In 1980 Victor Wierwille, the founder and president of The Way "retired" and appointed the Director of the Way Corps, Craig Martindale, as his successor. The handing over of authority was a big deal. For many years Wierwille had encouraged the rank and file to view him as "The Man of God for Our Time" in the mold of the Apostle Paul, Moses and Elijah. So the presidency of The Way was not simply a corporate title and his role as the teacher of The Way's foundational class, Power for Abundant Living (PFAL) was not simply that of an academic or scholar. No, Wierwille was ordained, anointed, chosen by God to bring new light regarding the Bible to our generation. I don't believe he ever came out and said it overtly, but he certainly allowed the sentiment to proliferate. Therefore the passing of the mantle to a new generation was literally the passing of a mantle. An elaborate ceremony was conducted in October 1982 (the supposed 40th Anniversary of The Way), with enough pomp and circumstance that would not be out of place in a royal coronation, Martindale had an actual mantle placed on his shoulders, was anointed with oil and took a "salt covenant" and had Wierwille and the other two Trustees lay hands upon him. Within three years Wierwille was dead.
The early to mid eighties were the peak years of The Way's numbers and influence. There were Way fellowships in all 50 states, including flourishing branches in the major population centers. There was a Way presence of over 40 countries outside the United States. The United Kingdom was a major center of Way outreach and had a European Way Corps training center located in Scotland. The central African nation of Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of the Congo) rivalled the U.S. in the number of active Way fellowships. Things were looking good in Way world. But looks could be deceiving.
The choice of Martindale as the new president of The Way was not a universally popular choice. The hierarchy was no different from any other organization, secular or religious, in that it was populated by many ambitious men (women too, but The Way was basically a patriarchal organization). Despite the trend toward leaders in any capacity higher than Twig level being Way Corps graduates, the internal operations of Way Corps training were a virtual black box to most Way adherents. Even among the Way Corps, once graduating, they were no longer effectively under the day-to-day authority of the Way Corps Director. The Twig coordinators answered to Branch coordinators who answered to Area or Territory coordinators who reported to Limb (state) coordinators who were under the authority of the Region coordinators who were under the Trunk coordinator who reported directly to the Board of Trustees, headed by the president. Many men who had attained high rank in the organization surely thought that they should have been called to be the next "Man of God for Our Time". Most non-Way Corps didn't know who Craig Martindale was and had been speculated about which of the more visible and more popular leaders would be the next president. While Wierwille was still alive the fact that he supported Martindale kept everything in line.
When Wierwille died all Hell broke loose. Wierwille had been the glue holding it all together. His pronouncements had always been beyond question and his decisions could not be gainsaid. Many of the top leaders during this time had come to be involved in The Way when teenagers or college students and saw Wierwille as a wise father figure, while Martindale was just one of them, lacking the esteem that most felt toward their "Father in The Word". The focus of the unrest was Chris Geer, Wierwille's former bodyguard and driver who had been assigned to the directorship of the European Way Corps. He authored a paper called "The Passing of a Patriarch" where he criticized Martindale and his fellow Trustees and claimed to be the recipient of Wierwille's last words. He never attempted to stage a coup and take over as leader, but little by little state and local leaders began to look to him for guidance and direction. Other leaders began to speak up and point fingers as well. Some in support of Martindale, some in support of Geer, some completely independent of both.
At some point Martindale had had enough. He sent a letter out to all active Way Corps leaders demanding that they decide who they would be loyal to - himself, as the de jure leader of The Way, or Chris Geer. In retrospect this was a reasonable stance to take. Many of these leaders were still on The Way payroll and were supposedly within the Way hierarchy, yet were taking their marching orders from a technically illegitimate source. Martindale's choices in reality were limited to cutting loose those who wouldn't follow him, or resigning. Any of those leaders who felt that following Geer was the right, godly thing to do should have openly done so. Unfortunately for Martindale his letter did more harm than good. Even leaders who were standing in support of him were offended at what they categorized as a demand for a "loyalty oath". Eighty percent of leaders and rank and file members ended their affiliation with The Way at that time. Former leaders, including Geer, started their own offshoot ministries (often derided as "sticks", in contrast to "twigs") with many of the Way groups outside the United States breaking away as well. After things began to settle down Martindale dug in his heels. He taught several seminars giving his spin on what had happened, painting it as a battle between the forces of godliness and devil-inspired evil. He described those who left as becoming a "grease spot by midnight" for leaving the "household of God" and those who remained as "the faithful remnant". If Wierwille's approach was to present himself as the wise and loving father and grandfather, controlling through cajoling and encouragement, even while ruling with an iron fist and berating his intimates behind the scenes, Martindale went into full-on dictator mode. Wierwille in my opinion knew he was running a con, and did what he needed to do to retain influence and power; Martindale believed his own press clippings and really believed that he had been anointed to be God's representative. This would involve a lot of yelling and a lot of overt control.
This was the situation in The Way when we decided to get back involved after an absence of almost eight years.
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Part XXXI
