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We pick up the story in Colorado Springs, Colorado with a man by the name of of

John C Glenn and he is the subject of this exposé. The Sweatt’s first heard about John

back in the nineties when he was teaching the Alpha Series in the Okeechobee area.

At the time George was taping a Sunday morning service for television broadcast. His

wife Dorothy would attend the Sunday school class then the main service while

George spent the entire morning in the broadcast booth. Many Sunday’s Dorothy

would come to George with anxieties about what was being taught in class. It finally

reached a point when they knew it was time to leave. George came from a church

background but had long since abandoned that lifestyle as he had come to the

realization he lacked the control to live up to the high standard the church expected

of him. It was just before he met Dorothy, his wife to be that he came to the

realization he needed something other than toys, his “drug of choice”, to fill the void

he had so long felt. He and Dorothy started attending the Alpha classes and were

immediately struck by John’s charisma and unique ability to put in laymen terms

what seems so complex and unreachable. Much of what he was teaching they knew

to be true but had never heard it taught in church. They followed John over the next

several months and a close friendship developed. They heard his stories as to how he

had been turned out from several places he had taught in the past. They began

feeling a call to get involved in some way but it was unclear as to the how. The time

came when Dorothy wanted to look at a property she felt the Lord was leading them

to acquire so a permanent home for the ministry could be established. They met

John and his wife Sandi at that property and decided it was unsuitable for their

purpose. John then took them to look at a second parcel of land a few miles north.

John Glenn told them the property belonged to Norman Hales and was for sale -

about 138 acres. They only needed a few acres for a church building but believed God

had provided direction to this place and would provide the funding. John and George

made an offer based on the current per acre value which John took to John Hales, the

Son of the owner, Norman Hales. A counter offer was relayed back to the Sweatt’s by

John Glenn for a few hundred dollars more per aches which they thought was fair so

it was accepted. Dorothy's company provided the down payment and the Glenn's and

the Sweatt's became corporate partners. SST Custom Fabricators Inc., Dorothy's

company, provided two full time employees at no cost to the ranch to help John with

anything he needed. Over time SST provided the materials, prefabricated a pavilion

and provided most of the labor and equipment to erect it. SST also brought in or

constructed other buildings, fabricated dozens of picnic tables and benches and

supplied equipment and machinery for use on the ranch.

The first few years went smoothly and “Church in the Wood” began to expand and

feed the people both spiritually and figuratively. In the early days it was pot luck and

many of the people brought food and deserts to share with everyone. As the

attendance grew it became apparent a kitchen was desperately needed along with

real bathrooms as the porta-potties had long since become inadequate. A dining hall

and office spaces were also need so the ministry put up funds along with a few other

people and construction on the main building started. Prior to the new building a

ranch house was built on Freedom Ranch property for John and his wife which added

new debt to the budget. John and Sandi moved out of their double wide also located

on the property and John’s Daughter Anglia and Son-in-law Elton Boney moved into

that trailer. John’s mother -in-law Virginia Chilton also moved a new double wide

trailer onto ranch property. SST had been carrying much of the finical load including

the land payments up to a few months Pryor to the time the new building was

planned. As the building was completed the economy had started into decline which

impacted both SST and the ministry financially. The Alpha board members were

searching for some way to augment the loss of revenue and it was decided to put in a

cracker cowboy camp along with an arena and try their hands in the tour business.

Along this time Billy Owens, a friend of John’s, got married at the ranch and needed a

place to live. John decided Billy and his new wife, Kathy would make a good fit and as

they also needed income. It was decided a gift shop would be built and Kathy would

run it. Billy would be instrumental in the tour as a guide and driver. John told them

they would also be provided with insurance from tour income. Freedom Ranch Inc.

borrowed $100,000 which was added to the bank note, to build the gift shop and

promote the tours, however, the gift shop never materialized and no promotion was

done short of a few flyers. John said he had to use the money to cover overruns on

the building which had been completer for some time but the Sweatt’s gave it no

thought at the time as both he and Dorothy had no reason to questioned John on

any decisions he made. The primary purpose from day one was to give Alpha

Ministry a place where John could do what no one does better and never again have

to face expulsion. More than once the corporation found itself coming up short and

was always on the lookout for an additional source of income. Someone came up

with the idea of selling the back 100 acres to some government entity for use as a

park. A very bad idea and that idea was rejected. Another time Thomas Benbo, the

brother-in-law of Dorothy, felt a call to ministry and wanted to buy about forty acres

of the ranch so that the corporation would have an influx of cash to pay down the

bank note. George explained why that was not the best option so it was decided Tom

would instead do a long term lease with the corporation to affect the same outcome.

After the initial concerns about selling off part of the ranch were abated George left

the details of how best to handle the investment in the hands of Tom Benbow and

John Glenn. Dorothy expressed some concern to Tom’s wife Verna, her youngest

sister, about investing in the property considering the difficulties they were having

making the payments but Tom decided to go ahead with the move. He moved a

double wide trailer onto ranch property and also invested in fencing and a small

barn. Thing settled down for a period of time then the corporation again found itself

facing finical distress. That brings us up to date and the next scheme to save the

ministry.