Chapter 7

Thate Family Abduction

In May of 1987, Theresa and Robert Thate were blessed with a little boy - Jeremiah. About a
month later Jeremiah developed a respiratory problem and was admitted to Prince Georgias
Hospital. When Robert stopped by on June 11
th
, he took Theresa to the cafeteria to get some
food, confident that Jeremiah would not notice the absence. It was during this absence that
Jeremiah was snatched by some mysterious individual.
1

There was an immediate response from the police since the doctors were concerned that he
might die if Jeremiah was unable to take his medication. A $5,000 reward was offered by the
family which would be increased by an additional $15,700 posted by the Prince Georgia Police
Department five days later. The FBI was eventually called to help provide additional support
and assistance, but to no avail.
As the days passed into weeks and then into months, the family was on edge. Two months
after the abudction the Thate family printed 10,000 posters which featured a picture of
Jeremiah and a sketch of a white women who was seen near the hospital room, the day of the
abduction. However, these actions were unsuccessful in proving any additional clues as to
what had happened.
2

What had happened, as later revealed through the police investigation, was that an African
American women who had come to the hospital trying to find a job had passed by Jeremiahs
room and decided to take him when Jeremiah smiled at her. The lady had had a miscarriage a
few months earlier and had been seen around her neighborhood carrying a doll and offering
to take of neighbors kids.
3
The lady was living with her mother in a boarded up building that
the Washington Post said was a rat-infested, trash strewn apartment that stank of human
waste.
4
However, she managed to evade suspicion by anyone given her recluse enclave, until
a fire broke out near by.
Responding to that fire in Southeast D.C., firefighter Donald Derner noticed one of the local
residents, who was African American, was holding a white baby who was bundled up in at
least 4 blankets. Derner thought this was strange, and he then overheard the lady talking about

1
Montgomery Brower, After Four Agonizing Months, a Maryland Couple Are Reunited with Their Kidnapped Baby,
People Magazine, Volume 28, Number 20, November 16, 1987, accessed via
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20097581,00.html.
2
Laurie Jones, et al., Thate baby found safe, the Journal, Prince Georgias, October 29, 1987, A1.
3
Sue Anne Pressley and Victoria Churchville, Torturous Wait Yields Joyous Return Washington Post, Friday, October
30, 1987, A1.
4
Ibid.
heading back to their house, he was perplexed when instead of heading to some of the housing
nearby, she headed towards a part of town that was under construction and where no-one
lived. He had read the Washington Posts article about the missing child earlier that day and made
a mental note to follow up on it. Later on, he made several inquiries to the Prince Georgia
County Police Department.
5
Given the deluge of tips and suggestions given to the PGPD, it
took some time before they were able to responded and return Jeremiah back to his family.
6

Jeremiah was finally returned to his family on October 28
th
, over four months from his
abduction. Thankfully he was returned without any medical issues stemming from the place
where he had been kept or from the original respiratory problem he had was admitted to the
hospital for.
On November 1, the church celebrated with a special baby dedication. However, the service
was not just for Jeremiah, but also for the rest of the church community which had been in
fervent prayer for the quick and safe return. The Montgomery Journal quoted one member as
saying that [o]ur own faith went through a little questioning But our confidence in God
is not based on circumstances, but rather on the character of God.
7

Discipleship
During the early 1970s there was a movement known as the Shepherding Movement, which
grew out the work of the Fort Lauderdale Five which included Charles Simpson, Don Basham,
Derek Prince, Bob Mumford, and Ern Baxster.
8
Stemming from the ideas of 2 Timothy 2:2
9
,
they believed that they needed to be accountable to another and from that they developed a
system in which they were accountable to other and then eventually, others were accountable
to them. Many of these leaders were nationally recognized and were often featured at
conferences where CJ and Larry were also teaching.
10

Some critics of the movement felt that it was more like a pyramid system. As with many other
movements and ideas, the initial intent is sometimes lost as the ideas are spread. This is clearly
seen in the eventual breakup of the ministry that the Shepherding Movement stemmed from
(Christian Growth Ministries). The movement fell out of favor pretty quickly as it was in 1975
when Pat Robertson denounced the groups as being cultish.
11
The Full Gospel Businessmens
Fellowship International banned any involvement with the Sheparding Movement by their

5
Since Jeremiah was taken from a PG County Hospital, PGPD had the charge to find him.
6
Sari Horwitz, Jeremiah Stuck Out Like a Sore Thumb, Washington Post, Friday, October 30, 1987, A22.
7
Joe Loconte, Childs safe return celebrated at church, Montgomery Journal, Monday, November 9, 1987A9.
8
Burges, 367.
9
and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach
others also. -ESV
10
Alan Wallace, Echos of the Spirit, New Wine Magazine, June 1977, p. 11.
11
David John Marley, Pat Robertson: An American Life (Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2007), 55-56.
affiliates. By the end of the 1980s, most of the movement had disappeared since two of the
leaders, Derek Prince and Bob Mumford, had published public statements distancing
themselves from the movement.
12
It had become apparent to some of the leaders that there
were some practices that had existed which had done harm to the church of Christ.
13
Derek
Prince in a sermon shared that he felt that the aims of the movement were truly God inspired
but that it had been corrupted by the sinful ambition.
14

While Covenant Life has never been officially a part of the Shepherding Movement, it would
be a stretch to say that it was not affected. It should be noted that while some practices within
CLC might have been similar to the Sheparding Movement, it could be argued that those
practices were never condoned or taught from the pulpit, but became part of the social fabric.
15

Nevertheless, the movement did affect the church and it is safe to say there may have been
some members who were hurt.
Early on in GOB history, the idea of disciplining one another was an important part of church
life. Taking Titus 2:1-8 into action, the act of disciplining individuals is indeed a Biblical
command and something worth replicating within this new expression of the local church.
Many of the men within the church for the first decade or so, believed that God would call
them into the ministry and actively sought to grow in their understanding of the word.
16

From this biblical perspective, many within the membership were eager to both seek
discipleship but to also help disciple others. While no pastor or church leader would never
claim that there was a popularity contest in who was being disciple by whom, but this is the
perspective has seemed to persist in interviews that were conducted. During the 25
th

Anniversary celebration, this part of CLCs history was alluded to.
17

Thus, it could be said that GOB was heavily influenced by the Shepherding Movement and
looking through the newsletters there was a marked presence of Shepherding Movement
through the inclusion of many articles written by Derek Prince. PDI invited Charles Simpson
to several Celebration Conferences, though his invitations were after revelations of the harms
being done were made public and thus his sermons may have strayed away from the

12
Bible teacher Derek Prince dies at 88: Charismatic-renewal leader, author of 45 books lived in Jerusalem. World Net
Daily ##
13
Bob Mumford (January/February). Formal Repentance Statement to the Body of Christ. Ministries Today, pg. 52
14
Derek Prince, Bend The Church and Bow The World,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=CfzflZ9bJbY#t=2298s 39:35
15
May 2011 Members Meeting
16
Tom Minard Interview
17
25
th
Anniversery Show, 12:49
discipleship topics.
18
However, there might be another reason for why a heavy handed
disciplining program was attractive to churches and especially churches like GOB.
As mentioned at the beginning of this section, the Sheparding movement began in 1971 which
taken on its own is not particularly interesting, except for the Jesus Movement which was
raging across America at that time. Specifically in 1971, the Jesus Movement had moved
beyond just the odd hippies of California but had now become more ingrained in regular
protestant churches.
19

Part of the Jesus Movement
20
was the establishment of communes. One part of many
communal societies was the establishment of runs and regulations for the health and cohesion
of the group. One leader noted that Hey you got a bunch of ex-drug addicts, everything
imaginable, alcoholics you have to have discipline in the camp.
21
While GOB was not a
commune, it would not be hard to imagine that the pastors sought to find some sort of
discipline to help these young Christians become more Godly in their lives.
22
Another
individual believed that the Sheparding Movement may have picked up steam was due to the
individualism and directionless flow of the Charismatic movement.
23

Josh in 2011, did apologize for this and refuted that sort of thinking when in May of 2011 he
apologized for some of the legalistic thinking that had shown itself in the lifestyle choices
made by different families. There have been other authors who have noted that many within
the Charismatic- Pentecostal movement have latched onto certain beliefs or practices for a
period of time but do not take the time to revisit those beliefs or practices at later time to see
if that was indeed a fad of the time.
24

Along with this influence from the Discipleship was a heavy influence from the New Frontiers
ministry led by Terry Virgo.
25


18
Though again, Charles Simpson would later bemoan the recoil that happened, since he felt that many were served by
the ministry and that they were being forgotten.

S. David Moore,Cover Me, Ministry Today, October 31, 2004,
http://ministrytodaymag.com/display_cms.php?id=9994, accessed 7/13/2014.
19
Eskridge, 123
20
Refer to page 3.
21
Eskridge, 154.
22
This link between the Jesus Movement and the Sheparding Movement is somewhat circumstantial but not outside the
realm of possibility. I have included it since it quite possible for this to have happened and I have not had any evidence
disproving it outright.
23
William K. Kay, Apostolic Networks in Britain: New Ways of Being Church (Milton Keynes: Patermoster Press, 2007),
195.
24
Rick Nanez, Full Gospel, Fractured Mind (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2005), 39.
25
Revised Polity Proposal, Sovereign Grace Ministries, February 25, 2013, p. 2.
New Land
The pastors felt that the time had come for CLC to occupy a more permanent location which
would allow the church to grow and not have to relocate every few months. Because CLC had
out grown many of the rentable large facilities in Montgomery County, the need for a larger
facility was quite pronounce.
The Pope Farm
In 1985 the church purchased 45 acres of land on Muncaster Mill Road in Gaithersburg from
the Pope family. The Pope farm, as most of the land was for centuries, included the property
that Covenant Life sits on but much of the land that surrounds it. Montgomery County
purchased a major section of the land and has used portions for an animal shelter, a nursery,
and natural habitat. Before the Pope family owned the land, Cookes Range, as it was known
since around 1742, was a vast farm.
26
John Cooke, who grew tobacco, officially recorded the
entire tract of land as being 1,100 acres of land in 1765 and would nearly triple by his death in
1788. The Cooke family was indeed a very wealthy family and lived on a portion of the land
known as Cookes Choice which is located where the Pope Farm Nursery currently is today.
The Cooke family was indeed very wealthy and their family along with the Magruders were all
significant leaders in local politics. The Cooke family was a slave owning family and in 1864
there was an estimated 67 slaves that lived in the Gaithersburg Area, of which 40 were owned
by Nathan Cooke.
27

Through several divisions of the land through wills, the land was eventually sold in 1909 to
the Randolph Macon Womens College who then sold it to Carson Pope in 1910. Carson Pope
would eventually purchase roughly 230 acres of land and when he died in 1946, the land was
divided amongst his wife and children.
The family had run the farm for many decades but was put into a situation in which they
needed to sell the land. According to a 1986 National Parks and Recreation Planning
Commission survey of the Gaithersburg, it shows the CLC property as being the proposed
home for the Laytonia High School. However, the Popes felt that God was calling them to
sell the land to a church at a reduced price. CLC was able to purchase the land for millions
below what was being offered by developers. Along with the purchase of the land, the church
also retained the right of first refusal in the sale of the Pope house (the little house between
CLC and our neighboring church). The church would exercise that right in 2011 when the
Popes approached the church to sell them the house and lease it back to the family for Mrs.

26
Maryland Historical Society, Montgomery-Prince Georgias Short-term Congestion Relief (Montgomery County, MD:
Historical Trust Addendum Sheet, May 1998), page 3.
27
Montgomery County Slave Statistics, 1867-68 Rockville Library microfilm collection 929.z7moc
Popes use. The church graciously agreed and has continued to take care of the property as a
way of thanks to Mrs. Pope.
Part of the farm was purchased by the County and has served several purposes for them, but
one thing of significant historical note is the presence of several building that date to the
middle of the 19
th
century along with a small cemetery of about 15 recorded headstones.
28

These structures are not open to the public as they are in serious disrepair and several other
old building have been torn down due to their unsafe conditions.
Why Build a Building?
With this new land, the pastors felt that by having their own facility, the church could expand
the ministry capacities of the church along with meeting the needs of the neighboring
community. In approaching the congregation with the decision, they put forth a document
which listed 25 reasons for why owning a building would be more beneficial.
29
Moving in this
direction, CLC was moving away from the Jesus Movement distrust of established churches.
The location was chosen for its close proximity to I-270 and the new Metro station being built.
According to Robin Boisvert, this location was also very close to a location that TAG had
looked at a decade earlier for a potential purchase.
In his sermon on September 9, 1990, CJ said:
Were not building a building to impress anybody were building a building to reach
the maximum number of people. The multitudes in this county, who while we
worship in freedom this morning, wake up in guilt and bondage unaware that a
church like this even exists.
30



28
Maryland Historical Society, p. 3.
29
CJ Mahaney, Why A Building, Covenant Life Church, October 1, 1990.
30
Scot Riddlesburger, A Gathering of Believers (Gaithersburg, MD: Covenant Life Church, 2002), DVD, 04:15.