Why A Wisconsin Church Has Become The First To Leave The Network
Steve Morgan speaks at a Network Conference in 2013 at Vine Church in Carbondale, Illinois. The pastors and board members behind him are, from left to right: David Chery, Scott Joseph, Steve Dame, Dan Digman, James Chidester, Justin Major, Tony Ranvestel, and Kendall Lane. (Photo via Facebook)
A church in Wisconsin has announced it will disaffiliate from the Network, a nondenominational network of churches accused of operating like a cult. Citing an inability to “address issues and resolve concerns,” the church is the first to leave the controversial group since recent allegations of misconduct.
On Aug. 31, the board of overseers of Isaiah Church in Madison, Wisconsin, posted online that it had “made the decision to formally disassociate from the network of churches we have previously belonged to.” Leaders cited “concerns surrounding leadership theology, church governance, and past decisions with network leadership.”
The Network, led by founder Steve Morgan, bills itself as “not a denomination, but (churches) like-minded in doctrine and style.”
However, as previously reported by The Roys Report (TRR), a group of former staff and members of Network-affiliated churches claim the Network is characterized by a “cult-like” culture of spiritual abuse and secrecy. This includes Morgan’s failure to disclose alleged sexual abuse decades ago.
According to documents published online, Morgan was arrested for allegedly committing aggravated criminal sodomy against a minor in November 1986. The case was diverted, with Morgan agreeing to penalties including a three-year diversion program.
For many years, Morgan did not acknowledge this history of alleged sexual abuse to Network churches, according to several past leaders in those churches. Morgan, who has been affiliated with multiple churches over decades, founded Joshua Church in Austin, Texas, in 2017, where offices of the Network are headquartered.
Three years ago, whistleblowers exposed Morgan’s documented abuses and concerns about The Network at a website, Leaving the Network, which have since been corroborated in recent reporting.
Isaiah Church Pastor Stephen Putbrese, who founded the congregation in Madison in 2021, has for years been a vocal defender of the Network, according to multiple accounts published by Leaving the Network.
Putbrese previously served as a staff pastor at City Lights Church in St. Louis. When leaders of City Lights Church considered disaffiliation from the Network in 2018, Putbrese was reportedly the “dissenting vote” against that move. He left his staff role there immediately, not even attending the service where the vote results were announced.
Shortly after, Putbrese was welcomed as staff pastor at Vine Church in Carbondale, Illinois, a Network-affiliated church that Morgan founded in 1995. Putbrese was sent out from Vine Church in 2021 to plant Isaiah Church, as leaders acknowledged in the recent statement.
The elders of Isaiah Church stated that they “do not believe the problems we’ve expressed are spread equally across each individual church (in the Network).”
The statement added, “We are grateful for the many godly men and women who we know are in humble obedience to Jesus across the network, especially to Vine Church in Carbondale who sacrificed to plant Isaiah Church.”
TRR reached out to Putbrese regarding the public statement but did not receive a response.
A spokesman for Leaving the Network, Andrew Lumpe, told TRR that he “praises God” for the “difficult decision” that the overseers of Isaiah Church made to leave.
“Morgan has perpetuated an abusive church environment, lack of transparency and accountability, and a high-control culture in the cult-like Network,” said Lumpe.
He cautioned that “Isaiah Church and its leaders may be trying to leave without truly acknowledging and dealing with the underlying issues,” said Lumpe. “Some of that process should be private while other steps may need to be public for the good of all God’s church.”
Tony Fantozzi, a past member of multiple Network churches and former friend of Putbrese, told TRR it’s a “good thing” that Isaiah Church left the Network, though he did not know what prompted it.
But he noted that the Network and its “abusive” theology likely still have influence.
“I would hope that the congregation is being given this information and isn’t under the threat of church discipline for reading publicly available information about the Network,” said Fantozzi. “From there, it is up to each of those individuals to determine what is right for them to do.”
TRR reached out to Morgan and Joshua Church for comment, but did not hear back by publication time.
Morgan’s history of abuse, deception
Fantozzi, who resides with his family in St. Louis, has a history with Morgan that goes back more than two decades.
From 2000 to 2004, Fantozzi was a member of Vine Church in Illinois — then known as Carbondale Vineyard. In 2006, Morgan left the Vineyard USA to begin a “no-name” network with five former Vineyard churches.
“During that time, I heard his version of his origin story enough that, 20 years later, I still recall many of the details,” Fantozzi told TRR. According to Fantozzi and a timeline published by Leaving the Network, Morgan’s “prophetic history” omits many important details.
For example, Morgan does not mention his early years as an ordained elder and youth pastor in a church affiliated with the Reorganized Latter-Day Saints. It was during this era that Morgan, as a 22-year-old, allegedly sodomized a 15-year-old.
When his past arrest was mentioned, Morgan claimed he had disclosed to Vineyard officials details of past allegations against him. Numerous Vineyard Church leaders and officials have denied ever knowing Morgan’s history.
“What does this say of Steve’s character and his claim through those stories of being mystically ‘called by God’ to become a pastor and church planter?” asked Fantozzi. “Is any of it true?”
Today, the “no-name” network has 25 churches located in 19 U.S. states and two foreign countries. Leaving the Network has compiled more than 30 accounts of members’ past experiences, alleging control, spiritual abuse, misogyny and other abuses in Network-affiliated churches.
Lumpe, among a group of 19 former Network-affiliated church staff and elders who helped organize Leaving the Network, underlines the fallout from Morgan’s alleged duplicity over decades to past and current members of Network churches.
“Families are being torn apart, members abused spiritually and emotionally, people manipulated and controlled, lives damaged and donations misspent,” said Lumpe.
In a letter sent to Network churches in July 2022, Network leaders denied all allegations “of spiritual abuse and of attempting to control people for our own power and gain.”
That letter also described former church leaders who criticized Morgan as “accusers” who are “attempt(ing) to publicly harm the reputation of individual leaders, churches and our church network.”
Responding to the allegations, Lumpe said, “My motives are grounded in my previous church leadership roles, and they have always been focused on protecting God’s church and its people.”
No further statement has been provided or published by the Network or its leaders, following multiple requests over the past two years.
Today, more than 680 people have signed on to the public petition calling for Morgan and Network leaders to engage a third-party qualified group for an “unbiased, unimpeded” investigation.
“Not only do we need an independent investigation, but the findings report needs to be publicly accessible,” said Fantozzi. “Then people who are in the Network could choose to opt in or out, and those who have left would better be able to heal and move forward.”
This article originally appeared at The Roys Report.
Josh Shepherd writes on faith, culture, and public policy for several media outlets. He and his family live in the Washington, D.C. area.