Former Shekinah Church Members Claimed They Were ‘Brainwashed’ By Its Leader—Here’s Who Is Still In the Cult

Miranda Derrick

Miranda Wilking (now Derrick) is signed with 7M Film Management and is a member of the Shekinah Church. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband James “BDash” Derrick, who she married in 2021. Isaiah Shinn, the son of 7M Films Management CEO Robert Shinn, has been credited for filming some of their joint videos.

In response to the Wilkings allegations against 7M Film Management, Miranda gave out a public statement. “I am not held against my will and I’ve never been a hostage,” Miranda said. “I go to church and I have faith in God. If one day I wish to pursue my faith elsewhere, I will and feel completely free to do that. As far as my career, my time at 7M Films has been one of the most exciting years ever and if one day I wish to partner with a different management company or start my own company, I will.”

Days before the film’s premiere, Miranda attended her sister Melanie’s wedding. “Thankfully, since going public in 2022, we have reunited with my sister, who even attended my wedding,” Wilking said in an expired Instagram Stories post. “We believe that one day my sister and the other victims will realize their love for their families and faith was exploited.” 

James ‘BDash’ Derrick

James ‘BDash’ Derrick is a member of 7M Films alongside his wife Miranda. Derrick responded to his wife’s family’s claims that they had cut them out of their lives due to the church. “[It] started with a white beautiful woman moving in with a poor Black man from Compton that the parents did not approve of,” he claimed on his Instagram stories. The Wilking family denied the claims in the Netflix series.

Tighteyex

Ceasare “Tighteyex” Willis (formerly Tight eyez) is signed to 7M and is devout to the Shekinah Church. Tighteyex specializes in KRUMP, which he helped create in the early 2000s. He was raised religiously and referred to the dance as “Kingdom Radically Uplifted Mighty Praise.”

Tighteyex gave a statement to The Cut about how 7M and the Shekinah Church helped him through hard times. “I was in a place in my life where I was going in a bad direction because of trauma and other things I was experiencing,” Tight Eyez’s statement read. “I was looking for somewhere to just be at peace and Shekinah helped me find that and so much more. They picked me up, dusted me off, and encouraged me to keep going and help me go toward my destiny.” 

Jay Chris Moore recounted a time that Tight Eyez was passionate over dance at a choreography session. “We are the anointed ones, and we only move when we’re told to move.” Then, Moore says, Tight Eyez wouldn’t dance until “he felt like he was told to dance from whoever or whatever higher power he believed was telling him to dance, then he started dancing.”

Vik White

Vik White is signed with 7M films and is a member of the Shekinah Church. White, born Slavik Pustovoytov, moved to the US from Ukraine when he was 12. He made appearances on So You Think You Can Dance and The Ellen DeGeneres Show helping elevate his fame.

Raino

Nicholas Raiano, or known by the mononym Raino, is part of 7M Films. The Raiano family claimed that the Church is preventing him from seeing their family.

“WE treat you 10000000% better than what they are treating you!!!! I need to comeback to LA and knock on the church’s door everyday until we hear from you n provide your flight n hotel info. You are the best man and amazing person,” his father allegedly wrote on Facebook according to the Instagram account @withoutacrystalball.

After the documentary aired, Raino deleted all his social media accounts except for his YouTube.

Isaiah Shinn

Isaiah Shinn is Robert Shinn’s son. He’s responsible for the videography of most of the 7M Film members dance videos. He worked as a production assistant for his father when he was just a teenager. He founded his own company HiFreq Films in 2018.

Kendra “XO” Willis

Kendra “KO” Willis is part of 7M Films. She’s married to Cesare “Tighteyex” Willis who is also part of the company and the Shekinah Church.

Esther Shinn

Esther Shinn is Robert Shinn’s second wife. According to Without A Crystal Ball, who has been posting about the 7M controversies for years, she and Robert started the Shekinah church in 1994. They have two children together, Isaiah and Conrad.

Shirley Kim

Robert Shinn’s third wife was Shirley Kim. Shirley is still involved in the Shekinah Church. As an attorney, she was his former business associate and is listed in 7M Films corporate filings.

Hannah Shinn

Hannah Shinn is Robert Shinn’s current wife. Her role within the Shekinah Church includes the title of “Woman of God” and chief financial officer. According to Business Insider, She manages the dancers’ bookings and schedules.

In the 7M Documentary, a former member Priscylla claimed that Hannah attacked her. Robert allegedly claimed that Hannah did nothing wrong after trying to console her in her room. That day Priscylla said that she’d “rather go to Hell than stay.” 

Melanie Lee

Melanie Lee was a member of the Shekinah Church and detailed her experiences in the cult. She left Shekinah in 2011 after 10 years while her sister stayed until 2022. She claimed that Robert Shinn would make sexual advances towards her and said that she must “pay [her] price” On appearing on the documentary she said, “I was having less nightmares about my past and I was making progress, until all of this started coming up on social media.” 

Pryscilla Lee

Priscylla Lee was in the Shekinah Church until 2022 during the production of the documentary. She left after Robert Shinn’s wife assaulted her.

In 2022, Shinn filed a lawsuit claiming defamation and trade libel against several former church members, including Priscylla and Melanie Lee, that alleges the defendants made “false statements” referring to Shinn’s organizations as a cult, and launched a campaign to “cancel” Shinn “through flagrant, defamatory attacks on social and other media.

Melanie Wilking

Melanie Wilking used to be part of the Shekinah Church. Melanie and her parents, Kelly and Dean, hosted a livestream alleging Miranda straying away from their family because of her commitments to 7M Films. The family said that Miranda cut off almost all contact with her former friends and family, even blocking her grandmother from her social-media pages. Melanie used to be part of the company, but left.

Kylie Douglas

Kylie Douglas left 7M and the Shekinah Church in 2022 and later joined a lawsuit suing Robert Shinn of running a “cult” and taking advantage of his followers. She appears in Dancing For The Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult.

“Even though we were only in there for two years, it’s still two years of our life that we spent battling to give full attention to [Shinn] and his church,” she told Rolling Stone. “We just no longer want him to be able to do that to anyone: the brainwashing, the manipulating, running people down — giving their time, giving their effort, giving their money, giving all they got for something that is a false hope.”

Aubrey Fisher-Greene

Aubrey Fisher-Greene was a member of 7M until August 2022. He claims that Shinn and Shekinah took around 10% of his income.

He told Rolling Stone that Shinn proclaimed, “the more you give, the more you receive.” The cross-complaint stated, “Towards the end of his time with Shekinah, Aubrey started to feel a sense of emptiness and like Robert and others in Shekinah were keeping secrets.”

Kailea Gray

Kailea Gray was part of 7M Films and the Shekinah Church. She appears in Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult.

Alexandra Watkins

Alexandra Watkins was a member of 7M. She is currently a touring dancer who has danced with acts like Sabrina Carpenter and BLACKPINK.