups.

See this recent personal testimony of a current member.

[www.culteducation.com]

See this 2004 Arizona news report [www.culteducation.com]

And also [www.culteducation.com]

Potter's House was declared a "cult" by a judge in open court regarding a child custody case in Indianna. The father, who was a member of the church, was subsequently only allowed supervised visitation because of the church's practices.

To understand this case better and how a 4-year-old child was terrorized by the Potter's House through its practices see the following televised report.

[www.culteducation.com]

There have been many custody battles and bitter divorces that revolved around involvement in the Potter's House and some litigation.

Marna Paron was harassed by the Potter's House in Alaska during 1989 after she decided to leave. Paron finally had her 14-year-old son Aaron "deprogrammed," which aired on national television CBS "48 Hours."

See [www.culteducation.com]

And also [www.culteducation.com]

Paron and her son later sued the church and received a substantial out of court settlement.

News stories have appeared across the United States about Christian Fellowship Churches and have included complaints from many people.

In Cape Cod [www.culteducation.com]

In Tucson, Arizona [www.culteducation.com]

Flagstaff, Arizona [www.culteducation.com]

In Massachusetts [www.culteducation.com]

Church splits have been reported and many people have left the organization. There are probably more former than current members.

See [www.culteducation.com]

The evidence regarding the bad behavior of the Potter's House and its pastors is overwhelming.

If you read and view the many reports about the church there is a consistent pattern. That is, the pastors have no meaningful accountability through democratically elected church boards that might discipline them and if necessary end their empolyment.

There is also no meaningful financial transparency through a published independently audited financial statements distributed to all members that reflects each church's budget, or the headquarters budget in detail, such as all salaries and any compensation paid out annually.

Instead, Wayman Mitchell rules over his fellowship something like a Medieval Pope, but unlike a Pope he was never elected.

Likewise each of the pastors under Mitchell reign over their churches like feudal lords in something like a franchise arrangement through tithes, which they share in part much like a pyramid scheme according to press reports (See Cape Cod and Mass. reports).

No one really knows where the tithes/money goes except for Mitchell and his hand picked few.

CFC is also not a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (EFCA) and does not meet its minimum standards.

See [www.ecfa.org]

Note the EFCA "guidelines for giving."

I have received hundreds of complaints about Mitchell over the years from Christians across the country in different communities. Over and over again these complaints are about the leadership and how they have hurt people through their bad behavior.

But without meaningful accountability there is nothing a congregant can do other than pray. So when they are mistreated CFC members most often "vote with their feet" by leaving to avoid further mistreatment and/or protect their families.

Potter's House (Christian Fellowship Churches) leaders/pastors most often don't have any accredited seminary training.

Mitchell's break with the Foursquare Pentecostal denomination, where he received his training and ordination, was largely about this.

That is, Mitchell wanted to ordain his own pastors without the required Foursquare seminary training.

The net result today is that most CFC pastors have no meaningful training outside of CFC, such as a college degree or as a graduates from an accredited seminary such as Moody or Fuller.

The overwhelming majority of Protestant churches such as the Baptist denominations, Assemblies of God, Nazarenes, Evangelical Free Church and many others require that their pastors have a proper education and they typically attend college, bible school and/or seminary.

Protestant denominations also overwhelmingly have accountability within their respective congregations through democratically elected boards. Likewise their denominational leaders are also elected.

Potter's House and other CFC churches have attempted to discredit former members by attacking them personally as you can see here by the post above. In this way CFC and its members hope to avoid actually responding to the substance of the complaints about them.

CFC also attempts to hide behind relgious claims, saying the only reason people complain about them is that they are "Christian" and that this is evidence of "persecution."

However, CFC and Wayman Mitchell have been repeatedly criticized by Christians and the Christian Research Institute (a cult watching organization) once issued a report critical of CFC churches.

I've recently read a great deal about Potter's House, and the manipulative behavior of the pastor(s) is not unfamiliar. Thank God for your website and the postings. In fact, I just left a Praise Chapel church in the Los Angeles area for the very same reasons. Seems that the two are nearly one in the same. Does anyone have any further info, or sources regarding the destructive behavior experienced by former members of Praise Chapel? Also, what has been their affiliation/connection to Potter's house? From what I've read recently, and experienced, they appear to be a carbon copy.

I also am a current member of CFM and have been for over 4 years and dont see any of these things happening. I would never go to or allow my children to go to such an awful place such as have been described.
I love my church and I love the people in my church. As for church splits, a lot of churches have church splits.

VCCF:

If you mean Christian Fellowship Churches headed by Wayman Mitchell, there is a substantial body of information and evidence that would contradict your opinion.

Yes, I have read a great deal of it and I dont see any of it going on in my church and as I said I have been going there for over 4 years.
Wow, some of what is written about it is very interesting, but not all true.