also had an outreach to athletes, Champions for Christ. The group often referred to itself as "God's Green Berets." Unlike most campus ministries, Maranatha functioned as a denomination. Its campus chapters were called "churches," and its leaders "pastors." At a local level, decisions were made by the pastors and elders of the university churches in their movement as well as by the traveling ministry teams. In 1988 Maranatha established a church in South Africa at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. This church changed its name to His People in about 1990. Criticism and controversy Authoritarianism Maranatha came under considerable fire during the 1970s and 1980s, largely due to its highly authoritarian structure. There were accusations of MCM being a cult with some former members reporting behavior similar to cults that frequently recruited college students during that time. As advocated by Derek Prince, members agreed to live in mutual accountability to protect their "purity in Christ." As was typical of most organizations influenced by Shepherding Movement teachings, this resulted in the organization developing clear authoritarian characteristics. Weiner, as Maranatha's president, was considered the ministry's "apostle," and was believed to receive direct revelations from God. Campus pastors supervised members' lives very closely. Disobeying one's pastor, or "shepherd," was considered tantamount to disobeying God. The movement was labeled as a "cult" or "cultlike" by some former members and newspapers. Proscription against dating Maranatha first came under fire because of its teachings against dating. Weiner considered Prince's book, God is a Matchmaker, to be a "revelation" stating that Christians should not date (though Prince's book does not directly advocate such an interpretation). He also claimed that sexual misconduct was rampant among college students. For this reason, members of Maranatha were barred from dating. Instead, singles were told to trust God, pray for God to guide them to a spouse, and hear God's voice speaking to them personally and individually about every decision. If a member believed God had spoken to him or her about marriage, he or she would pray with the pastor about whether that "word" was truly from God. Pastors would then send the names to Maranatha's regional offices for prayer, and sometimes Weiner himself would weigh in on some of these requests. Tithing teachings Another common criticism of the organization was its emphasis on tithing, or giving 10 percent of their earnings to the ministry. Although tithing is considered