Taste of Country Exclusive - Rory Feek and Homestead Heritage

(Photo Source: Taste of Country)

This post is going to take me a few edits to finalize. My apologies for that. There are important comments to make about the stories told here, and my time is a little stretched at the moment. 

Cafe Homestead Fails Food Inspection

 

( Source)

Diners at Cafe Homestead may be ingesting something a little extra with their food. KWTX reports that their recent inspection cites violations such as preparing ready-to-eat foods with ungloved hands, and an issue with flies on food prep surfaces. 

Chained Ambassador

 

Raven

I'd like to introduce a social media account whose owner has been learning about the teachings of Homestead Heritage and sharing his thoughts. I haven't been posting as regularly as I used to or would like to, so I recommend following Raven for more frequent updates and information on Homestead's teachings. He gave me permission to share his introduction from a Facebook post. 

More Lewd Behavior at Homestead Heritage

 

 And He said, "What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride. foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man."   Mark 7:20-23

Feathers in the Wind

 

In their defense video about the abuse allegations covered by the Texas Observer and WFAA, Homestead talks about the story of St. Philip Neri's penance given to someone for gossiping: 

The story is told of St. Philip Neri (1515–1595) that he gave a most unusual penance to a novice who was guilty of spreading malicious gossip. He told him to take a feather pillow to the top of a church tower on a blustery day and there release all the feathers to the wind. Then he was to come down from the tower, collect all the feathers dispersed over the far countryside, and put them back into the pillow. Of course the poor novice couldn’t do it, and that was precisely Philip’s point about the great evil of tale bearing. Slander and calumny have a way of spreading to the four winds and, once released, can never be completely recalled. Even when accusations are firmly nailed as false, the reputations of those falsely accused bear a lingering taint. “Oh yes,” it is vaguely said, “wasn’t he once accused of . . . ”

Homestead's Non-Disparagement Agreement

Homestead Heritage took umbrage at The Texas Observer's and WFAA's usage of their Resolutions on the Limits of the Use of the Authority of External Compulsion by claiming that the "document never refers to crime at all and only forbids lawsuits between church members." To be honest, I think the news organizations could have directed their focus a little better. Though the document clearly states that "religion" is not "an agent, or the proper province, of the corporate State and its investigative, police and judicial services" (i.e., the criminal justice system), from a spiritual abuse perspective, the fact any organization claiming the title of church would ask its members -- not its employees -- to sign a non-disparagement agreement should draw scrutiny. 

Founder of Homestead Heritage Dead at 77

 

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Blair Adams, the founder of the group that eventually became Homestead Heritage, died on Tuesday, July 27, 2021, at the age of 77. 

Heritage Coffee

“For I am the Lord, I do not change" Malachi 3:6

 

Ah, coffee. Some people don't care for it, but, seeing as it's currently a $100+ billion industry, a lot of people like it including yours truly. It's a money-making business, so it's not surprising that Homestead Heritage would abandon their decades-long proscription against coffee for a piece of that pie. 

"So what if they change their mind," you might ask. Because Homestead considered it "rebellion" to drink coffee in violation of their dietary patterns, and they could minister to members for violating that pattern. They have not apologized to all of the people who they harassed over coffee now that they have deemed it profitable acceptable.

Another Homestead-Grown Sex Offender

Photo credit: Texas Public Sex Offender Registry

Just because the media hasn't reported on it doesn't mean there aren't any more sex offenders at Homestead Heritage. 

It would appear that home-birthing your children, homeschooling your children, training them by use of corporal punishment,  taking them to church three times a week, teaching them crafts and agricultural skills, and all in the environment of a "Christian" community, is no guarantee that you won't raise a child molester. Of course, we already knew that despite their pulpit proclamations to "have the answers to what this world needs."

More TripAdvisor Sleight Of Hand On Homestead Heritage (UPDATED)

I wrote in an earlier post, here, about the disappearance of a negative review about Homestead Heritage on TripAdvisor. I also discussed complaints about TripAdvisor removing negative reviews on other venues. I even recently discovered a story, which I think is rather humorous,  about a fake profile created by an Italian newspaper "as part of an experiment to reveal alleged flaws in the rankings system which . . . leave it vulnerable to fraudulent reviews." "Within a month, the non-existent eatery was rated the best restaurant in town." (Source) 

Anabaptists, Homestead's Professed "Spiritual Roots," Admit A Sexual Abuse Problem

My article on sexual abuse in Anabaptist communities remains one of the top viewed  posts on this blog. Since Homestead Heritage claims to find their spiritual roots in this faith community, I wrote about this topic to disprove their suggestion that Anabaptists have lower rates of sexual abuse. Since then, a few more items have come to my attention that further corroborate the sexual abuse problems among these faith traditions.

The Ploughshare Institute In Deary, Idaho

Homestead Heritage In The American Redoubt

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Homestead Heritage has a growing community based in Deary, Idaho, known as the Ploughshare Institute for Sustainable Culture. They applied for a conditional use permit, that was first denied and then granted, to operate a school on the property. Their stated objective is "to open a center in Idaho that will teach crafts and sustainable living techniques." (Source) 

Since this time, a growing number of Homestead members have relocated to the surrounding areas. Members run the Pie Safe Bakery and Kitchen,  Brush Creek Creamery and Quality Contractors in Deary. One business sells crafts at Capital City Public Market in Boise. Another member runs an accounting firm in Boise. [Update 7-18-2019: It has been brought to my attention that the owners of the last two businesses above are no longer members of Homestead. I wish them the best as they recover and move on with their new lives.]

When Homestead Leaders Play Psychiatrist

The Story of Kelly Blake

(Source)

[As you read this story, please say a prayer, if you are so inclined, for Johnny Fausto. He would be around 32 years old now. These tragic events must have left an indelible impact on his life. I've never even heard his name mentioned by Homestead Heritage, much less a prayer request.]

Kelly Blake was a member of Homestead Heritage's satellite church in Phoenix, Arizona. The Ambassador Church was under the tutelage of Homestead Heritage. Many Homestead elders and ministers visited frequently, and young people from the Phoenix church married members in Waco.  A few years after Kelly Blake experienced a tragic mental breakdown, the Ambassador Church minister and his family relocated to the Waco area. 

Talismans In Textbooks

Homestead Heritage not only writes their own homeschool curriculum, they've also selected books and other materials that they deem somewhat appropriate for their members' use. These books and materials are then sold by Homestead, with caveats, to the members with school aged children. Edit sheets are provided with books for parents to alter pictures or text that Homestead finds objectionable.

Controlling The Worship

Woe be unto the person who doesn't worship in the prescribed way in a Homestead Heritage Sunday meeting. Situations like this are the reason Sunday meetings are not open to visitors. On the rare occasion that a visitor was present, things like this didn't happen. At least not publicly. 

WFAA Investigates Homestead Heritage

WFAA has recently purged some material from their website. The original links to the stories on Homestead Heritage here and here now give a 404 error. Fortunately, I have the videos available on YouTube. I'll consolidate the videos and the text articles taken from another website here.

On Intellectual Property Rights

Homestead's Intellectual Property Assignment

In 2007, Homestead Heritage distributed an Intellectual Property Assignment to its members. This ensures "the transfer of an owner’s property rights in copyrights, trademarks, patents, trade secrets, or other intangible creations." (Source) These assets would now become the sole property of Homestead Heritage. This applies to all members of the community, and not just those employed in some way by the community. 

An Association

Jared Wayman and Homestead Heritage in 

Kimbolton, New Zealand

(Source)

Homestead Heritage has a small community in Kimbolton, New Zealand headed by a man named Jared Wayman. Jared submits to the leadership of Asahel Adams who is the son of Homestead Heritage founder, Blair Adams. Jared was heard saying he "accepts everything that comes down from Homestead Heritage without question." 

The group consists of about five families who moved to Kimbolton after they weren't very well received in the South. They have been "working together to takeover and upgrade Hansen's Cafe & Store." (Source) 

Be aware that the same doctrines and practices at Homestead Heritage in Waco, TX will be practiced by this group in Kimbolton, New Zealand. 

Milieu Control

Controlling the Communication

Milieu control is one of the eight criteria for thought reform outlined by Robert J. Lifton. Milieu control "includes other techniques to restrict members' contact with the outside world and to be able to make critical, rational, judgments about information." (Source)  Cindy Kunsman states that "if any info is allowed to permeate the group, it has to come from a pre-approved source." (Source)

One of the ways that Homestead Heritage exerts milieu control is by restricting members' access to the internet. In 2010 they developed a pattern for "Cell Phones and Mobile Internet Use." 

Child Training

"Spank Until You Draw Blood"

WFAA did a good job bringing attention to the physical abuse of children in Homestead Heritage. The group actually had child training classes instructing parents on how to discipline their children. Following are some notes taken during these training classes: