Sovereign Grace Churches (SGM; previously Sovereign Grace Ministries and People of Destiny International, PDI) is a group of Reformed, neocharismatic, Evangelical, restorationist, Christian churches primarily located in North America. It has variously been described as a family of churches, a denomination, and an apostolic network. It has also been described as a cult, due to its unorthodox teachings, systemic control of members, and allegations of covering-up child sex abuse. Besides the North American congregations, there are also congregations in Australia, Bolivia, Ethiopia, Great Britain, Germany and Mexico. History The organization of over 80 member churches grew out of the charismatic renewal of the 1970s under the leadership of Larry Tomczak. It has its roots in a charismatic prayer meeting in Silver Spring, Maryland, then Washington, DC called Take and Give (TAG), which grew into Covenant Life Church, the former flagship of Sovereign Grace. Tomczak co-founded the church with C. J. Mahaney. Mahaney describes himself as a "former pothead." Larry Tomczak withdrew from the Charismatic Catholic scene shortly before the creation of Covenant Life Church. In 1981, Brent Detweiler, pastor of Indiana Christian Fellowship in Indiana, Pennsylvania, asked Mahaney and Tomczak to provide oversight and accountability for his church. The two churches formed an informal church-planting partnership. In 1982, shortly after planting a church in Cleveland, Mahaney, Tomczak and Detweiler formed People of Destiny International as an umbrella organization for their various ministries. The original apostolic team comprised Mahaney, Tomczak, Detweiler and Bill Galbraith. Tomczak and Mahaney and the movement were influenced by Bryn Jones and Terry Virgo, leaders of the British New Church Movement. Both Tomczak and Mahaney spoke at New Frontiers' Bible Weeks and Stoneleigh Conference. They were also friendly with Maranatha Campus Ministries for a period. In "The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Modern Christian Thought" published in 1995, Alister McGrath associated PDI with the Shepherding Movement and described it as having "informal links with Bryn Jones," the UK house church leader. In the mid-1990s, while Tomczak was still involved in the group's leadership, religious anthropologist Dr. Karla Poewe wrote that "Vineyard is particularly attractive to the young and intellectual... People of Destiny serves a Catholic constituency" although participants at that time would not agree with this assessment, contrasting PDI with the Vineyard Church. The theological focus gradually shifted during the mid 1990s and it was later suggested that the increasing New Calvinism of PDI was a major factor in