4 April 10–16, 2025 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents I t took Morning Alexander 26 years to leave the cult within which she was born, and as she left, she was sure God would strike her down. Her whole life, others had told Alex- ander that if she ever turned her back on the 510-acre farm where every person she’d ever known lived, she’d be raped, abused and killed. God would kill her two children in a car wreck, and their blood would be on her hands. She’d be walking herself through the gates of hell. Alexander knew her name would be “trashed” among those who stayed behind. Leaders of the church central to their com- munity would tell the congregation she was a prostitute or a swinger, or maybe some- thing worse. Her decision to leave cost her her job and her home. She “sobbed” reading text messages from family members who said they’d have nothing to do with her or her children. But it is a decision she would make again and again. The group that Alexander was born into identifies itself online as a “Bible-believing church community” that is “dedicated to strong family values and simple living.” Homestead Heritage is located just north of Waco on a property called Brazos de Dios (Arms of God), and its artisanal cafe and craft shop village are open to the public, just down a dirt road from the “Cheese Cave,” an underground cheese-aging facility adver- tised on Interstate 35 billboards. In the craft village, a horseshoe of log cabin-inspired storefronts gives the illusion that one is strolling through Little House on the Prai- rie’s Walnut Grove in pursuit of lavender- scented soap and hand-carved wooden kitchen utensils. The organization claims to draw hun- dreds of thousands of visitors a year. On Sat- urdays, visitors can purchase hayrides for $4 a child or $8 for adults. The fiber arts studio offers a 15-minute tutorial on woven coaster-making for $32. After taxes, a night at the compound’s Mohawk Valley Inn costs around $200. There is a general store, a tea house and a coffee shop. Those who live at Homestead dress mod- estly. Members learn how to respond to in- quiries or criticisms from the public; one former Homesteader shared a 485-page booklet titled “Questions Visitors Ask” with the Observer. The booklet, which they said was circulated through the group through the ’90s and early 2000s, answers everything from “What crops do you grow?” to “What do you teach about baptism?” to “Are you a cult?” The booklet states that Homestead does not define itself as a “cult,” a word generally used prejudicially to describe “anyone out of lockstep with the spirit of the times..” Five former members, however, told the Observer they do believe Homestead Heritage is a cult and a “sinister” one at that. When Al- exander, 33, decided to leave the group with her husband and two children, she felt she was finally breaking a cycle of abuse that had plagued her throughout her life. “The whole time, I felt like I was never enough. I was never doing it right, but I was trying so hard because I thought that was my salvation,” Alexander said. “They build you up, build you up, build you up, and then kick your feet out from under you, and you’re back in that cycle again. And that’s how they keep you there.” Homestead Heritage declined the Observ- er’s request to respond to the claims made in this article. A partner with the San Antonio law firm Gately & Morris, P.C. responded to the Observer’s inquiry and accused “a coordi- nated group” of non-members of seeking publicity to “generate attention — and in some cases income — by spreading false and defamatory claims.” “Without specifics, we cannot verify nor responsibly engage with allegations made anonymously or in bad faith,” the response said. “We are also deeply concerned by the accusatory tone and framing of your ques- tions, and it is apparent that you are ap- proaching this topic with a predetermined narrative and are simply seeking validation for assumptions rather than understanding or truth.” Obey Your Leaders and Submit to Them B y the time Homestead Heritage moved to Texas, it was two decades in the mak- ing; their landing in Waco was coinci- dentally timed with the raid by federal agents on the Branch Davidian cult in 1993, which led to a 51-day siege and nearly 80 deaths. The Homestead website admits lo- cals sometimes confused the church group with David Koresh’s cult, just 15 miles to Homestead’s East at Mount Carmel. Founder Blair Adams started the Home- stead congregation in 1973 in New York City, where he’d served as a missionary for the United Pentecostal Church. Around 30 members moved to New Jersey three years later. Homestead’s website says members “immediately saw the need” to implement homeschooling for children, to grow their own food and to begin giving birth at home rather than the hospital. In 1980, around 100 Homesteaders moved to Colorado while a second group began settling in Texas. A de- cade later, Homestead relocated its primary operations to Waco. The group does not associate itself or its teachings with any organized branch of Christianity. Homestead Heritage’s website claims the group’s practice of basing their beliefs directly on the Bible likely makes them “more traditional than much of what has come to be called Christianity today.” Online, the church says its membership hovers around 1,000, a quarter of whom live on the Brazos de Dios property. The remain- ing families live on nearby plots of land. Hope Glueck’s family was among the first to make a home at Brazos de Dios. Her parents were both Homesteaders when they met. Her mother, an original church member from the New York days, served as a nanny and housekeeper for the Adamses and their 10 children. (A former member told the Observer this is one of the most “prestigious” roles an unmarried woman can hope to have within the group.) Glueck’s father was a member of the now-defunct Austin congregation. As a plumber, he prepared the Waco farm for the church’s arrival. Both of Glueck’s parents and a brother are members of Homestead Heritage. “My parents are what I like to call true believers. My mom especially, working for the Adams family, she really idolized them,” Glueck said. “Everyone idolized Blair be- cause that’s what he demanded.” A charismatic leader is a key ingredient in the cultic formula, say Wendy and Doug Duncan, residents of Garland who have spent the last 17 years running a support group and counseling services for former cult members. In addition to counseling for- mer members of Scientology, Keith Ra- niere’s NXIVM and the Twin Flame Universe, the couple has had several former Homestead Heritage members pass through their support group. Based on the testimonies of those former members, the Duncans believe many of Homestead Heritage’s practices and values — the demands for confession, purity, total faith and isolation from those outside the or- ganization — are consistent with the typical cult. Cultic groups reflect the times, the Duncans said. In the 1960s and 1970s, cult popularization reflected society’s upheaval; when the COVID-19 pandemic began, it “felt like 1968 again,” Doug Duncan said. In the last decade, cults similar to those in the late 20th century have proliferated online, especially targeting individuals look- | UNFAIR PARK | Illustration by Kate Jarvik Birch They Who Are Exiled For years, a Texas religious group has exercised strict control over its members near Waco. People who have left are now speaking out. BY EMMA RUBY
