Secretive Conservative Group Counseled Sanfords

Feb. 5, 2010— -- Jenny Sanford, wife of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, said her husband looked to leaders of an elite, conservative, Christian group known as "The Fellowship" for guidance during a rough patch in their marriage.

Sanford writes in her memoir, "Staying True," which hit bookstores today, that an adviser from the Fellowship, to whom she gives the fake name "John," counseled her to work through her anger at her husband and to put her marriage and family above all else.

Jenny Sanford does not specify if she was counseled by the well-connected Fellowship Foundation in Washington, but Mark Sanford publicly cited the Fellowship's role in helping him and his family confront his affair during a June 2009 press conference.

His wife's account highlights the extent of the Fellowship's involvement as counsel, and says they even dished out advice on the couple's sex life.

"We went so far as to talk about sex and he told me not to withhold it as punishment as that would make everything worse," she wrote.

Watch Barbara Walters' exclusive interview with Jenny Sanford on "20/20" Friday at 10 p.m. ET

Behind closed doors, the group has been known to offer spiritual guidance for its members, who gather for prayer at a row house on Washington, D.C.'s C Street that is funded by the society.

But the secretive organization has come into the spotlight for its role in the affairs of members Mark Sanford and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., where they reportedly became entangled in their members' private lives.

Jeff Sharlet, who says he lived with the Fellowship in 2002 and wrote a book about it called, "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power," said the group has a record of reaching out to powerful figures during ethics scandals, courting and counseling them in a quest to "infiltrate the world with Jesus."

The male-dominated group preaches subservience, according to Sharlet, and often counsels members' wives to stay in relationships at a high price.

"As Christians are to Christ, so women are to men -- you have to submit to him," Sharlet said. "That's the conservative evangelical world they're in. ... They'll counsel you and help you through this, but your job is to be there for your husband, especially if he's in a position of power."

Efforts to reach the Fellowship were unsucessful.