James Douglas McCotter (born April 27, 1945) is an American entrepreneur, the former CEO of Maverick Jets and controversial founder of the "Blitz Movement" which became the Great Commission Association of Churches.
[4] McCotter dropped out of college to focus on ministry full time, and was planning to move down to Pueblo, Colorado to continue his efforts; however, in 1967, at the height of the Vietnam War, he was drafted into the United States Army.
During training, at a base in Fort Polk, Louisiana, McCotter met Dennis Clark, to whom he imparted his vision of God's "strategy" to reach the world.
[3][4] In 1970, under the leadership of Jim McCotter, Dennis Clark, Herschel Martindale, and others, approximately 30 college-age Christians embarked on "The Blitz" - a summer-long evangelistic outreach to several university campuses in the Southwestern United States.
The sermon was based upon the Bible verse Proverbs 20:30 ("Blows that wound cleanse away evil; strokes make clean the innermost parts.")
[8] ISU child development professor Sedahlia Crase was quoted as saying, "What he advocates on this tape is just poor child-rearing practice in every sense of what we know now.
"[11] In late 1986, McCotter announced his resignation from GCI, stating a desire to utilize his entrepreneurial abilities in an attempt to influence secular media for Christ as his reason.
[10][13] In an interview with New Zealand's North and South, McCotter denied involvement with Great Commission, saying, "I personally grew up as a Protestant and have tried to contribute most of my life to Christian or charitable organizations.
However... most ex-members that I have talked to are not fully satisfied with the reforms or apologies and feel that the issues of deep personal hurt and offense have not been adequately addressed.
A former member was quoted in response, suggesting such an attitude "protects unequivocally the prophet-leader (McCotter), keeping him in holy light, regardless of the realities of distortion and problems seen from those not under the spell.
'"[15] While with GCI, McCotter began several publishing enterprises, including a monthly publication called Today's Student, which claims to have reached circulation of 500,000 (a figure disputed by researcher Larry Pile in his book Marching To Zion.
"[18] Fred Fedler, chairman of the University of Central Florida journalism department, at one point criticized the Sun's content as "a bunch of fluff.
McCotter was also criticized for damaging "the regional television product quite severely", having been accused of driving the three previous news programmes out of business prior to the closure of The Citizen.
[21] In March 2001 McCotter Aviation purchased majority shares of Maverick Air Inc., the brainchild of homebuilder Bob Bornhofen.
"[1] McCotter has experienced several setbacks in seeking certification and production for the Leader, the twinjet VLJ in which Maverick Jets chief pilot Jack Reed suffered a fatal crash in January 2003.
[25] Sohu reported that McCotter eventually signed a treaty with Xi'an, China Vice-Mayor Yang Guangsheng to begin production of SmartJets there.
McCotter insisted that the resort bar remain open despite Purrier's allegation of the moral toll it was taking on residents and workers.
On May 15, 2007, Bass reported that McCotter, who had been restricted from touching the sewer systems during the closure, had submitted a plan to fix the problem, which was subject to approval by the U.S. Forest Service and the Wyoming DEQ.
[33] The sale occurred on July 16, 2009 with the three properties making up the Big Horn Mountain Resorts selling for $410,000 to Wayne and Holli Jones, owners of another local lodge.
A misdemeanor warrant for ignoring court orders to appear for allegation of failing to pay past employees was issued to McCotter by the Bighorn County attorney's office.