If you’re a fan of Kip McKean, the title might be A New Hope or The Return of the Jedi. If you are a critic, you may use Revenge of the Sith. Considering what I’m about to report, this seems more appropriate.

Kip has visited his splinter group in Phoenix recently. He sent down seven couples to help with the Phoenix International Christian Church. He also visited one of the churches in Honduras, in direct conflict with the efforts of the South Florida Church (mostly South America) and the LA ICC (host the website and yearly conferences).

Kip also mentioned a group from Stockholm. My sources tell me that this is also a splinter group, not the current leadership.

So what?

Keep in mind that Kip also lists places that people visit from in his weekly rantings. He’s mentioned Kansas a few times, as well as Illinois, Minnesota, Wyoming, and other states where I know people. This is 1983 all over again – move to the city, receive training, then go out and plant and/or reconstruct wherever you go. Although certainly not vast, it seems the clone army has been mobilized again.

I used to be one of those clones, so I know.

Do I think there is some great conspiracy afoot? No. The Gang of 84 made it clear sound like they were arguing over turf, not really doctrine. Kip is simply going out and claiming his turf and the Gang of 84 is left scrambling to keep theirs. The result is a lot of fighting over something that is owned only by God. Kip is trying to build power, most other high eschelon leaders are trying to hold theirs. Both sides have this perverse sense of owning people’s hearts and souls.

I find it ironic that the cheif architect of the discipling system and the man that literally wrote the book on it, has a faction in his own backyard made up of people that think he’s not teaching it right.

I say two sides, there’s really three. The third is the great mass of churches maintaing neutrality by ignorance or deliberate effort. Ask a lot of ICC folks and they generally could care less about Kip. They also could care less about many other major figures. These are the folks I truly care about. I hope they are never caught up in this crazy mess.

Some critics have said that the whole group should just disband. I still do not believe this to be right because it punishes the wrong people. However, I am feeling like there are certain people at the top have too much influence. Kip is one of these people and that is why I write about him.

Keep praying. I am.