Comments on My Teen Mania Experience: Jessica's Story: A Global Expeditions Review

Jessica, my comment was in no way trying to dimini...

2012-01-07T18:24:34.222-06:00

Jessica, my comment was in no way trying to diminish what happened to you by the way. I was just commenting on what others were saying about praying with people for salvation and then no follow up. I am very sorry you had a poor experience on your trip. I hope that I as a leader didn't do anything weird like your TL did on your trip, however, I probably did and I hope that my kids forgave me or didn't notice, lol. I have never been so tired on a mission trip than when I was a TL. They really stretch the leaders SO thin. I think sometimes the negative experiences people have with TL's on these trips can be partly attributed to the lack of adequate training, lack of humility in some, and the grueling schedule of meetings, so many kids per leader, etc. I went on 3 trips in a row one summer and sometimes had 2 teams on campus at the same time, one debriefing, one training. It was very difficult and I know I didn't do as good of a job toward the end that I could have done. Are there more parts to your story coming in future?

In my experience with GE (went on 5 trips, and was...

2012-01-07T18:19:12.578-06:00

In my experience with GE (went on 5 trips, and was a Team Leader 4 of the 5 times), we worked with the local church. We collected contact information from anyone we prayed with and handed it over to the local church contacts who were translating for us. I went to Costa Rica for 3 of the trips so we worked with some of the same contacts multiple times and I always felt they were diligent in following up on the information we gave them. One one of my trips I didn't feel this way-that was the first year GE went to inner city LA. There were no ministry opportunities set up and we were in very poor and dangerous conditions with a pastor that was inappropriate and rude. But the other 4 trips we did work with the local church, collected info, and passed it on to what I felt were credible sources.

Someday I will write a response to my TM expereien...

2012-01-05T22:27:14.406-06:00

Someday I will write a response to my TM expereience, having been on 4 mission trips and 3 ATFs, but here is my two cents for now:
When I went with GE to Japan this summer there were many moments when I wondered where the fruit was in anything we were doing. However God REALLY opened my eyes to how he was working, and not from the typical GE speal about "how Satin is trying to get us down and we dont always see fruit from our labor and blah blah blah...".
You see, one thing that made this trip different was how directly involved we were with multiple churches there. Long story short, a huge part of our trip was restoring a building that had been a pharmacy/house and turning it into a church after being swept through by the tsunami. The church made a FB page for it and we have been able to keep up with whats going on and it's AMAZING. It is the only church in the city of Ishinomaki right now and is making a big impact. This basicley just goes along with the comment about how the best use of short terms in establishing churches, and I would have to agree that those ARE very frutifull in the big picture, and that Im glad my GE trip took that route this summer.

Another quick, random thought about my trip is in connection to my TLs. I went into this trip very fearful of TM because I had found this website and have had my own issues with the HA which is another story. But God really did watch out for me by giving me TLs who completly opposed the HA and didnt even know this site existed. They REALLY helped me in the healing process and I have never met two people that were so in love with God and ready to follow his will.
Ok so this kind of turned into a rambling post but just thought someone might find those two little facts about my trip interesting.
In Christ,
Amy

Seriously. Is it going to take a publicized murder...

2012-01-05T15:19:44.322-06:00

Seriously. Is it going to take a publicized murder and/or rape for TM to make changes in their "missionary" programs? This isn't just abuse, it's neglect. And I say "publicized" because I'm not entirely convinced that rape hasn't occurred on TM trips.

Dear Jessica, I can relate to the prison experienc...

2012-01-05T13:28:13.906-06:00

Dear Jessica, I can relate to the prison experience - When I was in Maracaibo, Venezuela in July of 1995. We visited a boys prison - a prison for children from the ages of 10-18. While we were there one of the guards took a knife more than 6" off of one of the boys. I remember thinking how awesome ministering to these kids was but seeing a guard take that knife and walk away with it certainly made me feel concerned.

In June of 1997 I went to St. Petersburg, Russia and we performed our drama during the summer solstice celebration (a.k.a. White Nights). Everyone in the city was drunk and while we were in our "Pods" waiting for our turn in the drama to perform several drunk Russian men forced themselves into our "Pod". Thankfully they eventually went away, but it was frightening to be "stuck" in our formations and be accosted without any means to defend ourselves or make the intruders go away.

Also, the response of people in authority is a goo...

2012-01-05T11:39:20.152-06:00

Also, the response of people in authority is a good indicator. If they're dismissive and try to brush it off as though it doesn't matter because "it only happened to a few people" or "that was the past and things have changed," it's an unmistakable proof of abuse.

Healthy leaders make mistakes of course, but they are ashamed of them, they admit them and repent, and they work hard to make things right for the future and the past.

Yes, I do think there is a line between unfortunat...

2012-01-04T21:54:20.954-06:00

Yes, I do think there is a line between unfortunate/stupid things (read: mistakes/accidents) and actual abuse. One characteristic of that line is frequency. How frequently do these things happen? A few times or isolated incidents could be chalked up to life; sometimes crappy stuff happens. However, the frequency with which health and safety of kids and teens in Teen Mania's care is neglected is ALARMING and CONTINUOUS. In my book, that makes it abuse. Especially when its already been pointed out to them over and over again.

Thank you for sharing!!! Did they really get saved...

2012-01-04T19:06:10.500-06:00

Thank you for sharing!!!
Did they really get saved? (like crying, freaking out about how good God is, really excited and truly set free...)
Because if a massive group actually got saved that's a big deal! No one got saved on our trip. I figured most GE trips were exsactly what I experienced- bad leadership, dangerous cercumstances, poor supervision and ZERO fruit. But if people got SAVED- that's something to pay attention to! Of course it was back in the day too before Dave I'm assuming.
Short term missions trips do little benefit if they're on there own. What good is it to go in and be the loner super hero? Especially when it comes to spreading the good news of Jesus. Definitely selfish and narssesitic. It seems it would be best to help a church out that's already established or something.

Is there a line between unfortunate/stupid things ...

2012-01-04T18:42:29.340-06:00

Is there a line between unfortunate/stupid things people were put through on a trip and actual abuse?

oh God I am so glad you didn't seem to get sic...

2012-01-04T14:30:54.637-06:00

oh God I am so glad you didn't seem to get sick from that. What a horrible list of things you are so right how horrible these things are and yet TM always claims these things are soo safe I am so sorry that happened to you

Oh Jessica, Eww! urine! That's so not right, a...

2012-01-04T11:07:52.806-06:00

Oh Jessica, Eww! urine! That's so not right, and so, so teen mania. Your so lucky you didn't get sick from that. I'm still a little shocked at how 'safe' TM claims these trips to be, yet we all know things like this happen year after year.