SPINDALE (NC)
The Associated Press
December 13, 2017
Jamey Anderson fled Word of Faith Fellowship church when he was 18
SPINDALE, N.C. (AP) —
A former member of an evangelical church in western North Carolina says he endured a childhood of beatings and isolation and calls the church a “cult.”
Word of Faith Fellowship Former members say church controls sex lives, behavior with violent punishment
Jamey Anderson fled Word of Faith Fellowship church when he was 18, but says he’s not free. (Video at the top of this story includes an interview with Anderson)
More than a decade later, he still struggles to find his footing in a world he doesn’t understand.
Night terrors jolt him awake and he fears people will think he’s delusional if he discusses his experiences in the secretive evangelical sect because the stories seem unbelievable. Worst of all is the suffocating anguish that rushes in when Anderson said he looks back on what he calls a childhood of beatings and isolation.
“This was like a programmed thing of ‘Always be smiling. Always have a happy face.’ It’s the ‘life of God,’ is what they would call it. And if you’re walking around without a smile, there’s something wrong. And they’re gonna deal with you until you can have a smile,” Anderson told the AP.
Anderson was a toddler when his mother joined Word of Faith. He describes his childhood as nothing short of hell.
Forty-three former members spoke with the Associated Press earlier this year.
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