Gateway Church – Page 6 – Warren Throckmorton

What Original Source Did David Barton Use for His Louis L'Amour Story?

Remember this ?
Barton said he got his story about elementary school kids threatening an intruder in a one-room Old West school from a novel by Louis L’Amour. L’Amour was an Americana fiction writer who in 1986 provided Barton with some historical material he used in 2013.
I thought of Barton’s use of that third hand source yesterday when his son Tim told Gateway Church representative Kerry Wood that Wallbuilders only uses original sources for their materials. Barton said professors just have ideas, not sources. Back in 2013, Barton told Glenn Beck that in the 1850s, elementary school kids took guns to school and once saved a teacher from a would be attacker. Since the kiddies had their guns at school, they deterred the attacker from shooting their teacher.
Barton’s source for this story turned out to be a Louis L’Amour fictional novel Bendigo Shafter. Barton later admitted this but said it was fine because L’Amour said the story was true. Barton transcribed an audiotaped 1986 interview with L’Amour as follows:

There’s a case I [L’Amour] use in one of my stories; I use it in the story called Bendigo Shafter. All the kids coming to school used to hang their guns up in the cloakroom because they were miles from home sometimes, and it was dangerous to ride out without a gun. And this is taken from an actually true incident. I use it in my story and tell the story, but it really happened. Now a man came to kill the teacher. It was a man. And he came with a gun, and all the kids liked the teacher, so they came out and ranged around him with their guns. That stopped it. But kids twelve and thirteen used to carry guns to school regularly.

In 1986, L’Amour said the story was true but he didn’t point to any original source as Barton’s son insists is necessary. Without knowledge of the source of the story, Barton changed the details around (e.g., elementary kids instead of those aged 12-13 years) and presented it to Beck and the world as a historical fact.
First, watch Tim Barton tell his guests that the Bartons always use the original sources and then listen to Barton’s yarn to Glenn Beck about the gun-totin’ kiddies.

Maybe it did happen, maybe it didn’t. However, when Barton is telling the story, it is apparently fine to go third hand. When Barton is selling the story, the pitch includes all of those original documents.
This original source pitch is silly. Does Barton have the original copy of the Bible? The Constitution? We all have access to the primary sources for our governing documents. He may have some original documents, but if they are historically significant, they are archived for review by scholars. Good scholars use primary documents. Barton’s assertions here are fact free.
Barton is no stranger to second and third hand sourcing. For instance, his claim about Thomas Jefferson giving his edited version of the Gospels to Indian missionaries is third hand; there is no original source for that one.
See the following links for stories where Barton does not rely on primary/original sources.
David Barton Praises Primary Sources and Then Cites a Third Hand Jefferson Quote
Debunking One of David Barton’s Oldest Stories: Thomas Jefferson and the DC Schools
David Barton Claims Historians Don’t Use Original Sources and That is Why They Attack His Work (James O’Kelly story)
David Barton Uses Jefferson Quote He Says is Unconfirmed (see also this post on the Webster quote)

David Barton Is Coming After the Christian Professors

Apparently, Wallbuilders and Gateway Church/The Kings University are cooking up a business deal. Today, on his twitter account, Tim Barton broadcast from the Wallbuilders’ library along with some folks from Gateway Church in Southlake, TX. The broadcast was mainly for the benefit of some Gateway staff. It wasn’t clear to me what kind of deal they were planning but it involved using Barton’s DVDs and books.
Listening to the Barton father and son team in sales mode was interesting. If you buy what they are selling, you would think that no historian gets it right. Truth comes only from Wallbuilders. Barton had some special words for Messiah College history chair John Fea. Listen:

I think Barton is referring to John’s article here for Religion News Service. Since the state constitutions are easily retrieved, I can’t wait to see how Barton will spin this.
I can’t tell if The King’s University is set to make Barton’s materials available to students or Gateway is going to market them. In any case, it was clear throughout the sale’s pitch that Barton was badmouthing actual historians to set himself apart (and of course in a certain way, that’s true).
Now Gateway and/or The King’s University people should find out from actual historians what the truth is. I challenge them to contact me or Fea or Thomas Kidd in their neck of the woods at Baylor to ask why Barton attacks Christian professors so often.

Robert Morris Says The King's University is Fully Accredited

On June 4, Robert Morris told his congregation that The King’s University is “fully accredited.” Watch:

The entire message is here. Start at 2:22 to get the segment above.
(Transcript)

A few weeks ago, we recognized graduates, and I wanted to say something then but I just forgot, but about three weeks ago we had the Kings University graduation commencement, and if you, woo, there’s a student.
And so if you don’t know, the King’s University was began, begun in 1996, by Dr. Jack Hayford, who’s one of our Apostolic Elders. And about seven or eight years ago, I became the Chairman of the Board of that university. And then, about four years ago, three to four, about three years ago, we transitioned the main campus from California to here.
In essence, we as Gateway Church now, are taking the mantle, or the stewardship, of that university from Dr. Hayford to continue it. We have over 700 students, and just few and it’s all the way from Associate, Bachelors, Masters, all the way to Doctorate level, but just three weeks ago at our commencement we graduated 105 students from the university. So, I’m grateful.
It’s a fully accredited university. If you’ve got someone, a child that just graduated from high school, and you want to keep ’em around for a year before they go somewhere else, then, I’d like for you to just consider the King’s University, and get that foundation, a Biblical teaching, and then they could go on to some other university if they’re going to pursue another degree. So, anyway I wanted to mention it to ya.

TKU is not regionally accredited and doesn’t claim to be on the school website. Regional accreditation is the standard required for the easy transfer of credits between other regionally accredited schools (e.g., publicly funded universities, private liberal arts colleges). Even then, it is ultimately up to the school whether or not all credits transfer. When Morris advises parents that the school is “fully accredited” and “the first year” can be completed at TKU, he is overselling the school. Although other non-accredited schools might take TKU’s credits, I doubt very many regionally accredited schools would do it. At the least, prospective students and parents should find out what other schools accept TKU credits.
If pressed, I suspect Morris would refer to the articulation agreements promoted by TKU and accreditation by two organizations which specialize in Bible colleges. The articulation agreements are with other small Bible colleges. The accreditation bodies also focus on Bible and ministry training schools:

The King’s University is accredited by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS) (15935 Forest Road, Forest, Virginia, 24551, 804.525.9539) at the Category IV level (through the first professional doctorate level) and by the Commission on Accreditation of the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE) (5850 T.G. Lee Boulevard, Orlando, Florida 32822, 407.207.0808). Both the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools and the Association of Biblical Higher Education are members of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA).

TRACS and ABHE are both listed as national accrediting associations on the Department of Education’s website and as such provide some benefit to prospective students moving around in the world of ministry and Bible training. However, being accredited by a regional group would allow those credits to transfer to other regionally accredited schools.
TKU’s relationship with TRACS has been in flux. Last year, TKU voted to terminate the relationship with TRACS but then backed away and maintained their membership. Without offering any judgment about the quality of education available at TKU, I can still offer a advisory to parents and students considering the school. If one is considering a transfer to a regionally accredited school after TKU, I suggest consulting the destination school first to find out if the TKU credits will transfer.

Is The King's University Expanding or Contracting?

The school that God asked Gateway Church pastor Robert Morris to host is having a rough patch. According to the most recent board of directors report, the school has lost three branch locations since 2015 and may close another (Olathe, KS) very soon.
Currently, on TKU’s website, Morris promotes the multi-campus model and claims that TKU will expand the number of locations by 2018.

The school boasts that plans call for “20 or more campuses worldwide by 2018.” However, a review of the recent board report paints a different picture. Most students attend the Southlake campus with significant declines in number of credit hours at most campus locations. Three locations have left TKU since 2015 (see the locations in dark grey below).

According to the report, no documentation exists for the Hong Kong campus and the NZ campus is under review. Olathe is being reviewed to determine if it is “feasible to continue.”
In the May 2016 president’s report, it is clear that the administrative staff want to move away from multiple campuses:

First, I (along with the administrative staff) have concluded that it would be in the school’s best interest to pivot away from the directive to establish teaching locations on (at least 30) mega-church campuses. The past three years have provided us with ample evidence to conclude that this labor intensive, complicated, expensive plan is not producing the kind of results we had hoped (see Teaching Locations Map on page 46).
Additionally, we have experienced some significant setbacks in our campus extension efforts. For instance, one year ago we were operating on 10 extension sites around the country with two other locations approved and preparing to launch. However, at the end of this academic year, for various reasons, we are positioned to go into the next academic year with only 7 sites in operation (none larger than 60 students) and neither “approved” location willing to move forward (see Teaching Locations Map on page 46).
Second, these “setbacks” have contributed to our resolve to pivot away from this campus expansion model and embrace instead a two-pronged strategy that emphasizes the intensifying efforts to build a healthy, dynamic home campus with over 1,000 resident student by 2022.

In the April 2016 executive committee minutes, one of four challenges was to change the multi-campus model.

With most campuses in decline, it hard to understand how TKU (or Gateway University as it will soon be known) gets to 20 campuses by 2018. In fact, it appears that the board is going to move away from that approach altogether because at least five of the campuses are stagnant and creating a drain on TKU’s limited resources.
To be fair to TKU, enrollment is up to 747 total students (502 FTE) which represents a 55% increase over five years. However, the promise of a growing multi-location system appears to have faded without prospective students’ knowledge.
Current students who cannot transfer may be left without a clear way forward. Since TKU is not regionally accredited, their credits won’t transfer to accredited schools.
I wonder if campus coordinators are aware that they will be closed down. The ethical thing to do would be to discourage any new enrollments since those students won’t have a future at the regional campus.
What this will probably mean for Gateway Church is a greater burden on their budget since the school now relies on a $1/year lease of facilities as well as cash donations to TKU. Since everything is moving to Southlake, the expenses for a residential campus will no doubt require a greater commitment from the church.

For Mothers Day, Gateway Church Pastor Robert Morris Speaks Conception

He did this last year too. One of Mark Driscoll’s friends and benefactors, Robert Morris believes he can speak conception to infertile couples. Listen to part of the sermon actually delivered yesterday:

This is a transcript of the first view minutes. Near the end of the prayer, Morris “speaks conception” to infertile couples (at about 4:00 in this clip).

I do wanna pray over a specific group of ladies. I do this nearly every Mother’s Day. Um, and that is, if you want to have a child. And the reason I do this is for some reason God has blessed this prayer when I pray it. And I don’t even know why or understand it.
I was getting my hair cut a while back in a specific, where I get my hair cut, and, um, they, there was this lady who I overheard talking about miscarriages and not being able to have a child and she’d been praying for, I think, 12 or 13 years or something. And I just got so burdened so we, I, just went over to her and she got up at the same time I got up and I said, ‘I’m sorry to overhear your conversation but I’m pastor of a church, and would you mind if I pray for you?’ And so I prayed for her right there in the salon. And, um, um, she uh, started coming to the church. She got saved. Her family got saved. And, uh, her husband, and they started coming to small group and she had a baby.
And, uh, so, and what’s amazing is, I was getting my haircut there again today, and we were talking about that and they said, ‘uh, Robert, we, we have people that ask to get their haircut in that wing (hand motion towards wing) of the salon – that are trying to have a baby. And they get pregnant! And then we’ve had employees that say, ‘can I transfer to that wing (more jerking hand motions towards wing) of the salon?’ And they get pregnant so um. So, uh, I’m gonna pray for you now. You don’t have to get your hair cut there. It is a good place, but….

I offer this without much comment on the stories of pregnancies being influenced by where in the hair salon Morris — pastor of the third largest church in America — sat to get his hair cut.
However, these stories and the rest of the sermon is about hearing from God in dreams and the ability to do miracles. Those outside evangelcalism wanting to understand the diversity under that label should make a distinction between evangelicals who believe such things happen frequently and those who don’t.