“The one thing that is heartening about such mistakes is that it shows that despite public controversy I (and my ilkish friends) are still operating under radar.” Douglas Wilson

If you talk to any kirker or ex-kirker, they’ll admit that Doug Wilson freely says he learned a valuable political lesson from Living Faith Fellowship Church in Pullman, Washington. Sometime in the late ’80s or early ’90s, Living Faith attempted an overt coup of Pullman by running a bunch of church members for city council. They planned to stack council with a majority and begin calling the shots. Presumably they failed (couldn’t find it on Google, so I’m not sure). But this taught Douglas Wilson the importance of “flying under radar,” which is another warfare term he uses to describe his takeover activities. He deploys this phrase a few times in this list.

Aircraft generally fly under radar to conceal their presence in enemy airspace because, if discovered, they would be shot down. Their infiltration violates another nation’s sovereignty. Air units fly under radar to hide their intentions from those they seek to harm or have harmed. They deliver their ordnance and return to base. This raises the question, why does Christ Church want to fly under radar? Generally speaking, churches want the world to hear their message. It makes no sense for an assembly of people to obscure the point of their existence when they claim to represent the living God.

Doug Wilson answered the question in his 2007 blog post “No Incumbents.” He cited several reasons to justify his political activism, including this:

5. Passed new zoning rules for boarding houses that do nothing to stop party houses, but removes the freedom of owner-occupied family homes from showing hospitality to students — especially NSA students — or missionaries — especially Mormons, others. (Douglas Wilson, No Incumbents, Saturday, October 27, 2007)

Note the words “zoning rules for boarding houses. . .” This refers to the Christ Church network of illegal boarding houses, which is unrelated to “hospitality” unless kirkers charge money to show kindness. This Kirk network is the foundation of the Christ Church economy. The Kirk would collapse without the tax-free revenue that passes from NSA students to kirkers every month. Douglas Wilson uses it to keep kirkers happy, silent, and in the pews. Take away this easy money and the empire crumbles.

NSA’s website hints at the Kirk network of illegal boarding houses but does not admit it:

Housing
The College is a non-residential campus, meaning we provide no on-campus housing. Most students board with local Christian families or share apartments with other NSA students. The College expects its students to be mature enough to live independently. Students are responsible for their own housing arrangements. Costs for boarding with local Christian families vary considerably, depending on the living and meal arrangements. Two bedroom apartments typically rent in the $500–$600 per month range, and duplexes and houses go for between $800 per month to $1,200 per month. On average, full-time students should expect to pay about $4,000 for room and board per academic year. (New St. Andrews College, emphasis added)

Eleven years ago the Daily News quoted a Kirk elder:

Moscow resident Dale Courtney has a number of boarders in his house. They include New Saint Andrews College students and one University of Idaho student. “We’re extending hospitality to the students,” Courtney said. “These kids are the lifeblood of the community.” Courtney said the women who board at his house are like daughters to him and sisters to his 17-year-old daughter. “Our girls eat dinner with us at least once a week,” he said. The women cook for the family sometimes too. “In that respect, we are a family,” he said. He said he has never had any complaints from neighbors about his boarders and said he believes New Saint Andrews College students and those who attend Christ Church are being singled out. “We have not been identified because of complaints from neighbors, but because of who we are,” he said. (Moscow-Pullman Daily News, April 17, 2006)

Do the math: $4,000 per academic year multiplied by 4 boarders equals $16,000. Multiply this by 10 years (2000–2010) and Dale Courtney’s illegal boarding house has pulled in $160,000 plus or minus. Now enlarge the equation to include the entire network of Kirk boarding homes since 2000. Arguendo let’s use the “$4,000 per academic year” and average the number of boarders to 100 students per academic year:¹

100 students per academic year × $4,000 per student = $400,000 per academic year²
$400,000 per year × 17 years = $6,400,000

Six million eight-hundred thousand dollars ($6,800,000) in total revenue for 17 years of boarding houses is a low estimate. Of course, this figure is not all profit because it does not subtract overhead. But it still represents unreported revenue, or to use Doug Wilson’s idiom, “under the radar” money. This is one thing he’s hiding. This is why he conceals the actual number of NSA students from the general public as well as their addresses — most of these boarding houses have not obtained CUPs from the city to operate. They’re illegal, and the CUP application process would expose the Kirk to unwelcome scrutiny. The city could deduce an accurate head count for NSA’s student body as well as how many boarding houses have been flying under radar all these years.

There are other reasons Douglas Wilson flies the Kirk under radar. We’ll look at them another time. But don’t forget this: Serial pedophile Steven Sitler and abusive monster Jamin Wight both lived in the Christ Church network of illegal boarding houses when they committed their crimes. Destroy the network and not only will the Kirk collapse, it will reduce crime on the Palouse.

¹ No one knows the exact number of boarders or boarding houses in the Kirk because Doug Wilson conceals this information — he keeps it under radar. The Kirk directory omits the addresses of NSA students unless they live with their parents.
² In its first decade, NSA limited its student body to 150. In 2006, the City of Moscow capped the student body at 200. So an estimate of 100 student-boarders per academic year is significantly low to compensate for the static figure of $4,000 per year.