Katherine was nice enough to share her story about her experiences with Global Expeditions.Trigger Warning: The last bullet point does involve sexual assault. Although I didn’t attend the Honor Academy, I participated in four Global Expeditions (GE) mission trips as a teenager: 2 months in Panama (age 13), 1 month in China (age 15), 1 […]
A visitor shared her takeaways from her experiences with GE and ATF in the early 90s. While she didn’t attend the HA, she did work at a church that espoused a lot of the same beliefs. These are the values that came to mind when she watched Shiny Happy People season 2. Us versus them
Guest Post: Teen Mania Unspoken Values Read More »
Hoo boy! Here we go. I am ecstatic that this documentary is out! I have been antsy leading up to the release date. Part of me was happy but another part of me was anxious and I just wasn’t sure what to expect. The trailer suggested to me that I would see lots of older
Shiny Happy People: A Teenage Holy War ep1 – Live Reaction Read More »
My wife and I watched all 3 episodes of Shiny Happy people. I think this gif best summarizes the first episode. I was hoping to post last night after binging all 3 episodes and provide some slight raw reaction. I was also hoping to do some kind of live blog post that I would constantly
Holy…. Mother…. of God… Read More »
Ever since I saw the Mind of Mania broadcast and found this blog, I’ve considered posting, but never did until now. I suppose it is because I am embarrassed to say I ever had anything to do with Teen Mania or even worse, that I recommended it to others. I was horrified by what I
I write because its 2013, and I’m still pretty torn up. I went on a mission trip with GE in 2011. But who knew one month of my life could hurt me so much?! Right when I think I’m over it, I can see and feel everything all over again.Its like time picks at scabs
I stumbled across your blog a month or 2 ago and have been unable to stop reading it since. I was never an intern, I was asked to be on staff of the internship but declined because I witnessed the burnout and dysfunction that was rampant (even after several different times I heard TM was
Nancy’s Story: I was a Global Expeditions Team Leader & Project Director Read More »
While I am not an Honor Academy Alumni, I feel that my experiences as a Global Expeditions missionary in ‘04 and ‘05 have majorly effected the way I see Christianity. I was twelve when I first went on a junior trip to Costa Rica, and having earned the two thousand dollars required to go all
Sophie’s Story: A Global Expeditions Review Read More »
Thank you for this blog. I feel like a lot of the things I felt for years after being involved with Teen Mania in the mid 90’s are now validated. I remember my first Acquire the Fire. It was actually held in our church (it used to be that small!). I was a new Christian
Jessica’s Story: A Global Expeditions Review Read More »
Note from RA: Teen Mania leadership has repeatedly assured us that the events in this story no longer happen at Teen Mania. However, this story is extremely recent – Global Expeditions 2011. I have been a Christian nearly all my life. I loved Jesus and knew that Jesus loved me, and right around the summer
Before you read my story, I want to make it clear where I am coming from. I am now inches away from being atheist. I have a deep hatred for religion (if there is a god who cared, I think that they would feel the same way), I feel that religion has done more harm
I never went to the Honor Academy. I prayed and God quickly killed the idea in my mind because he already knew I dealt so much with a guilty conscience and HA would only make that worse. (Actually that feeling was finally helped when I read To Kill a Mockingbird and in the story Scout
I found your site and I’ve spent the better part of 5 hours reading it, with breaks only to take care of my newborn. My heart is hurting and my brain is just spinning. For years I’ve felt invalidated by my feelings concerning this “ministry” and all that goes with it. Only in the last
I, like so many others, was introduced to Teen Mania at an ATF. I went on my first Global Expeditions Mission Trip the following summer to Russia (’93), I was 13. For the first time I felt like I had a place were I just fit in. In many ways TM became my family. I
Kate’s Story: Part 1 Read More »
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 »
I attended ATFs in Denver since 1996. The first time I went to ATF it was amazing, the preaching, the music, it was so wonderful. I wondered how someone could ever be that kind of Christian. I grew up in a Southern Baptist background. I went every year waiting until I could attend the HA.
Mark’s Story: Part 1 Read More »
I was never in the Honor Academy. Honestly, I don’t think they would ever have let me in. But my experiences with Teen Mania have really colored the way I look at missions today, how I view TM, and the HA. I went on a GE trip to New Zealand. It was a terrible experience
My family was poor, and $1000-$2000 was a whole lot of money that we didn’t have, so I knew a missions trip would be a “once in a lifetime” experience. Because the Christmas trips were only 2 weeks and cost almost as much as the summer trips, I decided to make the most of the
Robbie’s Story Part 2: Global Expeditions Read More »
A few weeks ago I asked people to send in stories about their experiences with the health & safety conditions at Teen Mania. I haven’t posted many yet because I literally have SO much to post about that they’ve kind of been put at the bottom of the pile. One of my readers, Liz (also
Roughing It For Jesus or Unnecessary Deprivation? Read More »
Hi, my name is Danielle (not her real name) and I’ve never been to the Honor Academy, but I went on a GE trip this summer and I think I got a pretty good taste of what Teen Mania is all about. Even in the short time I was affiliated with Teen Mania Ministries, I
