My blog has created quit a stir recently. So today I want to post a reminder of why I’m blogging.

My purpose is not to stir up controversy or generate division. My purpose is to “weave a new fabric”. I want to untwist the flawed theology I’ve learned over the past two decades. I want to document facts and events as I remember them, and even as new events happen. I want to expose, to explain and to examine my life. Above all, I desire to submit to the Holy Spirit. I want to seek, listen and obey the promptings of the Spirit. My Christian life is now suddenly a joyful journey! For many years, my Christian life was a burdened duty, filled with guilt and ambition.

Along this journey, I have discovered things that convince me UBF is a cult. But this does not mean I think everything in UBF is (or was) invalid. Some things in UBF continue to be valid. Finding salvation, my marriage, my friendships: these are all valid. Our move to Detroit was only partially valid. In any case, I am blogging for validity. As I learn and read from many sources, I can see the Bible’s teachings more and more clearly. I should think I will continue to find some things in my life to be valid, and others to be invalid. This blog is my expression of this journey.

Another purpose God has put on my heart is accountability. Who would dare attempt to hold Korean UBF missionaries accountable? Quite a few have tried, but were portrayed as “rebels” or “unGodly”. Those who tried to reform UBF and hold leaders there accountable were far more ambitious than I ever will be. I am like a small guppy swimming in a tank of sharks and whales! Who can hold leaders accountable? God can. My blogging here is to speak the words people in UBF are afraid or unwilling to speak; to ask the tough questions no one in UBF wants asked. All this I do in love and hope and in prayer that the dark side of UBF may be transformed and made into a vessel useful to God. My blogging is dedicated to honoring Jesus above all else, even if it means “eating crow”.

I am convinced that reform is not possible in UBF. Some UBF chapters are broken vessels, splintered and fragmented beyond repair. There have been 3 reform movements in UBF history (1976, 1989 and 2000). UBF chapters can no longer “just repent”. They need to re-invent, re-tool and re-build. Some chapters are doing this: Waterloo UBF in Canada, Westloop UBF in Chicago, Eau Claire UBF in Wisconsin and Penn State UBF Church in Pennsylvania are examples of men and women of God who are being transformed out of a cult-like organization and into a true, Spirit-led, life-giving church. I highly respect the men leading these UBF chapters. I point them out today as a reminder that UBF has been used by God in the past, and can again be used by God today, and into the future. It is possible to find the unity Scripture speaks of. It is possible to be truly and joyfully united in our Lord Jesus. But it requires submission to the Spirit, admission that you need help and a fervent struggle before God Himself.