The Network, a series of non-denominational churches across the United States, England and Taiwan, has recently fallen under controversy as multiple churches are leaving and denouncing the group for allegedly hiding sexual abuse its leader committed and practices endangering children.. Members are also accusing the College Station location, Christland Church, of predatory recruitment and spiritual abuse of its members.

Boiling over in a protest on Saturday, former members and families negatively impacted by The Network have been vocal online through blogs, subreddits, YouTube and Facebook. 

The Network began in 1995 when Morgan founded Vine Church in Carbondale, Illinois. It was renamed when Morgan created his own group that focused on spreading its influence through new churches called “plants.” 

Signs made protesting against alleged abuses by the Christland Church on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (Photo by Abdurahman Azeez)

Originally from Illinois, Emma Wright, Class of 2022, wanted to attend a church she was familiar with when she moved to attend A&M. A former Vine Church attendee, she joined Christland in 2018.

“I literally started going there when I was a baby,” Wright said. “A lot of the people who were at Christland, who planted it, lead it, currently lead it. A lot of those people I knew from Vineyard, I’ve known my entire life.”

As reported by The Battalion last year, Wright was involved in Christland through a women’s group and often felt belittled and silenced by the sermons given by Sándor Paull, Christland’s head pastor and the vice president of The Network.

“There were so many red flags that I wished I didn’t gloss over,” Wright said. “There was definitely a culture of secrecy … It was very much expected at Christland that you would obey your leaders in all things. I remember being told what kind of music to listen to and not listen to by leaders. I remember being told what kind of person to date or not date.”

In 2022, court documents from Kansas revealed that Morgan, the group’s leader, was on charges of aggravated sodomy against a minor in 1987 when he was working as a youth pastor. Morgan signed a diversion agreement allowing him to avoid a criminal conviction. For Wright, the revelation was the last straw.

She left and was cut off from her friends at Christland. To this day, Wright has not heard from the majority of people she knew for four years. 

Rick Alan Ross, the founder and director of the nonprofit Cult Education Institute, remains an expert in defining cults despite being a controversial figure within the cult education sphere. According to Ross, this treatment of members is a sign of authoritarian behavior not consistent with that of a typical church.

“A mainstream church will certainly acknowledge that you have a legitimate reason to leave, and they would probably say, ‘Well, we’re sorry to lose you. Please drop in when you visit. All the best. God bless you,’” Ross said.

On Saturday, Geneva Moore stood outside Christland Church with other members of FACC and LTN to raise awareness of the three Network churches in Texas. Moore is a former Network member from Joshua Church in Austin, where Morgan is the head pastor.

“I was recruited in college, like a lot of people,” Moore said. “I started my junior year of college, then I moved here to Austin to help start Joshua Church. Initially, my experience was really good … [but] the more insular it becomes, the more you realize the destructive patterns of it.”

Having devoted years of her life to The Network, Moore understood the ease and draw of groups like Christland. As a Black woman, Moore said she felt discriminated against for multiple reasons that leadership chose to not address.

“Things started to get really bad for me when I moved … to Joshua Church,” Moore said. “The destructive patterns of it. The discrimination and isolation there was so systemic and orchestrated by Steve Morgan.” 

Along with Moore’s experience, former members of The Network have reported discrimination against minorities and women on blogs online.

“The trauma that I experienced there was so significant that it actually led to me trying to make a suicide attempt,” Moore said. “And when I left, I went through the details of … trying to get [leadership] to understand, and their main response was that, essentially, mistakes happen and they have a clear conscience.”

Moore said that the culture of Network churches was insular to the point that when someone accused a member of being in a cult, they considered it a badge of honor. 

“You can look at the website,” Moore said. “You can listen to sermons. You can interact with people, and everything seems fine. But you don’t realize until outside people are like, … ‘You’re not the same person you were before you joined’ or having outside people describe the light leaving your eyes.”

Church attendees standing outside of Christland on Saturday did not respond to requests for comment, and Christland leadership did not respond to email, phone and in-person inquiries.

Protester Vera Hernandez demonstrates on the roadside against alleged abuses by the Christland Church on Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (Photo by Abdurahman Azeez)

Melanie Hartmann of Illinois has a daughter who joined a Network church when she left for college and hasn’t spoken to her in over two years. Hartmann said at first, she was just confused.

“She had to be baptized again … and she said, ‘Well, I was never really saved’ when I confronted her,” Hartmann said. “You’re not saved outside of a Network Church. That’s the only place. They’re special. ‘Nobody does church like us.’ … It was this frantic sense of devastation and fear.”

Hartmann said her daughter’s relationship with her became strained after joining The Network which was unusual because they had always been close. Once she noticed that, other concerning behavior became apparent.

“One of the warning signs was when she married her husband after knowing him for 10 days,” Hartmann said. “He was already a member of the Network church. There was another red flag when she said, ‘Family has been my idol.’ … Some of the pastors have said that anything before the mission of the church can be an idol.”

Hartmann said that right before her daughter cut her off, she arranged a visit to talk to both of her parents.

“They teach them to make amends but not reconcile,” Hartmann said. “I believe they are instructed to kind of wrap it up, so that they feel good and have a clear conscience and then cut the family off,” Hartmann said.

After 2018, her daughter didn’t allow her to talk to Hartmann alone, and whenever she texted her, it had to include her son-in-law. 

She alleged that women were not allowed to talk directly to pastors and had to go through their husbands.

“It took me a while to wrap my head around it,” Hartmann said. “There was a part of denial —  like, no, not my kid. She’s a Type A personality. She’s so smart. They’re really about conformity. They say uniformity, but it’s about conformity.”

Hartmann said her daughter often made excuses for not coming to family gatherings that she had never missed before joining The Network. If she ever visited home, she would arrive on a Friday evening and leave to be able to serve in church on Sunday. 

Moore experienced the same pressure at Joshua Church and still feels the impact years later.

“I experienced a lot of trauma here,” Moore said. “It affected my mental health in very significant ways. What I wished someone told me when I was that age is that if you have outside opinions — unbiased parties that tell you concerns about something that you’re a part of — you should listen to them.”

Moore and Hartmann both expressed concern about college students being “love bombed,” a practice in which people are influenced by demonstrations of affection and attention. 

“They may approach someone in a very friendly way and extend an invitation to some activity that isn’t necessarily religious,” Ross said. “For example, there are some groups that have volleyball games, hay rides, potluck dinners … in that sense, you don’t really know what you’re getting into.”

Christland’s registered student organization status was revoked last spring, but Wright was uncertain that it would stop them from recruiting on campus. Various founding members of Christland work on campus in senior positions.

“The Network churches have a pattern of continuing to use methods that have harmed people over and over again, even when they have been called out on it,” Wright said. “I want to warn people, and students in particular, about Christland. It’s not a safe place.”