Every organization and field has its lingo, jargon, and acronyms. Every religion or religious sect has its series of mantras or slogans. However, Teen Mania perhaps holds the record for number of acronyms and staple phrases. It becomes a language of its own and a glossary is in order for the uninitiated. Comments are open in case I missed some. This list is primarily from the Honor Academy’s peak years.
360/Risen – The ladies class and club
A/B Shift – Most places call them 1st or 2nd shift. Since the majority of placements are for the call centers, definitions are in that context: A shift was primarily the ATF call center to reach youth pastors. B shift was primarily Global Expeditions and Honor Academy call centers to reach teenagers after school.
Accountability Card – A weekly survey where interns admit if they did their required activities or not. Some requirements were a daily quiet time, going to church and chapel, weekly exercise requirements, and more.
Accountability Partner (AP) – The accountability partner was supposed to be a buddy to confess what one is struggling with. This was a mandatory pairing and people had to find their partner. The AP was a separate requirement from the accountability card.
Acquire the Fire (ATF) – Weekend conferences for Christian youth hosted by Teen Mania and performed in stadiums across the United States. This was also their main recruiting vehicle for Global Expeditions and Honor Academy.
Admin-Administration building. This is the building that houses the auditorium, intern relations, the President’s office, marketing, the Epi, ATF Operations, Extreme Camps, the Honor Academy Call Center, the Events Office and the offices of a lot of the staff.
Alternate – Stands for “Alternate Exercise” for those who are too weak or injured for regular corporate exercise. Alternate participants are often considered lazy.
Assistant Core Advisor (ACA) – In charge of their particular room (4-6 interns). Reports directly to CA.
August/January Intern – The classification of an intern based on when they arrived to the internship.
Back 40 – This is the back 400 acres of Teen Mania property that has housing for missionaries as well as paintball courses and high/low ropes courses. There are also two obstacle courses (as of 2008) and woods/fields.
BattleCry – ATF on steroids. There were only a handful of events a year, but were much larger in attendance. It ran from 2005-2008 and exacerbated the financial toils.
Band of Servants (BOS) – A short-lived program for 2nd+ interns and similar to the Ministry Advisor (MA) without the focus on going into business. Individuals in the program seemed like rejects for whatever program the intern desired to join.
Center for Creative Media (CCM) – A media production group partnered with Teen Mania and staffed by second and third year interns. Interns involved were held to different standards.
Core – Group of 10-15 same sex interns that go through the internship together. These are grouped into “Family Cores” where a brother core is paired with one or two sister cores.
Core Advisor (CA) – An intern who has stayed two or more years and is put in charge of a core.
Corporate – Short for “corporate exercise” held at 5am on the “Anvil” (basketball courts). May involve stretching and calisthenics but the major emphasis is running.
DH – David Hasz, former director of the Honor Academy before shifting to COO of Teen Mania before his departure.
DD or RD – Dorm Director formerly called Resident Director. Each dorm has one DD. The CAs report directly to this person.
Dismissed – There was a lengthy list of rules that every intern had to follow, some of which resulted in expulsion from the program. Some rules include: dating or any romantic/sexual contact, drinking/smoking/drug use, acquiring a new tattoo, pornography use, or rebellion. This was done in a case-by-case basis and the process was capricious. Not every rule was an auto-dismissal and sometimes breaking non-dismissal rules still resulted in dismissal.
East Texas Adventure Course (ETAC) – High and low ropes courses for that Extreme Camps.
Epicenter (Epi) – This is the main part of the administration building where the ATF call center is located.
ESOAL – Physically and spiritually abusive event based on Navy Seals Hell week. Stands for “Emotionally Stretching Opportunity of a Lifetime.”
Extreme Camps – A summer camp for pre-teens.
Exec Track – A program for 2nd+ interns that aim to prep future staff for new Honor Academy campuses. This program started in 2008 (unsure how long it lasted) and came about after HA North and HA of the Ozarks were started with other campuses being planned.
Facilitator – GIs who help run the various LTEs. In the case of UPG and World Awareness, they tend to play the government roles trying to keep Christianity out/down. There are also facilitators for ESOAL, STI, and other extra-curriculars.
Gauntlet – The first 7-10 days of the internship. Gauntlet week consists of personality tests and skills test to determine where each intern will work in the ministry. Interns also learn the entire history and mission of TM.
GI – Graduate Intern (2nd or more year intern that is either a BOS, CA, Exec, GIIET, MA, MT, SOW or CCMer)
GI Roads – The process interns undergo to apply for their second year (or third/fourth/etc. if switching programs). Activities looked similar to pledging for a fraternity/sorority in the sense of doing odd activities. For example, CA candidates were required to carry a brick with them at all times. These were very secretive, like most group activities at Teen Mania,
Global Expeditions (GE) – The missions organization that ships to go on short term missions trips all over the world.
Graduate Intern in Intense Elective Training (GIIET) – Another short-lived program for 2nd+ interns. This 20 month program was billed as a 8-month long intense internship to prepare interns for leadership before spending the remaining 12 months in another GI program. This program started in 2007, but the second class was a dumpster fire so it was likely dropped after 2008. GIIETs were supposed to be mentored by the three directors of the HA: Dave Hasz, John Bushnell, and Heath Stoner. They were also in charge of planning the World Awareness LTE, plan and run STI, and had to undergo Phase 3 of IET training (regardless of completion of prerequisite phases) all while running working in a ministry placement.
Growth Plan – A sort of probation slated as helping “struggling” interns. When an intern breaks a rule and is not dismissed, they are usually put on a growth plan where they have to do extra study or work though a program. Applicants of the HA are asked a slew of questions to see what they “struggle” with and are further questioned via phone. If these “red flag” applicants’ answers suggest that they can still come to the HA, they are put on a growth plan before their arrival.
HA – Honor Academy
Honor Council – A council of one’s peers that would judge rule infractions of interns. Members of the council would listen to the intern’s defense, their sorrow, and promises to act better in the future. If the intern seemed earnest, they would be placed on a growth plan. If not, then they would probably be dismissed. The members were kept secret (or were supposed to be).
Intensive Elective Training (IET) – This is an optional program that focus on 3 six-week phases. Interns had to apply and qualify for IET and had to graduate the preceding phase. Graduates of the program were called PUMAs, or Perseveres Under Much Adversity.
Intern Dating – When two interns, usually of opposite sex, would hang out a lot. Usually in the context of getting to know each other and shifting to dating after graduation would be simple since the intimacy was already there even if the physical contact was not. Almost akin to pedophiles grooming, except consensual.
January Gap – The 2-3 week gap between the last August class graduating and the next August class coming where the January interns were expected to keep the ministry running. Januaries consisted of about 20-25% of the undergrad class.
Kitchen Crew (K-Crew) – The people who work the cafeteria. There was a general opinion that these workers (and other facility departments) weren’t sociable or type-A personality enough for a good ministry placement.
Life Transforming Event (LTE) – Various retreats held throughout the year including ESOAL, fasting retreat, mountain climbing, etc.
Longhouses – Barrack type buildings past the soccer field and by the luggage loop that missionaries stay in during the summer, but had been used for GI housing at one point too. These are nicer than the Quonset huts in that they are not vinyl tarps and have AC (but no restroom facilities built in).
Luggage Loop – A loop behind the soccer fields where, during the summer all of the luggage that needs to be prepared for missions trips are stored and prepared.
Management Associate (MA) – This is a GI program. These are the people use their GI year(s) to further their business skills working with staff members to better understand business management.
Ministry Placement – The job each intern is assigned. During gauntlet interns go through interviews and personality tests. Then Teen Mania has a draft where each department picks the interns they want to work for them.
Ministry Team (MT) – GIs that travel around the states to put on the ATFs
Mission Control – This is the building that houses the Global Expeditions departments, the call center and operations.
Mobilization (MOB) – The Honor Academy call center
Orange/Grey/Brown Block – Consists of the first several weeks of the internship and has especially restricted rules including, but not limited to: no texting anyone except parents or youth pastors, no leaving campus, interns can only listen to worship music and can and only have sugar one day a week. The rules are less stringent based on color where Orange is the most strict and for new interns, Grey for the current interns, and Brown is the least strict and for GIs.
Passionate Pursuit – Another optional program that focuses on passionately pursuing the Lord through fasting, prayer, and difference reading (Moderator’s Note: This was after 2008, so I am not familiar with this one)
PEARL – It stood for Physically Emotionally and Relationally Learning [LTE]. News broke out to the public via a Tyler news station doing a report on ESOAL, paired with the MSNBC exposé, putting TMM in a bad light. This all centered on how terrible ESOAL was, resulting in a committee to reform the LTE into something with better PR. It is ESOAL. No major changes, just ESOAL. Except without the crosses (interns carried 2×4 planks instead), without the army ranks, and other minor changes.
Quads – These are the four houses just off campus that some of the GI live in during their year.
Quiet Time – The one-hour, daily required devotion time spent in prayer, reading the Bible/devotional, or worship.
RL – Ron Luce, founder and president of Teen Mania
School of Worship (SOW) – A program for 2nd+ year interns with a focus on preparing a new generation of worship leaders.
Specialized Training Initiative (STI) – An optional training that interns sign up for where they are waken up in the middle of a random night. They are taken out to the Back 40 and given various physical challenges, usually involving getting shot at by paintball guns.
Student Activities Center (SAC) This is the building where many different activities happen for students such as volleyball and basketball games. Different meetings or LTE’s. This is also the cafeteria for missionaries in the summer.
Swat and Support (S/S) – These are the interns that go to ATF to help with whatever MT needs from ushering to merchandise table to unloading everything from the trucks. S/S has different inters at every event where as MT it is the same interns at every event.
TMM – Teen Mania Ministries, sometimes referred to as TM
Trailer Club – The men’s class and club
Summer Vocabulary
Campus changed during the summer with the influx of thousands and thousands of missionaries. While a lot of the vocabulary above stayed the same (especially the different locales on campus), there was a second lexicon.
Bon Voyage (BV) – Similar to dismissed above, the missionaries were held to an extensive list of rules, some of which resulted in the missionary getting sent home at the missionary’s expense. BV-able rules included, but not limited to romantic/sexual contact, smoking/drinking/drug use, acquiring a new tattoo. Like interns, the process and standards to getting BV’d was capricious and not standardized. Dating was allowed since this was a short-term trip, but partners were not allowed to be on the same team, if they were even allowed to be on the same trip.
Missionary Advisor (MA) – A leader of 4-5 same-sex missionaries. MAs had to be 18+. They report directly to the team leaders. These groups are called MAGs.
Project Director (PD) – PDs run the trip. They are in charge of 2-6 teams. They hop between teams to ensure that things run smoothly. There is one male PD and one female PD.
Team Leader (TL) – TLs lead the teams of missionaries. They are in charge of roughly 20-30 missionaries. They report directly to project directors. There is one male TL and one female PD.
Travel Advisor (TA) – A leader of several missionaries, specifically for travelling (as in, through the airports). The group was called Travel Advisor Group (TAG). They report directly to the team leaders.
Buzzwords and Mantras
The above lists are not the only vocabulary that interns used. Also in our lexicon were the following.
Adversity – Usually in the context of persevering it. Dave Hasz loved all things adverse because overcoming these challenges meant that one had great discipline. Greater the discipline, greater one’s relationship with the Lord.
Alacrity – Dave Hasz had quite the knack for using larger words and some of the interns would adopt some of his mannerisms to sound smart.
Aura of a Statesman – The title of one of Dave Hasz’s lessons, but an idea/picture that he would espouse the rest of the year. In short, statesmen are supposed to be of perfect discipline and scruples, professional, commanding and worthy respect, intelligent and critically thought, well-spoken, and other items.
Beat my body and make it my slave – Usually stated for corporate and other similar physically demanding activities. This is a quote from Paul the Apostle in one of his epistles. We would state this when things were getting tough and our bodies did not want to perform. We were to overcome our body’s shortcomings. Of course, this mentality lead to several injuries.
(Be the) Standard – We were called to be a standard for the rest of the world. We are all sinners and the heathens and heretics have poisoned the world. (Blah blah blah the media is terrible with its sex and violence, abortions running rampant, celebrating the gay) Therefore, we must rise up and be a beacon to everyone so that people come to Christ. This mentality was definitely pounded during ESOAL, there is a video of Randy Olsson hassling an intern asking if he is the Standard and if he is the Standard he needs to go through the hole. “Are you the Standard? Is it the Standard to be afraid?” The hole in this case was a metal well (former manhole maybe) that connects to another tunnel. Both were not in use, but would be considered a confined space by OSHA standards.
It pays to be a winner (and you’re a loser) – Mainly used in ESOAL. We would chant this as a collective when ordered. Personally, facilitators would use this phrase to break an intern down emotionally/cognitively (“Are you a winner? If you are not a winner then what are you?” “A loser, sir” “That’s right, now fall back in line.”
Our Word is our bond – If you commit to something you better damn well follow through because if you break your commitment, you are a liar and liars go to hell (Revelation 21:8). This was also the title of a lesson given by Dave Hasz during Gauntlet to make sure that the would-be interns understood the weight of their commitment. Notes from a 09 intern:
Let your yes be yes and your no be no.
What does your word mean? Is it a bond? Will you experience pain to keep your word?
– Even in the small things
Joshua 9:1-26
Joshua gave a promise to the Gibeonites who tricked the Israelites. And He kept His word even after they discovered the deception. When we give our word, we follow it through! No matter what. Our word is our bond.
The HA shifted goal posts constantly, but we were expected to keep our commitments.