‘Culture of secrecy’

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.