As part of their continuing coverage, KLTV posts the second video in a series on ESOAL. My main response after watching the video is that although the Lindale clinic reported getting only 10 patients, that is not the main clinic Teen Mania interns use (at least that is what I’ve been told). Ten is not […]
Honor Academy’s ESOAL In the News, pt 2 Read More »
This afternoon, after the local news reported on ESOAL, Teen Mania removed their response website and instead forwarded the link to the website hosted at www.hastories.com. Here is a link to their original response site. Teen Mania, what are you afraid of? UPDATE: 24 hours later, 3 of the original letters from the original response
Teen Mania Deletes Response Website Read More »
KLTV, a local (to Teen Mania) television station is doing a series on ESOAL. Here is the first part, including an interview with me. Update: I think its interesting that Jon Hasz says that he wishes TM could take a “mulligan” for some actions with regards to ESOAL. How about an apology instead of a
Honor Academy’s ESOAL In the News, pt 1 Read More »
An inside source has reported to me that on Tuesday of this week, during chapel (approximately 36 hours before ESOAL began) Teen Mania leadership asked the intern body if any of them were paramedics or registered nurses. Two people responded and my source witnessed one of them working in the “clinic” area at ESOAL. 55
Who is Providing Medical Care? Read More »
The Honor Academy believes ESOAL will help interns reach the death and burial of their flesh, followed by a resurrection. They call this experience BAR. In this talk from the last year, Dave explains the reasons behind ESOAL to facilitators. (2021 Update: Video has since been taken down) @11:57 We want everyone at ESOAL to
The Theology of ESOAL Read More »
Frequent commenter, dan, wrote this in the forum last week and I thought it was too good not to share. Dan is a former Marine and has a long history with Teen Mania including being both an intern and Project Director. His military experience coupled with his TM experience gives him valuable perspective on ESOAL:
A Marine’s Point of View Read More »
ESOAL 2010 starts next Wednesday. As we’ve discussed before, ESOAL is physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually unsafe. The list of injuries is long including staph infections (one that almost killed an intern and led to a month long quarantine), broken and dislocated bones, panic attacks, hypothermia, diabetic issues and more. Keep in mind that in some
This week I’ll be taking a much needed mental and emotional break from all things TM. Since there won’t be any new posts this week, feel free to browse the archives. If you are a new reader, there is lots of great stuff from last year, especially critiques of popular TM teachings. Or you can
50 comments: Anonymoussays:July 29, 2010 at 10:44 AM Hahahaha!Oh boy oh boy the memories!Lots of people need to see this…. Anonymoussays:July 29, 2010 at 11:58 AM is this a real picture from ESOAL? Yes. Shilohsays:July 29, 2010 at 3:21 PM R.A. I’m really happy that you are exposing ESOAL. I honestly couldn’t really see what
Emma’s ESOAL story: I was truly excited for ESOAL. I thought that it would be a great experience, and that pushing myself to my limits would be really good for me. So in the auditorium, we sat in our companies and platoons. General Hasz walks up and says, “So this year we are doing things
Emma’s Story: Part 3 Read More »
Several questions were asked about ESOAL throughout the conference call. @ 15:55 – Dave says that ESOAL has changed dramatically. In the early years, the entire group stayed together, but “as a result of that way of doing ESOAL”, there were a lot of GIs and even staff member who got “power hungry” and acted like “drill sergeants.” However, now
Conference Call: ESOAL Read More »
Moderator’s Note: “Chase” contacted me because he was concerned that this blog was not helpful but instead might be causing division. He graduated in 2009 and loves TM. He wanted to share his “positive” story. Trust me, its worth reading. Stay kind in the comments. Although the Honor Academy is tough, hard, and needless to
When I arrived at the HA, I was placed in a room with Alex, a life saver at this point. My so called ACA showed up a week late and was promptly dismissed. I don’t even remember his name or even his face. During my first week we had corporate exercise. We didn’t have an
Mark’s Story: Part 2 (Global Expeditions Review) Read More »
00:00 -The video starts with an intern discussing their decision to “ring out” of ESOAL (AKA quit). “I had to ring out because my health was on the line.” I think this is a pretty fair representation of the overall mindset – its considered a huge spiritual accomplishment to quit ESOAL for the sake of
Honor Academy ESOAL: Never Before Seen Footage #2 Read More »
I recently came upon a very lengthy ESOAL documentary (2.5 hours). This particular video is from 2002 but recent interns have confirmed to me that most all of these events and attitudes are still firmly in place. This footage has never been seen outside the Honor Academy before now. I’ve edited down the 2.5 hour
Honor Academy ESOAL: Never Before Seen Footage Read More »
If you join the Honor Academy, you can! Here are a couple of excerpts from the blogs of 2 current interns about ESOAL 2009. Apparently, when sleeping outside in cold rain, you are not allowed to shiver: And there was this weird “ESOAL rain” that fell most of the time; it was this sort of
Would You Like to Roll Through Your Own Vomit? Read More »
My big problems are the long lasting physical effects I have had from the internship. Ear trouble – I had an ear infection that went untreated for two weeks because I couldn’t get anyone to take me to a doctor. I have hearing loss in that ear. Ovarian Cyst – I experience this for the first time
Stephanie’s Story: Part 2 Read More »
I just want to start off by saying that the Honor Academy was not the worst moments of my life…I’m not bashing it or badmouthing it in any way, I’m just bringing to light that there are those of us (myself and my husband included) that had a very difficult time growing and maintaining our
Ashley’s Story: Part 1 Read More »
Emotional/Spiritual Abuse This is the area that really pushed me to leave. When I arrived I had been asked about ESOAL (having previously indicated that I knew what it was) to which I stated that I would not participate. From that point on I was treated as though I was mentally ill for not wanting
C.R.’s Story: Honor Academy of the Ozarks, pt 2 Read More »
I was a January intern several years ago, and I’ve always been afraid to talk openly about my experiences at the Honor Academy—in part because I have this underlying fear that Ron Luce will somehow find a way to punish me, and partly because people don’t believe me when I tell them stories about being
Lauren’s Story: Part 1 Read More »
UPDATE: Teen Mania took down this video within hours of this post. Commenter Ben helped me get it back up via YouTube. Thanks, Ben! In this ESOAL facilitation training video, there is a very revealing exchange during the Q & A time. Because I have no doubt they will take this video down as soon
ESOAL, Judgement and the Sin of Personal Boundaries Read More »
I read your website last night about recovering from the Honor Academy and it was life changing for me. I have been on 4 trips with TM and have been graduated from the HA for 5 years. Everything made so much sense to me, the more articles I read on your site the more everything
ESOAL starts tomorrow. I just want to encourage any current interns who will be participating that there is NO SHAME in ringing the bell (or not even starting in the first place). Often, the environment at the Honor Academy makes you feel like you don’t measure up as a Christian unless your meet all of
More firsthand accounts of disturbing experiences at ESOAL written by interns. Here are a few “highlights” from a blog post written by an intern. Read the whole thing here. (2021 Update: Blog has since gone down.) Picture yourself in a concentration camp and you’ll get a taste of what I experienced. We were nothing, nobodies, lesser
ESOAL: Firsthand Accounts pt. 2 Read More »
That’s pretty much what I think of every time I hear about ESOAL. For those of you who are uninitiated, ESOAL stands for Emotionally Stretching Opportunity of a Lifetime. The interns call it “torture camp” for short. In reality, it should probably be called EABTNG or Emotionally Abusive Brainwashing and Torture in the Name of
Are They On Crack?? Read More »
