Note 117 - Scheduling Conferences to Conflict
Letter of warning to the churches in the Lord's recovery in Canada, March 17, 2009:
Since 1985, Brother Dong has cultivated a special relationship with certain brothers in London, Ontario. Brother Dong has visited there frequently himself to give conferences, his work has sent many workers there to conduct conferences and trainings, and he has encouraged brothers from there to visit Brazil frequently. He views the work there as an extension of his own work. Of all the workers in North America, only David Wang and a few other brothers from London are identified by Brother Dong as his co-workers.
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Letter from the church in Dunn Loring to Cesar Menegucci, January 12, 2002:
When we heard you were having it [the Brazilian conference with Dong Yu Lan] on December 29 & 30th this was a big bother to us and created a real conflict of interest for the Spanish speaking saints [a conflict with the video training].
Letter from Robert Little to Dong Yu Lan, December 21, 2005:
Our complaint and the matter that troubles us deeply is that someone is working behind the scenes promoting your conferences in the US. The churches in this area had no communication either with you, your coworkers, your supporters nor the local brothers who received you for your conference by mail, email or phone. We have never practiced this way in our 34 years in the Lord's recovery. But 5 Spanish speaking saints from Dunn Loring and 5 Spanish speaking saints from Beltsville attended your conference and returned without any of us knowing about it.
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Letter from leading brothers in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, to Cesar Menegucci, September 1, 2007
Cesar, the above statements seem to expose your inaccuracies in fellowship during our meetings Wednesday night (Aug 15). Your email indicates that your coming to Boston is with a very definite agenda to establish local churches and Perfecting Centers. Has this burden been fellowshipped with the leading ones in this area and the blending brothers in the Lord's Recovery? And how does the Body feel about the raising up of a Perfecting Center in Boston? This indicates that you were not so truthful with us concerning the real purpose of the Marlboro gathering during Memorial day weekend. You were not just having a spontaneous fellowship time in Marlboro as you said, but the time was actually a "perfecting time" and a "conference". Instead of "spontaneous" gatherings, these are regularly scheduled conferences being planned twice a year to coincide with Brother Dong's trainings in Brazil. This also indicates that your work is tied to Brother Dong's work. This is a hidden connection and it is a string that is controlling the situation here with your ministry.
There was also a scheduled gathering in New Hampshire at the time of the 2008 Thanksgiving conference in Boston.
Letter from Ron Madore and Richard Annese, the church in Miami, November 1, 2007:
Recently, Emerson moved to Boca Raton and joined with Cesar Menegucci to promote the Brazilian work in Boca Raton. They have scheduled a conference in Boca Raton at the same time as the Thanksgiving Day conference in Boston.
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Letter from Tito Gutierrez and Levi Salvador, the church in Boca Raton, Florida, October 30, 2007:
Cesar Menegucci, who has been working in the Boston, Massachusetts, area, is also active in Boca Raton. Cesar and Emerson have secured a rental property in Coconut Creek, FL. They will be joined soon by another Brazilian brother, [name redaceted]. Together, under the direction of Dong Yu Lan's work, they are planning to hold a conference during the Thanksgiving weekend, the same time as the blending conference in Boston.
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Letter from Tito Gutierrez and Levi Salvador, the church in Boca Raton, Florida, October 30, 2007:
Emerson Diaz has been active here over the last two years or so. Emerson moved from Brazil to Miami and then to Boca Raton. He is contacting as many Portuguese and Spanish speaking saints as he can in the area and gathering them under his independent work. They refer to themselves as the 'church in Boca Raton' but are not in fellowship with the church that has been established here since the late 1990s. In fact, they ignore the church in Boca Raton and act as if it were not here. When saints come to Boca Raton from Brazil or other parts of South America, Emerson's work often receives them as if it was the church.... There is also a Brazilian work using Dong Yu Lan's publications in the Stuart/Port St. Lucie area under the leadership of Cezar and Emerson. They have recruited some who used to meet with the churches in Boca Raton, Miami and Orlando for this work, in each case without fellowship with the respective leading brothers of the churches.
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Email, Tim Klimmek, Brazilian Coworker Activity in Germany, October 6, 2007:
The two Antonelli brothers, Joao and Caesar, conducted several weekend conferences with the Stuttgart and other saints in that region in late 2005 and into 2006. Some of these meetings included Solomon Ma. I learned from the Stuttgart saints that during these meetings subtle negative things were being said about the blending brothers and the ministry in Anaheim. These remarks became bolder with each gathering and consummated in the Black Forest weekend conference on the same weekend as the 2006 April London Conference. During this time one other main European conference weekend was filled by these brothers for their conferences.
Brother Dong's workers have held numerous conferences over the years in Lörrach, Germany, and in Italy. They have also held conferences in Barcelona, Spain, and Lisbon, Portugal. In addition, Brother Dong's work often conducts CEAPE trainings in Canada, Portugal, Italy and many places in Africa as well as other conferences in Africa. These CEAPE trainings may be considered to be in direct competition with the Full-time Training in Anaheim, the Full-time Training in London, and other such trainings. Not enough is known about the precise dates of all of these and how those dates may compare with the dates of the seven annual feasts and other scheduled conferences to include specific examples in this document. Therefore, the incidents listed here should not be considered as exhaustive.
The following are known examples of Dong Yu Lan's work holding conferences that conflict with the seven annual feasts and other regularly scheduled conferences. All were scheduled and carried out without fellowship with the co-workers or churches.
2005-2007— London, Ontario:
- A conference was held by Brother Dong in London, Ontario, during the 2005 Memorial Day weekend, which was in conflict with the regularly scheduled Memorial Day weekend conference in the United States. (London Conference Invitation, May 5, 2005; Letter of invitation to the May 27-29, 2005, conference in London, Canada)
- A conference with Brother Dong in London, Ontario, was scheduled for the 2006 Memorial Day weekend but was changed to one week later for reasons not known. (Letter of invitation to the May 26-28, 2006, conference in London, Canada; e-mail notice, Conference in London – Date Changed, May 9, 2006).
- Conferences in London were also held with Brother Dong on October 28-30, 2005, and November 3-5, 2006 (E-mail Conference Invitation, October 15, 2005; Letter of invitation to the October 28-30, 2005, conference in London, Canada; e-mail, October 17, 2006; Letter of invitation to the November 3-5, 2006, conference in London, Canada). A conference with Helcio Almeida was held in London May 17-20, 2007. (E-mail, Conference in London, April 16, 2007; Letter of invitation to the May 17-20, 2007, conference in London, Canada).
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There is a yearly GPP (Gospel Propagation Perfecting) training in London, Ontario. According to
the
letter of warning issued by leading brothers in the churches in Canada on March 17,
2009:
A little over three years ago, David Wang established a GPP training center, modeled on Brother Dong's trainings in South America. Young people are encouraged to participate in the GPP rather than the full-time training in Anaheim, and the GPP training is conducted with complete disregard for and apart from the fellowship of the other churches in the area.
2005—Newton, Massachusetts:
On January 12, 2002, Bob Little, representing the church in Dunn Loring, wrote to the elders in Newton, Massachusetts and two of Dong Yu Lan's workers in the area, including Cezar Menegucci, objecting to their lack of fellowship concerning Spanish-speaking conferences and the timing of those conferences. Bob pointed out that those conferences were often scheduled during the seven main national and international conferences and trainings, thus creating a conflict for the local Spanish-speaking saints. The conference prior to the letter was scheduled during the local video training in Dunn Loring and caused the church some unnecessary problems. Bob also pointed out the lack of fellowship involved with these conferences (Letter from the church in Dunn Loring to Cezar Menegucci, January 12, 2002). The problems persisted even after assurances from Cezar that all such problems would be solved (Letter from Cezar Menegucci to the church in Dunn Loring, January 29, 2002; Letter from the church in Dunn Loring to Cezar Menegucci, February 22, 2002).
On December 21, 2005, Bob Little wrote to Brother Dong to express his concern over a conference that Brother Dong had held apart from fellowship with the co-workers or elders in the U.S. during the first week of November 2005 in Newton, Massachusetts. Five Spanish-speaking saints from Dunn Loring and five Spanish-speaking saints from Beltsville, Maryland, attended the conference without the leading brothers' knowledge. Bob wrote:
Our complaint and the matter that troubles us deeply is that someone is working behind the scenes promoting your conferences in the US. The churches in this area had no communication either with you, your coworkers, your supporters nor the local brothers who received you for your conference by mail, email or phone.
Brother Dong's conference in Newton caused confusion among the Spanish-speaking saints, and some were "very troubled." (Letter from Robert Little to Dong Yu Lan, December 21, 2005)
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2006—Lörrach, Germany:
Letter of warning to the saints and churches in the Lord's recovery in Germany, Switzerland, and Italy, April 2, 2009:
On August 10, 2006, the church in Regensdorf e-mailed the saints in Germany and the German-speaking part of Switzerland inviting them to attend blending meetings starting on October 1, 2006. These were regularly scheduled, annual meetings that the German-speaking saints were accustomed to attend. On August 11, Alex Kemmer sent out a different invitation to the same group of saints for meetings in Lörrach that were scheduled in direct conflict with the Regensdorf meetings. This caused a great deal of confusion among the saints.
Brother Dong's workers began using Lörrach for their gatherings without fellowship with the churches or the co-workers in Europe. The brothers in Stuttgart raised this issue with Alex and Robinson in October 2006. Solomon Ma and Joao Antonelli, co-workers of Brother Dong, were also at this fellowship. The brothers in Stuttgart related the confusion and disturbance caused by the Lörrach meetings, and in response Solomon assured them that the meetings they had held in Lörrach would be the last they would hold there until such confusion was resolved. Contrary to Solomon's assurance, he and others in Brother Dong's work continued to hold conferences and meetings in Lörrach independently, without the fellowship of the churches and workers in Germany and Switzerland and despite the fact that the confusion and discomfort they had caused among the saints still remained.
Lörrach is now the center of Dong Yu Lan's work in Germany and has isolated itself from the churches in the area. It has become a gathering place for Brother Dong's co-workers and a base for their attempts to spread his work. Lörrach does not participate in the general fellowship of the churches in Germany and Switzerland. They do not participate in the blending conferences or in the work in Europe. Rather, they hold their own conferences, many times in conflict with established conferences in Europe. The gatherings in Lörrach now bear the distinct flavor of Dong Yu Lan's work with its peculiar teachings and practices.
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In the same letter, the brothers in Europe describe how Alex Kemmer, a co-worker of Brother Dong in Europe, scheduled a gathering in Lörrach, Germany, to conflict with a previously scheduled blending conference in Regensdorf:
On October 1, 2006, there was a regularly scheduled blending meeting in Regensdorf. Invitations were sent out on August 10 to the saints in Stuttgart and the scattered saints in southern Germany and Switzerland. The next day, August 11, Alex Kemmer sent out an invitation to the same group of saints inviting them to Lörrach, a small German town close to Basel, Switzerland, for an all-weekend gathering. This was in direct conflict with the previously scheduled blending time in Regensdorf (one that was already known to the saints in the area) and was initiated without any fellowship with the saints or co-workers in the area. The invitation to the competing gathering caused much confusion among the saints. (Letter from Po-Yi Liu and Tim Klimmek, October 30, 2007)
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Despite assurances from Salomon Ma that the November 2006 conference in Lörrach would be the last, it was not (Photos, Conference Meeting in Lörrach, Germany, November 11, 2007; Announcement of Conf. in Lörrach, Germany, May 2-4, 2008).
2007—Ecuador
When Ron Kangas went to Ecuador at the invitation of churches in Quito, Ambato, Esmeraldas, Empalme, Manta, Guayaquil, and Milagro from January 24 through February 5, 2007, Dong Yu Lan's co-workers went to the same cities and gave conferences at the same time. (E-mail from Eric Romero, November 5, 2007)
2007—Boston, Massachusetts
A conference for Spanish and Portuguese-speaking saints was held on Memorial Day weekend in Marlborough, Massachusetts, in 2007. At the same time, the regularly scheduled Memorial Day Conference was being conducted in St. Paul, Minnesota. The co-workers and the elders in the churches on the east coast were not notified of the conference in New England. (Letter to Cezar Menegucci from responsible ones in Boston and Cambridge, July 16, 2007) Saints from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, California, Chicago, and Canada attended the Marlborough conference. (E-mail from Cezar Menegucci, May 31, 2007)
2007—Boston and Florida
A conference was scheduled to conflict with the 2007 Thanksgiving weekend conference in Boston (Letter from Tito Gutierrez and Levi Salvador, the church in Boca Raton, October 30, 2007; Letter from Ron Madore and Richard Annese, the church in Miami, November 1, 2007). When the conflict was brought to the attention of Brother Dong's co-workers, they did not cancel or reschedule the conference but moved it to Green River, New Hampshire. (E-mail from Cezar Menegucci, November 9, 2007). Another conference was scheduled to be held at the same time in Florida. (Letter from the church in Boca Raton, October 30, 2007, signed by Tito Gutierrez and Levi Salvador). Cesar Menegucci wrote in an e-mail: "The Lord showed us that in order for us to have a normal church life today we need the meetings, the regional conferences (we actually will have one during the Thanksgiving holiday) and the GPP – gospel preaching perfecting" (E-mail correspondence among Helcio Almeida, Peter Dong, Cezar Menegucci, and another Braziliam worker, September 12-27, 2007). Just before the conference in Boston, the designation of these competing conferences was changed to "blending times".
