r., then the Beattys' house. A lot of these questions were answered on a weekend retreat that the group leaders went on together. The three of them -- Dale Clark, Kevin Murrell, and Bill Beatty -- were accompanied by a Catholic priest, Fr. Mike Burke. A retreat is a mini-vacation from regular life to focus on a certain theme, usually prayer-oriented. This one was no different. The goals God had for this community became evident within the first half hour after their arrival. This was to be an inter-church community. The members were to sell their homes and move close to each other in a central location.
             The men, in returning from their retreat, were well aware that they needed support from their families to carry out these leadings. They asked their wives to go on a retreat to confirm what their husbands felt God had told them. The women came home with the same leading and were fully willing to support their husbands in this effort.
             Though the purpose was clear to the community, at this point, there were not any written agreements or a name. On Friday, February 9, 1973, the meeting was to be just another meeting filled with prayer, fellowship, and discussion about community. This was not the case, however. The winter had brought snow in a much larger amount than was expected, more than a foot. This circumstance brought the group together for the entire weekend. On Sunday they were still consumed with the purpose at hand and Bill Beatty, whose house they were residing in, excused himself from the group. He went to the bathroom, the only free room in the house. It was then that he received the covenant from the Lord and for lack of anything else to write on he wrote it on a roll of toilet paper. It reads:
             The Lord has called us to make a solemn covenant with Him and with one another to be a people of praise. We accept the Lordship of Jesus in our lives, individually and as a people. He has destroyed our isolation and joined us t...