A letter from Ron’s sister-in-law: I’m not even sure how to start this e-mail to you. A family member told me about your site and I have been reading it for over a year now. I am greatly saddened by the stories I read and my heart goes out to all youth who have experienced […]
Ron Luce’s Parenting Book: Did He Lie About His Own Family? Read More »
THE WAR Teen Mania had a bit of a crisis half-way through my undergraduate year. 9/11 had occurred, and numbers were down. Parents were hesitant to send their kids overseas on mission trips. Youth groups were backing out of ATF. The Aug. class of 2003 was shaping into an embarrassingly small one. TM wasn’t making
Jamie’s Story: Part 4 Read More »
SEXISM My Intern Advisor was also the Dean of Women. She was on staff for only one year before she and her husband moved on to something else. At our very first focus group, she passed out that dreadful list of rules along the lines of “How to be a Godly Teen Mania Woman”. By
Jamie’s Story: Part 3 Read More »
My biggest liability was that I was physically tired almost all the time. I have had this problem my whole life, but it got a lot worse after I’d been at the HA for a while. My biological clock got so messed up that I would crash in my dorm room after work and classes
Jamie’s Story: Part 2 Read More »
PROLOGUE I came to the Honor Academy with issues. I brought a lot of baggage with me, as does every intern that has had to make their way in this broken world for 17+ years. I don’t think that the leadership at the Honor Academy fully understands this. They say they do, but the infrastructure
Jamie’s Story: Part 1 Read More »
My name is Meagan (I went by Megz at the HA). I have been reading this website for quite some time now and I shared a bit of my story on one of my anonymous comments. I’ve been debating on sharing my full story on the website for some time now, but I’m finally ready
Many former interns can verify the environment of suspicion and mistrust cast upon any intern that doesn’t fully subscribe to the party line. As I was reflecting upon my experiences there, I noticed an interesting parallel that might help convey this reality. Each spring, the interns must train to run the Tyler 10k. To be
Suspicion & Mistrust Read More »
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 have a different kind of story to tell, but I think it is an important story for both recovering and non-recovering alumni. I was an intern August 98. I would describe my internship year as a positive experience, but I would like to explain that in more detail. Having read all of the stories
Hayley’s Story: How a Pro-TM Alumnus Learned to Listen our Stories Read More »
First of all, I just want to say Thank You for your blog. I wish I could just give you a big hug! My son went through HA and is still dealing with many “hurts” inflicted upon him there. I am just now finding out some of the details, because he has simply been unable
A Parent’s Perspective Read More »
Moderator’s Note: “Sydney” sent this story in last night. While she prefers to remain anonymous, its important to know that her story is recent and occurred sometime in the last 3 years. In my intern year, the turning point for me, the thing that I think cemented the feeling I had that something wasn’t right,
Sydney’s Story: ESOAL Read More »
I went to the HA several years ago in the middle of my sophomore year of college because I was seeking to be stronger in the Lord. Looking back on my time in the HA, I now understand the negative reinforcement that was given to me. My mother was fully against it as she saw
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 »
Summer started for Global Expeditions in June. I was working in operations in GE, and we had to basically make “Immersion” happen for each wave of missionaries. We had to plan the services, the ceremonies to get them fired up to go, and send them off. Once the missionaries arrived, I was working 7am to
Emma’s Story: Part 2 Read More »
Just before my senior year in high school, I decided that I wanted to take a year off from school after I graduated, to travel or do something different. My grandma offered to pay for most of a 3-month trip to Europe, but I decided to turn that down to go to the HA instead,
Emma’s Story: Part 1 Read More »
Hannah recently sent me her story, but noted that in her TM days, she went by “Hosanna.” The thing about TM is that you have this weird “connection” with people. That “you understand the 1-2 years of the craziest, best, worst, emotional, incredible, unforgettable, hardest time of my life” type of feeling. And yet, everyone
It’s been hard to force myself to commit some of these thoughts to “paper”. I don’t spend much time thinking about my Teen Mania days. I don’t really keep in contact with many friends from the internship… and the relationships I still maintain have a kind of depth that doesn’t depend on the Honor Academy
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
I have been following your blog with much excitement since my wife (HA alumni-99) told me about it several months ago. Although I never attended the Honor Academy, I religiously attended ATF’s through out high school and also went on two TM mission trips. In fact, I talked my wife into going to the Honor
My second year, I started out on the Ministry team. It was great; it was the family I had always longed – for something real. But halfway into that program, they basically told me that I was not working hard enough so I was kicked off. Basically, I felt they were telling me that I
Brandi’s Story: Part 2 Read More »
Moderator’s Note: “Brandi” prefers to retain her anonymity, but I am allowed to tell you that this story took place within the last few years. Two years before coming to the Honor Academy, I was saved from wiccanism at an Acquire the Fire. I didn’t know what to do with my life so I ended
Brandy’s Story: Part 1 Read More »
(Moderator’s Note: This story and the comments below briefly, and with minimal detail, mentions rape.) Life After the Honor Academy: Once home, I received one phone call from a guy friend to see how I was doing, then nothing. It was as if I never existed to TM or any of my friends. I was
Kate’s Story: Part 3 Read More »
I started the Honor Academy in January 1997 just after Teen Mania moved to Garden Valley. Things started out on the wrong foot from the get go. I was under Kim W’s supervision and she seemed to take an instant dislike to me. I later learned that this was partly because Kim was best friends
Kate’s Story: Part 2 Read More »
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 »
I have been reading through the RA site here and there, and in the beginning, I will be honest, my thoughts were something like, “Well, good for them. They are hurting and finding a way to work through it.” But I felt disconnected. It has been 15 years since I was part of TM, before
