Q: So Barney, where do you stand on your beliefs.

A: I am a Bible believing Christian and I have a hard time reading or following things that are not related to the Holy Book.

Q: Why did you leave the Family?

A: I was excommunicated almost 7 years ago. I got involved in a relationship, without councel.

Q: Was she asked to leave.

A: No. She did admit to starting it thought.

Q: Did you feel it was a mistake by the Family?

A: No, I was incharge of a home and as a shepherd I knew better and in my case the Family was just trying to do their job in applying the rules.

Q: Could your wife and kids have stayed if they wanted to?

A: Yes, I was the only person that was responsible for the problem not them.

Q: Why did you start Laurel Home?

A: Being excommunicated, means you can’t communicate with anyone, so I felt the only way to go was to move on with my life. One time I was in a church here in Washington DC and a Brother prayed over me and told me that I was going to open a home and allot of people would come and take rest and renew the communication like bridging the gap between Christians.

Q: Did you expect to get involved with Former members?

A: No. At the beginning we had fellowship with people from different churches and even Jews & Muslims would come to our home and just enjoy one another. PTL. Those meetings became very successful and we where able to help people with & a lot of differences within the Christian community when for some reason or another they could not get along with each other.

Q: How did you became involved with people related with the Family?

A: After being successful with the other Christians, the Lord showed us to get involved with the people related to the Family. TS and former members, time but our vision was not to let status influence our decision making in communicating with them. We decided that with God’s help we would lend a hand to anybody that needed Fellowship and encouragement also a place to land and a place to express their opinion freely. So with that vision we then started contacting old friends and inviting them for dinner. Sometimes I would visit them and as I did those people felt they could share with me a lot of their trials, problems, doubts etc... without being criticized. I spent hours and hours personally spreading news about the vision of our home by phone, mouth to mouth and by mail. PTL.

Q: When you stared reaching for the outside members of the Family were you still excommunicated?

A: No at that time I became a GP member. Soon after that I became a Fellow member.The Lord didn’t show us to become DO members.

Q: If you where doing so good with the other Christians, why did you start communicating with former members?

A: I started hearing a lot of people having a lot of emotional & physiological problems from lack of Guidance. Because I had been out of the group for some of them it also meant being being away from God. So we felt since we’ve been involved in the Family for so long we wanted to be able to be a blessing.

Q: People think that you are compromising, and some of them think that because of your relationship with some enemies you are sending a mixed sign. Is that true?

A: Since we have a lot of communication we’ve become very well known especially in the USA . We’ve tried to reach and receive anyone that wanted to talk to us. In that situation the good the bad and the ugly got quite involved. Our sincere desire from our heart was to bring people back to the relationship with Jesus and in doing that we could not avoid the different opinions. Along with this we feel we’ve accomplished a lot by bringing loved ones back together again. We are especially concerned for the younger generation and in this we’ve had to ramble through some considered enemies. The Lord told us not to fear and just to open the doors of communication.

Q: How can you expect people to believe you when it looks like you are playing in both sides?

A: By their fruits ye shall know the tree, after having more then 3,000 visitors more than 500 teens passing through our Ministry and most of those who came, from different status, like I said before, ex members, TS, DO members and Christians alike. We could not just show a special treatment for people but in our situation we felt we where getting the job done by reaching everybody. This kind of ministry is not easy and is very stressful because I have to be very polite, hold my temper and watch for every word I say, making sure not to offend the already offended people.

Q: Do you read all the Family publications?

A: I read most of the publications. At this time of my life as we get old and wiser, we do check the spirits a lot.

Q: How many people do you have in your house right now, and in what status at this moment.

A: 80% of the people in our home are youth and they just consider themselves Christians. A few people consider themselves fellow members. Some are going to the field to become charter members. Some are very bitter against Family and their parents because of their childhood and the lack of communication and Fellowship

Q: How do you get your income $?

A: There are some fellow members that support us. GBT. We do weekly car washes,tract distribution, and also have a band that gets paid for some of their shows. We have our own organization tax number which has helped in many ways by cutting cost on things we buy. Through the tax exemption we’ve been able to get food bank membership. Groceries stores and bread shops are donating. The youth keep the house running for the most part.

Q: Can the kids have a public education and contact with the outside?

A: We do have them home schooling for now as we believe its a better invironment. We encourage the kids to get their GED and go to college if they like. Some of the kids have had secular jobs. We have quite a few visitors. Other kids are allowed to have dates with the teens in the house. They also go out for entertainment.

Q: Since you all live together, you don’t think it’s just like living in the Family, or a extension of the same, in which case people might not feel very good about?

A: I wish I could get a peace of land and buy a house and also a car for each one . If anybody there has that kind of money please let us know!!!! For the time being because of the need, we do what we are doing now. We usually have 4 teens living in each bedroom and sometimes more than that.

Q: How many people related to the Family do you believe you are reaching now with your ministry?

A: According to the information we’ve gathered the numbers have been estimated up to 4,000 or more.

Q: Have any Family Enemies ever visited your house, and why?

A: Yes. The reason is because we felt the need to answer some very important questions that they had on a personal level, concerning our ministry.One of the people who visited us, who is considered an enemy, is Zack the Greek.

Q: Have you ever considered becoming a full time missionary?

A: I am a full time Christian right now and believe I am doing Gods will. In my heart I have never really left The Family, I’ve only become part of the greater worldwide Christian Family. God Bless You!