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Monday Evening, April 22, 2024

MRFF EXPOSES 3-STAR GENERAL’S 

APPALLING ENDORSEMENT OF CHURCH’S BOAST THAT “UNCLE SAM” IS ITS

“MISSION SENDING ORGANIZATION”



Lieutenant General Xavier Brunson, Commander of I Corps and Joint Base Lewis-McChord, who was “born again” at and attended Manna Church for a number of years while stationed at Fort Liberty, was the guest speaker at Manna’s 2023 Memorial Day service, endorsing this fundamentalist Christian church’s plan to

exploit the frequent relocations of service members to

“plant” 237 like-minded churches near other military bases.


In the words of one of Manna's pastors:


“Uncle Sam, who's kind of become our mission-sending organization because he takes great talented people

and relocates them, so that's kind of the vision.”

Promotional image used by Manna Church with Lieutenant General Brunson in uniform

Image from Manna Church's promotional videos for Lieutenant General Brunson's

speaking appearance, which is still on the Manna Church website's "Sermons" page.

(Image used under the Fair Use Doctrine for the purpose of commentary.)

MRFF OP-ED

ON DAILY KOS


Trending story on Daily Kos


Appalling! 3-star general touts church that boasts “Uncle Sam” is its “mission sending organization


By: MRFF Senior Research Director Chris Rodda


Monday, April 22, 2024

Chris Rodda

Recently, via an article on the Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN), we here at the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) became aware of a fundamentalist Christian church with the goal of “planting” churches near military installations. Now, we’ve come across many, many churches and groups over MRFF’s two-decade history that talk about the goal of “planting” churches in their own image near military installations, but these have generally been small churches and groups for whom any sort of large-scale “church planting” scheme was nothing more than a pipe dream that was never actually going to happen. The church in the CBN article, however, is in a different league. 


The CBN article, titled “Manna Church's God-Sized Goal: Planting a Church Near EVERY US Military Base in the World,” described a large, well-established church in Fayetteville, North Carolina, near Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg), one of the Army’s largest installations, whose “church planting” operation is already well underway, with, according to CBN, “33 expressions of Manna Church near U.S. military bases as shown in a map on a wall in the church.” Manna’s goal is to plant 273 of its churches.


In the CBN article, one of Manna’s pastors is quoted as saying:


“Uncle Sam, who's kind of become our mission-sending organization because he takes great talented people and relocates them, so that's kind of the vision.”

Manna, like other organizations such as Campus Crusade’s Military Ministry, now called CRU, is using the fact that military personnel move from location to location, and are used as what these organizations refer to as “government-paid missionaries.” (Examples of the use of this government-paid missionaries term can be seen in this MRFF compilation video.) How does this work? Military members are recruited and “discipled” at one location, white the expectation that they will make new converts at their subsequent duty stations, making new disciples at each place they are stationed, who will in turn make more disciples at their duty stations. Manna has given this tactic of using ever-relocating military personnel as missionaries for their church a name: the “Military Highway.”


Unlike most smaller churches and organizations whose “church planting” ambitions are unlikely to come to fruition, we at MRFF did take notice of Manna Church and looked into its activities, and what we found at first was an Army Reserve 1st Lieutenant, Todd Capen, who in his civilian job is the “site pastor” of one of Manna’s several North Carolina locations.


1st Lieutenant Capen is seeking to become an Army chaplain, attending Manna University, which, as you might surmise from its name, was founded by Manna Church, and now has 11 “Extension Sites and Mentoring Centers.” 


1st Lieutenant Capen’s goal of becoming a military chaplain brings up an issue frequently seen by MRFF — military chaplains who are paid by the government to serve in military chapels but whose real goal is to use their government-paid position to lure service members away from military’s chapels and into their off-base civilian churches, where their real loyalty lies.


But 1st Lieutenant Capen, who appears in uniform in CBN’s video, in a flagrant violation of several Army and Department of Defense (DoD) regulations, is a small fish compared to another member of Manna Church — Lieutenant General Xavier Brunson, the 3-star general in command of I Corps.


Lieutenant General Xavier Brunson, who attended Manna Church for a number of years while stationed at Fort Liberty, brought into the church by his wife, a retired military judge, and “born again” there, was the guest speaker at Manna’s 2023 Memorial Day service.


While Lieutenant General Xavier Brunson was not in uniform during his actual speech, the promotional materials and videos for his appearance use the following image of him in his 3-star general uniform and using his military title, both of which are incontrovertible violations of Army and DoD regulations. It is clear that Brunson was completely aware of these illicit promotional materials because he made reference to them in his speech.


But, beyond his flouting of the regulations on the use of uniforms and military titles by this very senior officer, Lieutenant General Brunson made it clear that he endorses Manna’s “Military Highway” mission, saying in his speech:


“This holiday for me is deeply rooted in not only the mission of this body and the Military Highway but also in the word.”

Yes, this 3-star general, speaking to a congregation full of far lower-ranking soldiers, who he referred to in his speech as “Christian Soldiers,” gave his unequivocal endorsement to using “Uncle Sam” as Manna Church’s “mission-sending organization.” 


The soldier congregants of Manna Church were not only getting the message from a 3-star general that their church’s mission trumps military regulations, but were told by Jonathan Fletcher, Teaching Pastor at Manna Church, that God speaks directly through Lieutenant General Brunson. 


The following was Fletcher’s message hyping Lieutenant General Brunson in a promo video the week before his appearance:


“Hey, Manna Church, next week is Memorial Day and I mentioned to you last week that we’ve got General Brunson coming to be our speaker for our special Memorial Day Service. General Brunson is amazing. He is the commander of First Corps and JBLM. In fact, he’s the commander of JBLM. He’s been a part of our church for a long time. Unbelievable leader. I’m telling you, any time you spend with him you just walk away realizing God called this man to lead in a powerful way and I can’t wait for him to bring a deposit, I believe, from God for our church as we take this time to properly honor Memorial Day and as he takes some time to apply what we can learn from Memorial Day to each one of our walks with Jesus. I really hope you’ll make time to be there in person. If you’re watching online, make an appointment to be a part of Manna online. I believe we’re all gonna be blessed as we receive from God through Lieutenant General Xavier Brunson.”

So, getting down to the nuts and bolts of the Army and DoD regulations violated by Lieutenant General Brunson, and also by 1st Lieutenant Capen, we basically have the same violations as we did way back in 2006 when MRFF exposed the participation of a number of high-ranking officers in Campus Crusade’s “Christian Embassy” promotional video filmed at the Pentagon. The “Christian Embassy” video. What happened in that case? Well, the DoD Inspector General found those officers, which included a number of generals, guilty of misconduct for “improperly endors[ing] and participat[ing] with a non-Federal entity while in uniform.”


For example, this section from the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) was clearly violated by Lieutenant General Brunson in both the promotional materials and his speech:


5 C.F.R. § 2635.702(b), an employee who is serving or affiliated with an outside organization in a personal capacity may not permit the organization to reference the employee’s official title, position, agency, or government affiliation, if the context is such that the reference “could reasonably be construed to imply that his agency or the government . . . sanctions or endorses his personal activities or those of another.”

There are also DoD and Army regulations similar to the above CFR section which need not all be listed here with the exception of one violated by 1st Lieutenant Capen that was not among the “Christian Embassy” violations. 


As mentioned, Army Reserve1st Lieutenant Capen’s civilian job is as a Manna Church “Site Pastor.” By appearing in uniform at Manna Church to be interviewed for CBN’s video, Capen violated Army Regulation 670-1, “Wear and Appearance of Army Uniforms and Insignia,” which prohibits wearing the uniform “In connection with the furtherance of any political or commercial interests, or when engaged in off-duty civilian employment.” 1st Lieutenant Capen’s position at Manna Church is his “off-duty civilian employment,” so we can add that one to the other violations he committed by his being in uniform for the CBN video promoting Manna Church.


These two officers, especially Lieutenant General Brunson, absolutely must be held accountable for their gross violations of DoD and Army regulations every bit as much as the DoD Inspector General held the “Christian Embassy” Pentagon officers accountable nearly two decades ago.


As much as these “Christian Soldiers” would like it to be, the United States military is NOT a Christian missionary organization!!!

Click to Read on Daily Kos

FLASHBACK TO 2007: CHRISTIAN EMBASSY

NBC News reports on the DoD Inspector General's report finding seven high-ranking Pentagon officers, including four generals, who participated in a Campus Crusade “Christian Embassy” promotional video in uniform guilty of the same regulation violations committed by Lieutenant General Brunson and 1st Lieutenant Capen at Manna Church

8/7/07 – NBC News: “Military officers rapped over Christian video”

Manna isn’t the only church with plans to convert the military through “Church Planting” near military bases

6/6/22 – MRFF Exposes Recently Retired Army Chaplain’s PhD Dissertation Revealing Southern Baptist Blueprint to Convert the Military
MRFF's Inbox


“Deputy Commander tells joke explaining

why so few Jews ever get promoted”


From: (Active Duty Military Officer’s/MRFF Client’s E-mail Address Withheld)

Subject: Deputy Commander tells joke explaining why so few Jews ever get promoted

Date: April 21, 2024 at 11:33:06 AM MDT

To: Information Weinstein <mikey@militaryreligiousfreedom.org>


Mr. Weinstein and (MRFF Base Rep’s name withheld),


My wife and I thought about whether to write a thank you note to you both after what I just went through or should we just let it go? We decided that we had to thank you both after what went down. Just please keep our names out of it.


Earlier last week our Deputy Commander (name and rank withheld) of my unit (unit name withheld) at (military installation name withheld) opened up our weekly staff meeting with what he termed a “seasonal joke”. He asked why “so few Jews ever make senior rank in the military”? With a big smile he then answered his own question by saying it was because “Jews celebrate their Passover”. I felt gut punched! I was shocked!


For those who do not know when you don’t get promoted in the military it is commonly termed that you got “passed over” for promotion.


I am a (junior officer rank withheld) with a very common American last name. I keep my Jewish faith very hidden. Pretty much nobody knows. I learned to cover this up at the (U.S. military Academy name withheld) as a (cadet or midshipmen) where I came to see firsthand that being Jewish was never in favor by my Academy chain of command.


I had first asked the MRFF for help years ago during my first year at the Academy in (year withheld) when my (Academy cadet or midshipman upperclass senior rank and title withheld) made remarks about how “Jews worship dollar bills more than their God”). Other similar words of antisemitism were spoken about Jews by this (cadet or midshipmen) and even others as days passed. This was very hurtful to me. I asked my parents what to do? My parents got me in touch with the MRFF. I had not really heard such things said so commonly about my Jewish faith before I got to the Academy. I did not stand up back then. I should have as Mr. Weinstein said he would ensure punishment for what had been said by those upperclassman. But my parents and I feared the kind of consequences that Mr. Weinstein and his kids had received at the military Academy they attended when they stood up.


But this very public slur by my Deputy Commander at our staff meeting was too much! 


I discussed what to do with my wife. She knew the wife of our MRFF Rep here at (installation name withheld) as they are both involved with some child welfare charity work here on base.


My MRFF Rep advised me to call Mr. Weinstein right away. He gave me Mr. Weinstein’s personal cell phone information and I called him directly after work that day. He answered his own phone and asked for some contact information for my chain of command. My wife and I did not even want to know any of the specifics as to what the MRFF was going to do here as we trusted them totally!



The following afternoon my MRFF Rep called me to tell me that both my Deputy Commander and Commander had been ordered to report in to the office of (name, rank and title of superior Commander). 


The meeting lasted only less than 5 minutes apparently. I don’t know what happened but at our unit staff meeting on Friday the Deputy Commander gave his face-saving version of an apology for the Passover joke remark. He told us that while he now sees he was “a bit out of line” to make that joke he “meant no harm” and that “some of his best friends are Jewish”. He also said that he “ran that joke by them” after the fact and they all thought it was funny and harmless. He finished by saying “If I offended any of you I’m sorry. I didn’t even know that any of you were Jewish”? My wife and I were appalled at what he said in this “apology”. 


His so-called “apology” was weak but at least he got some negative facetime with (name, rank and title of superior Commander) and maybe even embarrassed himself to our immediate Commander. I don’t know? I’m still very upset by all of this as is my wife who is also Jewish.


Mr. Weinstein told me that if we want to go further he and MRFF will help us. But for now I think we just want to wait. Without the MRFF we never would have not even gotten this far.  Even after what had happened years ago at the Academy I did not expect to see this kind of blatant antisemitism when I got out into the (service branch name withheld). I won’t just take it anymore as I have been doing.


My wife and I want to really express our thanks to Mr. Weinstein, (name of installation MRFF Rep withheld) and all of the MRFF for being there for us and taking action for us. There was no safe alternative but to ask for the MRFF’s help here. If and when (more likely when now, I guess) it happens again we will not hesitate to call the MRFF for help.


Thank you Mr. Weinstein and the MRFF for all you guys do for all of us in the service! 


(Active Duty Military Officer’s/MRFF Client’s name, rank, MOS/AFSC, title, unit, and installation names all withheld)

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