The Fellowship (Christian organization)

The Family

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at National Prayer Breakfast in February 2009
Leader	Led by: Douglas Coe

The Family is an international movement founded in 1935 most often referred to as the Fellowship. Other names by which it is known include Fellowship Foundation, International Foundation, Fellowship Ministries, Washington Fellowship, Fellowship House, C Street Center, and Wilberforce Foundation . In the past, the organization has conducted activities as:

• National Fellowship Council
• National Leadership Council
• National Committee for Christian Leadership (NCCL)
• International Christian Leadership (ICL)

The group, which has referred to itself as the "Christian Mafia," generally eschews publicity but is most widely known for organizing prayer groups throughout the United States and around the world, including the Presidential Prayer Breakfast, later renamed the National Prayer Breakfast, at which every President of the United States has spoken since 1953. The group also owns or controls extensive property holdings, either outright or through subsidiary and associated companies.

The Family is comprised of about 350 "core members," or "new chosen," and 20,000 "associates" or "close friends." The Family asks its members not to speak about the group or its activities, with some going so far as to deny that the Family even exists. Douglas Coe, the Family's de facto leader since 1969, has said that the group aims to create a worldwide "family of friends" by spreading the words of Jesus Christ to powerful men and women through "cell" leadership groups. Coe and his followers teach that these elite are chosen by God and must learn to wield power according to the divine plan.

Among the influential leaders who have been linked to the Family and its prayer groups are U.S. Presidents Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, and Gerald Ford, scores of U.S. Senators and members of Congress, White House and other executive branch officials, military officers, including Chairmen of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, corporate executives, the heads of religious and humanitarian aid organizations, and non-U.S. leaders and ambassadors. "The Fellowship's reach into governments around the world is almost impossible to overstate or even grasp," wrote David Kuo, former Special Assistant to President George W. Bush and Deputy Director of the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives.

The organization has drawn criticism for its efforts to inject religious principles into U.S. governance; its ties to third-world dictators and oppressive regimes; its concealment of associates' secrets, including the extramarital affairs of several U.S. elected officials; and for officials' approving references to the Mafia; Adolf Hitler; 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden; and dictators such as and Pol Pot.

History

The prayer group movement traces its roots in the United States to a month of evangelistic meetings led by Abraham Vereide, a Methodist conference evangelist held at the Pacific Union Club in San Francisco in 1934. Vereide was a Norwegian immigrant and traveling preacher who had been working with the poor in Seattle. Vereide and others opposed President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal and was worried that individuals associated with the Industrial Workers of the World trade union movement were about to take the City's municipal government. In 1935, Vereide organized prayer breakfasts for prominent politicians and businessmen that included anti-communism and anti-union discussions. Prominent members of Seattle's business community recognized his success with those who were "down and out" and asked him to give spiritual direction to their group who were "up and out."

By 1937, 209 prayer breakfast groups had been organized throughout Seattle. In 1940, 300 men from all over the state of Washington attended a prayer breakfast for the new governor, Arthur Langlie. Vereide traveled through the Pacific Northwest, and later around the country, to develop similar groups. The nondenominational groups were meant to bring together civic and business leaders informally to share a meal, study the Bible, promote Christian principles, and develop relationships of trust and support. The Seattle group met every Thursday morning at the Washington Athletic Club.

By 1942, there were 60 breakfast groups in major cities around the country, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Vancouver, Washington. That same year, Vereide began to hold small prayer breakfasts for members of the U.S. House of Representatives, with an emphasis on low-key, informal fellowship and encouragement, with little publicity. The following year, members of the Senate began holding prayer breakfast meetings. Vereide began publishing a monthly newsletter called The Breakfast Luncheon Fireside and Campus Groups that contained a Bible study to be used by the groups, as well as information about activities of different groups and national meetings. The organization published a newsletter (sometimes more than one) through the years under various names, including The Breakfast Groups" Informer (ca. 1945-1946), The Breakfast Groups (ca. 1944-1953), International Christian Leadership Bulletin (ca. 1953-1954), Bulletin of International Christian Leadership (ca. 1954-1956), Christian Leadership (ca. 1957-1961), ICLeadership Letter (1961-1966), International Leadership Letter (ca. 1967), Leadership Letter (ca. 1963-1970).

In 1943, the movement was formally incorporated as the National Committee for Christian Leadership (NCCL) and its offices moved from Seattle to Chicago. The following year, Vereide changed the organization's name to International Christian Leadership (ICL) and moved it to Washington, D.C. Its headquarters was seated at 744 Jackson Place (Grange Building) just across Lafayette Square from the White House. The year also saw the establishment of the first Fellowship House, at 6523 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., the private residence of Marian (Hoffman) Johnson. Two important participants throughout the group's work in Washington were James Bell and Paul Temple.

In 1945, Vereide held his first joint Senate-House prayer breakfast meeting. He held another breakfast on June 16, 1946, attended by Senators H. Alexander Smith (R-NJ) and Lister Hill (D-AL), and World Report publisher David Lawrence. Later that year, the Fellowship moved to new headquarters to 2324 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W.

In January 1946, representatives from the Fellowship's prayer groups, the Gideons, the Christian Business Men's Committee and others met for a prayer conference on national needs. Vereide travelled to Europe to form ICL groups in Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, France, and Germany. Vereide also agreed that ICL would cooperate with the British Victory Fellowship. Gustav Adolf Gedat became deeply involved in the activities of the European groups from this time until his death in 1971.

In January 1947, a conference in Washington led to the formation of the International Council for Christian Leadership (ICCL), an umbrella group for the national fellowship groups in the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Norway, Hungary, Egypt, and China. ICCL was formally incorporated as a separate organization in 1953. ICL and ICCL were governed by different boards of directors, joined by a coordinating committee four members of ICCL's board and four from the ICL's executive committee. Eventually, the Fellowship Foundation was created by the two organizations to maintain the Fellowship House in Washington as a spiritual service center.

In 1949, Vereide sent Wallace E. Haines, Jr. to represent ICL at a meeting of Christians in Germany held at Castle Mainau on an island in Lake Constance. Haines would become ICL’s emissary to Europe. In 1952, Haines was replaced by anti-Communist Karl Leyasmeyer.

In 1953, Vereide made his first entrée into the White House when President Dwight D. Eisenhower agreed to attend the first Presidential Prayer Breakfast. By that time, Vereide’s congressional core members included Republican Senators Frank Carlson, R-Kansas, and Karl Mundt, R-South Dakota. Both were virulent anti-Communists who established close ties with Vereide and his worldwide anti-Communist movement. Vereide also became very close to Senator Strom Thurmond, who led the Dixiecrat revolt in 1948.

In 1955, Pentagon officials secretly met at the Washington Fellowship House to plan a worldwide anti-communism propaganda campaign endorsed by the CIA. Among other things, the Fellowship financed a film called "Militant Liberty" that was used abroad by the Department of Defense. The corresponding Militant Liberty theology was designed by evangelist John C. Broger, who was brought to the Pentagon by Admiral Arthur W. Radford, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as part of a program of “personal evangelism in the political rather than the religious field.” The program compared democracy’s “sensitive individual conscience” to communism’s “annihilated individual conscience” for Third World nations and provided a “political religion,” according to its proponents, for revitalizing America’s national character. Broger had been instrumental in establishing the Far East Broadcasting Company (FEBC) in 1945 as an Asian radio ministry that would bring the Gospel to China and other countries. Broger would go on to become President of the Biblical Counseling Foundation (BCF). Sig Mickelson, the former director of Radio Free Europe (RFE), has confirmed that RFE and FEBC were funded by the CIA.

By 1956, Fellowship House held 200 Bible studies, threw receptions and dinners for 1,800 guests, and sent Perspective, a weekly publication of ICL associate executive director Rev. Richard Halverson, to a mailing list of 4,000. Halverson began serving as pastor at the Fourth Presbyterian Church in suburban Bethesda, Maryland (Evangelical Presbyterian Church, committed to the Westminster Confession of Faith) in 1958 and eventually became Chaplain of the United Senate (1981-1995). Throughout his time in Washington, Halverson was one of ICL's most influential leaders.

By 1957, ICL had established 125 groups in 100 cities, with 16 groups in Washington, D.C.. Around the world, it had set up another 125 groups in Canada, Britain, Germany, France, Northern Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Ethiopia (where Emperor Haile Selassie gave ICL property in Addis Ababa to build its African headquarters), India, South Vietnam, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan, Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Guatemala, Cuba, Costa Rica, Mexico, and Bermuda. ICL’s international activities coincided with activities in countries where the CIA was particularly active – a by-product of the close cooperation between Vereide and the CIA’s Allen Dulles and James Jesus Angleton. Angleton and his close associate, Miles Copeland, favored using private businessmen to conduct operations that the CIA was statutorily barred from conducting.

In 1959, Doug Coe joined Vereide as assistant executive director of ICL in Washington, D.C. William C. Jones, a California businessman, served as host of the Presidential Prayer Breakfast in Washington that year and continued to be an ICL leader until his death in 1971.

In 1963, ICL acquired the New Fellowship House at 2817 Woodland Drive, NW, in Washington. The District of Columbia Department of Finance and Revenue granted tax-exempt status to the property in 1971. In his request for tax-exempt status, Douglas Coe listed some of the activities that took place there, such as a Tuesday morning bi-monthly prayer meeting for Foreign Service wives; a Thursday morning "Mattie Vereide Bible Study" (Mattie was Abraham’s wife); "training and orientation activities," including "regular sessions with associates from around the world"; “how to run small groups;” “how to set up prayer breakfasts"; "regular dinners involving the leadership of the world"; and "meetings to which students, blacks and other groups are invited by business and government leaders to discuss the importance of a strong spiritual foundation in our country."

In 1965, Vereide resigned as executive director of ICL and was succeeded by Richard Halverson as acting director. Vereide continued to represent ICL at numerous speaking engagements and as director of Fellowship House and as founder-executive director emeritus. Doug Coe was appointed senior associate executive director.

In May 1969, Vereide died and Douglas Coe succeeded him as coordinator and leader of ICL and its movement. Rev. Halverson, Senator Harold Hughes, and Fred Heyn continued to play leadership roles.

ICCL was dissolved in 1970. In 1972, ICL changed its name to The Fellowship Foundation, Inc.

On August 8, 1974, the day before then Vice President Gerald Ford was sworn in as President of the United States, two members of the Fellowship, Representatives Albert Quie and John J. Rhodes (R-Arizona), met with the Vice-President at a special “prayer meeting” on Capitol Hill. The previous day, Congressman Rhodes had accompanied two other Republican congressional leaders to the White House to tell Nixon to speak with him about resignation. After Nixon resigned, some Fellowship members, including Charles Colson, made attempts to try to get Nixon to join their group as a way to salvage his legacy. Nixon would have nothing to do with them.

On August 26, 1974, Time magazine published an article entitled "The God Network in Washington," relating to President Gerald Ford's involvement in the prayer network known as the Fellowship, and his long-time prayer group "cell," which included House Minority Leader John Rhodes, Congressman Albert Quie, and former Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird. The article notes that Quie was in a prayer group with Senator Harold Hughes, who later became the President of the Fellowship Foundation, Senator Mark Hatfield, and Charles Colson, who by then had been convicted for obstruction of justice.

Colson, who had been meeting with Douglas Coe, believed that he should plead guilty to on the charges for which the Watergate grand jury indicted him. On June 21, 1974, he was sentenced to one to three years and on July 8 began his service at Fort Holabird prison in Maryland.

James W. McCord, Jr., another Watergate conspirator, also claims that sermons in suburban Washington's Fourth Presbyterian Church, which has close ties to the Fellowship, influenced his decision not to plead guilty and remain silent. At the time, the Fourth Presbyterian Church was led by another Fellowship member, Senior Pastor Richard C. Halverson. Reverend Halverson served as the Chaplain to the U.S. Senate from February 2, 1981 until December 31, 1994, and was identified as the "leader of the prayer breakfast movement" by Senator Chris Dodd in official remarks on December 12, 1995. In fact, Coe, Hatfield, Laird and Rhodes attended Fourth Presbyterian Church, where they met weekly to set policy.

Jeb Stuart Magruder, the second official in the administration of President Richard Nixon to plead guilty to charges of involvement in events leading to the first Watergate break-in and the subsequent Watergate scandal, joined one of the small "covenant" prayer groups started by Rev.Louis Evans Jr. of Washington's National Presbyterian Church to feed the "spiritual hunger" in Washington. Magruders' wife, Gail, joined another such group also attended by Mark Hatfield's wife Antoinette.

In 1974, Supreme Court Justice and later Chief Justice William Rehnquist led the Family's first weekly Bible study for federal judges.

In 1981 James Watt, Secretary of the interior under President Ronald Reagan, weathered the controversy surrounding his appointment in one of the Cedars' bedrooms.

Beliefs

The Fellowship's 501(c)(3) mission statement is:

To develop and maintain an informal association of people banded together, to go out as "ambassadors of reconciliation," modeling the principles of Jesus, based on loving God and loving others. To work with the leaders of other nations, and as their hearts are touched, the poor, the oppressed, the widows and the youth of their country will be impacted in a positive manner. It is said that youth groups will be developed under the thoughts of Jesus, including loving others as you want to be loved.

The Family represents "Jesus plus nothing," as its leader, Doug Coe, puts it. At the heart of the Family's spiritual advice for its proxies in Congress is the conviction that the market's invisible hand represents the guidance of God, and that God wants his "new chosen" to look out for one another.

Fellowship leader Doug Coe urges a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that he compares to the blind devotion that Adolf Hitler demanded from his followers. "Hitler, Goebbels and Himmler were three men. Think of the immense power these three men had, these nobodies from nowhere," Coe said in one videotaped 1989 sermon. "Jesus said, ‘You have to put me before other people. And you have to put me before yourself.' Hitler, that was the demand to be in the Nazi party. You have to put the Nazi party and its objectives ahead of your own life and ahead of other people."

Coe, who has referred to the Fellowship as the "Christian Mafia", has said he tries to make the group act like the Mafia because invisibility bestows influence.

The Family's attempts to influence government policies and politicians raises questions regarding the separation of church and state. Senator Mark Pryor said that the group had taught him that the separation of church and state was a sort of secular exaggeration: “Jesus did not come to bring peace. Jesus came to take over.”

Secrecy

The Family has long been a secretive organization that is not widely understood. It maintains no public website and conducts no public fundraising activities.

In 1966, Fellowship Founder Abraham Vereide became concerned about his organization's growing publicity and declared in a letter that it was time to “submerge the institutional image of [the Family].” More recently, Doug Coe has denied that the Family sponsors the National Prayer Breakfast, saying, "If the International Foundation put it on, would all these people come?" And Family member Chris Halverson, the son of former Family leader and United States Senate Chaplain Rev. Richard C. Halverson, , said, "If you talked about [the Family], you would destroy that fellowship."

Former Republican Senator William Armstrong has said the group has “made a fetish of being invisible."

In 1985, President Ronald Reagan said about the Family, "I wish I could say more about it, but it's working precisely because it is private."

On July 10, 2009, the Knoxville News Sentinel reported that Representative and C Street resident Zach Wamp said in an interview that he and his fellow residents at C Street have agreed not to publicly discuss their living arrangements. When Rachel Maddow repeated the story on her show, Wamp complained, but the Knoxville News Sentinel said that Wamp did not call them to correct his comment. Maddow responded to Wamp's complaints on air.

When asked if he takes part in fellowship activities at the C Street Center, fellow resident Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI) says he just rents a room, but doesn't know what goes on there. Stupak refuses to "discuss what goes on there, because I'm not there.... Are there other activities going on there? Yes. But what goes on and things like that, I don't know. I have my room there." Pressed about whether he's involved in any activities at the house, Stupak said, "I have a room there. And I participate in a Tuesday night dinner once in a while there.... So there is no regimen. There is no group stuff I have to do.... You guys... are grasping at straws that's not there. I rent a room there... I do not belong to any such group. I don't know what you are talking about.... I have no affiliation," he said.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra, another Congressman who attended the Tuesday night dinners mentioned by Stupak, described them to The Detroit News: "We'd fellowship, we'd pray, we'd talk about Jesus, and we'd eat." Hoekstra continued, "In the headiness of Washington, D.C., it's trying to make sure you keep your head screwed on straight."

Reverend Rob Schenck, who leads a Bible study on Capitol Hill inspired by the Family's nearby C Street Center, wrote in 2009 that "all ministries in Washington need to protect the confidence of those we minister to, and I'm sure that's a primary motive for C Street's low profile." But he said, "I think the Fellowship has been just a tad bit too clandestine."

Finances and funding

The Fellowship Foundation conducts no public fundraising. It does receive anonymous donations:

• In 2007, more than $16.8 million
• In 2006, more than $13.4 million
• In 2005, more than $14.7 million
• In 2004, more than $12.1 million
• In 2003, more than $11.4 million
• In 2002, more than $10.8 million
• In 2001, more than $10.3 million

Included among the Family's key supporters are billionaire Paul N. Temple, a former executive of Esso (Exxon) and the founder of the Institute of Noetic Sciences and Three Swallows Foundation'. Between 1998 and 2007, Three Swallows made grants totaling $1,777,650 to the "International Foundation," including $148,000 in 2003, $171,500 in 2004, $203,500 in 2006, and $145,000 in 2007.. Another supporter, Jerome (Jerry) A. Lewis, established his Denver-based Downing Street Foundation to provide support to only three organizations, the Family (Fellowship Foundation), Denver Leadership Foundation, and Young Life. Between 1999 and 2007, Downing Street donated at least $756,000 to the Family., in addition to allowing the Family to use its "retreat center." Madelynn Winstead, a Downing Street director, was paid $21,500 by the Fellowship Foundation as managing director of the retreat center. Winstead also sites on the board of directors of ENDOW, a Catholic educational program that brings women together to discover their God-given dignity and to understand their role in humanizing and transforming society.

The Kingdom Fund (Kingdom Oil Christian Foundation t/a Twin Cities Christian Foundation) also provides support to the Family and World Vision.

The IRS Form 990 of the Fellowship Foundation reported the following expenditures in 2006:

• Grants: $1,967,285
• Employee wages: $4,850,387
• Travel: $1,862,276
• Conferences: $1,157,978

In addition, the Fellowship Foundation reported the following program service expenses in 2006:

• Mentoring, counseling, and partnering ($13,568,219, including grants totaling $2,185,748)
• National Prayer Breakfast ($1,079.780)
• Organization of facilities for ministries ($903,554)

The Fellowship Foundation earned $1,005,789 from the National Prayer Breakfast. The Fellowship also has reported membership fees of at least $1.1 million in 2002, 2003 and 2004.

The Fellowship Foundation reported that 36 employees were paid in excess of $50,000 in 2006 and 2007, with the five highest-paid employees in 2006 being

• Jeffrey Spencer, Associate ($153,169)
• Ian Guiness, Associate ($124,800)
• Marty Sherman, Associate ($121,407)
• Frank J. Sizemore III, Associate ($117,604)
• Richard (Dick) Foth, Associate ($75,509)

The five highest paid employees in 2007 were:

• Marty Sherman, Associate ($118,734)
• Frank Sizemore, Associate ($103,198)
• Gordon Hamilton Richards, Associate ($88,958)
• Richard (Dick) Foth, Associate ($66,173)
• David Boyd, Associate ($44,100)

In addition, three of Doug Coe's children have been paid salaries by the Fellowship Foundation:

• David Coe ($107,934 in 2007, $110,007 in 2006)
• Timothy S. Coe ($107,434v in 2007, $110,007 in 2006) and his wife, Elena ($12,500 in 2006 and 2007)
• Paula K. Corder ($24,000 in 2006 and 2007). Corder, the wife of Rev. William Lee Corder, an executive of Young Life and Chaplain Emeritus of the Washington Redskins, was paid $24,000.

According to Fellowship Senior Associate Eric Fellman, who serves as President of the World Bible Translation Center, each "relationship building" project of the Fellowship has a"core group that oversees it without the direct supervision of Doug Coe.

Activities

National Prayer Breakfast and Prayer Breakfast Movement

A primary activity of the Fellowship is to develop small support groups for politicians, including Senators and Members of Congress, Executive Branch officials, military officers, foreign leaders and dignitaries, businesspersons, and certain other influential individuals interested in the teachings of Jesus and the code of silence which protects what is said during Fellowship meeting. Prayer groups have met in the Pentagon and at the Department of Defense.

The Fellowship is best known for organizing the National Prayer Breakfast, held each year on the first Thursday of February in Washington, D.C. First held in 1953, the event is now attended by over 3,400 guests including dignitaries from many nations. The President of the United States typically makes an address at the breakfast. The event is officially hosted by members of Congress. Leading Democrats and Republicans serve on the organizing committee, and leadership alternates each year between the House and the Senate.

• In 2006, Senators Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Mark Pryor (D-AR) co-chaired the National Prayer Breakfast. Speakers included King Abdullah II of Jordan and humanitarian/musician Paul Hewson (Bono).

• In 2007, Representatives Emanuel Cleaver II (D-MO) and Jo Ann Davis (R-VA) co-chaired the National Prayer Breakfast. Dr. Francis S. Collins, director of the Human Genome Project, gave the message.

• In 2008, Senators Ken Salazar (D-CO) and Mike Enzi (R-WY) co-chaired the event. Ward Brehm, who chairs the United States African Development Foundation, delivered the keynote speech.

• In 2009, Representatives Heath Shuler (D-NC) and Vernon Ehlers (R-MI) co-chaired the National Prayer Breakfast. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair gave the keynote address.

Role in Camp David Middle East accords and other international conflicts

The Fellowship was a behind-the-scenes player at the Camp David Middle East accords in 1978, working with President Jimmy Carter to issue a worldwide call to prayer with Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

President Carter hosted former Senator Harold E. Hughes, the President of the Fellowship Foundation, and Doug Coe, for a luncheon at the White House on September 26, 1978. Six weeks later, President Carter and the First Lady traveled by Marine helicopter to Cedar Point Farm, Hughes' home on Maryland's Eastern Shore, where he placed a telephone call to Menachim Begin.

Quiet private diplomacy and sponsorship of international Congressional travel===

In January 1991, Family associate and financial supporter Michael Timmis met with President Pierre Buyoya of Burundi on behalf of the Family, before flying to Kenya with Arthur (Gene) Dewey, the former second-in-command at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and Sam Owen, a "fellow believer" then living in Nairobi. Timmis writes that he had obtained permission to fly over Tanzanian air space, even though the U.S. Department of State had ordered American citizens to stay clear of Tanzania.

The Family has been active in reconciliation efforts between the warring leaders of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Rwanda and many other similar conflicts around the world. In 2001, the Fellowship helped arrange a secret meeting at The Cedars between Democratic Republic of Congo President Joseph Kabila and Rwandan President Paul Kagame -- one of the first of a series of discreet meetings between the two African leaders that eventually led to the signing of a peace accord in July 2002.

The Family has sponsored many federal trips since 2000.

Lawmaker	Date	Destination	Purpose	Sources
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK)	2006-04	British Virgin Islands	Guest speaker at a prayer breakfast
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK)	2005-06	Beirut, Lebanon	develop leadership and fellowship groups within Lebanon government; build bonds
Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)	2004-08	Japan	participation in policy dialogues and programs with Japanese government officials
Sen. John Ensign (R-NV), Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL), Rep. Pete Hoekstra	2003-12	Israel and Jordan	fact-finding trip
Sen. John Ensign (R-NV)	2003-08	Japan	policy talks with Japanese government officials
Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL)	2007-05	Bulgaria, Albania, Montenegro, and Serbia	build friendships with government and business leaders who attended recent National Prayer Breakfasts
Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL)	2006-12	Sudan	discuss the Darfur crisis with Sudanese officials
Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL)	2006-05	Serbia and Albania	build relationships with Balkan political leaders
Rep. John Carter (R-TX), Rep. Joseph Pitts (D-PA)	2004-05	Belarus	build relationships with lawmakers
Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA)	2005-03	British Virgin Islands	speaker at annual prayer breakfast
Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA) and companion	2003-11	Aruba	Speaker at annual convention
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), Rep. Tony P. Hall (D-OH), Hall's wife	2000-02	Hawaii	meetings with officials, outreach and other National Prayer Breakfast activities
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), Wolf's wife	2005-03	Albania	meetings with government officials and other National Prayer Breakfast activities
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA)	2003-08	Albania; Rome, Italy	meetings with government officials and other National Prayer Breakfast activities; meetings in Rome regarding World Food Program, hunger and foreign assistance
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), Wolf's wife	2001-04	Lebanon	meeting with government officials outreach and other National Prayer Breakfast activities
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA)	2000-12	Greece, Serbia, Croatia, Macedonia, and Kosovo	meetings with government officials and other National Prayer Breakfast activities
Rep. Tony P. Hall, Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), Wolf's wife	2000-02	Hawaii	Meeting with government officials, outreach and other National Prayer Breakfast activities

Link to terrorist activities and international money laundering scheme

In 2007, former Congressman and Family associate Mark D. Siljander (R-MI), who also has ties with the Coalition on Revival, was indicted for money laundering, conspiracy and obstruction of justice in connection with payments received from the Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA), an organization included on the State Department's terrorism watch list because of alleged ties between Mubarak Hamed, IARA's former executive director and Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghan mujahideen and founder of Hezb-e-Islami-Gulbuddin(HIG). According to the indictment, Siljander was hired by IARA to lobby the United States Government to obtain its removal from a U.S. Senate Finance Committee list targeting 501(c)(3) organizations suspected of being involved in supporting terrorism. The indictment charges that Siljander was paid $50,000 out of $2,000,000 in funds IARA received from the U.S. Agency for International Development for unspecified relief work to be performed in Mali under various cooperative agreements and that IARA made a $25,000 payment to International Foundation that was deposited into the Family's "Muslin Friend's" sub-account on May 27, 2004 (Count 25). The "International Foundation" then transferred the $25,000 to its sub-account identified as "defendant MARK SILJANDER's salary account" and the net amount of $18,337 ion then directly deposited by the "International Foundation" to Siljander's own account (Count 29), thereby retaining $6,663 of the USAID funds that had not been paid to the United States Government by IARA. Siljander allegedly lied to the United States Attorney and FBI agents by stating that he had not spoken to anyone from IARA on the telephone about performing services for the organization; he had not been hired to do any lobbying or advocacy on behalf of IARA; he had performed any lobbying or advocacy on behalf of IARA, he had performed no services in exchange for the $50,000 payment received from IARA; and the payments totaling $50,000 that were received from IARA were "charitable donations intended to assist him in writing a book about bridging the gap between Islam and Christianity." Although the indictment alleges that the respective sub-accounts "were managed on behalf of" Siljander, the International Foundation was not charged in the indictment.

Siljander has side that he conducts informal diplomacy, such as his efforts in the Sudan,"for God, not money," and befriended United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon through the National Prayer Breakfast. Siljander arranged a visfor Sudan's foreign minister, Ali Ahmed Karti to visit Washington, D.C. in May 2006 and attend a Congressional prayer breakfast, and has claimed partial credit for the idea of a joint U.N.-African Union peacekeeping force in Darfur.

Publicized extra-marital affairs of Fellowship members

In 2009, the Family received a spate of media attention when three prominent Republicans associated with the Fellowship were reported to have engaged in extra-marital affairs. Two of them, Senator John Ensign and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford, were considering running for President in 2012 and their affairs were known to the Family several months before becoming public. The affairs of Ensign and then-Congressman Chip Pickering, R-Miss., took place while they were living at the C Street Center. All three voted to impeach Bill Clinton; Ensign and Sanford had called for Clinton to resign over his affair with Monica Lewinsky.

Ensign, a Fellowship member and longtime resident of the C Street Center, admitted in July 2009 that he had had an extra-marital affair with a staffer. The announcement by Ensign brought additional public scrutiny of the Fellowship and the C Street Center, where Ensign lived with Senator Tom Coburn and other senior politicians. Coburn, with Timothy and David Coe, attempted to intervene to end Ensign's affair in February 2008, before the affair became public; they met with the husband of Ensign's lover and encouraged Ensign to write a letter to her, breaking off the affair. Ensign, who was driven to Federal Express from C Street Center to post the letter, shortly thereafter called his lover to tell her to ignore it.

One of Doug Coe's grandchildren was a paid intern in Senator Ensign's office in 2004.

In June 2009, Sanford, a Fellowship member and Congressman from 1995 to 2001, admitted to having an extramarital affair and said that months prior he had sought counseling at the C Street Center. While attempting to decline federal stimulus funds for South Carolina, Sanford was using state money to fly first class to visit his lover in Argentina. During his last secret trip to visit his lover in Argentina in June 2009, during which he told his staff he was hiking on the Appalachian trail, Sanford disappeared for four days and did not answer 15 calls from his chief of staff, Scott English, or let his family know where he was on Father's Day.

Sanford had been a frequent visitor to C Street when he served in Congress. Sanford reportedly turned down his Congressional living allowance while serving in Washington, choosing instead to sleep in his office. Recently, however, Sanford was found to have potentially violated state law by abusive use of state planes, including to fly to get a haircut.

Also in 2009, Pickering's wife filed a lawsuit against the alleged mistress of her husband, a former six-term Republican Congressman from Mississippi. The lawsuit alleges that Pickering restarted a relationship with Elizabeth Creekmore Byrd, his college sweetheart, while he was "a United States congressman prior to and while living in the well-known C Street Complex in Washington, D.C."

Other scandals

In 1986, Senator David Durenberger (R-MN) retreated to the Cedars when he began having marital problems. Durenberger was later unanimously denounced by the Senate for abusing his office and misusing public funds, the latter of which he pleaded guilty to in 1995.

In 1991, Fellowship member Mark Hatfield came under a Senate ethics investigation and a Federal grand jury probe after he made $300,000 from real estate deals involving the sale and purchase of properties from Paul N. Temple. Among the transactions involved were the 1981 sale of a house in Accokeek, Maryland to Paul N. Temple, which Mr. Temple resold four years later at a $90,000 loss. According to The New York Times, another transaction involved Hatfield's purchase of a cooperative apartment in Washington from Mr. Temple in 1981 that he sold the later that year for a profit of as much as $100,000.

In 1991, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas retreated to the Fellowship's property in Arlington, Virginia known as the Cedars during his confirmation hearings in which Anita Hill accused him of sexual harassment.

In 1992, Former Chairman of the United Way, William Aramony, was seen at The Cedars the night he learned he was facing criminal charges for embezzling money from his organization.

Beginning on August 3, 2009, the comic strip, Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau, lampooned the Family. In the series of strips, “Senator X” arrives at the C Street Center asking to be absolved of the sin from his ongoing adulterous affair by "the powerful group whose members are divinely chosen to lead."

Members and associates

Core members and leadership

Doug Coe and family

As a student at Oregon's Willamette University, Doug Coe and fellow student Roy Cook became involved in Young Life and later started a chapter of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, selecting Dean of Men and future United States Senator Mark O. Hatfield as their faculty advisor.

Coe since has become a spiritual advisor for many world leaders, including Hillary Clinton. (When asked about Coe’s influence on Hillary Clinton, people close to her told NBC News in 2008 that she does not consider him one of her leading spiritual advisors, has never contributed to Coe’s group, is not a member of the Fellowship, and had never heard of any of the controversial sermons obtained by NBC News.) President George H.W. Bush referred to Coe as "an ambassador of faith."

Coe has said that "One of the things [Jesus] has said is 'If any man comes to me, and does not hate his father, mother, brother, sister, his own life, he can't be a disciple.' So I don't care what other qualifications you have, if you don't do that, you can't be a disciple of Christ."

Coe's two sons, David Coe, and Timothy Coe, also are employees of the organization and receive salaries of $110,000. David Coe, who is considered to be the heir to the Fellowship leadership, worked at the White House Office of Faith-Based Initiatives under David Kuo during the George W. Bush administration. David Coe has suggested that members of the Family "are here to learn how to rule the world."

Directors, officers, and other Fellowship leaders

• Richard E. Carver, a former candidate for the United States Senate, Republican mayor of Peoria, Illinois (1973-1984), president of the United States Conference of Mayors, and Assistant Secretary of the Air Force, serves as President of the Fellowship Foundation. Carver serves as President and CEO of MST America, an international business strategies consultancy, and RPP America (which sells solid waste wrapping systems).

• Rodney MacAlister, a former ConocoPhilips executive, President of the African Development Foundation, and the Managing Director of the Africa Middle Market Fund (AAMF), a private investment fund targeting investments in medium-sized businesses in East Africa, is a director of the Fellowship.

• Denny Pearce, the owner of the Nut Place, Inc. of Houston, Texas, is a director of the Fellowship.

• Dr. Eric Fellman, President of the World Bible Translation Center, has served as Senior Associate of the Fellowship for eleven years. Fellman is ordained in the Northeast Conference of the Baptist General Conference and served as liaison for heads of state from Africa and South Asia who attend the National Prayer Breakfast.

• Rev. Richard (Dick) Foth, an ordained Assembly of Gods minister and long-time friend to Fellowship member and former Senator and Attorney General John Ashcroft, is frequently identified as an organizer of the National Prayer Breakfast and, according to Jeff Sharlet, has assumed some of Doug Coe's responsibilities. Rev. Joel Schmidgall of National Community Church in Washington, D.C. worked with Foth in organizing the National Prayer Breakfast before going to work for then-Senator Ashcroft as a staff assistance for a short period of time.

Dr. Jannah Scott, deputy director of the Department of Homeland Security's Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives provided strategic support to the Family's leadership and coordinated U.S. and foreign associate efforts in more than 100 countries.

Associates and close friends

A large number of United States Senators and Representatives, primarily Republican, as well as high-ranking military leaders, are known as either "associates" or "close friends" of the Fellowship. Some have resided at properties owned by the Fellowship or an affiliated entity such as Youth with a Mission (YWAM) where they pay below-market rents. The low level of rent, tax-free status of the Fellowship, and secrecy of its members which includes not disclosing the scandals of its politician members, among others, have raised concerns.

Boarders at the C Street Center currently include

• Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK)
• Senator John Ensign (R-NV)
• Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC)
• Rep. Mike Doyle(D-PA)
• Rep. Jerry Moran (R-KS)
• Rep. Joseph Pitts(R-PA)
• Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI)
• Rep. Heath Shuler (D-NC)
• Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN).

Other members, some of whom have lived at C Street, include Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Mark Pryor (D-AR), Charles Grassley (R-IA), James Inhofe (R-OK), Susan Collins (R-ME), John Thune (R-SD), Ben Nelson (D-NE), and Bill Nelson (D-FL); Representatives John R. Carter (R-TX), Ander Crenshaw (R-FL), Jo Ann Emerson (R-MO), Mike McIntyre (D-NC), Jim Slattery (D-KS), Todd Tiahrt (R-KS), Frank Wolf (R-VA), as well as former Senators Norm Coleman (R-MN), Pete Domenici (R-NM) Don Nickles (R-OK), George Allen (R-VA); Conrad Burns (R-MT), Mark O. Hatfield (R-OR), and Maine governor and former Representative John E. Baldacci (D-ME)Steve Largent (R-OK) and former Representatives Mark Sanford (R-SC), Chip Pickering (R-MS), Ed Bryant (R-TN), John E. Baldacci (R-ME), and J.C. Watts (R-OK).

United States Presidents of both parties have had connections to the Family. One of President Richard Nixon's closest advisors, Chuck Colson, was a member of The Family. According to Time Magazine, President Gerald Ford was involved with The Family around the time of his Presidency. President Jimmy Carter hosted Fellowship leaders at the White House and involved the Fellowship in Israel-Egypt peace talks. President Ronald Reagan commented about the Family, "I wish I could say more about it, but it's working precisely because it is private." President George H.W. Bush praised Doug Coe for what he described as "quiet diplomacy, I wouldn't say secret diplomacy." The best known chief speech writer of President George W. Bush, Michael Gerson, belongs to the The Falls Church which periodically has received grants as a supportive ministry from the Fellowship Foundation.

Shortly after his inauguration, President Barack Obama was the keynote speaker at The Family's National Prayer Breakfast, at which he stated "I know this breakfast has a long history in Washington, and faith has always been a guiding force in our family's life, so we feel very much at home and look forward to keeping this tradition alive during our time here."

Former Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist led the Family's first weekly bible study group for judges and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas stayed in the Cedars during his confirmation process while facing sexual harassment charges from Anita Hill.

Senators Ensign, Inhofe, Brownback (a former C Street resident), and Susan Collins, R-ME, and former Senators George Allen and current Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have attended the Wednesday morning Senate Prayer Breakfast at the C Street Center. Former Attorney General Ed Meese under Ronald Reagan regularly presided over other Fellowship prayer breakfasts. Two former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Air Force Gen. David Jones and General Richard Myers, are members as are former Marine Corps Commandant and NATO commander General James L. Jones, Iran-Contra figure Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, and Army Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin, the military head of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld’s intelligence branch. In 2003, Boykin, in a speech to the First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, Florida, referred to the United States as a “Christian nation” and, that in reference to a Somali warlord, he stated, “I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol.”

The Rev. Lee Corder, Chaplain Emeritus of the Washington Redskins and senior vice president for Young Life International (North Division), is a member of the Fellowship, as is his wife, Paula, who was involved in the coordination of the National Prayer Breakfast. Redskins chaplain Jerry Leachman, an advisor to Young Life International North, also is a Family associate.

Watergate cover-up conspirator Charles Colson, is a member of the Fellowship. Colson later went on to found Prison Ministries International, was introduced to Doug Coe and the Fellowship, by Tom Phillips, the CEO of Raytheon, where Colson once worked as Raytheon's general counsel before joining the Nixon administration.

David J. Gribbin III, a trained minister and insider at the Cedars, is a high school friend of former Vice President Dick Cheney and long-time assistant. Gribbin served as Chief of Staff for Congressman Cheney, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs under Cheney during the Administration of George H. W. Bush, Vice President for Government Relations of Halliburton Co. when Cheney was CEO (1995-2000); and director of relations to Congress for the Bush-Cheney transition team (2000-2001). Gribbon, who became a member of the Church of Latter Day Saints, led Capitol Hill prayer services while working for Cheney in the House of Representatives.

Lt. Gen. Claude Kicklighter, the Inspector General for the Department of Defense in 2007 and 2008, is identified as the Secretary of the Fellowship Foundation on the IRS Form 1990 for 1999. Richard McElheny, Assistant Secretary for Trade Development, Department of Commerce, under the Reagan Administration, is identified as the Vice President of the Fellowship Foundation in its 2000 Form 990.

David Laux, who worked in the Office of Political Affairs of the National Security Council under President Ronald Reagan in 1992, and later in the NSC Asian and Pacific Affairs Office, East Asian Directorate (1983-1987), former Director of the American Institute of Taiwan, a non-profit corporation that serves is the representative office of the United States in Taiwan (Directors of AIT are of the same rank as ambassador and receive diplomatic privileges in that capacity), and Chairman of the Taiwan-USA Economic Council, has been identified as a longtime director of the Fellowship Foundation.

Former Senator Al Gore(D-TN) participated in a Senate prayer group run by Doug Coe, along with Senator Lawton Chiles and James Baker, Reagan's then-Chief of Staff for President Ronald Reagan. First Lady Hillary Clinton would later join a breakfast prayer group with Grace Nelson, a director of the Fellowship and wife of former astronaut and Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), and James Baker's wife, Susan.

In 1974, United States Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, who would later become Chief Justice, started the Supreme Court's weekly Bible study for federal judges. In addition, as Former White House Special Assistant to the President David Kuo wrote in his 2006 book "Tempting Faith: An Inside Story Of Political Seduction", Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas "sought solace" from members of the Fellowship as he was staying at the Cedars during his confirmation hearings. In 1996, Kuo accompanied Doug Coe and Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on a trip to a private ranch in Yellowstone National Park.

Affiliations with dictators and oppressive regimes

The Fellowship has conducted "behind the scenes" diplomacy with governments, people, and organizations that U.S. officials are unable to deal with, including oppressive and dicatorial regimes. This has drawn criticism. The Family has encouraged the U.S. government to establish closer ties with:

• Somali dictator Major General Mohammed Siad Barre. In 1981, the Family made contact with Siad Barre on behalf of then-enemy, Kenyan President Daniel arap Moi. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Family member General David Jones invited Siad to the Pentagon, a visit that resulted in a special breakfast with Jones, Members of Congress, and Department of Defense officials. In 1983,Doug Coe arranged an international prayer cell for Siad Barre, which included William K. Brehm, a defense contractor; Rudolph Decker, a member of the German Bundestag; and General Jones.

“We work with power where we can,” the Family's leader, Doug Coe, says, “build new power where we can't.”

"The people that are involved in this association of people around the world are the worst and the best," Coe told the Los Angeles Times. "Some are total despots."

"If I told you who has participated and who participates until this day, you would not believe it," Coe said in 2001. "You'd say, ‘You mean that scoundrel? That despot?'"

Affiliated organizations

The Family has a number of affiliated organizations.

• Three Swallows Foundation

Between 1998 and 2007, the "International Foundation" located at 133 C Street, SE in Washington, D.C., received grants totaling $1,777,650 from billionaire Paul N. Temple's Three Swallows Foundation, including $203,500 in 2006, and $145,000 in 2007. Temple, a graduate of Harvard Law School, is a former executive of Esso (Exxon) and the founder of the Three Swallows Foundation and the Institute of Noetic Sciences.

• Wilberforce Foundation

The Wilberforce Foundation, Inc. owns various residential properties, including Ivanwald and 204 Mount Oak Place in Annapolis, Maryland, that are used to house Fellowship interns and other individuals. According to Eric Fellman, President of the World Bible Translation Center and past vice president of the Foundation, Wilberforce was incorporated to own property and insulate the Family from liability. IRS Form 990 filings confirm that Wilberforce is related to and shares common management with the the Fellowship Foundation.

David Coe has been identified as the President and Secretary of Wilberforce. Jerry Jonker, a businessman from Grand Rapids, Michigan, is now identified as President.

The mailing address on file with the Maryland Department of Assessments and Taxation is 206 Mt. Oak Place, Annapolis, Maryland, which is an adjoining residential property owned by David Coe. Other addresses include 204 Mount Oak Place, Annapolis, Maryland, which was the residence of Timothy Coe, the Vice President of the Wilberforce Foundation. In 2007, Wilberforce Foundation purchased 204 Mount Oak Place for $1,100,000 to be used as a residence for young men. David Coe also is identified as the treasurer and employee of the Wilberforce Foundation.

Marty B. Sherman, a salaried Wilberforce Foundation employee and Fellowship member and director, also owns a residence located on Mount Oak Drive. Sherman formerly owned 2546 23rd Road North within the Family's enclave in the Woodmont neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia. This property had been owned by Doug Coe's son-in-law, William Lee Corder Jr., and Fellowship associate George R. Madison.

Australian Warwick Fairfax, heir to the Fairfax Media fortune and a deacon at Bay Area Christian Church who sits on the board of Annapolis Area Christian School, owns 208 Mount Oak Place with his wife, Gale, which they purchased from David M. Coe in 1993. Fairfax is linked to the International Foundation.

At one time, the mailing address of the Wilberforce Foundation was listed as 705 Melvin Avenue, Suite 105, Annapolis, Maryland, which is the office of attorney Ronald Holden, the corporation's past secretary. Attorney Holden has ties to Young Life of Anne Arundel County and Living Hope Bus Trip. William Bret Bernhardt, Chief of Staff to Fellowship member and C Street resident Sen. Jim DeMint and former administrative assistant to Sen. Don Nickles, served as vice president of the Foundation between 2002 and 2004.

On August 6, 2007, Wilberforce sold 2224 North 24th Street in Arlington to the Fellowship Foundation for $1,000,000.

In 1999, Wiberforce sold the Family's retreat center in Royal Oak, Maryland, known as Cedar Point Farm or the "Farm," to the Sunrise Assisted Living Foundation for $1,400,000.

• International Center for Religion & Diplomacy

Doug Coe addressed the Fifth Anniversary of the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy, Inc. (ICRD) at Evermay in Washington, D.C. in February 1995. Dr. Douglas M. Johnston, is the founder and President of ICRD and a former board member of the Fellowship. Former Congressman Jim Slattery, a Washington, D.C. attorney and Family associate serves on its board of directors.

The mission statement of the ICRD is to "address identity-based conflicts that exceed the reach of traditional diplomacy by incorporating religion as part of the solution." Dr. Johnson is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and the former Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Office of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Dr. Johnson also served as a planning officer in the President’s Office of Emergency Preparedness, Director of Policy Planning and Management in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy. In academia, Dr. Johnson taught international affairs and security at Harvard University and was the founder and first director of the Kennedy School’s Executive Program in National and International Security.

William Aramony, the disgraced former head of the United Way, serves on the Advisory Council of the ICRD, as does Ron Nikkel, the President of Charles Colson's Prison Fellowship International.

• Christians in Parliament

Christians in Parliament (CiP) is the sponsor of the annual prayer breakfast at the Palace of Westminster which houses the Parliament of the United Kingdom in London. CiP is open to Members of Parliament, Peers, and staff in the Palace of Westminster, and exists as an umbrella for the expression of the Christian faith in Parliament. It activities include informal prayer and Bible study groups, and formal services in the Chapel of St Mary Undercroft. According to its website, Christians In Parliament receives assistance from World Vision/World Vision UK, a sister organization of the Fellowship.

• Young Life|Young Life International

The Family (International Foundation) sponsors the annual Young Life International Men's Retreat at Rockbridge Alum Springs in Goshen, Virginia.

• Jerusalem Summit

Fellowship core member Marty Sherman, serves as Academic Director of the International Advisory Board of Jerusalem Summit. Gary L. Bauer, President of American Values, is the Chairman. Bauer served as Ronald Reagan's Undersecretary of Education from 1982 to 1987, and as an advisor on domestic policy from 1987 to 1988. While serving under Reagan, he was named Chairman of President Reagan's Special Working Group on the Family. Bauer also serves on the Executive Board of Christians United for Israel, a lobby group headed by John Hagee, Senior Pastor of Cornerstone Church in San Antonio, Texas, and President and CEO of John Hagee Ministries, which telecasts his national radio and television ministry.

• Trees for the Future

Trees for the Future is listed as a sister organization in the Fellowship Foundation's IRS Form 990 for 1999.

• National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise

National Center for Neighborhood Enterprise is listed as a sister organization in the Fellowship Foundation's IRS Form 990 for 1999.

• Cornerstone Development

Cornerstone Development Ltd. is identified as a sister organization in the Fellowship Foundation's IRS Form 990 for 1999. Cornerstone Leadership Academy was established in Uganda in 1988 to help in the rebuilding and development of the nation. In recent years, it has also begun work in Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and Southern Sudan. Michael Timmis, the Chairman of Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship International, John Riordan, and Tim Kreutter worked together for seven years during the start-up phase. In 2006, the Fellowship Foundation gave Cornerstone Development a grant of $364,801. A grant of $789.784 also was made to Cornerstone Uganda.

• World Concern

World Concern is identified as a sister organization in the Fellowship Foundation's IRS Form 990 for 1999.

• Project Mercy

Project Mercy is identified as a sister ministry in the Fellowship Foundation's IRS Form 990 for 1999. Project Mercy is an International Emergency Relief and Community Development Ministry established shortly after Marta Gabre-Tsadick, Executive Director, her husband, Demeke Tekle-Wold, and family escaped to the United States from the Communist regime in Ethiopia in the early 1970’s. The mission began in 1977 with the assistance of Pastor Charles and Fran Dickinson.

• Timothy Trust

Timothy Trust is identified as a sister organization in the Fellowship Foundation's IRS Form 990 for 1999. Timothy Trust is affiliated with Open Door Fellowship, a church founded by Bill Thrall, and his organization known as Leadership Catalyst (LCI).

• Associacion Dessarrollo en Democracia

Associacion Dessarrollo en Democracia is identified as a sister organization in the Fellowship Foundation's IRS Form 990 for 1999.

• Southeast DC Partners

Southeast DC Partners is identified as a sister organization in the Fellowship Foundation's IRS Form 990 for 2001. Its headquarters is located at the Southeast White House, located at 2909 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, which is owned by the Fellowship Foundation. Kairos, Kairos, an organization of young adults at who participate in the Outreach Ministry of The Falls Church conducts the ministry of Southeast DC Partners.

• World Vision

World Vision, Inc. is identified as a sister organization in the Fellowship Foundation's IRS Form 990 for 2001. Rev. Richard C. Halverson, who assumed the role of acting executive director of the Family upon the resignation of Abram Vereide in 1965, served as CEO of World Vision from 1966 to 1983.

• Trinity Forum and Trinity Forum Academy

The Fellowship also has ties to Trinity Forum, Inc., an organization founded by Paul Klaasen, the Chairman and CEO of Sunrise Senior Living, whose mission is to encourage and assist national leaders in order to deepen, integrate, and apply their faith in the private and public lives. Ed Meese, who hosted Fellowship breakfast prayer meetings at the Cedars in Arlington, Virginia, is a trustee of Trinity Forum.

Trinity Forum Academy operates from the farm house located at the site of Osprey Point Retreat & Conference Center, formerly known as a Cedar Point Farm, which was the home of former Senator and Fellowship president Harold E. Hughes. Osprey Point which is located in Royal Oak on the Tred Avon River on Maryland's Eastern Shore, approximately 90 minutes from Washington, D.C. The property is located near riverfront estates that are owned by former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Ann Holladay, the wife of Fellowship member and former South African Ambassador J. Douglas Holladay, is a founding trustee of Trinity Forum. Doug Hollaway is also serves as a director of Sunrise Senior Living. Holladay is also co-director of the Buxton Initiative, which is itself affiliated with the Case Foundation.

Jerome (Jerry) Lewis, the former Chairman and CEO of Petro-Lewis Corporation (now part of Sunoco), also is a founding trustee of Trinity Forum. Lewis purchased the Fellowship property known as Ivanwald, which was later sold to Wilberforce Foundation.

• Youth with a Mission

Loren Cunningham, President and founder of Youth with a Mission International Inc., an affiliate of which owns the C Street Center (and formerly owned the property known as Potomac Point in Arlington, Virginia) has described a vision of influencing key sectors of society which include government. In a 2008 promotional video, "Reclaiming 7 Mountains of Culture", YWAM Founder Loren Cunningham describes a vision he shared along with the late Campus Crusade For Christ founder Bill Bright and late Christian theologian Francis Schaeffer, in which Christian fundamentalists could achieve worldwide influence by impacting key sectors of society such as government, along with business, media, and education.

Richard Dennee, a missionary from The Falls Church, serves the youth of Northern Ireland through the YWAM ministry.

The Youth With A Mission Virginia website mentions a "permanent ministry center at 133 C St. in Washington."

• Prison Fellowship International

As discussed below, Charles (Chuck) Colson, the founder and President of Prison Fellowship International, was a member of a Fellowship prayer group with Senator Harold Hughes, who later became the President of the Fellowship Foundation, Senator Mark Hatfield, and Congressman Albert Quie. Colson also met with Douglas Coe after being indicted for his role in the Watergate coverup. Colson has boasted of the Family as a "veritable underground of Christ's men all through government."

• C.S. Lewis Institute

The C.S. Lewis Institute Inc. and Dr. Arthur Lindsley are linked to the Falls Church and its fellows program. According to the Fellowship Foundation IRS Form 990 for 1999, the Fellowship rented its former headquarters located at 1904 N. Adams Street in Arlington, Virginia to the CS Lewis Institute. The Form 990 lists the address of the Fellowship as 1910 N. Adams Street.

• Christian Embassy

Christian Embassy Inc., an affiliate of Campus Crusade for Christ, organizes small groups that are "safe, inviting places where people get together on a weekly basis to talk, laugh and learn from one another about how to live out personal beliefs in the workplace." Christian Embassy has 12 separate small groups for Members of Congress and congressional staffers. Sam McCullough of McLean Bible Church runs the Capitol Hill mission.

• Willowbank Conference and Retreat Center

Willowbank (aka the "Heavenly Hotel") was established in 1960 as a Christian guest house in Bermuda through the efforts of Fellowship founder Abraham Vereide and missionary Norman Grubb. The Willowbank Foundation purchased the 37-acre Southlands estate in 1977 for $1,750,000.

• McLean Bible Church

McLean Bible Church has close ties with the Fellowship and conducts services at several locations, including Chuck Colson's Prison Fellowship Ministries Building in Lansdowne, Virginia. McLean Bible Church is led by Senior Pastor Lon Solomon who is a director of Jews for Jesus. Kenneth Starr is a member of McLean Bible Church, as are Dan Coats, Senator Don Nickles, Don Evans, Senator John Thune, former Senator Elizabeth Dole, R-NC; and Bush White House staffers. “It’s really because of Lon Solomon that I go,” according to Senator Jim Inhofe, R-OK.

• The Falls Church

The Falls Church periodically has received grants as a supportive ministry from the Fellowship Foundation.. Members of The Falls Church include Fred Barnes, executive editor of the Weekly Standard magazine, and Michael Gerson, former chief speechwriter for President George W. Bush and a Washington Post columnist. Os Guiness, a co-founder of Trinity Forum, is a member of the Falls Church., as was White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales. In 2006, the Fellowship Foundation gave the Falls Church a $10,000 grant.

Property holdings

The Family owns many properties.

• Fellowship House (133 C Street SE, Washington, DC. Three-story brick 7,914-square-foot (735.2 m²) rowhouse.)

Known as the "C Street Center" or "Fellowship House," this 1890 townhouse, located behind the Madison Annex of the Library of Congress and near the United States Capitol, has 12 bedrooms, nine bathrooms, five living rooms, four dining rooms, three offices, a kitchen, and a small "chapel".

Rooms are rented to United States Senators and members of Congress who stay there as resident members of the Fellowship, reportedly paying $600 a month in room and board.

The house is also the locale for:

• The Family's Wednesday prayer breakfasts for United States Senators, which has been attended by Senators Sam Brownback, Tom Coburn, James Inhofe, John Ensign and Susan Collins
• A Tuesday night dinner for members of Congress and other Fellowship associates.
• An annual Ambassador Luncheon. The 2006 event was attended by ambassadors from Turkey, Pakistan, Jordan, Algeria, Armenia, Egypt, Belarus, Mongolia, Latvia, and Moldova.

The property is exempt from real property taxes because it is classified as a "special purpose" use. District of Columbia law exempts from taxation "buildings belonging to religious corporations or societies primarily and regularly used for religious worship, study, training, and missionary activities" and "buildings belonging to organizations which are charged with the administration, coordination, or unification of activities, locally or otherwise, of institutions or organizations entitled to exemption."

Formerly used as a convent for nearby St. Peter's Catholic Church, 133 C Street was the headquarters of Ralph Nader's Congress Watch in the 1970s. In 1980, the building was purchased by Youth with a Mission, Washington, D.C., Inc. (also known as Youth with a Mission National Christian Center, Inc.) YWAM took a note from Alexandro Palau in the principal amount of $448,873.33 to purchase the property. A 1981 modification of the note was signed by Fellowship member Ron Boehme in his capacity as President of YWAM, Washington, D.C. and witnessed by Michael Davidson as its secretary.

Asked about YWAM in 2009, Richard Carver, a retired Air Force general and the President of the Fellowship Foundation, told the Washington Post that his Fellowship group is affiliated with the house, but that he has never heard of Youth With a Mission of Washington, DC, and that he did not have a phone number for it. Carver later said that he had spoken with someone who "at one time was involved with the house" and had "heard secondhand" that the organization that runs the house is "subscribing to the no-comment."

The C Street Center is immediately behind 132 D Street SE, the "safe house" used by Fellowship member and former Representative and Republican Majority Leader Tom Delay, R-TX, and several associates. The "house with a red door" had been purchased by the U.S. Family Network, an organization founded by Ed Buckham, a former Delay advisor, in 1999, and housed the offices of Buckham's Alexander Strategy Group and Delay's political action committee, Americans for a Republican Majority (ARMPAC). After the District of Columbia Zoning Administrator intervened, the rowhouse was sold to former Representative Jim Ryun, R-KS, in 2000.

• The Woodmont enclave

The Fellowship owns a number of properties, including the estate known as the Cedars (Doubleday Mansion) located at 2301 North Uhle Street (2145 24th Street North) in the Woodmont neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia. This property, which was purchased by the Fellowship in 1978, includes two additional residences known as the "well house" and "carriage house," the latter of which is used by Doug Coe. The Cedars was determined to be a "place of worship" by the Zoning Administrator in 1976.

Coe has described Cedars as a place "committed to the care of the underprivileged, even though it looks very wealthy." He noted that people might say, "Why don't you sell a chandelier and help poor people?" Answering his own question, Coe said, "The people who come here have tremendous influence over kids." Private Fellowship documents indicate that Cedars was purchased so that "people throughout the world who carry heavy responsibilities could meet in Washington to think together, plan together and pray together about personal and public problems and opportunities." The Cedars hosts a prayer breakfast for foreign ambassadors on Tuesday morning.

According to a 1996, Washington Post review of Bad Boy: The Life and Politics of Lee Atwater, Atwater was introduced to Douglas Coe through Patty Presock, Secretary to President Ronald Reagan on Friday, March 16, after a White House breakfast. Eleven days later, Atwater arrived at the Cedars to meet Doug Coe. "I've been in this city for many years now, and I never heard of you," he said. "Who are you, anyhow?" Coe replied, "Well, we have many mutual friends all over the city...." Atwater was baptized as a Catholic the following day.

In March 1990, YWAM (which also owns the C Street Center) purchased a nearby property located at 2200 24th Street North for $580,000. The property, now known as Potomac Point, is used as a women's dormitory. Ownership of Potomac Point was transferred to the C Street Center on May 6, 1992, and again to the Fellowship Foundation on October 25, 2002. Potomac Point had been owned by Doug Coe's son, Timothy, who sold the property to his parents on November 30, 1989, for $580,000.

A second property, known as Ivanwald, located at 2224 24th Street North and assessed at $916.000, is used as a men's dormitory by the Fellowship. This property was purchased by Jerome A. Lewis and Co. in 1986, and sold to the Wilberforce Foundation in 1987. In 2007, the Wilberforce Foundation transferred Ivanwald to the Fellowship Foundation for $1 million. Jerome A. Lewis is a trustee emeritus of the Trinity Forum and the former Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Petro-Lewis Corporation.

At one time, Doug Coe and his wife, Janice, owned nearby 2560 North 23rd Road, which they sold to Congressman Tony P. Hall (D-OH) and his wife on September 22, 1987, for $100,000. Hall donated $20,000 to the Fellowship Foundation on September 4, 2002,, $1,500 to the Wilberforce Foundation, and $1,000 to the Jonathan Coe Memorial of Annapolis, Maryland during the 2001 campaign cycle.

The residence located at 2244 24th Street North, and assessed at $1,458,800, is owed by Merle Morgan, whose wife, Edita, is a director of the Fellowship. It also is identified as the offices of the Fellowship Foundation and Morgan Bros. Corp. (d/b/a Capitol Publishing). Fellow Fellowship director and member Fred Heyn and his wife own 2206 24th Street North.

LeRoy Rooker, the one-time treasurer of the Fellowship and former Director of the Family Policy Compliance Office at the U.S. Department of Education, and his wife own 2222 24th Street North.

Arthur Lindsley, a Senior Fellow at the C.S. Lewis Institute owns 2226 24th Street North.

• Cedar Point Farm

According to White House records dating from 1978, President Jimmy Carter traveled to Cedar Point Farm by Marine helicopter on November 12, 1978, to attend a Fellowship prayer and discussion group. President Carter placed a call to Menachim Begin while at Cedar Point Farm. The White House records reflect that Cedar Point Farm was owned by Harold Hughes, a former Senator from Iowa and the President of the Fellowship Foundation. Cedar Point Farm was later used by the Wilberforce Foundation.

• Other Family properties
  • "Southeast White House", located at 2909 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE, which is used by various community-based organizations. This property is assessed at $736,310 for 2009 tax year.

• • "19th Street House," a two-story, brick apartment building located at 859 19th Street NE, in the Trinidad neighborhood of northeast Washington, D.C., which is assessed at $358,250 for the 2009 tax year. The 19th Street Center is used for afterschool activities.

• • Mount Oak Estates, Annapolis, Maryland. One residential property, formerly owned by Timothy Coe, was sold to Wilberforce Foundation, Inc. for $1.1 million. A second residence is owned by David and Alden Coe and a third is owned by Fellowship associate Marty Sherman. Another nearby property, 1701 Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard, is owned by the Fellowship Foundation.

• • Until 1994, the Fellowship operated from the "Fellowship House", a large estate located at 2817 Woodland Drive in Washington, D.C., which was sold to the Ourisman family for more than $2.5 million.

Press coverage

Jeff Sharlet lived with the Family for a month, and wrote a book and articles regarding its secretive nature, connection to disreputable regimes, and dedication to power. | author = Jeff Sharlet | author = Jeff Sharlet http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/9178374/gods_senator</ref>

Rachel Maddow has run a multi-story expose on the organization's influence on American politics. In addition to Chip Pickering, John Ensign, and Mark Sanford, on July 18, 2009, she identified Congressman Todd Tiahrt (R-KS) as a member and interviewed Jeff Sharlet about a "spiritual counseling" session he witnessed between Tiahrt and Coe, in which Tiahrt expressed concerns that abortion should be banned in order to better compete with the Muslim birthrate, and Coe told Tiahrt that he was thinking on too small a scale. Coe told Tiahrt to work for "Jesus Plus Nothing... the totalitarianism of Christ." According to Sharlet, Coe then gave Tiahrt his usual roster of examples of totalitarians who had great power: Hitler, Pol Pot, Osama bin Laden, etc.

See also

• Oxford Group
• Frank Buchman

External links

• The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power Audio and transcript on Democracy Now interview of Jeff Sharlet about the organization and international connections on August 12 2009
• The World Magazine, investigative story, August 29, 2009
• Republican Sex Scandal meets Spirituality on C Street by Lisa Lerer, Politico, July 20 2009