The cults and false religious movements are growing at a staggering rate. The Jehovah's Witnesses have over 5-1/2 million members and the Mormons are reaching 10 million.  It's also worth noting that, according to the Chicago Tribune of Thursday, August 28, 1997, Islam is the fastest growing religion in the US.  In fact, there are now twice as many Muslims in the US as there are members of the denomination to which George Washington belonged, the Episcopal Church.  Wicca (witchcraft) is also growing quite rapidly. In 1987 one Wicca denomination, The Covenant of the Goddess, had 20,000 members.  By 1993 it had grown to over 300,000 members.  Many Wiccans attend mainline and evangelical churches without seeing a problem.

In an effort to assist the churches, we formed Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc. in April of 1995, with about 12 other like-minded people as a home mission. None of us have ever been involved in a cult but we have a passion for the truth of God's Word.  Our mission is to give clear answers, and a solid defense of the orthodox Biblical faith, both to unbelievers and to those who are deceived into joining cultic groups such as the Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, the International Churches of Christ, and so on.

When asked what it is that we do, I usually explain that this ministry is multi-faceted.  One of our focuses is that of equipping Christians to do the work of ministry (Eph. 4:12).  We do this through several avenues:

· Speaking at churches for one or more services

· Conducting seminars for churches, local colleges and other group meetings on how to respond to the arguments of particular cult groups and New Age philosophies.

· Publishing our quarterly Midwest Christian Outreach Journal, which is used to both educate and inform believers as well as share the gospel with non-believers and those who are in cults.

· Providing intervention services, which help individuals and families to leave cults and understand the claims of Jesus Christ from the Scriptures.

· Providing in-depth teaching in one-on-one training sessions with believers who seriously desire to reach out to those in cults.

· Providing research services, which is a resource for churches and individuals seeking information on particular cults.

· Granting radio and television interviews, both Christian and secular, on the dangers of cultic involvement.

· Leading a weekly apologetics Bible study group on Monday evenings.

· Maintaining 24-hour, pre-recorded message lines, which allow those who are involved in cults and false religous movements to seek information anonymously.  We also work with other ministries who operate pre-recorded lines, and at the end of the message individuals are given the opportunity to request information or to call our help-line number directly to and dialogue with a live person.

Through our various activities, we have seen several people leave cultic groups, become solid believers and get actively involved in a local church.

Our recent and upcoming efforts in contributing to the public awareness of the cult problem include:

· Coordinating the area of Specialized Counseling (cults and apologetics) for Say Yes Chicago with Luis Palau.

· Hosting a conference on the cults at Wheaton College in May of 1996.  We also held our Defend the Faith Conference, May 1-3, 1997.

· Co-hosting the 1998 EMNR conference, Cult Evangelism: A Biblical Imperative in Chicago, this coming October 2-4.

· Sponsoring the Foundations For Faith-A Reason To Believe Conference, October 28-Nov 1, 1998 in Cortez, CO.

· Hosting the Foundations For Faith-A Reason To Believe Conference, which was held at Naperville Bible Church on March 28-30 of 1999.

· We have also started The Young Defenders Boot Camp, which is a one day event that focuses on training young people to defend their faith. We are very excited about this as we are being contacted by churches across the country to schedule one in their area. If you would like more information and the 9 ½ minute promotional video please let me know.

The following are standard references we provide for our ministry:

Pastor Brad Bacon, Bethel Community Church,
(312) 775-2355

John Zivojoinovic, Youth Pastor, Grace Church, Englewood, CO
(303) 799-4900 Ext. 20

Pastor Phil Ballmaier, Calvary Chapel, Elk Grove
(847) 895-3545

If you need more information or if I can be of further assistance, please feel free to call.

Yours in His Service,

Midwest Christian Outreach, Inc.
L.L. (Don) Veinot Jr.
President