ContactThe Church of God - PKG (COG-PKG) is headed by Ronald Weinland who claims to be one of the Two Witnesses of Revelation 11 and that the Great Tribulation began again on December 14, 2008 -- this after the destruction Weinland promised failed to materialise for the first Great Tribulation which supposedly began on April 17, 2008.
The Church of God - PKG was orignially incorporated in Delaware as "The United Church of God - Toledo, Inc" in April of 1995, shortly after the breakup of the Worldwide Church of God which resulted from Pastor General Joseph Tkach's apostacy on December 17, 1994. Weinland's church affiliated with the United Church of God (an International Association) for a time until Weinland resigned from UCG in May of 1997 nominally in a dispute about the mishandling of church finances. The church was then renamed "The Church of God, Inc". Originally COG-PKG was based in Toledo and only moved to Cincinnati after Weinland did so early in 2005.
For a time (during 1999) COG-PKG flirted with an association with other independent groups which formed post-WCG, such as Al Buchanan's Belleville (Ill) Church of God, sharing a Feast of Tabernacles site one year.
After the split from UCG, Weinland began promoting his prophetic ideas and soon attracted a following in areas other than Toledo, including Cincinnati, Georgia, and Texas. His promotion took the form of his Newswatch periodical and sermon tapes which he would send out.
Originally The Church of God, Inc was operated by a lay board of directors which controlled the funds and paid Weinland a salary. After a difference of opinion between Weinland and the board in February of 2000, Weinland disfellowshipped them and took over the corporation.
Weinland also began recruiting members overseas. In Europe, someone in the Netherlands became interested and later a few in the UK and in November of 1999 Weinland made the first of many overseas trips to visit his followers. There are also a few members in Australia and New Zealand. As recently as 2004, he claimed only 5 members in Australia and a few more than that in New Zealand.
Weinland has claimed a total membership of around 300 during the period prior to 2008. This number is often mentioned by him in comparison to the size of Gideon's army which slew the Midianites. Beginning in late 2007, Weinland began heavy promotion of his book "2008 God's Final Witness" and now claims that membership increased by about 250%.
Overseas, there are perhaps 3 dozen members in Australia and a similar number in the UK. Estimates for BeNeLux and New Zealand are one to two dozen members in each of those locations. Within the US, the membership is widely scattered but with the heaviest concentrations near Cincinnati, Toledo/Detroit, Dallas, and central Georgia.
Despite a widely scattered group, Weinland delivers the vast majority of sermons. Sermons can be listened to "live" or via streaming audio on the internet. Weinland also sends cassette tapes and archives sermons in MP3 format on the church website.
COG-PKG Government
Today, there is no oversight board in evidence, and Weinland claims that there are no members of the corporation, which has been renamed legally as The Church of God, Inc (EIN 341799827) even though doing business as the Church of God - PKG. It may now be structured as a "corporation sole". Ronald Weinland controls the church with a top-down structure.On December 13, 2008, Weinland ordained his wife Laura (who is the other of the Two Witnesses) as a Prophetess and placed her below him over the remainder of the church.
In July of 2008, IRS Criminal Investigation issued third-party summonses for church financial records in association with its investigation of Ronald Weinland. In sermons he has mentioned comingling church expenses on his credit cards, and has also mentioned Swiss bank accounts. Weinland's daughter Audra Little is the church bookeeper, and in November of 2009 Audra was ordered in US federal court to appear before an IRS Criminal Investigation special agent to give testimony based on her church role regarding Weinland's finances.
Prior to 2008, Weinland had a few elders below him including Johnny Harrell and Terry Wrozek who would occasionally give sermons. Wayne Matthews in Australia gave his first sermon in the summer of 2007. Ralph Dowd of the Cincinnati area and Paul Worth of Georgia gave a few sermons a number of years ago.
Beginning in 2008, Weinland began expanding the number of elders and promoted two as evangelists: Wayne Matthews over Australia and New Zealand, and Johnny Harrell over the US and Canada. In 2009 Terry Wrozek was promoted to senior elder and then evangelist and Johnny Harrell was named senior evangelist. Below Wrozek and Harrell are 3 Senior Elders added in November 2008. Approximately 2 dozen other elders were added, mostly in early 2008. In December of 2009, Weinland added a category of "associate elder", and changed doctrine to allow the ordination of women. In the announced first wave, 58 men and women were or are to be ordained in all ranks of elder, including Weinland's children Jeremy and Audra.
Evangelists
Johnny Harrell of Georgia is the evangelist over part of the US, and is the senior of the three evangelists.
Wayne Matthews of Melbourne Australia is the evangelist over Australia, New Zealand and Europe.
Terry Wrozek is the evangelist over Canada and part of the US.
Senior Elders
Senior Elders are over other elders in various regions They are: