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 mulligan?
Maybe for the girl who was put in a coffin? Or the boy last year who was quarantined for 5 weeks and could have died?
Of course, there are 2 more news stories still to come so we’ll see if there is an apology hiding in there somewhere…(And no, I haven’t seen them yet and I do not know what they are going to say.)
38 comments:
Wow. Why did I read the comments section on the KLTV site. Why?
Wow.
I’m really happy this went down. Because T.M. puts such an emotional high spin on EVERYTHING its kinda nice to have another side aired.
Though I never want a Christian ministry to be bashed by any means and I pray this news broad cast doesn’t make all Christians look like wack-jobs. It’s really nice to see ESOAL aired as possibly not the bomb.com for a change.
You also looked great R.A. (Can we call you… Micah? Is that it? Weird… lol. I prefure R.A. 🙂
YEEEEEEEES!!!!! YEEEEEES! YEEEEEEEESSSSS!!!!!
I have not felt this close to shouting Praise God in over 10 years!!!
I put my comment up. 🙂
I say yell it from the roof top. PRAISE GOD!!!!
He is good.
Wow! I’m really proud of you! Keep fighting the good fight!
What TM is doing is hazing, pure and simple. If a fraternity tried to do stuff like what they have done and put on their own website, the frat would be shut down but TM keeps on. And it’s worse because instead of trying to join a bunch of dube bros, these young adults are being deceived into thinking that they are proving their spiritual worth.
That part Jon Hasz about how EASOL would help you react to the death of a child later without being based on emotion?!? Just disgusting.
Micaaaaaaa!!!!! I am SO flippin proud of you, girl! Thank you!! I look forward to seeing the rest of the series.
I just saw. This is CRAZY. I really pray the locals start realzing what’s going on. Hopfully some secular people will get in there. (it’s sad that I have to say that.) most of the churches are kinda brainwashed too. Something has got to level that place out.
I am so proud of you, thank you for having the courage to do this!
So I sort of did a double take in my brain when Jon Hasz mentioned how this ESOAL experience would help people deal with huge life events as if emotions were a bad thing. Wait. Didn’t God create emotions? I think Jon Hasz needs to lose a child or a brother or someone really close to him and then try to not have an emotional response. I’ve had some pretty traumatic events throughout my life and emotions are the only thing that remind you that you’re alive and that you are tuned in to something. I guess Teen Mania wants people to lose their emotions because emotions essentially are the colors of a soul – without them brainwashing is a sure fire thing.
Looking forward to more of this story as things progress.
Dave has a disturbing focus on Military. I’m not against the military. I’m in the Military. And the stuff that goes on there, without the proper training and guidance to control the situation, is terrible. Not only that, but there is no peer pressure or guilt trip or god talk concerning boot camp or Navy Seals…but that was certainly what people got concerning ESOAL in my year.
In my personal experience, ESOAL did NOTHING to prepare me for my mother’s death!
I got goose bumps when I saw the video. Mica, way to go. Then I read the comments and felt like puking.
Wow. This is very weird for me to say, but as I watched the video, even knowing all I do about TM now, I almost felt like I wanted to jump to their defense. If I’m still getting that knee-jerk response after all this time and enlightenment, I can just picture what is going on in the heads of TM supporters.
Other blogs are picking this up. A pastor from the church I used to attend in Indiana messaged me on Facebook with a link to the newest post on the blog Jesus Needs New PR–a much more widely read blog than this one–asking what I thought about this video since he knew I had attended the Honor Academy. He said if it were true, he was very suspect of Teen Mania as a whole. I think it’s time for TM to face the music… this is becoming very public.
Also, where is this comment section everyone is speaking of?? It doesn’t show up on the page when I’m linked to the video.
Renae,
You need to register on the site to see or leave comments.
Renae,
If you go to the home page of KLTV, you will see the article for ESOAL. If you click on it, there will be comments on the bottom.
http://www.jesusneedsnewpr.net/teen-mania-is-insane-part-one/
This is now on a blog that has over 30,000 followers on Twitter alone. The lid is off.
Teen Mania, meet Matthew 18–“If they will not listen, tell it to the church.”
Yeah Eric, it will be interesting to see what happens now, and what PR move TM will make to try to silence our voice.
Renae,
I know what you mean.
When RA asked me if I’d be willing to go on camera as well to talk about ESOAL (I live in Tyler, so I’m still close), I was able to say that I had nothing to add, since I didn’t participate in ESOAL, and didn’t get many negative comments from people about not participating. I actually had no idea what took place until RA started posting these videos and people began sharing their stories.
I told myself (and my husband) that I would gladly go on camera if I had something to offer… but to be honest, I’m not sure. I was totally taken off guard by how fearful I was. What can they possibly do to me? Nothing anymore. They have no power over me. But I still felt very cowardly and ashamed.
Jami & Renae – Those are excellent points and a BIG reason people have been silent for so many years. I’m not sure exactly how they implant it in our minds…there isn’t one teaching per se, but I think the accumulation of implied teachings and off-hand comments, along with the general culture there…Many former interns and staffers have a very real fear of retaliation from David Hasz and TM.
RA-
When is the next installment of this series going to be up? I live on the west coast so I want to make sure I don’t miss it.
jml – I believe it will be on tonight’s 6pm newscast. The video should be up right afterwards at www.kltv.com and I’ll post it here as well.
Miss Micah,
Maybe one day I will get to meet you. I would definitely enjoy being able to hear your side of the story. perhaps we will get a chance to talk sometime. I know that there was once a time you trusted Teen Mania, and I wonder if that trust was ruined because of an event. If so, I am so sorry. At the same time, may I ask what is your hoped result? I have wondered that for a while.
I think this is partially unfair reporting in the fact that I know Leadership of Teen Mania have sought reconciliation over your experiences for many months now. I listened in to a 3 hour public conference call between many alumni–which culminated between yourself and Mr. Hasz being able to openly discuss differences. KLTV, please share all sides.
And Micah, please forgive us. Had I been at your ESOAL i would have definitely sought your forgiveness by now. I would have never meant to present a damaging situation nor a harmful repercussion.Has anyone let you talk out your side? If not, maybe we can talk. I think you deserve the chance to explain yourself and to be validated. I’m sure we could find a way.
With prayers and humbled repentance,
Allison
Hi Allison,
My side of the story is all here, available to you at any time.
Scroll down a little and you can see how the Board of Directors flat out lied to me, and this community.
Or listen again to the conference call and hear how Dave Hasz lied about ESOAL, about corporate exercise, about beating your body and making it your slave, about medical care, etc.
I can talk to TM until I’m blue in the face. They have refused to repent and there is nothing I can do to change that.
Allison – Whatever you think you know about leadership’s attempt to reconcile with me, is probably a lie, or half-truth at best. I’ve posted all my email correspondence between Dave and myself, as well as Heath. Dave is the one that quit talking to me. Dave is the one that lied continually.
I’m happy to sit down with you, or whoever, as a fellow intern and discuss things. But my days of interacting with TM leadership are over unless major changes take place.
Micah,
I can’t even begin to put into words how proud I am of you for starting this website, sticking to your guns, and persevering in regards to the abuse that Teen Mania has been up to over the past decades–even to the point of letting your quest for healing and justice take precedence over shielding your identity. As a former intern in 97, I did not have the privilege of participating in ESOAL, thank God. The repurcussions of participation with TM’s organization haunt me to this day, even withouth the experience of ESOAL. I’ve suffered emotionally, physically, and spiritually for 13-14 years and have finally begun to make sense out of my time at TM, thanks to you and this community (and also along with some helpful friends/former interns I managed to keep up with through the years.) I’m hoping one day soon, I can being the process of putting my ‘story’ into words and sending it to you to post. I’ve avoided it up until this point in a last ditch effort to shield myself from that pain, but am beginning to see the cathartic experience it could provide.
Once again, Kudos to you–I am proud to have known you during my intern year.
Blessings and Love,
Samantha
Samantha, thank you for your kind words. I would love to reconnect with you and hear your story. Email me anytime.
ESOAL was the best thing I could have ever done. Years after I left the internship I still remember that event when things get hard in my life I remember how physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually challenging ESOAL was, but isn’t that was life is? Going through ESOAL prepared me to push myself beyond my limits and to trust GOD when I stopped depending on myself and starting rely on HIM that’s when it got easier and that is what helps me get through when life throws me difficult circumstances to lean on HIM! The HA internship was the best thing that could have ever happened to me and when the Lord called me to go I wasn’t a young adult fresh out of high school. I had already attended college had a full time job and had been living out on my own. This was the best training that I could have recieved as a new believer in Christ! We are in a battle spiritually everyday and if you don’t know how to fight back spritually than you will become depressed and all the other negative things that try to attach themselves to us. I just pray that people can look beyond and truly see the heart of Teen Mania. What they are doing is amazing! Don’t let the enemy lie to you and tell you what you experienced was a bad thing. Take the postive and don’t focus on the negative that is what the world would like us to do! May God Bless You!
Anon– If only Jesus had thought of making His followers puke up cat food, what a better place the world would be.
“We are in a battle spiritually everyday and if you don’t know how to fight back spritually than you will become depressed and all the other negative things that try to attach themselves to us.”
You guys, Anon’s right.
Rolling down hills and eating cat food has been clinically proven* to prevent depression and other negative things that try to attach themselves to us. Anon’s experience clearly ctrl+z’s any tears you have shed for your time with TM.
Don’t let the enemy (proven testimony) lie to you guys.
* (it hasn’t)
A MULLIGAN??????????? A MULLIGAN? So…. as in… you think this is analogous to your GOLF SCORE????? I’m…. beyond words…
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