Just as an FYI, the leaders of Mountaintop Ministries held a press conference this past week, and several articles from the local press have been published. The ones that I have been able to track down can be found at
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www.lakecityreporter.com]
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www.lakecityreporter.com]
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lakecityjournal.com]
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lakecityjournal.com]
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www.firstcoastnews.com]
Also, the Mountaintop Ministries (www.mountaintopministriesworldwide.com) has been significantly developed, including a number of videos of "messages" and Thursday night Bible Studies. I would imagine that there will be more added in the future. A couple of things that are interesting to note--there are no audio files of any messages from Meade himself, although I'm quite sure they would be able to add them in if they wanted to. It will be interesting to see if they add any. Second, while James Burbach has been given the title of Senior Pastor, he doesn't appear to preach very often. Judging by the single video of one of his messages, I can understand why. I don't want to be mean, but he's just not a polished or inspiring preacher, and he completely lacks any sort of charisma whatsoever. I realize that has nothing to do with why he was elevated to his current position, and that he is primarily a figurehead. Anyway--give Burbach's message a listen, and let me know if you agree with me that he is less than subtly comparing himself to Elisha to Meade's Elijah. Fascinating stuff!
Between the above articles and the changes in the website, one gets the clear impression that the second generation leaders (or is it third generation?) are obviously trying to present themselves as far more mainstream than in the past. For example, I can't imagine Meade ever being referred to as "senior pastor" of Meade Ministries, since he was, after all, "God's end-time messenger," and an apostle, and all that. Senior pastor is language one hears in more traditional churches, whether denominational or independent, but not at Meade Ministries, at least in my experience. And who'd have thought that they would ever engage in this sort of public relations. I know that they have been "spinning" things for years, but until recently it seems to me that the spin was always directed towards the members themselves. It is a whole other matter to try to undo 30 years of unanswered rumors, some of them based in fact, some based on fear and misinformation. It makes me wonder if they have hired someone to help them in this effort or whether they are relying on their own collective business smarts, which, admittedly, they have quite a bit of.
In any case, the comments of Burbach and others (as reported in the press, at least) were unsurprisingly dishonest revisionism. Pay attention to the whitewashing and outright lies. These new efforts give the impression that things are changing. But the leader's willingness to stand there and tell bald-faced lies that anyone with first-hand experience of Meade Ministries knows are complete falshehoods makes one realize how little has changed.
Lastly, here is a fascinating report from what I am guessing is a Jacksonville station that details recently released FBI files from a 5 year investigation of Meade and other MM folks that was closed in 2009;
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www.firstcoastnews.com]
It would be great if someone who lives in the Jacksonville area could review the released files and fill us in. The files are now a matter of public record and I assume they can be viewed at the Jacksonville FBI office, wherever that is.