It is no secret that Exodus International has had a rough time of it in the past year. Money issues, falling attendance and a major effort to rebrand have left the ex-gay organization in a tenuous state. While there are some mixed reviews on just what the new face of Exodus might really mean in the long run, one thing is certain — member ministries are in their own exodus from Exodus.
Random references to groups that had left them led us to compile a detailed comparison of the current Exodus member ministry listings to that of a year ago. Previous to this, Exodus never had much churn from year to year, so losing 20 (or roughly 22%) in one year, many in recent months, is really unheard of. We can’t be certain how or why all these groups came to be delisted, but some of them have been with Exodus since almost the beginning. At least a couple seem to have shut down, perhaps due to the same forces affecting Exodus.
A number of these ministries appear to now affiliate with Andy Comiskey’s Desert Stream Ministries, which also no longer appears on the Exodus list. Comiskey has been critical of Exodus president Alan Chambers while expressing support for the reparative drive model of ex-gay therapy touted by NARTH and Joseph Nicolosi. It is reasonable to speculate that Desert Stream might become the new “umbrella” for groups who, for whatever reason, no longer agree with or have faith in the current leadership at Exodus.
California
HIS Ministry
New Hope Ministries
[This is the ministry of Frank Worthen, a co-founder of Exodus]
Florida
Exchange Ministries
Restoring Hope
Illinois
Pure Heart Ministries – Illinois Branch
Transformed by Grace
[Closed — dissolved according to Exodus]
Kansas
Freedom At Last Ministries
[Closed in 2009 according to Exodus — archive link]
Michigan
Minnesota
Outpost, Inc.
Simon Ministries
[Closed in 2010 according to Exodus]
Missouri
Desert Stream Ministries
Pure Heart Ministries
New Jersey
Out Of The Depths Ministry
[Closed in 2009 according to Exodus — archive link]
North Carolina
Clean Heart Ministries
[Closed in 2009 according to Exodus — archive link]
Help 4 Families
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Love In Action
[Name changed to “Restoration Path” so not actually a drop]
Texas
Christian Coalition for Reconciliation
Sexual Wholeness Ministry
[Closed this month according to Exodus]
Those without links appear to have no website. A few of these are of particular note. The previously mentioned Desert Stream Ministries is a major ex-gay ministry of many years. First Stone is almost as old as Exodus, and New Hope Ministries is led by Frank Worthen, sometimes called the father of ex-gay ministries and an Exodus co-founder. And perhaps most amazing of all, Exchange Ministries, located in the same city as Exodus, was the ministry where Chambers got his start.
We have not dealt with the comparatively new category — Church Association listings — as these appear to have less significance and require little commitment.
Update: Exodus contacted us just after posting with some additional information and the list has been updated accordingly. In their estimation, 11 ministries have left directly due to recent changes at Exodus. As our information came directly from Exodus’ own website, any errors are theirs. So the ministries updated as having closed in 2009 or 2010 were still listed as active on the Exodus site in April of 2011 and therefore counted in our original review.
Fascinating list. Some of those were big time ministries back when I was involved in that world. I director of HIS ministry in CA was also one of their regional directors. My fear is that all these ministrie leaving are going to join living waters and become an even more fringe group. Sort of how FRC and NOM came long and made FOTF seem tame in comparrison. We all know the media will go to the fringe groups and the conservative “Christian” groups will quote these new fringe ministries which is only going to increase the divide in the public between religious folks and the gays.
Having worked with Andy for a number of years on staff in many ways this does not surprise me. Andy Comiskey is articulate, knowledgable and passionate about his beliefs and that he is right and on God’s side in all this. You can see this in his response to a book Pure Grace that was published. “Some Exodus members are concerned that such ‘pure grace’ will actually contaminate the offering of Exodus by making the narrow way broad and inclusive”. And I saw this first hand when he sat with Brennan Manning and confronted him about his beliefs on grace and the issue of one being gay or in his words homosexuality.
Just like churches that are more conservative leaving their denominations as Exodus tries to be a little more open and honest about change ministries will leave that have a more resolute belief that homosexuality is wrong and any kind of discussion outside of the is “of the devil”.
This is once again the right turning more to the right and living in their world of absolutes of right and wrong. Labeling people like myself as a reprobate (though they would not openly say it) because I once adhered to their beliefs but now have accepted both my sexuality and my faith. Just go to Andy’s blog read and see what he believes and that will give you an idea of things to come. https://andrewcomiskey.com/
So how many Exodus member ministries are left? Do the remaining support Chambers’s subtle shift away from “Change Is Possible”?
I still find it annoying that Exodus refers to itself as “International” which implies that their organization is a growing, world-wide movement. It seems they have only one non-US ministry and it’s Canadian (with respect to my Canadian friends – doesn’t sound very international) . Maybe they’ll return to “Exodus North America” or maybe “Exodus Red State” is more accurate.
Norm, if I’m not mistaken, they do have member ministries in Central and South America and Australia. I know, at least, that they have organized conferences in Central America.
Hi Jay,
I couldn’t find those Central or South American ministries on Exodus International’s website. My understanding was that the international ministries broke away from Exodus International and formed a separate organization, Exodus Global Alliance.
Oh, that must be my mistake then. I guess I assumed that since they were using the same name, they were flying under the same banner.
Our numbers there are restricted to US based ministries. They have a few in Canada, but have not lost any of them recently. I don’t believe they have the same relationship with ministries outside the US as they do inside. Also, the current relationship between Exodus International and Exodus Global Alliance is somewhat obtuse, at least to me. However, I don’t think it is accurate to combine them in this context.
If Don Schmierer leaves the Exodus board then the money from Ahmanson dries up (if it hasn’t already).
We’ve never actually verified that such money comes to them, it’s only speculation. Are you aware of any solid evidence to tie them in?
When the whole Ugandan thing came up I found that Exodus had been listed in the Fieldstead records once and there were two transcripts of a radio broadcast from a station in Orange county that Ahmanson called up to and said he gave money to Exodus. Schmierer is (was?) listed as a field associate with Fieldstead. And then there is the conversation that Schmierer had with a guy (who reported it on a skiing website from Australia) on a plane going to Europe (Schmierer was on his way to the Ugandan meeting) in which Schmierer said something to the effect that, ‘Exodus has a lot of money and intended to work to keep Africa anti-gay.’ Schmierer evidently talked in support of Lively’s “Pink Swastika” to the guy also as that person reported that Schmierer had intimated that ‘all the Nazis were gay.’
Circumstantial at best; but I think rather telling.
https://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2009/12/09/17561
See March 14, 2009 – I think the ski-site has since removed the thread.
It would not surprise me if they had gotten some funding from them, though it may or may not be substantial. I’m aware of the comments on the ski site and I believe we have that archived somewhere. After contacting the original commenter, I can’t put much stock in that one. If you have any records or a direct reference to that radio broadcast, we can look into it. It could all be true for all I know, but I’ve never found anyhting that would take it from the realm of speculiation. As I remember, the ski guy was rather cagy about it and said he didn’t even remember the conversation. This was a few months after it supposedly happend.
I had saved it to my computer, David, but I did some house-cleaning a while back and figured I would never need it again. I know the guy at the ski-site didn’t want to get involved in the discussion. However, I don’t see how one can discount his post on that website. It may not live up to courtroom standards but I’d think it would fly about anywhere else.
@Lynn David
As I say, it could very well be accurate, but we try to have more solid sources on matters like that before posting. It certainly adds to the informal discussion and makes me want to know more, we’ve just been unable to find hard facts to report. As a lead it was and is valid to add to the list, certainly.
I have to admit that I’ve found Schmierer almost too dull and sedate for me to imagine such a conversation, but then again he may have felt reasonably sure in that venue (anonymous seat mate on a plane) that it would go no further. On the supportive side, it seems like an odd thing for someone to make up and Exodus was definitely trusting Scott Lively during that time.
You say you find Schmierer “almost too dull and sedated” for such a conversation; and yet that is nearly how the guy on the plane described Schmierer as well. He said:
“We started talking and he was interesting. He was a nice guy, moderate in tone and personality, and concerned not to offend me in case I had different views.”
It’s the quiet ones you have to look out for!!
@Lynn David
Touché. I guess after all these years I still give them too much credit. That does sound like Schmierer.
I think the reason this is happening is that Alan Chambers has tried to make Exodus more truthful. He has distanced himself from the Reparative therapy quackery, and has said that 99.9% of his group maintain their original orientation.
The group is still for abstaining from all gay sex and allows for other therapies.
Following Biblical Fundamentalist behavior is not enough for the right wing groups. They demand reparative therapy so they can clobber gay rights.