UPDATE: Rape victims demolish cult of Way Corps graduate, Victor Barnard

This post is dedicated to the women raped by the cult leader, Victor Barnard. They stepped forward. They exhibited the courage needed to stand up against such disgusting abuse. Barnard has recently been imprisoned.

[UPDATE 03-12-2020] In October 2016, I wrote the original blog post about this topic, which began with the above paragraph.

Today I feel sad, but compelled to update the post in honor of one of the first victims who reported sex abuse by Victor Barnard, former leader of the now-defunct River Road Fellowship. Sadly, that young woman recently took her own life. She had been a brave survivor. She had grown into a wonderful women, wife, and mother. This is a terrible loss. You can read the remarkable obit (and more) about her, written by Tom Lyden, at FOX9 KMSP by clicking here. [END UPDATE]

Continued from original post …

Why am I writing about him [Victor Barnard]? He is a former follower of The Way International,™ the same group from which I escaped in 1987. The Way is marketed as a biblical research, teaching, and fellowship ministry. It is fundamentalist due to many non-negotiable beliefs, most notably the inerrancy of the Scriptures, and it is a cult, a high-control group, due to its social structure (there are a lot of other reasons, too), at least it was while I was in it from 1970–1987.

I did not know Barnard, but he started his own “religious” group, River Road Fellowship, after he graduated from The Way Corps in 1986. The Way Corps was and still is the leadership training program of The Way International, founded by Victor Paul Wierwille in 1942.

I am also a Way Corps graduate … from 1973.

In 1982, Craig Martindale became the second president of The Way, taking over after Wierwille retired. Martindale was dismissed in 2000 after facing his second lawsuit for alleged sexual harassment.

Barnard’s cult

Barnard’s River Road Fellowship was his own despicable cult that attracted some former members of The Way who had left the organization when it “fell apart” in the 1980s after Wierwille died. The Way still operates today, although with far fewer followers than in its heyday of the 1980s.

The following link is to a recent news report about Barnard’s arrest and conviction. READ THE STORY HERE.

Part of the article states:

For many members of River Road, this was true: They first knew Barnard as a fellow member of the Way International, a nondenominational Christian sect that fell apart in the mid-1980s, after the group’s founder and his successor were both accused of brainwashing and having sex with female followers. When Barnard founded River Road years later, he promised them it would be different. He lied.

Did Barnard mimic Wierwille?

Barnard seduced some female followers into adoring him and reportedly convinced more than one that she served God by having sex with him. Wierwille and Martindale allegedly did the same thing, but they were never convicted for any crimes. Wierwille died in 1985, and Martindale settled his lawsuits out of court.

Some former Way women’s stories are recounted in Karl Kahler’s book, The Cult That Snapped: A Journey Into The Way International. In 2008, one Way Corps graduate, Kristen Skedgell, published her personal story about her seduction by Wierwille in her memoir: Losing The Way.

Soon my own memoir about seventeen years in The Way will be for sale at this website (and later available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, et al.). It’s titled:

Undertow: My Escape from the Fundamentalism and Cult Control of The Way International

[UPDATE 03-12-2020. Undertow was published in Nov. 2016. It is available from major booksellers in paperback and eBook.]

For me, escaping The Way was necessary for my survival. I’m grateful for the chance to tell my story, and I hope it brings understanding and healing.

Recommended reading: Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships, by Janja Lalich and Madeleine Tobias.

Peace,

Charlene