Matt Hale was elected Pontifex Maximus, an ancient Roman title designated for the Church's supreme leader, by The Guardians of the Faith Committee at a ceremony at COTC Reverend Slim Deardorf's ranch near Superior, Montana. According to a Montana newspaper, the ceremony's attendance was meager; the paper estimated only 35 people in attendance. While the newly resurrected COTC might be small in numbers, the organization is compensating with an aggressive barrage of mailings and recruiting efforts.

Hale, in his upper 20s, has been a vocal but marginal figure in the right-wing extremist world for several years. He reportedly holds degrees in both political science and music from Bradley University and has attended a law school at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. From his headquarters in East Peoria, IL, Hale has frequently tried to invent himself as a major extremist leader. In 1992, he proclaimed himself National Leader of the National Socialist White Americans Party. Previously, Hale founded the American White Supremacist Party (AWSP) while still a freshman at Bradley University. After dissolving the AWSP, he tried to attach himself to the National Association for the Advancement of White People (NAAWP), a group founded by longtime racist David Duke. It appears that this branch was never recognized by the NAAWP leadership and Hale abandoned this project as well. Soon after this, Hale discovered Klassen's Church of the Creator.

Hale has been arrested numerous times on relatively minor charges associated with his extremist activities but has served no significant jail time. According to Hale, his one conviction was overturned because police failed to read him his rights. He had been accused of felony obstruction of justice for refusing to provide the details of an episode in which his brother, who allegedly shares Hale's racist views, drew a pistol on a Black man. Hale's brother was convicted of a misdemeanor in the case.

Whether Hale will turn out to be as charismatic a leader as Klassen remains to be seen, but COTC has clearly experienced a jump-start since his arrival. Replacing the now-defunct Racial Loyalty newsletter. Hale has started The Struggle, a newsletter emanating from the COTC's headquarters in Peoria, IL. According to Hale, The Struggle is only a small part of a much larger campaign to spread COTC's message. He promises more media exposure and public demonstrations. One part of this campaign has been to encourage COTC to expand its already large and sophisticated presence on the Internet.

Another component of Hale's leadership has been an aggressive recruiting effort. During 1997, COTC material has been distributed in several large cities across the country, including Chicago and San Francisco and Reno, NV. There have also been reports of Creator material turning up in many smaller communities in Michigan, New York and California.

On July 13, 1997, two Detroit women, one of whom, Michelle Wilson, is closely affiliated with the local COTC branch, were arrested for littering when they were caught distributing hate material in Huntington Woods, MI. Police confiscated about 400 copies of a WCOTC booklet titled, FACTS That the Government and the Media Don't Want You to Know. In court, Wilson, invoking the First Amendment, pled not guilty and is awaiting trial. The other woman, claiming she did not know what was being distributed, pled guilty to the littering charge, a misdemeanor. Significantly, Wilson claims she has been in constant touch with Hale and Church headquarters and received advice on how to proceed. According to Wilson, "I've been getting support from headquarters, and we're making decisions as we go along. We'll fight this as far as we have to."

Hale's booklet runs the gamut of anti-Semitic accusations: the Kosher food tax, Jewish control of the media, Jewish control of the government, and, interestingly, Jewish control of the slave trade. The second half of FACTS is devoted to crude racism.

While estimates of the group's numbers are fuzzy, Hale claims that COTC now has almost 3,000 members. This figure, however, seems highly unlikely. However, there is some evidence that the group's recruitment effort over the past year is working. Miles Munter, a 21-year-old forklift operator, is the local COTC leader in Reno, NV. In a June 1997 Sacramento newspaper article, Munter claims to have signed on several dozen new members in the Reno area.

Next: More Than Just Talk: COTC and Violence