Brother Stair Cult

Ralph Gordon Stair (born May 3, 1933), also known as Brother R. G. Stair, or simply Brother Stair, is an American radio preacher based in Walterboro, South Carolina. Stair leads Overcomer Ministry, a conservative Pentecostal Christian organization that runs a widely heard radio-based ministry. Stair purchased a motel in Walterboro, South Carolina in 1978, and encouraged followers to move to the community, sell all their possessions, take a vow of poverty, and donate all that they owned to Overcomer Ministries. The multi-racial, multi-generational community of about 70 strives for self-sufficiency and simplicity, growing their own food and making their own clothes. Community members live in mobile homes and handmade houses, eating communal meals and gathering for Saturday worship in the Tabernacle. They dress conservatively; women wear long skirts and men wear long pants and shirts with collars. Typically, work is divided along traditional gender lines, with men performing farm/manual labor and women doing domestic chores Stair's teachings place a strong emphasis on millennial predictions of world-changing events resulting from divine judgment. In the year 1999, he said that there would be such changes at the dawn of the third millennium. "If the Lord God Almighty does not make a major move before the year 2000," he said, "I'll tell God to go to Hell." Stair also has received publicity over the years for several of his missed predictions, including a nuclear war prophesied for 1988, and that Reagan would not complete his term as president. Over the years, Stair has been involved in a number of controversies, including allegations of sexual abuse, of infant deaths, and that his ministry is a cult. Stair objects to medical intervention, and teaches avoidance of doctors. Commune members typically follow Stair's teaching, and in the 1980s and 1990s, local authorities investigated after three infants died during or shortly after birth at the compound. In 1988, relatives were concerned when a couple sold their home and moved to the community in the wake of prophecies of nuclear war, and raised concerns that the group was a cult, whose members could not leave because Stair controlled their money. The Philadelphia chapter of the Chicago based Cult Awareness Group was quoted as comparing the organization to a cult and Stair to Jim Jones. A business colleague described the group as "bizarre", and that they "walk around like zombies. He's a David Koresh waiting to happen." Stair denied the allegations, stating that he had no power to compel people to any action, and an investigation by local law enforcement officials found no evidence of wrongdoing. The community is located on Highway 61 Between I-95 and Highway 15. 12680 Augusta Hwy, Eleven Miles North of Walterboro, South Carolina. Look for the "MARANATHA" sign marking the entrance to the lane leading to the Tabernacle.