Jul 18, 2021 I grew up in an off-the-grid Christian commune. Here's what I know about America's religious beliefs Classifying American Christians into the imaginary phyla of cults and not-cults is a dangerous mistake SHAWNA KAY RODENBERG JUNE 26, 2021 The only time I saw Brother Sam in person, he was marching like a soldier as he preached, with sweat running like tears from his temples and the Bible a heavy brick in his right hand. It was 1978, I was five, and my family had traveled to Lubbock, Texas, for a Body Convention, which was what we called the semi-annual gatherings of hundreds, sometimes thousands, of members of The Body, or Body of Christ, an expansive network of charismatic communities created almost singlehandedly by Brother Sam.