Category: Bill and Patsy Freeman

A flurry of e-mails and phone calls were received by students when a small, Christian group with a controversial history relocated next to campus last fall. Bill and Patsy Freeman, leaders of the group, purchased three houses surrounding Whitworth, including the red brick house next to President Bill Robinson’s home, for a total just over one million dollars, according to previous Whitworthian articles. The Freemans now own six homes near Whitworth with the last home being purchased sometime in June, according to the Spokesman-Review. The Freemans divisive history prompted those familiar with the couple to inform Whitworth of their past

Some say Freemans ‘cult-like’ Members of a tightknit Christian group that has been trailed by controversy around the West have purchased six homes bordering Whitworth College, raising concerns on campus and in the surrounding north Spokane neighborhood. Bill Freeman, who leads the group with his wife, Patsy, said he and the members of his church just want to live quietly, worship as they see fit and keep to themselves. For decades, the Freemans have led a group of fundamentalist Christians who live closely intertwined lives of intense religious devotion, according to several former members and published reports. See Also More

Editor’s note: Deborah and Steve Kirk were part of the Freeman group in the 1970s. They have lived in Spokane since 1994 and attend Opportunity Presbyterian Church in Spokane Valley. When they learned that the Freemans had moved near campus, they asked to publish their personal story and personal experience with the Freemans. The Kirks asked to publish their home phone number along with this article. See Also Special Report: The Freemans Research resources on the Freemans I, Steve Kirk, met Bill and Patsy Freeman in 1970 at the age of 20 when a friend from Campus Crusade for Christ

The Freemans bought more than a million dollar’s worth of real estate when they settled in to three houses near Whitworth. Many students and administrators have wondered where they got all the money to make those purchases and why they were willing to pay nearly half a million dollars for one mid-sized house in north Spokane. See Also Controversy next door Ex-members say Freemans created ‘group identity’ Research resources on Bill and Patsy Freeman Bill Freeman has his own company called Ministry of the Word and sells the dozen books he has authored over the years. But his highest-selling book,

In The Loop: A response to the Freemans Bill and Patsy Freeman, along with their followers, have settled in to a corner of the Whitworth community. Their past is sketchy, to say the least, and the trail of concerns, complaints and warnings that have followed them must not be ignored. A Christian group that has no strong ties to any outside organization, the Freemans and their loyalists have made Whitworth their latest chapter in a history of church splits, broken marriages and troubled lives. Bill and Patsy Freeman are obviously here for more reasons than to enjoy the sights of

The Freemans, followed to Spokane by a troubled past, are a concern to their former adherents and the Whitworth administration When Bill and Patsy Freeman bought three houses adjacent to the Whitworth campus late last year, the investment was more than just a million dollars of north Spokane real estate. It was a move to revive a 40-year-long ministry that has left a trail of broken churches, families, relationships and a small town’s worth of disgruntled ex-members, say a dozen sources who have known the Freemans — some for more than a decade — and who are now concerned about the

LETTERS: Bill Freeman’s actions familiar It was with sadness that I read the piece on the so-called Church in Scottsdale and the Longmate family. I do not know Jim Longmate well, nor do I know what personal mistakes he might have made, but I have a keen interest in this story because I was intimately involved with this group from its early days in California until the time the Freemans left Seattle in 1987–a period of about 20 years. It is true that when the Freemans left for Scottsdale in 1987 along with the 60 or so individuals who followed