Former interns will recognize the title of this post instantly. “Our Word is Our Bond” is a teaching given during Gauntlet week (your first week at the Honor Academy). During this sermon, the interns are taught to keep their word no matter what. They are counseled that things may come up to try to distract them from their commitments, but a truly Godly person will not go back on their word no matter what comes up. The not so subtle implication is that interns should not quit the Honor Academy, because if they do they are breaking their word and are therefore in sin. This is a HUGE reason that many people stay at the Honor Academy even when they want to leave – the guilt over “sinning against the Lord” by breaking their word is too horrible to contemplate. And so they stay.
When taught properly and not as a manipulative tool, I agree that sticking to your word is a good practice and something that honors God. However, I’m afraid that the Honor Academy really only embraces this teaching when it benefits them. Here are a few notes that an intern took from the session in August 09:
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.
Given the in-depth teaching on this topic, one would think that leadership would take great care to practice what they preach, to keep their word to the interns even when it might not be convenient.
Unfortunately, that is often not the case.
When the leadership offers you a particular ministry placement for your 2nd year (with scholarship), then revokes it for no reason, their word is not their bond.
When you are told you will be given the position of CA, ACA, or MT and they subsequently change their minds, their word is not their bond.
Even if they sign a contract with you, their word may not be their bond.
When they say interns only have to work 31 hours per week, their word is not their bond. (I’ve known several interns over the years who have worked between 50-100 hours per week during summer missions.)
I’m sure I could go on….
So what is the point in bringing this up? No ministry is perfect.
If these incidents were out of character or if the staff members apologized for these things, there would be no reason to discuss this. The problem is that, as far as I know, leadership has never admitted any wrongdoing in these incidents or others. They routinely lie to the interns and go back on their word – yet the interns are commanded to be “flexible” and “submissive.” And if an interns points out the lies, they are scolded for being “not honorable” or “causing division.”
So how does the Honor Academy leadership stack up against their own teachings?
Do they stick to their word? Even in the small things? Will they experience pain to keep their word?
As Ex-Intern 07 has pointed out recently in the comments, HA leadership seems to love teaching the story of Joshua being tricked by the Gibeonites. Although Joshua was unfairly tricked, he still kept his word to them. Joshua is continually held up as a model of character to be emulated.
There is a reason for that.
21 comments:
Thanks RA. That one really made me think. Unfortunately I can apply to many aspects of my church life.
I know a guy who only went to the HA because he had signed up for some sort of youth leader/leadership program that was offered at the time. When he got there the HA said they cancelled the program. Boy were his parents ticked off and demanded their money back, which, of course, they wouldn’t do.
Does this sound ethical??
Nope. Especially when one kid who really, really wanted to go on a Missions Trip stole his parents’ credit card to put down at least $2000 (the trip itself was $4000 something, and the kid paid off whatever was missing, but I can’t say for sure how much that was, exactly. I just know it wasn’t any less than half).
They wouldn’t refund that, either.
My roommate was the kid’s encouragement rep, so I got to see her get torn apart by the ministry and the family that was jibbed.
I really, truly hope that the family fought enough to get refunded, but I know they got the absolute “we cannot refund anything because we’re non-profit” from her leadership, sooo…
Then again, TM might be keeping true to their word, to not refund anything ever because of the non-profit thing.
The kid also had some sort of mental handicap and tried to book his flight months before the booking day, so yeah the whole situation was jacked.
PLUS, in TM’s defense, they did block him and not allow him to sign up for any more missions trips through them as an apology to his parents, so hey.
So you mean if the interns are the Joshuas of the story who keep their promises, Teen Mania is the Gibeonites who deceive the promise keepers?
Strange TM would want to draw attention to that story. . .
I believe the point Hasz was trying to make was, “Hey guys Joshua totally kept his word even though he was deceived. You guys so totally aren’t, so it’s going to be that much easier to keep your word!”.
But hey, lesson learned, right? I just hope that future interns read this blog and are fully-educated, so that when they see the glaring flaws of the ministry, they aren’t handed the “you-just-need-to-think-and-discern-for-yourself” card.
Nunquam – perhaps that is the way it came across, but based on the way the HA treats the interns, I think its not unlikely that there are some ulterior motives of control there.
There are many other Scriptures he could have used…”Let your yes, be yes and your no be no.” “He who swears to his own hurt and faints not…”
Why the emphasis on keeping your word even when tricked?? And then continually tricking people??
RED FLAG.
I was an intern 05-07 (undergrad and GI). During my undergrad year, Mr. Hasz came up with a plan to get interns to “engage their minds” more. He came up with a series of codes and riddles for us to solve, and to motivate us to solve them, he said that the first one to finish them all would get an iPod Nano.
The way it worked was that you would only get the next riddle once you solved the one before it. His first one was pretty tricky, but after a while, I solved it, and it was a lot of fun. I waited several months before getting “part 2”, which I solved in an afternoon, and I anxiously awaited part 3.
It never came. I e-mailed Mr. Hasz several times about it, and he always said that it was “coming, but not ready yet”. It was abundantly clear after waiting more than 6 months that he was just making up the riddles as he went, and didn’t care enough to follow through when so few people responded to the first riddle. The whole event fell off the face of the planet, even after he introduced the riddle to two August classes and a January class.
It’s a stupid example, but I saw this kind of thing happen all the time at Teen Mania. People would have awesome ideas and make huge commitments to people, and never follow through. Bummed me out more than once.
S – that is a great example of exactly what I am talking about. They are constantly coming up with programs and make promises to interns that never materialize.
During the 2nd semester of my GI year, they made significant changes to some parts of the program. When Dave rolled out the changes to us, I was confused, because it was NOT what I had committed to. When I brought this idea up, it did not endear me to him.
s–
i was an intern then too, and totally remember that whole “game”. granted, i didn’t really care one way or another about it all…but i do remember wondering towards the end of the year how it all got resolved. apparently it didn’t.
This is a good point. Although I was not involved in Teen Mania I have been involved with other
ministries and churches that did similar things.
In one church, they assigned you to work in
an area. You came back the next Sunday prepared
to minister, only to find out they had replaced you with someone else and never bothered to inform you.
RA- I actually recall them citing “swearing to your hurt” (I think Hasz had even made an entire class based on swearing to hurt) and “let your yes be yes” several times… though I do agree that there is a staggering emphasis on Joshua and the Gibeonites.
You’re right; Joshua is basically the fall-back scripture whenever somebody has every reason to leave. I was facing financial dismissal my undergrad year, and when my sister would try to suggest that my time was done there, I lashed back violently with BUT JOSHUA AND THE WHATEVERITES I DON’T ACTUALLY KNOW THE STORY BUT I REMEMBER DAVE HASZ SAYING THAT WE SHOULD NEVER LEAVE EVER.
Woah. Um… wow.
Yeah, and I would venture to guess that the reason behind this teaching has less to do with keeping your word and more to do with making sure they have free labor for a year…
RA–
interesting point. i mean, i had a girl in my core that chose to leave about 3/4 the way through [actually the morning of the Celebration LTE…she said she just couldn’t take it anymore], and i [shamefully] remember shoving all of these verses in her face myself. i think the interns, or at least i know for me personally, really believe[d] that it’s a huge, monumental sin against God to “break your word” by leaving…
…but i wonder if the motivation is truly that from the leadership, or if its not as you propose–that they continue to have the labor needed to run the place for the year.
12 years ago was when I was an intern. I still, to this day, live by this standard. It is very important to me.
TM always stood by their word with me. I only worked 30 hours a week. Maybe 35 during the summer when missions were going on.
Yeah but the whole point anonymous is that they aren’t doing it now and they aren’t going to start because what would that say about them! Come on, it’s plain as day that for them to admit something on this level would be not in their favor at all.
When have you seen them extend grace?
I put this under Ron’s response email…but I think it fits here too.
I personally am glad that someone is taking a stand to address instances such as this. During my time at Teen Mania I saw the leadership do so much to CYA. And you were challenged if you stood up to the things that you didn’t see them being honest about or keeping their commitment about. (not every time, but there were a lot) There was an incident during my Gideon’s road experience. One where a fellow CA was critically injured and had to be rushed to the ICU due to head and neck injuries. I was at the hospital when Dave questioned someone who had managed the ropes course before this incident. Dave asked the facilitator if it was possible for the equipment to have malfunctioned and if it could have been the cause of the incident. The facilitator kept telling Dave that if the equipment had been used properly then it wouldn’t have failed. I know there had just been an inspection of the ropes course within the month before the incident and that the equipment that was used that night had passed the inspection. I found out later that Teen Mania said the equipment had failed and it was an accident. I know they did it to avoid being sued. I know that they weren’t honest about what really happened out on the course. I know that there were a lot of steps that were not taken to ensure the equipment was being used properly and that the facilitators were aware of the dangers of what they were doing. It was negligence on Teen Mania’s part. I also know that there were a lot of other facilitators that didn’t feel right about how it was all handled. So many other staff jumped on board to say it was due to equipment failure. It frustrated me so much that we are taught about integrity and honor yet when it comes to moments like this the leadership just does what they can to CYA.
No way.
I used to believe in this, and it would have pretty much driven me to commit suicide, but Praise God!!- He delivered me from the guilt of thinking my word is equal to God’s (faultness and unchanging)–He gives grace. I can remember being spiritually upset in late high school, seeking peace in my walk with Christ, and at a moving service I felt the “solemn conviction” to commit to God that I would pray ___ amount of time per day for the rest of my life. The motives were right, but I was trying to fix my relationship with God by a deep display of piety. Years following, I remembered that promise and was tempted to feel condemned that I had not been able to fulfill it. It felt like a millstone. I realized I had made it for the wrong reasons. God didn’t put it on me. Promises are often our way of trying to appease or please God. It’s arrogance to think that I have it in me to perfectly uphold all the promises I make. Let us make commitments humbly, fearfully ackowledging our incompetence and leaning wholly on His grace to finish what we put our hand to.
Generally, I try to follow through on my word, because it’s right…Yet there’s times when it’s legalism and insanity to be held by a commitment you’re unable to keep. Sometimes we commit to things that are “over our head” and we “bite off” more than we can “chew.” God is merciful, understanding that we’re but “dust” that doesn’t have clue. The lyrics by a contemporary artist capture it- “You’re so perfect. I’m so broken. Here You come, with arms wide open.” God help us, if we think that our holiness is based on our ability to keep promises!
I was promised many things in my job placement as a Staff Associate. Many things did not occur or were outright lied about. Then when I called people on their lies, I was told no one had ever promised me that. I went to Mr. Hasz earlier this year about this and in his response he didn’t even address the situation which directly involved him. Even though I wrote that it really hurt me. This is very true, sad but true.
“Our word is our bond” & “Keeping Your One Year Commitment” is two posts of the exact same thing. Please don’t post more multiples of the same topic in an effort to make it look like there’s more pressing issues then there really is….
Anon, you sound angry and frustrated. A lot of people facing cognitive dissonance go through this. Keep reading.
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