As I said, no scholar has studied Bill Gothard. In that absence, Starkes is an important source because he is saying he recognizes Gothard as a part of Baptist culture.

A better source comes to my attention: Don Venoit, who set up as a watchdog to keep 'cults' out of Evangelicalism. In 2011 he tells Sarah Posner he did not view Gothard's operation as a cult.

https://religiondispatches.org/taliban-dans-teacher-inside-bill-gothards-authoritarian-subculture/