Timeline of David Alexander, Celebrity Ex-Evangelical Convert to Mormonism

"...my 47 years in evangelical Christianity." See here (20:20)

Here, as best as I can gather, is the religious background of the celebrated ex-evangelical convert to Mormonism David Alexander.  Alexander features his evangelical background as the platform from which he defends Mormonism and opposes evangelicals.  Questions have been posed about the extent of Alexander's evangelical involvement.  How one answers these questions will depend on (1) whether one considers the Twelve Tribe group in which Alexander (as "Duresh") belonged for what appears to be most of the last 20 years, should be counted as evangelical or not, and (2) whether the great number of churches Alexander reports having passed through during the previous 27 years, some of which could undoubtedly be counted as evangelical, represents typical evangelical experience.   I leave it to my readers to decide the answers to these two questions for themselves. Where possible I have relied on Alexander's own words, but I have also used other published items in which he is quoted or mentioned.
I begin with a summary overview of Alexander's various Church connections, followed by a more detailed timeline with links.  I am indebted to several people who have graciously provided information and links. Corrections or additions appreciated.

Summary timeline: 

1954: born into Roman Catholic family.

1970-1971: 16 years old.  Prays to receive Christ at 16 years old at a revival put on by First Assembly of God Church in an auditorium at St. Martin's College in Lacey, Washington.

1976, June: 21 years old. Prayed to receive Christ at the House of Mercy Commune in Olympia, Washington, which was associated with Jim Durkin's Gospel Outreach 1976, June-c. Dec. c. 1977: Lived at the House of Mercy Commune in Olympia 1978, Spring: Sent to Phoenix to start Gospel Outreach community there. 1978-1979: Abandons Gospel Outreach Project and joins Valley Cathedral, a non-denominational Charismatic Church in Phoenix, AZ. 1979-1980: Leaves Valley Cathedral with group that follows singles' pastor Glen Melot to found his own Church. c. 1980-c.1983: Starts attending St. Jerome's Catholic Church in Phoenix. It is involved in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal. 1984: Starts attending Steubenville Franciscan University, a key school in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, in Steubenville, Ohio. Attends for about a year. 1985: Starts attending Evangelical Presbyterian Church in small town near Steubenville. 1985-1986: While on vacation, visit's Tucson's Door Christian Fellowship which was founded in connection with the Potter’s House group out of Prescott, Arizona. 1985-1987: Starts his own Door Christian Fellowship (not affiliated with the Arizona Church) in Wintersville, Ohio.

1987-1988: Disillusioned he attends a Prophecy conference in Cleveland Ohio, where he is invited to participate in Steve Shank's church plant. 1987-1988: Moves to Virginia Beach, Virginia with his family and some members of Open Door to attend Steve Shank's (sp?) church plant.

1990: Living in Chesapeake, VA, in the Hampton Roads Metro Area (which included Virginia Beach) and attended Bob Fox's Vineyard Church start-up in Chesapeake area for about six months.

1990: Moved into the Foundation Park neighborhood to help Broken Chains International for about a year.

1990-1999: Starts his own Abundant Life Church, in the Cradock district in the Tidewater area of Portsmouth, Virginia. 1995-1998: Seeks a formal connection for Abundant Life Church with the Seventh Day Baptists.

1999: Moves to Maine with group from Abundant Life to start, at his own initiative, a Christian commune which lasted about 6 months. 2002, Nov.- c. 2021: With Gene Spriggs Twelve Tribes group.

c. 2021: Leaves Twelve Tribes and moves from Katoomba, Australia, to Kiama, Australia. c. 2021-Mar 2023: Lives in van in Kiama mostly just trying to memorize the Gospel of John.

2023, Mar 20: Alexander baptized into the LDS Church.

2024, Mar 2: Flies from Australia to Spokane, Washington, where he buys a van and drives down to Rockland, Idaho.

_________

Full Timeline with Links

1954, Sept 28 (Olympia Washington): David Malvin Alexander born into Roman Catholic Family. Doing the math from here, here, or here (pp. 5 and 7) and given in James W. McCarville, The McCarville/McCarbel Family Genealogy, 900 AD to 2002 AD (McCarville Family Association, 2002), 518.

1970-1971 Prays to receive Christ at 16 years old at a revival put on by First Assembly of God Church in an auditorium at St. Martin's College in Lacey, Washington. He describes it as a "religious experience of being born again and asking Jesus into my heart, coming under the conviction of sin. It's like, it didn't change who I was" See here, min.14.  He pondered it for six weeks and then pushed it away. 

1976, June: Gives his age as 21.  See or here. 

1976 June: Prayed to receive Christ at the House of Mercy Commune in Olympia, Washington. That particular commune was associated with Jim Durkin's Gospel Outreach/Lighthouse Ranch in Eureka, CA. Durkin was put forward as "one of God’s Apostles, sent in restoration of the government of God outlined in Ephesians 4:11. True discipleship was only possible under the authority of the government of God." See here or here, p. 6.

1976, June - Dec (?) 1977: Lived in the House of Mercy Commune for 18 Months (presumably through December 1977). See here or here, p. 6.

1978, Spring: Sent to Phoenix to plant a community there. Met Durkin on the way and was not impressed. See here or here, p. 7.

1978-1979: Within "a few months" disillusioned with Gospel Outreach, quits and joins a large non-denominational Church in Phoenix called the Valley Cathedral. See here or here, p. 8, and here (37:00). He says in another place that he started at Valley Cathedral in c. 1980 (see here, min 46). But this would seem to be contradicted by his getting married there in 1979 (see below). He also says he walked out of new marrieds class and never went back (see below), which would seem to conflict with his statement elsewhere that he left Valley Cathedral in June (?) 1981 See here, min 46. Quite understandable as a memory glitch.

1979, June 10: Married Gloreen H. McNabb, whom he met in a singles group at Valley Cathedral at one of their swimming parties (see here, min 39). Rev. Glen Melot officiating. (Glen is the singles pastor who soon after takes the singles with him to start his own little church and Alexander and wife went there for a time (see here, min. 102). Gloreen attended Evangel College, Springfield, MO, which is affiliated with the Assemblies of God, which was her background. Alexander starts to get disillusioned with the big charismatic church (Valley Cathedral?) at the new-marrieds class. See here or here, p. 7. Their wedding announcement from the Olympia, WA (?) The Olympian (Sun, June 10, 1979): 31. Alexander says he got up and walked out when the associate pastor was describing perverted sexual practices in marriage and never went back. See here (minute 40-41). The slogan of the Church, "Where the difference is the worship."

1979/80-Nov 2002: begins his "23-year search through nearly 20 groups, three of which he started himself: "a street-level outreach, an urban neighborhood community church, and an apocalyptic rural Christian commune." During this period he moved 11 times. See here or here, pp. 6 and 7.
Some of the groups he also mentions belonging to during this period:

(1) Catholic Charismatic Renewal (five years) (see here, 3:59-4:56).  Some clarification is needed since left the Valley Cathedral in 1981, went to Steubenville in 1984 and lasted about a year (see here, min. 46-47). If, however, he did leave Valley Cathedral earlier as suggested above, and if his time with the breakaway church was brief, the five years might be correct. 

He says the first place he went after leaving the Valley Cathedral break off group of Glen Milot was back to the Catholic Church in the form of St. Jerome's which was near where he lived and was involved in the Catholic Charismatic movement. He attended there for one year or a bit more. (See here, min. 44-45, and min. 102).   Then he went to Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio, which he accurately describes as "one of the centers" of the Catholic Charismatic movement.  He lasts about a year there (see here, min. 103-104). 

Living in a small town of about a thousand people outside Steubenville he starts to attend Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church.  He doesn't say how long he stays (see here, min 104). 

(2) Calvary Chapel churches (see here, 20-24 for this and the following).

(3) Vineyard churches.

(4) Christian Fellowship churches [Potter’s House], started in Prescott, Arizona 

(5) CJ. Mahaney and Larry Tomczac's TAG (Take and Give), afterward the People of Destiny.
(6) Seventh-Day Baptists ("for eight years") SDB records have 1995-1998 (see below).

(7) Seventh-Day Adventist.  He mentions but gives no dates for this here, min. 1-2.
(8) Evangelical Presbyterians 

(9) Southern Baptists

(10) Assemblies of God

(11) Non-denominational churches. 

1984: Starts attending Steubenville Franciscan University, a key school in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal in Steubenville, Ohio. See here, min. 47. 1985: Realized the Roman Catholic claim to apostolic authority was "defunct," and left. See here. Starts attending Faith Evangelical Presbyterian Church (Starkdale Presbyterian Church?), in a small town of about a thousand people outside Steubenville  He doesn't say how long he stays (see here, min 104). 

1985-1986: While on Vacation visits the Door Christian Fellowship, started by Harold Warner who had been sent by Wayman Mitchell, the latter of whom had come out of the Four-Square denomination, and founded the Christian Fellowship churches [Potter’s House] out of Prescott Arizona (see here, min 106-107).  The Potter's House was given a bad report in Ronald M. Enroth, Churches that Abuse (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), 197-200.

1986 - 1987: (Alexander gives both dates) Started at his own initiative the Door Christian Fellowship in a store front church in Wintersville, Ohio, that lasted about a year and a half. See here (9:14) or a year (see here, min. 112-119). 1987-1988: Disillusioned he attends a Prophecy conference in Cleveland Ohio, that features as apostles, including Jim Durkin, Larry Tomczac, and Tomczac mentored Apostle Steve Shank. Tomczac and Shank urge him to follow them to the new Church plant below. 
1987-1988: Moved to Virginia, Beach Virginia, and started attending Steve Shank's (sp.) People of Destiny Church plant, initially called the Harbor but renamed Southside Church. See here, min. 48-49.

1990: Leaves Southside Church. See here, min. 106.

1990: Starts attends Bob Fox's Vinyard Church start-up in Chesapeake, VA, area for about six months (See here, min. 4, 10). Alexender was invited by Fox to attend a small meeting of Vinyard Pastors with John Wimber in Baltimore. Alexander doesn't like one of Wimber's answers, tells him so, and walks out never to attend a Vinyard Church again (See here, min. 10, 22-25). 1990: Moves to bad area Foundation Park to help Scott and Mary Anne (sp?) Dixon in their Broken Chains International where he worked for about a year until John Perkins came and told them it was too far gone (Alexander was at the meeting with Perkins) (See here, min. 24-26).

1990-1999: Alexander starts at his own initiative a store-front church, called Abundant Life Church, in the Cradock district in the Tidewater area of Portsmouth, Virginia. He bought an old Masonic Temple where he lived with his family (See here, min. 14). He then bought an old bank in the downtown area and turned it into the New Creation Family Fitness Center (see here, min 21), which he used for Church on Sundays. He says that at its peak it had about 100 attending, which eventually crashed and burned. See here (9:30-10:13). It is attested in local newspapers as being there as of 1995. See here and here. The latter link gives Barron (Barry) Baugh as co-pastor, an addict from an Assembly of God background, who had gotten addicted and went into Teen Challenge (David Wilkerson's group) to get clean. Alexander hired Barry to run the fitness center and work with troubled youth (see here, min. 21-24). There is further evidence in Seventh-Day Baptist records as a church which had not yet been formally recognized by the Seventh-day Baptists. The records mention Alexander and the Church from 1995 to 1998, when the request for formal recognition was withdrawn.

End of 1999: Moved to Northern Maine (North of Patten, in Aroostook County, then moved to Pattern when things fell apart. (min. 12-15). The move was partly motivated by the Y2K scare (see here, min. 23 and 28) with group from Abundant Life and started "an apocalyptic rural Christian commune," (see here, p. 7) which lasted about 6 months, which he was the pastor of. See here. 25 people decided to move up with him to start a "rural Christian community church" with David as "Pastor" (see here, min. 9). Part of the reason was the Y2K scare and the threat of Radical Islam who might have gotten hold of Russian Nukes. After Dec. 31, when nothing happened, most of those who had joined himabandoned the project.

2000-2001: Attended Assembly of God Church, apparently in Patten. (See here, min. 22)
2001:  David and Gloreen are reported to be living in Patten, Maine. See here. 

2001, June 9: Alexander's son graduates with distinction from Katadin High School in Stacyville, Maine, and was reported as hoping to study math at Gordon College, which is an evangelical school.  See here.  Stacyville is just down Route 11 from Patten, where  Alexander and Gloreen live.

2001 To be closer to where he had business they move to Orrington, Maine, across the river from Bangor (see here, min. 22). In 2009 David is quoted as saying he "was earning about $200,000 a year running his own auto upholstery business in Maine." See here.  Started attending a large Calvary Chapel in Orrington but soon quit going because he thought it was "not real," plus they held to a Pre-Trib Rapture.  But he claims the "biggest thing at that point was there's no Apostles and Prophets." See here, min. 23-24).

2002: Stops going to Church and starts putting ads in the paper for people interested in starting a series of house churches (See here, min. 104).

2002: David marriage to Gloreen had failed. See here.*

2002, Nov: Finds the website of the Twelve Tribes group on Nov. 23, 2002 (Nov 21 in 2003 Testimony_ and drives 400 miles (or 200 in 2003 testimony, actually 221 miles if it was in Lancaster) for a wedding there on the next Saturday Nov 26 (See here, min. 110-111) reporting:
"For the first time in 48 years on this earth, I saw the Gospel and the Kingdom of God in a real demonstration of the love of John 13:35, the unity of John 17:21, the life of Acts 2 & 4, and the good government of Ephesians 4:11." See here or here, p. 7.

Joins the Lancaster Twelve Tribes group, where he spends about a year before being sent to join San Diego area (see here, min 21) to join the Vista Comunity, which also had a organic farm in Valley Center.

2003, Winter: Alexander's testimony about joining the Twelve Tribes group, titled "My Search for a Holy People," or here, pp. 4-7, published in the Twelve Tribes magazine. c. 2004: Alexander marries Lione, from Australia, who was already in the Twelve Trines group when he joined, and whose Twelve Tribes name was Shelem Derush. See here. The date comes from the doing that math from c. 2017. See here. For and article by Shelem in the Twelve Tribes magazine, see here, p. 4. He would spend 16 years in the Twelve Tribes group (see here, min. 120). But it had to have actually been a bit longer.
2007: Alexander put in charge of Valley Center Farm near San Diego in order to make it profitable.  See here, min 21-22).

2009, Oct: David Alexander, now called David Derush, is still in the Twelve Tribes Group and is living at Morning Star Ranch, 12458 Keys Creek Road, Valley Center California.

2010: Shelem and David appear in a Youtube video. See here. David states that he has a community in Germany. Not treated in the Alexander's ten video autobiography.

2010, Dec 30: Gloreen Hope McNabb Alexander dies. Her four children, Marie, Zach, Amy, & Echen are mentioned in the obituary, but not David. See here and here.

2011: Alexander and Shelem sent to Australia, where Shelem is from, to help them learn to farm. See here, min. 21-24. He mentions that he worked in a very busy restaurant in Katoomba (The Yellow Deli Cafe on Main Street?)

c. 2017: Alexander still in Twelve Tribes group and married to Shelem. See here.

2021, June 11: Gene Spriggs, the founder of the Twelve Tribes group, dies.
2022, Mar:  David listed as still married to Shelem and living in Kiama, Australia. See here. But apparently this was not the case, because Alexander moved to Kiama after leaving the group and Shelem with it (see here, min. 24).

2022, Dec 23 (Joseph Smith's Birthday):  It first occurs to David to look into Mormonism. See here. He also says that he was "commanded to find out what these Mormons believe" by Heavenly Father. (See here, min. 0).

2023, Mar 20: Alexander baptized into the LDS Church. See here.

2024, Mar 2: Alexander flies from Australia to Spokane, Washington, where he bought another van and drove to Rockland, Idaho (see here, min. 24-25)

2024, Mar 28: Alexander living in Rockland, Idaho. See here. Ten seconds in. ______ On March 28/29 Alexander began a series telling his own history, titled Who is Latter Day Saint Convert David Alexander? Really?: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. He completed it on April 5.
______ 

* The question of Alexander's marriages and divorces are personal matters.  Sadly both evangelicals and Mormons sometimes get divorced.  I mention them here to provide concrete information to quell rumors.