Teen Mania Lies to the Media Again....But This One is a WHOPPER!

After each of the previous media stories done on Teen Mania, we've seen them lie both to the reporters and to the public at large. So it was no surprise that it happened again with the most recent story from the Fox Los Angeles story.

This time, the lies come courtesy of Teen Mania's Communication Consultant, Cindy Brown Mallette. (This isn't the first time Cindy has lied.) She made a very lengthy - and quite damning - comment on the FOX LA website. You can read the whole thing here. For this post, I'd like to one specific paragraph.



Regarding the ESOAL/PEARL event, Cindy said:

Gina also said that the interns who participate in PEARL are "pushing their bodies to the limit, all in the name of Jesus." That is not true - Dave Hasz told Dan at least three times during the interview (because Dan repeatedly asked the question, to clarify) that Pearl is not designed to be a religious experience, but a team-building and endurance-building event. Obviously, since we are a Christian organization, we encourage the interns to look to Christ for strength to get through the event. But to say interns are doing this "in the name of Jesus" is a gross exaggeration and, again, extremely misleading.

So Teen Mania's new PR line is that ESOAL/PEARL is NOT a religious experience and that doing it in the name of Jesus is a "gross exaggeration and misleading."

Any former intern knows this is baloney. Please take a moment to pick your jaw up off the floor and/or laugh yourself silly at the absurdity of it.

Done? Ok, let's move on.

For those of you who haven't been interns, allow me to show you the evidence. This was compiled by watching the Honor Academy's youtube channel for about 5 minutes and looking at the Honor Academy's own website. Believe me, it didn't take much...

First, according to the Honor Academy's OWN website, the PEARL is designed to be a religious experience. The press release announcing the name change to PEARL includes a testimony that states:

“During ESOAL, I learned what it meant to not rely on circumstances and situations for comfort, but on God alone. I experienced the joy that Christ gives you when you encourage others through teamwork.”

Sounds like a religious experience to me!

In addition, on the ESOAL Testimonies page, there are descriptions of religious experiences:

I had a closed vision in which I saw myself through the eyes of heaven. It showed me how God has put special thought into everything about my life: how He created my needs and desires so that I would be dependent on Him.

I was stretched by God to not take any supplements for my health at the very start of ESOAL. Nervous, because of a weak immune system, I still chose to trust Him and to rely on His strength because I knew that I had clearly heard His voice in this challenge.

Lastly, on the page "What Inspires the Honor Academy interns during the PEARL?" there is a list of verses and the HA Hymn - a hymn of devotion and surrender.

Are you still with me? Good.

Now let's take a look at the videos from THIS YEAR'S PEARL event. These are made BY Teen Mania to show the public what PEARL is and as a means of marketing to future interns. The content of these videos is completely controlled by Teen Mania - so you are seeing only what they want you to see.

And, as you'll find with almost any random sampling of videos - PEARL is VERY much designed to be a religious experience and it is advertised as such - contrary to what Teen Mania's Spokesperson said.



1:05 - This is definitely the Lord's strength taking me through this. I've hit BAR like 5 times.

BAR is the sketchy theological underpinnings of ESOAL which stands for "Burial and Resurrection." Read more here.



Heath asks this group of interns how they would explain Pearl to people watching at home...

1:50 - It really stretches you spiritually...you have to have faith in the Lord...rely on Him for strength. (paraphrase)



1:00 - Thats what this whole thing is about...the Biblical truth of selflessness...learning what Jesus meant when he said the greatest among you will be a servant of all....there's Bible everywhere and its solid Biblical truth. (paraphrase)



1:40 - Dave Neal tells the interns that God has put the specific people in their PEARL groups for His purposes.

Worship Service:




_______________________________________________________

So to recap:

There is a worship service, they memorize Bible verses, there is "Bible everywhere," and God chooses who will be in your PEARL group, and you can reach burial of your flesh and resurrection of your spirit, and there is lots of group prayer and it stretches you spiritually....BUT ITS NOT DESIGNED TO BE A RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE!

Uh-huh.

Like night follows the day, Teen Mania scrambles and lies after every media expose. How they can continue to claim integrity and honor is simply beyond me.

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Teen Mania In the News

Fox News Los Angeles recently did a story on ESOAL. It was originally slated to run in tandem with the Southern California ATF, but that event was cancelled.

The producers interviewed me as well as two other recovering alumni for the piece. I had hoped it would cover the Honor Academy in general, but they instead chose to focus on ESOAL. Perhaps because that is what they have footage of? I imagine its difficult to show footage of constant confrontations, sleep deprivation, guilt trips, etc...

Overall, its not my favorite media piece on Teen Mania but anything that helps expose people to the other side of the story is a good thing in my opinion.

My kudos and thanks to the very brave participants who also gave interviews for this story. If you would like to contribute to future stories, please email me at recoveringalumni at hotmail dot com.

Teen Mania: Endurance Bootcamp Or Religious Cult?: MyFoxLA.com

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Contest Winners

According to the Random Number Generator, the contest winners are:

Wanderer
Mouse
SavedbyGrace
Carol
TommyWilson

Please send me your mailing address at recoveringalumni at hotmail dot com. If you'd prefer one book over the others, let me know, otherwise you'll get a surprise!

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Contest: The Honor Academy in One Word

I'm clearing off my bookshelves and I have 5 books to giveaway. At midnight, I will randomly select five commenters (so pick a name - don't be anonymous!) to win!

The books are:

1) The Misunderstood God
2) 12 Christian Beliefs that Can Drive You Crazy
3) Emotionally Healthy Spirituality
4) Twisted Scriptures
5) The Ragamuffin Gospel

Based on your experience, what one word best describes the Honor Academy?

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Steven's Story

I attended the Honor Academy a few years ago and I was sexually involved with a male staff member. I honestly don’t remember exactly how the relationship started, I try to block that out and not think about it. I do remember that he would message me late at night, making small talk, I would respond, “hey how are you?" which most definitely always was followed by him saying "horny" or "bored... "

By the time I went home for Christmas, he would webcam with me while he was naked. He would be in the shower, jerking off showing me literally every inch of his body. Being a man who "struggled" with homosexuality, I was curious, so I didn’t stop him, even though I could have. Even though I did allow him to talk dirty to me and to webcam, I NEVER consented to anything physical and I never reciprocated the naked webcam, even when he asked me to.

After "graduating" I stayed for a second year, and during this year is when I was done.

Once, he invited me over and I crashed at his house on a bed. At one point we both were in the same bed. I felt really uncomfortable and I didn’t know what to do so I just laid there and pretended I was asleep.

Another time, I ended up going to his house with a couple other core guys, and he called me to come back to his room to see something... I went into his room and he was in a towel. He dropped the towel, put his dick in front of my face while pushing it against my mouth, but no way in HELL was I doing that. When I didn’t show interest, he walked into the bathroom and put his clothes on and came out with the other intern guys.

After that I felt really bad since I was trying to be a good Christian and a good intern. I told him that either he would confess or I would. But he just said something along the lines of "Its been a struggle for me, and the people who need to know know," and then deleted me as a friend on facebook.

My life is nowhere near perfect as I am trying to find the balance of loving God and living my life (as a homosexual man) especially because my family does not agree with my lifestyle. I never "confessed" to anyone at TM about this situation in fear of being dismissed for doing bad things while being an intern, I just packed up and left. Even to this day (literally, today), he will message me and try initiating a conversation, but I don't entertain it... He is no longer a staff member at Teen Mania.

I think it is important for people to know about this, and maybe if there is a situation with a current intern going thru something similar I hope that this will help them to be strong enough to speak out rather than living in fear of "dismissal." Now I look back and it was so stupid!

Life is too short to live in bondage and constantly beating yourself up for things out of your control. When I was finally able to accept myself for who I am, and let go of my past, the bright future is all I have to look forward to! Granted, life still isn't easy, and living a homosexual life definitely makes it interesting, but I have finally found peace and joy now that I have a boyfriend who truly cares about me and loves me, knows my past, and is looking to the future with me. :)

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Former Director of Marketing: Environment for Staff Members is Toxic

This is the last post in our series looking at comments made by Teen Mania's Former Head of Marketing.



Jeremy: I hesitate because everything I say is potential fodder for you RA people. But I will say something here that I feel is okay to share. My issue is with Ron (Luce) specifically. Everyone is a tool, a pawn in his militant attempt to get his vision accomplished. He is militant about the vision, Dave (Hasz) is militant about the vision, and so is anyone who sticks around for any length of time. And, when you fail to dance “good enough” for the king, he just decides you are “not a good fit.” My issue with Ron is that he seems to discard people like toilet paper when they don't please him—his arrogance knows no bounds (he is right no matter what, and you better fall in line) and he had the compassion of a European dictator. But he's sociopathic, so he can win anyone over to his side of things... and those that don't aren't a “good fit.” I mean, people give up so much to come serve Ron's vision—lives, careers, friends, income, houses, etc., etc., etc... and when Ron is done with you, you're out on your butt. I can name multiple people whom this is happened to. Ron is a very bad man in my eyes.

Everything flows from the top. I witnessed a lot of things and was privy to a lot of things that made me never (ever) want to advocate for the leadership of TM... or, by extension, the organization as a whole. Everyone is constantly in survival mode, while they frequently throw each other under the bus just to save their skin, and they fight for resources like hungry Africans fight for UN rice—aggressively shoving and maiming along the way. I did not handle this toxic environment well and I too got sucked into it, and it brought out the worst in me that I've ever seen; it's about survival on the inside. The entire time I was there, it was toxic to my spirit, my family, and my health. It would take me two hours a night to decompress after my day at TM. No exaggeration.

But, at the same time, I don't want to be part of bringing down an organization that has a mouthpiece as big as TM does. Ninety-nine percent of people who engage with TM will never see or experience these things... all they will see and experience is a special move of God on their lives, where many of them will surrender to His salvation. I've seen the Lord move too many times in the midst of things that TM has facilitated (be it HA, GE trips or ATF events)... and I don't want to be a part of limiting that reach that no other organization in the country has at this time. This is why people give up so much and work for so little to serve TM.

TMM will fall on its own. It will fall in the court of public opinion as it continually gets more and more extreme and continues to create enemies through its militant nature and its works-based vision of holiness. Every ministry they have is declining in attendance, and attendance equals dollars, and dollars equal their ability to continue their operations. If they cannot win in the court of public opinion, they will cease to be.

To me, this is a tragedy.

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Former Director of Marketing: Ron Luce is Arrogant, Judgmental & Manipulative

Continuing our look at the conversation between Teen Mania's Former Director of Marketing and Honor Academy alumni...






Jeremy: after what I witnessed and was privy to as a staff member at the director level directly under Ron...TMM leadership has some massive issues...Ron specifically. The arrogance, the judgement, the spiritual manipulation, the utter lack of compassion and regard for people who gave up good salaries and careers to come "serve the vision" of TMM...yea, the vision is right...Ron just needs to go.

Jeremy: To be clear...the vision of TMM - to mobilize young people to take His message to the world - thats spot on. And I don't want the "ministry" potential to be silenced or to disappear which is why I support it...I support the vision and its' reason for existing. Its just that what it has become is not what it started out to be. And Ron is directly responsible for what it is. I just pray that the ministry can continue into the future - but only if it is fundamentally changed.

Jeremy: No it's not a cult as we know cults... It's just severely screwed up in more ways than anyone on the “outside” could possibly imagine or would ever see. It's like a Hollywood western scene: the saloon looks awesome and authentic, but lean on the prop and the whole set comes crumbling down. You can call me if you like and we can discuss it. It's appalling really... and I should know. I'm a former intern, project director, and staff member who served at the director level, sitting right under Ron. The things I saw and witnessed were simply unbelievable
Alumnus 3: Isn't it odd how we discussed this before? You know, about feeling pressured into decisions or we “don't trust God enough.” Heavy heart as all of this is coming to the surface.

Jeremy: A heavy heart indeed... but what's in the darkness will always have a way of coming to the light. If TMM is to survive, it needs a complete leadership and vision overhaul. If I explained what I witnessed while working there, you would think it was a fascinating work of fiction.

Alumnus 3: I don't doubt it. But, I am absolutely grateful for leadership like you.

Jeremy: Yes, there are a lot of good people who are affiliated with TMM, who have great skills and great hearts for young people and missions. That's why 90% of the people that have issues with the organization (and there are hundreds of them, multiple lawsuits, etc.—you'd never know it unless you were on the inside, seeing all of this) don't want TMM to cease to be, but to have their entire upper level leadership dissolved and be resurrected under new leadership and new vision.

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