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The control system is designed to focus energies on proselytizing. "All you think about is recruiting," says Mark Trahan, a former Bible-group leader in New York. When Trahan left in 1990, he was "marked," meaning former church friends were directed not to contact him. The biggest problem, contends exit counselor Jeff Davis, is that the group identifies itself so closely with God that people fear they must forsake God in order to leave it. All this is especially nettlesome to conventional Churches of Christ, the conservative body of 1.6 million adherents from which McKean and his colleagues broke away.
Randy McKean, who succeeded brother Kip as leader in Boston, says conflict occurs because "the Bible calls people to a greater commitment than what they're used to." Even Boston University chaplain Robert Thornberg, who deems the movement "a real menace," grants that it has devised an "incredibly ingenious system for church growth." Indeed, the Boston Movement shows the effectiveness of getting each church member devoted to evangelistic effort -- as well as the dangers of identifying the dictates of man with the will of God.