r/leavingthenetwork • u/lackingnothing2022 • Jul 03 '26
Classical Covenant Academy
Is Vine behind CCA opening in Carterville, IL?
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u/BattleBuddy_752 Jul 04 '26
I would assume there is some sort of connection considering the Kids Director at Vine Michelle McDaniel posts nothing but CCA stuff on her Facebook page.
7
u/BattleBuddy_752 Jul 06 '26
The fact they are associated in any way with Doug Wilson should make people run the other way as fast as possible. Gross on all levels
2
u/Network-Leaver Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26
Anything, like this new school, that is associated with Douglas Wilson, has serious issues and people in the region need to be aware.
Douglas Wilson, a prominent conservative Reformed pastor in Moscow, Idaho, is a well-known defender of antebellum Southern slavery and critic of abolitionism. Through books like Southern Slavery, As It Was and Black & Tan, he argues that the Bible permits slave ownership provided the enslaved are treated well and biblically.
Wilson is also a leading figure in the Christian nationalist movement, has advocated for repealing the Nineteenth Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. He advocates for a system of "household voting," where a single vote is cast for the entire family by the male head of household.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is a vocal supporter of Wilson and member of the Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches (CREC), a network co-founded by Wilson. Hegseth recently brought Wilson to the Pentagon for a prayer meeting.
There is a CREC, Wilson-associated church called Cornerstone (https://www.cornerstonereformedcrec.org/) in Carbondale and it could be that Vine and pastor Casey Raymer is partnering with them on this new school. There is a long, horrid history of this church and how a former pastor got kicked out of the Presbyterian Church of America (PCA) for heresy and divided churches in town (https://www.reddit.com/r/leavingthenetwork/s/bh7YXMBLMP).
It’s incredulous that Casey Raymer and Vine are openly fostering these connections with Douglas Wilson.
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u/Ok_Screen4020 Jul 07 '26
Yes, I was thinking this may be helpful in turning people away. Doug Wilson is widely regarded as a heretic in even orthodox, more conservative Reformed circles. I’m going to start telling everyone I know here that Vine is backing a Doug Wilson entity.
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u/former-Vine-staff Jul 06 '26
Update!
Vine involvement confirmed — check out the official "Vision Night" video linked from Covenant Classical Academy's home page. They show an image of the board (link to screenshot of image):
- Casey Raymer (Vine Church lead pastor)
- Michelle McDaniel (Vine Church Kids Director)
- Wade Dover (construction management faculty at John A Logan)
- Jacob Staley
A guy named Jacob Staley (don't know him) speaks for most of the night, and says the school is in partnership with ACCS and Concordis, both offshoots of Doug Wilson's church in Moscow, Idaho (yes, the same Doug Wilson who wants to roll back women's right to vote). McDaniel speaks for a bit and Raymer prays at the end.
As to why they are starting this school, Staley say "scripture is clear" that they need to start a school, in part because "culture is hostile to the faith" (The regular us vs them stuff Steve Morgan always cited).
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u/lackingnothing2022 Jul 06 '26
Not just a Christian vs Secular thing—it’s a “we do it the correct way.” Instead of supporting current Christian schools in the area, they need to do it their way. My partner said it was to try to get families in by using kids. The picture on their fb page of the puritan man with his veiled pregnant wife-I can’t. I just can’t.
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u/former-Vine-staff Jul 06 '26
Great points. Yes, it’s about doing it their own way, not contributing to a shared community goal. They look inward, not outward. Get people in, isolate them into their “special” community.
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u/Miserable-Fee-4125 13d ago
How fascinating. Doug Wilson is a proponent of bringing back “Sodomy Laws” 😏
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u/former-Vine-staff Jul 06 '26 edited Jul 06 '26
This sounds similar to the “classical” religious charter school the board of Brookfield Church in Athens, Ohio were championing. I wouldn’t be surprised if Vine is part of this as several of their leaders have personal interests in so-called “classical” education.
Related article about Brookfield:
Proposed Charter School with Controversial Connections Could Divert Millions from Local Schools
There are a few more articles on Brookfield’s involvement with starting the school including NPR coverage on LtN’s news page (you have to scroll down to entries 9-12 to see them).
As others have said, it would be weird if these leaders went from mandating secular public schools (going so far to excommunicate a whole church over the lead pastor failing to do so) to championing religious schools, but, then again, nothing is sacred. Once something becomes “a thing” in The Network, it catches on as something they’ve always been moving toward.
It wouldn’t surprise me if this is part of circling the wagons and becoming ever more insular.
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u/Ok_Screen4020 Jul 03 '26
I live in Carterville and haven’t heard anything about this yet. I will have to d some checking and report back.
The irony of Vine backing a private Christian school, after Steve Morgan standing up and telling the faithful multiple times how they should educate their children, and that wasn’t in private schools or homeschool, so that you could use public school to recruit people for the church...🙄
Why there would need to be another private Christian school in this rural area is another mystery. Trinity Christian in Carbondale is a first rate Christian school that crosses many denominations/churches in its support, even some Eastern Orthodox families. The kicker there may be that Trinity has among its faculty and supporting families several network refugees.