Our Story – The PMA Manifesto

VIDEO COMING SOON!

How did you first learn about PMAs?

Aaron:
Angela G: Not long into the lockdowns, a South Jersey gym had put a bee in Governor Phil Murphy’s underwear, refusing to close their doors. The state responded with force but the gym owners refused to buckle. This was Atilis Gym of Bellmawr, NJ whose owners fought well against government mandates. Through their story, I first learned about Private Membership Associations. Feeling a sense of urgency, I devoured what scant information could be found online at the time and found 5 different PMA gurus and spoke with each one. Most were transparent, clearly motivated by money, easy to see through. But David Edwards gave me hours of his time, “educating” me on PMAs. His unique recipe of 20% truth and 80% bloviating convinced me to form my own PMA. It seemed like the a lawful way to operate without government meddling.
Angela H: Another homeschooling mom shared with me about Private Membership Associations (PMAs) in the Spring of 2021. At the time, Maryland was under a strict lockdown due to COVID, and students and staff were being forced to wear masks in school. My district was threatening to fire any teacher that refused the COVID vaccine, so I knew that my time as a teacher was going to be limited. The lady who shared with me about PMAs told me that I should look into starting a PMA to protect me and other children from unconstitutional mask and vaccine mandates, so I began researching PMAs on Google. Very quickly, I came across several YouTube videos featuring David Edwards of PMA Power (like this one and this one however many other videos of David Edwards have since been removed from YouTube), and many of the things that he said really resonated with me.

I did not believe that the government had any right to infringe upon my rights – especially not in the way that they had been doing since the plandemic began. PMAs seemed like the “silver lining” that I had been looking for! And of course, the incentive of being able to operate my business “tax free” sounded too good to be true (SPOILER ALERT: IT IS). At the time, David Edwards was the only real “expert” that was showing up in my online searches, so I reached out to him directly via phone. We spoke for over an hour, and by the end of the phone call, I knew that I wanted to have the freedom and protection that he claimed I could have through a PMA.
Erika:

Why did you start your PMA?

Aaron:
Angela G: I started my PMA as a protective force for those in our community who wanted to assemble and do business together at markets without limits or medical equipment. It seemed to make so much sense that my faith could support our activities. We were simply gathering upon our shared faith in the human immune system.
Angela H: I started my PMA, PAX Ministries, because I wanted to create a school for homeschooling families and to provide a way for children to gather without mask or vaccine requirements. The idea of a ministry really resonated with me because my faith is an integral part of me and everything that I do. I truly believed that God was calling me to walk in the freedom that he intended for me. (Galatians 5:1) The additional bonus of not having to pay taxes was definitely the cherry on top!
Erika:

When did you start your PMA?

Aaron:
Angela G: I hired David Edwards to draft my founding documents in the Spring of 2021.
Angela H: David Edwards drafted my founding documents for PAX Ministries on October 10, 2021. I paid almost $2,000 for a “faith-based ministry,” and David told me that he was setting up my ministry as a “508c1a.” I founded my PMA with my best friend, and that was our very first problem, but I’ll share more about that later.
Erika:

How and when did you become a certified PMA Advisor?

Aaron:
Angela G: There was no certification process when I joined David’s group. It wasn’t until later that Guy Stinson-Morrell created an Advisor Certification Course that new advisors were required to take.
Angela H: Amber Sonsalla (one of David’s first advisors) told me that in order to become a PMA Advisor, I needed to operate my PMA for one year, complete two online courses, and read the book Original Intent. I began taking the PMA Advisor courses (over $600 paid to Guy Stinson, another one of David’s first advisors) on July 13, 2022 and finished both of them in less than 24 hours. The final part of the process to become an advisor was to be mentored by a “senior advisor.” I had already connected with Angela G. on Facebook as a fellow former teacher, and I asked if she would be willing to be my mentor. To my great joy, she agreed to be my mentor, and I officially completed my mentorship to become a certified PMA Advisor in October 2022. I wanted to become an advisor because I believed that God would give me the opportunity to use my teaching skills in order to teach other people about our rights and freedoms – and how to protect those rights and freedoms through PMAs. I also was hoping that by becoming a certified PMA Advisor, I would be able to provide for my children since I had lost my job as a public school teacher.
Erika:

When did you realize that something was wrong?

Aaron:
Angela G: I had stumbled upon a video about David being a fraud and shared it with the Advisor group. David, who had been absent for several meetings, promptly got on a call to denounce the video and plead his case. He talked in circles for close to 2 hours and, shockingly, many advisors bought every word. I was stunned so few were able to see what he was revealing and attempted to bring the issue up in a meeting and my concerns were quickly quashed. One Monday morning, I discovered I had been removed from every platform of communication our advisor group had. I’m now very thankful for that day.
Angela H: I noticed that something was wrong on my very first meeting with the other PMA Advisors from PMA Power. Guy had started the meeting making a comment about division within the group, and things quickly exploded between the the PMA Advisors and my new mentor, Angela. At the time, I wasn’t sure about what had happened, but shortly after our meeting, Guy sent out a notice informing us that Angela had been removed from PMA Power for “causing division.” Angela is a person that I deeply respect, so I was surprised to see the way in which they handled whatever their disagreement was.

As a new PMA Advisor, I was working hard to basically start a new business. I was excited to share about PMAs with other people and help them to walk in freedom. However, I noticed that there was a significant lack of education about PMAs available. There were not many books or resources or courses, so I decided that I would put my teacher skills to work and create something! I began to work on creating an online course to teach my clients about PMAs, and while I was building that course, I was forced to go back and “fact check” a lot of the things that we had been taught and told by David Edwards. Unfortunately, when I went back to read the court cases and codes that he had sited, I learned that they did NOT say anything CLOSE to what we had been told. Angela and I began to discuss more about our findings, and she invited me to join a small group of other PMA Power Advisors that were also starting to question things.
Erika:

What was your “line in the sand?”

Aaron:
Angela G: The inability of other advisors to face the truth or even question David’s narrative. Their blind obedience and devotion to David Edwards was equally as disturbing as the concurrent medical dystopia we were fighting against. I spoke up and was summarily booted out. That inflexibility showed me I must onto something. So I began to dig deeper into the case law, tax code and history of PMAs (unincorporated associations).
Angela H: For me, the line in the sand was when I actually read the 508c1a code. The truth was right before me in black and white: only churches are automatically tax exempt. The more that I learned about churches and ministries, I saw that the IRS made a very clear distinction between the two, and we had not organized or operated properly at all. If my “PMA” had been challenged, we could have had very serious potential legal and financial consequences. And the more that I expressed my concerns with the other PMA Advisors, the more they tried to dismiss my legitimate concerns and questions. That was a huge red flag for me, and I refused to do the same with my clients.
Erika:

How did you restructure your PMA?

Aaron:
Angela G: I decided to wind up the PMA and move forward with a new phase of life; one that is closer to home and family.
Angela H: Upon realizing that a 508c1a is a church (not a ministry), my co-founder and I faced an important decision: (1) dissolve the “PMA ministry” and start over, or (2) operate like a true bona fide church (based on the IRS’s 14-point criteria). We chose to operate with integrity as a church. My best friend and I invited two of our friends to establish our church’s board, we chose to incorporate at the state level, and now we are in the process of applying for 501(c)3 status.

Because there are certain activities that I would still like to operate as a for-profit business, I separated out those activities from the non-profit and currently operate my for-profit business activities as a sole proprietor.
Erika:

What do you do now?

Aaron:
Angela G: I can foods and teach other mothers how to do the same. I am side-kick to The Crunchy Prepper, Ria Wallace and we travel around NJ, teaching the food preservation skills families need for greater self-reliance. The Crunchy Prepper is resource for holistic family preparedness. We’ll show you how to survive emergencies and thrive even in the midst of long-term trials with proper planning, strengthened by an intentional community.
Angela H: I founded PAX Academy, a private school for unschoolers. I have published over 20 books about peaceful parenting, education, and the Crunchy Kid Series and earn royalties from those books. I also have started earning a living as a content creator. Within one year, I have grown my TikTok account to over 100,000 followers, and now I help other families to create alternative and passive streams of income so that they can have more time to invest with their families and friends as they pursue their passions!
Erika:

Why did you join the PMA Manifesto team?

Aaron:
Angela G: We formed this team to bring the truth. Everyone deserves a chance at informed consent. For every one Truth we can broadcast, there are at least 100 myths surrounding PMAs. Our team hopes our efforts will save you time, money and heartache. PMAs are real. But most of the information about them is simply fantasy.
Angela H: I chose to join the PMA Manifesto team because I know that we are better together than we are separate. There are SO many PMA peddlers out there trying to sell people documents that are essentially worthless, and I am honored to be a part of a team of people who are committed to telling people the truth – even if it hurts and even if we don’t agree with the truth. The truth is that NONE of us agree with what is happening in our society today. We do not agree with the way that our government has taken liberties (pun intended) to rob us of our God-given liberties. And yet, the reality is that they have and they do. I believe that everyone has the right to know the whole truth which is an essential prerequisite to making an informed decision. And I am honored to continue to empower people (like YOU) as you walk in freedom and in truth.
Erika:

What do you wish that you would have known?

Aaron:
Angela G: I wish I would have known to heed my own intuition better. I’m not the person who impulse buys in the grocery checkout or any store. I’m actually the girl who makes a spreadsheet of pros and cons of a new vacuum cleaner. The entire freedom-minded community was so desperate for a way out of the tyrannical control that we all got high on that PMA hopium, myself included.
Angela H: I wish that I would have known that just because I want something to be true, that does not automatically make it so. Also, the worst part about being deceived is… you don’t know it! I always seek to give people the benefit of the doubt, and I do not believe that all PMA advisors are intentionally misleading people. However, I do believe that they are mistakenly relying on the myths and misconceptions of others without doing their due diligence to rightly divide fact from fiction (2 Timothy 2:15).
Erika:

How did you first learn about PMAs?
Why did you start your PMA?
When did you start your PMA?
Why did you start your PMA?
How and when did you become a PMA Advisor?
When did you realize that something was wrong?
What was your “line in the sand”?
How did you restructure your PMA?
What do you do now?
Why did you join together to start the PMA Manifesto?
What do you wish that you would have known?