Recently bloggers have been asking questions about Charles McVety and his doctorates.
Good on them.

I do not have the answer to many of my questions below, I’m putting up what I’ve found, there are top notch bloggers well equipped to follow the twisted trails.

Bill Kinnon did diploma mill homework, bouncing off this BDBO post and a Yaya Canada post and asked McVety to explain his doctorates to us lowly bloggers. He put a call out to Canadian media to do their research.
Bloggers are asking media to stop using Dr and McVety side by side.

Dan at Culture choc did some digging and came up some striking information (see his updates)

The Galloping Beaver, unrepentent old hippie, The Red Tory v.2.0 and Canuck Attitude also picked this up, carrying the theme of asking Canadian media to research and stop with Dr?
The information was picked up by a US site Ethics Daily. If other blogs have picked up information on these diploma mills, pop into the comments, you deserve a link for your effort.

In March 2007 when Bill Kinnon and I were working on these posts he bought these links to around one diploma mill; californiastatechristianuniversity.com, .net and .org.

While bloggers broke this story this week the diploma mill had been busy. California State University. Shiny new site. It has a Canadian counterpart as you can see from the research done by others. Not a shiny site, it’s rather dead.

Charles McVety got attention when he bragged to The Globe and Mail about his access to members of Parliament and about C-10. The rest is history.

I have never seen a representative of The Evangelical Fellowship of Canada say anything untoward about anyone in evangelical circles. Politeness and respect wins out.
Except when C-10 hit the fan because Charles McVety attempted to convince the country he and his groups represented Christians as if we were a monolithic block of sheeple.

As President of Canada Family Action Coalition, (but not a registered lobbyist) McVety headed to the Senate Banking Trade and Commerce Committee hearings with his fellow Canada Family Action Coalition Co-Founder & Executive Director Dr. Brian Rushfeldt. Merriment ensued.

I didn’t think about Dr. Brian Rushfeldt, he wasn’t providing the national comments, ire and entertainment. Other than reading Kady O’Malley’s piece at Macleans, he was background.

That changed with Bill Kinnon’s post and the resulting diploma mill blog burst.
This week I wrote the Coalition asking the following about their co-founder:

Would you be kind enough to tell me what bible college he is dean of?

What church is Mr. Rushfeldt associate pastor of?

I’ve seen Dr. Rushfeldt mentioned in media, what is his doctorate and where is it from?

I’ve had no response.
So I reached out to bloggers for help because I’ve come down with a cold to beat all colds and I can’t think my way out of a paper bag.
The Beavers Galloped to the rescue.
Cheryl found an 10 year old article in Christian Week: Christian lobby group vies for support Canada Family Action Coalition unites conservative views

The homosexual-rights legislation that was passed in 1996 lit the fire under then dean of Victory Bible College Brian Rushfeldt.

A question answered.
Brian Rushfeldt had been dean of Victory Bible College.

The other questions remain unanswered so far.

Why would I care? Brian Rushfeldt is a lobbyist, who takes Charles McVety to senate committee hearings. If people in the public eye use diploma mills I think it’s prudent to point that out. When people in the public eye try to pass push polls past a senate committee, lead media to believe they represent all of us Canuck Christians, (and particularly evangelicals) represent themselves with fake honourary degrees, it makes sense to me to speak up.

I know nothing about Victory Bible College yet, I’m not going to pretend to.
I don’t yet understand how Alberta legitimizes Christian colleges.
Are you tired of the links in this post yet?
I’m getting there – what a twisted trail.

I found this, which came up 404. www.cscu.edu/links.html. This is the cache:

Victory Bible Colleges International

Victory Bible Colleges International (VBCI) has been authorized to confer degrees in divinity and to award certificates and diplomas for merit and proficiency by the Alberta Legislature. VBCI is recognized by the Evangelical Order of Certified Pastoral Counsellors, the Wagner Leadership Institute, and the Association of Canadian Bible Colleges. VBCI is also affiliated iwth the Association of Christian Schools International (ACSI). ACSI in Western Canada has a membership of 85 schools and 11 colleges representing over 18,000 students in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Association of Christian Schools International has school representation in 85 countries with regional offices in Ukraine, Hungary, Guatemala, Canada, and the United States. Combined student representation is over 840,000 in more than 3,900 schools. Over 140 colleges are also members of ACSI.

Hmmm.
I haven’t researched most of that information yet. I can tell you the shiny new site shows up at the Pastoral Counsellors site.
I can tell you the Wagner theology (Red Deer Alberta) is extreme neo pentecostal charismatic, Joels Army, third wave, apostolic-prophetic.
Think today’s GodTV, Todd Bentley.
Think domionist and restorationist.

I can tell you ACSI pops up a fair bit in higher education diploma mills.
Wikipedia:

Services that the group offers its members include accreditation services for primary and secondary schools, teacher certification, and access to student assessment tools, including the Stanford Achievement Test. ASCI sponsored development of a Bible Assessment Subtest component for the Stanford Achievement Test.

Because ACSI does not accredit colleges or universities, it is not recognized as an accreditor of higher education institutions by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation or the United States Department of Education. However, the organization does allow institutions of higher learning to be “member” schools, which should not be confused with accreditation. In 1994 ACSI’s primary school and secondary school programs became officially recognized by the National Council for Private School Accreditation (NCPSA). [1]. The United States Department of Education does not recognize or certify agencies for the accreditation of primary and secondary schools, including regional accrediting agencies.

Now take links.html off the URL and look where we wind up. Shiny new site. One of McVety’s doctorate sites. The California diploma mill.

Where did Brian Rushfelt get his doctorate(s)?
Found it – Canada Christian College
via: The Walrus, October 2006. Marci McDonald: Stephen Harper and the Theo-cons, page 8:

Occasionally, McVety pops up in the media as president of the Canada Family Action Coalition (cfac), whose mission is “to see Judeo-Christian moral principles restored in Canada.” Co-founded ten years ago by Brian Rushfeldt, a Calgary pastor who’d acquired his theology degree from Canada Christian College by correspondence, cfac has become a ten-thousand-member grassroots lobby known for publishing election guides that track MPs’ votes on social issues, as well as for Rushfeldt’s periodic appearances on Jerry Falwell’s Old Time Gospel Hour.

I don’t know, I’m waiting for a response.
How is Victory Bible Colleges International accredited?
I don’t know.
How does Victory Bible Colleges International currently tie into the shiny new site?
I don’t know.

I can’t get into the Canada Revenue Agency on weekends, there may be some answers there.

There are many unanswered questions; educational, theological, international.
St. Petersburg (a Charles honourary) is a tricky one to track. Victory Bible Colleges International certainly hasn’t been sorted out.

Oh, and Kinnon, I don’t think being brilliant enough to buy up even californiastatechristianuniversity. edu would have slowed these diploma mills and users down at all.

Update: The Galloping Beaver builds on this research  uncovering more facts;  taking a look at Dr.? George Madden, current dean of Victory Bible College International, and the connections to the EOCPC and Rhema in US. Pertinent questions are being asked.
Brian Rushfeldt was a  dean of Victory Bible College International.

The EOCPC newsletter shows a pictorial connection to the McVety family (Canada Christian College).

If you’ve joined the group of bloggers doing some digging and asking traditional media to take a look, by all means drop your link in the comments section.

WikiAnswers has an entry up saying California State Christian University is not a diploma mill. There is no link provided for Tae Han Theological Seminary and College, Seoul Korea.

California State Christian University (CSCU) is a private postsecondary vocational school with religious exemption. We were approved by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education on June 30, 2007; when the Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education Reform Act became inoperative, we and many other California vocational schools entered into a voluntary agreement with the Director of the California Department of Consumer Affairs.

That shouldn’t be too difficult to check out.

Update: Received from Canada Christian College:

We do not currently have any pamphlets/information packages about St. Petersburg State University, as we ourselves are currently updating our catalogue and information packages. The most we are able to do right now is direct inquirers to our website for any pertinent information he or she requires at this time. Since you have already observed our website, and inquire information about St. Petersburg State University, I invite you to observe their website at spbu.ru/e/ and perhaps inquire if they would be able to send you an information package directly from their institution. I apologize that this is all we are able to offer at this time; if you still desire an updated information package from us, please provide us with your exact mailing address, and we will send it to you as soon as it is available. Thank you for you.

Blessings,

Natalie Stewart
Executive Assistant of Student Services
www.canadachristiancollege.com