Chain of Command
the NTCC and House of Prayer churches

“Chain of Command” is PRETEND’s investigation into two related churches accused of using cult tactics to recruit and financially control active-duty U.S. service members: the New Testament Christian Churches of America (NTCC) and its breakaway sect, the House of Prayer.

NTCC is led by CEO and head pastor Michael Eckel, who inherited the organization from its founder, his father-in-law Roger W. Davis, after Davis’s death in 2014. The church places congregations near U.S. military bases, particularly overseas, and recruits through a practice members call “soul winning,” in which young enlisted members are sent to approach fellow service members in uniform on base. Former members interviewed for the series, including Sarah DeJonghe (recruited in Okinawa, Japan, in 1996) and Tracy Pelphrey (recruited in the Philippines in the 1980s and a member for seventeen years), describe escalating isolation and financial control.

The House of Prayer split from NTCC after a revolt led by Rony Denis, who built his own following and, according to former members, pushed the control tactics further, including forced public confessions. In 2022, the FBI raided five House of Prayer churches, seizing computers, records, and cash, though no one was arrested at the time. In the fall of 2025, a tactical response team arrested Denis at his 11,000-square-foot Georgia mansion. Denis and seven associates were indicted on 26 counts, including wire fraud, bank fraud, and tax charges, in connection with an alleged $23.5 million scheme; five co-conspirators were released on $50,000 bond, while Denis and his top lieutenant remained held.