In 1996, Sarah DeJonghe was a 20-year-old Navy Seabee stationed in Okinawa, Japan. Two guys in uniform approached her on base and invited her to church. She said no.

They came back anyway.

Four months later, Sarah was out of the Navy and on her way to a Bible seminary in Washington State. She didn't see it coming. Neither did the dozens of other military members who found themselves drawn into the New Testament Christian Churches of America, a church that has spent decades planting itself outside US military bases around the world, marketing itself as a home away from home for single, lonely soldiers.

Former members say it's a cult.

Want to keep going? Part Two is available right now on PRETEND+ on Apple Podcasts and on Patreon. You'll get every episode of this series ad-free and a week early, plus bonus episodes and full access to the PRETEND archive.

Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/channel/pretend/id6443456985 Patreon: www.patreon.com/cw/pretendradio

Resources mentioned in this episode:

NTCC bylaws (publicly available): https://myntcc.org/bylaws/
Stay Away From NTCC (former member YouTube channel run by Tracy Pelfrey) - https://www.youtube.com/@StayAwayFromNTCC
Bruce Smith's reporting at The Mountain News

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