NETWORK HISTORY

Most members, staff, and pastors within The Network do not have knowledge for how The Network developed beyond a few often-repeated stories. The intention of the following timeline is to lay out the integral development of this group of churches.

In addition to footnotes this timeline also highlights questionable behavior or actions. The ! symbol indicates a reference to one of the signs listed in the article "8 Signs of a Dysfunctional Church."

JUMP TO YEAR:

• 2017
• 2018
• 2019-2021
• 2022-2024

• Steve Morgan is arrested in 1987 for allegedly committing aggravated criminal sodomy against a teenage boy in 1986 while a Youth Pastor in Olathe, Kansas (a suburb of Kansas City). Steve was 22 at the time of the alleged assault.^[1] The alleged victim was a 15-year-old male.
  • Steve had taken the role of Youth Pastor in Olathe after graduating from Graceland College, a religious college sponsored by the Reorganized Church of Latter Day Saints (RLDS).
  • RLDS (now called Community of Christ) is a denomination of the Latter Day Saints movement based out of Independence, Missouri which separated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) denomination after the death of the group's founder, Joseph Smith
• Further details of Steve's arrest, including court records of the charges which were brought against him and his diversion agreement, can be found on the Sexual Abuse Allegations page
• For additional details about Steve Morgan's history before founding The Network, including his time as an ordained leader, church Elder, and youth pastor in the RLDS denomination, visit our Who is Steve Morgan page.

• Steve claims to receive a supernatural conversion experience while earning his master's degree in Interpersonal & Public Communication at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Michigan^[1].
  • In retellings, Steve would omit his years in leadership and subsequent firing from the RLDS denomination as part of his conversion story .^[2]
• The topic of Steve’s research at Central Michigan University was "boundary permeability" of young adults who are no longer living with their family.^[3]

• Steve meets Larry Anderson at the Ziegler, IL Vineyard while a PhD student for communication at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL. Larry would go on to mentor Steve and encourage him to become a pastor
• Steve invites Sándor Paull, a 20 year old Industrial Design student at SIU, to visit the Ziegler Vineyard with him^[1]
• Steve leads his first small group

• Steve recruits Sándor Paull for his new church^[1]
  • Steve tells Sándor that God told him to ask Sándor if he "wanted to do the things that Jesus did"^!
  • Sándor would go on to become a leading figure in The Network, acting as a second in command in recruiting and carrying out Steve's vision
• The Toronto Blessing , a charismatic revival associated with the Vineyard Association of Churches, begins in Canada
  • The revival at the Toronto Airport Vineyard Church was characterized by ecstatic worship, religious ecstasy, and unusual religious phenomena, such as "holy laughter" and the spontaneous collapse of worshippers (called "Carpet Time")^!
  • The Toronto blessing would have a profound impact on the culture, worship, and ministry of other Vineyard Churches as well as the worship experiences at Vineyard Conferences held throughout the United States
  • Steve Morgan traveled to Toronto to experience these services
  • For more information on the Toronto Blessing listen to Season 1 of Heaven Bent by Tara Jean Stevens from the Frequency Podcasting Network
• Steve Morgan hears John Wimber, the founder of the Vineyard Association of Churches, speak while attending a charismatic Vineyard conference similar in style to the Toronto Blessing
• Steve Morgan introduces controversial practices like Inner Healing at Ziegler Vineyard Church, leading to a church split. The lead pastor leaves along with many members, and Jaime Moyers takes over as lead pastor.^[2]
• Steve claims to have received visions and dreams which reveal he will gather the "cream of the crop" of Carbondale, and that those whom he disciples will quickly "mature" and go on to convert others^!
  • This idea of a "quickly maturing harvest" would become the foundation of Steve's vision for church planting. He will go on to convince many over the coming years to make his vision a reality through tactics outlined in the article "8 Signs of a Dysfunctional Church"

• Steve decides to plant a church in Carbondale, IL. Larry Anderson supports him in this decision. The Vineyard Association of Churches approves the church plant
• Steve accepts a job at Southern Illinois University and uses his position at the school to gather many of his students into his new church
  • While a faculty member Steve marries Shu-hui, an undergraduate student at SIUC
  • While engaged Shu-hui donates $30,000, "the last of the money her parents had given her for school" to the church plant^[1]

• Public services begin for Vineyard Community Church in Carbondale at the Holiday Inn. Average attendance is 47 people.
• Steve claims his wife Shu-hui woke in the middle of the night and prophesied to him "build a big foundation and you won't have to protect yourself."^!
  • Steve interprets this phrase to mean the leaders within the church structure were to become his "foundation." He believes he can ensure implicit trust in the people he promotes by knowing them deeply (knowing all their "junk"). He becomes convinced that this kind of "relational leadership" would protect him from betrayal^!!
  • He would later say Shu-hui's prophetic utterance "became words by which I've lived"^[1] and would use them to justify his controlling behavior in the years to come
  • Shu-hui does not remember saying these words^[2]

• Vineyard Community Church builds a permanent location on S. Wall Street in Carbondale. Attendance is 250
• Steve hires Sándor Paull as an additional pastor. Ben Powers is hired not long afterwards when he graduates seminary in Chicago. Sándor and Ben are Steve's 1st and 2nd hires for the church
  • Ben is one of the very few Network pastors to be hired after finishing seminary—in the years to come Steve would go on to actively disparage external Bible scholarship and training^!
• Steve further develops his vision for church planting, and begins to groom members to be part of the "foundation" of The Network:
  • Noble Staley begins One Way, The Network's first church plant, in Decatur, Illinois
  • Jeff Miller, Tony Ranvestel, Scott Joseph, and Aaron Kuhnert are all identified as future church planters
• The phrase "Jesus loves you and Steve Morgan has a plan for your life" becomes a common "joke" at the Carbondale Vineyard^[1]
  • Though said in jest, this phrase reveals the reputation Steve was developing for dramatically altering the lives of the people who came under his sway^!!

• Attendance at Vineyard Community Church in Carbondale grows from 300 in 2001 to 700 people by 2004
  • Steve sends out two more church plants:
    • Jeff Miller plants ClearView Church (now Foundation Church) in Bloomington-Normal, IL
    • Ben Powers plants City Lights Church in St. Louis, MO
  • At a pastors' conference, Steve hears The Vineyard Association announce a new "fast plant" program to encourage pastors who had successfully planted a church to "do it again"
    • The church planting program includes an incentive to pay a portion of the lead pastor's salary along with $50,000 for startup expenses (Steve and Blue Sky would be paid $250,000 by Vineyard over the course of 2 years)
• Steve appeals to an internal team gathering for people to join him in moving from Carbondale to Seattle to plant another church by sharing supernatural visions and dreams he claims to have received.
  • He does not mention the Vineyard Association's new "fast plant" program or their incentive to provide his salary at this meeting^!
  •  In one oft cited dream, he crosses a river full of fish representing followers and then goes over a hill to see the Space Needle in Seattle. This was taken as a sign to go to Seattle. A private painting of this dream was commissioned and is now hanging in the lobby at Blue Sky Church in Bellevue, WA^!!
  • In 2004, fifty people answer the appeal and join Steve Morgan in moving to Seattle to found Blue Sky Church^[1]
  • Steve announces that he is giving the proceeds from the sale of his Carbondale home to hire a children’s director at the new church.
  • Steve institutes strict dating rules for all who accompany him on the church plant^[2]!!!
  • Anyone who is caught dating would face the threat of expulsion from the church once in Seattle^!!!!
  • In Seattle, Steve forbids members of the church planting team from getting tattoos, smoking cigarettes, or consuming alcohol^[3]
• Steve describes the transition of leadership of Vine Church to Sándor Paull as difficult because he was "giving people to another person"^[4]
  • His language implies "ownership" of the people of the church, as if they are transactional objects to be traded between pastors. This language of control and ownership continues to this day

• Steve Morgan decides to leave the Vineyard Association in 2006^[1] and create a "no-name network of churches" taking with him all the churches he had planted from the Carbondale Vineyard^[2]
  • Vine Church in Carbondale, IL
  • One Way Church in Decatur, IL
  • City Lights Church in St. Louis, MO
  • ClearView Church in Bloomington-Normal, IL
  • Blue Sky Church in Seattle, WA
• Steve agrees for Blue Sky to pay back $250,000 given by The Vineyard Association which had been used for a portion of his salary and for startup costs for Blue Sky. By 2007, Vineyard is repaid in full
• Each Network church begins forwarding a percentage of its monthly giving into a newly established General Network Fund, which is controlled by Steve and a select few Network leaders
  • Prior to leaving Vineyard these funds were sent to the Vineyard Association. The General Network Fund operates without the governance and accountability which the Vineyard had previously provided
  • The Network does not announce this budget change to church members. The General Network Fund continues to collect a percentage of monthly tithes from the local churches into perpetuity
  • Eventually the fund is used to pay the salaries and travels of the Network Leader (Steve Morgan), his assistant, and Network worship leader (Chris Miller)
• Two Primary reasons precipitate Steve's decision to pull out of the Vineyard Association
  • Vineyard churches were uneven and inconsistent in worship, preaching style, and culture. Steve did not want to associate with churches which did not practice "our values of doing local church"^[1]!
  • Vineyard USA had become an egalitarian movement^[3] (meaning leadership of those churches believed women and men were equal within the church) while Steve believed women and men should have strongly defined roles based on gender (this view was called complementarianism).
  • Steve would go on to champion complementarianism within The Network after leaving the Vineyard Association. Women were removed from leadership roles, including local church board members and small group leaders (unless the groups were solely comprised of other women). For all small groups led by a married couple, the man's name would be listed first in all communications. Wives were instructed to be subservient to their husbands and take on non-leadership roles in the church^!!
• The shift in theology and denominational identity is minimized at team meetings in which the pastors at the churches claim the unique worship and culture of The Network is one of a kind, and that it would be extremely difficult for members to replace^!!!
  • Steve's mentor within the Vineyard continues to warn Steve that his approach was too inwardly focused and that there was danger in training people that his way was the only way to do church
  • The phrase "ruined for life" becomes a common boast of acceptance among pastors and members who become convinced there is nowhere else they could go to experience God^!!!!
• Steve tells Tony Ranvestal he cannot continue to mentor him if he remains in the Vineyard Association^[4]
  • Tony was identified as a church planter by Steve in 2000. He had moved out of Carbondale and had become a pastor at the Vineyard in Champaign, Illinois where he was sent out to plant River Vineyard Church (now named Clear River Church) in West Lafayette, Indiana

• Tony Ranvestel pulls River Vineyard Church in West Lafayette, IN out of the Vineyard and joins the "no-name network." The church is renamed Clear River Church
  • The primary reason given for this change was over the issue of complementarian theology. Tony teaches at an internal team meeting that men "have the primary calling of authority and leadership" ^[1]
  • Tony unilaterally and abruptly disqualifies a previously trusted teacher in the church without consulting the board, barring her from preaching based solely on her gender
  • (More context surrounding Tony's abrupt theological shift and subsequent affect on the members of the River Vineyard (Clear River Church) is available on the primary sources page)
• Attendance reaches 400 at Blue Sky Church in Seattle, WA in 2010
• Attendance reaches 1600 at Vine Church in Carbondale, IL in 2010
• Vine Church plants 2 more churches, bringing total number of churches in The Network to 7
  • Scott Joseph plants High Rock Church in Bloomington, IN in 2008
  • Aaron Kuhnert plants Brookfield Church in Athens, OH in 2011
• One Way Church in Decatur, Carbondale's first church plant, is shut down permanently on recommendations by Steve and Sándor
  • Noble Staley moves back to Carbondale to be a staff pastor
• Annual Network Conferences are held at Vine Church
  • Summer conferences become an unspoken yearly requirement for all leaders in The Network^!
  • These events are created for the purpose of "getting newer people at the church to go further in their commitments [with the church]." ^[2]
  • Steve uses these events to identify new leaders and will create dramatic spiritual encounters with young men whom he will later promote within their churches^!!
• A check for over $1 million is sent to Blue Sky to a new entity called "The Network Church Planting Fund"^[3]
  • The Network Church Planting Fund becomes a shared resource of the Network and has a governing board including Larry Anderson and Steve Morgan
  • Local churches apply for funding for church planting candidates and, if the candidates are accepted, hire them as pastors with their salary paid by the Church Planting Fund for a period of time, usually three years. After that time pastors are expected to plant churches in other cities^[4]
  • Candidates for these funds do not know they are being considered. Steve meets them during Network Conferences or other meetings to gauge their "leadability," and discusses afterwards with the nominating pastor
  • Similarly, children of Network members are monitored from as young as five years old to determine their fitness to be a pastor in The Network. The children are not informed of this monitoring. ^[5]
• Pastors are asked to stop cashing out their retirement accounts for church offerings as it became obvious the practice would lead to financial ruin

• Blue Sky plants Hills Church in Pullman Washington, bringing total number of churches in The Network to 8
  • Hills is the first new church in The Network not sent out by Vine Church in Carbondale
• Steve lays out Network-wide standards on when and how church plants will replicate themselves within The Network^[1]
  • Church planters must only use Network-approved methods for church growth, small group structure, worship, preaching methods, etc and not "reinvent the wheel"^!
  • Pastors  must be "home-grown" (converts from within the Network)^!![2]
  • Steve's "build a big foundation" philosophy requires all pastors to have confessed "all their junk" before coming on staff^!!!
  • Churches can be awarded grants to hire future church planters from the Network Church Planting Fund (managed by Steve Morgan)
  • Churches must reach 500 in weekend attendance before planting another church, and, upon reaching that milestone, should plant a church every other year^[2]
  • The sending church must "give sacrificially" every other year to send out church plants—a suggested $250,000 is to be donated from members of the congregation. This suggested amount would increase in subsequent years. Some plants would have offerings in excess of $500,000
    • Pastors in The Network begin teaching more often on financial giving to "encourage" the congregation to "give sacrificially"^!!!!
    • Church members are encouraged to cash out retirement and downsize homes to fund future church plants
• Pastors are instructed to "carefully watch" others' lives and doctrine so that all people within The Network "keep the unity of the Spirit"^[1]
  • The phrase "unity in the spirit" would give continued license for pastors to replicate Steve Morgan's coercive behaviors and manipulative leadership^!!!!!
  • The controlling leadership Steve demonstrated with the Blue Sky team spreads throughout The Network:
    • Tattoos were not allowed^[3], yoga was forbidden, dating was tightly controlled by small group leaders, certain medical treatments and practices were banned, drinking alcohol was strongly discouraged or forbidden outright, parents' choice of education options for their children was heavily scrutinized, etc^!!!!!

• Ben Powers transitioned from leading City Lights Church in St. Louis, MO after carefully evaluating the dynamics of the situation and the unclear direction under Steve Morgan’s prophetic leadership.^! Following this, he and his family chose to return to Vine Church in Carbondale, IL at Steve’s invitation.
  • Jeff Miller, lead pastor of ClearView church in Bloomington-Normal, moves to St. Louis in 2013 to replace Ben at City Lights Church. Justin Major, associate pastor at ClearView, becomes lead pastor
  • Ben Powers departs The Network altogether in 2014 to avoid further spiritual abuse and accepts a pastoral position at Calvary Church in Saint Peters, MO
  • After Ben leaves pastors in The Network disparage him in teachings and exhort others to always obey their leader, unlike Ben^!!
  • Ben was a pastor in The Network for 14 years
• Blue Sky Church conducts a $13 million renovation on its building in Bellevue, WA
  • Attendance grows to over 800
• A majority of Network churches stop posting weekend teachings online for the public^!!!
  • Previously public resources are now accessible only to members who have passwords to access them
• Membership requirements for Network churches become much more strict, requiring 20 hours of classes and a written agreement for ongoing time commitment^!!!!
  • An extensive series of Membership Bible Training classes, which were developed internally by The Network, are required. These classes become the only Bible training endorsed by The Network
  • 10% tithe becomes mandatory for all members
  • Prospective members must sign an agreement that they will attend a small group and follow their leader
  • Longtime members are required to participate in new requirements or lose membership^!!
• In 2015 Clear River Church in West Lafayette, Indiana becomes third church in The Network to begin planting churches
  • Oaks Church in Muncie, Indiana becomes first church plant not sent by Vine Church or Blue Sky Church
• The Network grows to 13 churches by 2015

• Steve Morgan's "unity in all things" doctrine is formally introduced to an audience of Network pastors at the Network 2017 Fall Pastors Retreat.
• Steve Morgan leaves Seattle to plant Joshua Church and moves Network offices to Austin, Texas.
  • Inspired by Steve's message to give everything up for God, 63 people, many of which quit their jobs and sell their homes, join him as part of the new church^!
  • Steve purchases $1.5 million home Northwest of Austin, TX. The home is 5,774 sq feet and sits on a 20 acre estate with tennis courts, a pool, and a working cattle ranch^[1]
  • Steve begins operating JT Longhorns as a side business from his ranch. He had contractually forbidden all pastors and staff in the Network from operating side businesses. Steve's role in The Network precludes him from oversight and accountability for these types of decisions.^!!
    • Note: The JT Longhorns site was scrubbed of all data mentioning Steve, but we have archived it here
• Sándor Paull leaves Carbondale to plant Christland Church in College Station, Texas, less than two hours from Steve
  • Christland Church is the 11th church to be planted out of Vine Church in Carbondale since 2001
• The Network grows to 18 churches in university cities throughout the United States
  • All churches planted by 2017 have been sent out by Vine Church, Blue Sky Church, and Clear River Church

• The "unity in all things" doctrine is introduced to an annual gathering of leaders by Network Vice President Sándor Paull at the 2018 Network Leadership Conference^[1] 
• City Lights Church in St. Louis, MO, leaves the Network after pastor Jeff Miller refuses to obey Steve Morgan's mandate for "unity in all things"
  • Jeff challenges Steve’s demands of absolute obedience in all matters, great and small.^! 
  • Steve expects Jeff to resign as Lead Pastor of City Lights. Jeff refuses.^!!
  • Steve tries to fire Jeff, but is unable to because of City Lights' bylaws. City Lights' board votes whether to oust Jeff as pastor and stay in the Network, or keep Jeff and leave The Network. Without a unanimous vote to oust Jeff, Jeff remains in his position and City Lights leaves The Network
  • Three staff members (two pastors and the kids director) loyal to The Network leave City Lights, which begins to reorganize as an independent Christian church
  • Over the next year ClearView Church, led by Justin Major, changes its name to Foundation Church and all mention of Jeff Miller is scrubbed from its history^!!
  • City Lights Church and Jeff Miller were part of The Network for 16 years
• Steve Morgan consolidates power of The Network through the Network Leadership Team in response to City Lights leaving The Network
  • The Network Leadership Team becomes the governing body responsible for hiring and firing pastors within The Network.
  • The Network requires all local churches to adopt new local by-laws which acquiesce to The Network by-laws, and which allow The Network Leadership Team to amend local churches' bylaws "as needed"^{[2] !!!} 
  • Local church members were not made aware of these changes^!!!!
  • Read more about how the Network Leadership Team undermines the local churches and creates conflicts of interest for board members in the article "How Are Network Leaders Held Accountable?

• First international church plant, Roots Church in Taipai, Taiwan, is planted by Nelson Liu from Blue Sky Church

• The Church Network grows to 25 churches by 2021
• Brian Schneider plants Stoneway Church in Reading, England despite struggles to begin Sunday services due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other delays
• By 2021 a number of employees are on The Network's payroll which comes out of the General Network Fund (paid for by a portion of tithes from all churches within The Network)
  • The employees who are paid out of the General Network Fund (or partially out of the fund) include Steve Morgan as The Network Leader, Steve's executive assistant, Chris Miller as Network worship leader, and James Chidester as Network Counselor who is available only to pastors. James keeps a side business as a sports psychologist under the business name Austin Sport Psychology.
  • Steve continues to deny The Network is a centralized organization, despite it operating in practice and spirit as an entity under Steve's explicit control, funded by its member churches^[1]!
  • Unlike the Church Planting Fund (which is funded by donations^[2]), the existence, stewardship, and underwriting of this General Network Fund is obscured and not freely known to most Network members^!!
• Several public websites shedding light on the inner workings of The Network launch beginning August 2021, including LeavingTheNetwork.org, NotOvercome.org, and Reddit.com/r/LeavingTheNetwork.

• Hundreds of former Network members tell their stories through Reddit, Yelp and Google reviews, social media, and other websites
• Steve Morgan's 1987 arrest for aggravated criminal sodomy against a member of his youth group becomes widely known after a tipster revealed the case number, criminal charge, and background details ^[1]
• Network leaders distribute an internal letter which defends Steve Morgan's supernatural calling as leader of the Network and which claims that online platforms distorted Morgan's criminal charges.^!
  • This letter, addressed from the Network Leadership Team and all Lead Pastors, asserts that it was "cruel and evil" to release the information about Steve Morgan's criminal record because the sexual assault had "already been dealt with in a biblical manner."^!!
  • Local Network Pastors distribute or read the letter aloud to their congregations at internal "family meetings."
  • Leaked audio from multiple family meetings reveals significant discrepancies between the court documents and what Network pastors tell their congregations.^{!! [2] [3] [4]}
• 19 former Network leaders sign a call to action, and hundreds of others sign a petition to urge Network leaders to submit to an unbiased, unimpeded, external investigation. Network leaders do not respond
• Multiple news articles are published outlining the situation. Network leaders do not cooperate with journalists and refuse to comment.^!!
• South Grove Church Overseers resign after the Network Leadership team refuses their call for an investigation
  • Lead Pastor Bobby Malicoat along with non-staff board members Jason R. and Gabe W. send a letter urging an investigation over whether Steve Morgan had shown a pattern of untruthfulness
  • Malicoat reverses his stance after The Network Leadership Team refused to initiate an investigation. South Grove Church remains in The Network, and all board members except for Malicoat resign