Examine
Verify
Educate
Assist
LiberateInternational Churches of Christ (ICC)
Boston Movement Crossroads
Movement Research
Examine
Verify
Educate
Assist
Liberate
International
Churches of Christ (ICC)
Boston Movement Crossroads
Movement
REVEAL began as a local support group in the San Francisco Bay area. In spring of 1996 a former member, Michelle Campbell, began holding monthly support group meetings at her home. With the help and encouragement of a local minister, Art Barrett, and a therapist active in the "cult awareness" field, Janja Lalich, attendance at the meetings grew. A number of other former members soon joined, most from the San Francisco Church of Christ, but some from other areas and earlier periods in the life of the ICC.
After a few months Michelle and other former members grew aware of the need for a central organization to provide reliable information about the ICC and to help local groups and former members get in contact with one another. One former member, Catherine Hampton, started working on a WWW site in her spare time.
Michelle and others in the group started getting phone calls from former ICC members, family and friends of ICC members, the press, and others interested in the group. The number of calls grew, and after a few months the need for the WWW site became clear. At some stage in the summer of 1996 (which neither Michelle nor Catherine can pinpoint), a decision was made to set up a WWW site for all groups of former ICC members, and to form an umbrella organization for these groups.
After considering several names, the support group settled on REVEAL, which stands for research, examine, verify, educate, assist, and liberate. We felt that this expressed our purpose and goals well. Most of us had been through this process ourselves -- we learned about the ICC, learned about mind control, learned about ourselves and what happened to us, and found in the end that this freed us from the past and gave us the tools we needed to move ahead with our lives. We wanted to help others facing the same task.
At this point, REVEAL effectively split into two parts:
Membership in the support groups is private and informal -- those who attend are considered members, and they choose who (if anyone) to tell about their involvement with REVEAL.
The public group of former ICC activists started with Michelle and Catherine. In the fall of 2000, Catherine resigned from her position as the Assistant Director and Webmaster of REVEAL in order to concentrate on other personal obligations and her graduate studies at Stanford. In the spring of 2001 REVEAL received official recognition from the IRS as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization. The board of directors set policy for the website and REVEAL's public work.
REVEAL works closely with other former members, activists and groups, including Dave Anderson of RightCyberUp in New York City; Graham Cluley of TOLC (Triumphing over London Cults) in London, United Kingdom and Reginald Green of Campus News on Cults in Los Angeles, CA; as well as other individuals and groups.
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©1996-2005 by REVEAL. All rights reserved.