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Teen Mania's Honor Academy boot-camp

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Oscar:
We are in the process of finding more sources about this boot camp:

Teen Mania Says Boot Camp Revamped, But Critics Liken Program To Cult
By REBECCA HOEFFNER, Tylerpaper, November 05, 2011

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Chris Lindsay was apprehensive entering Teen Mania's Honor Academy boot-camp program in Garden Valley in 2010.

“I had heard the stories even before I went to the Honor Academy,” he said of the program staged on property near Lindale.

Patterned after military boot camps, the four-day event — Emotionally Stretching Opportunity of a Lifetime, or ESOAL — is geared to bring participants to a breaking point through physical exercise, so theoretically they can learn to trust God and control their actions during extreme stress.

Lindsay, a student at Cornell University in Pittsburgh, Pa., called it “the greatest memory” of his time at the organization.

“It was one of the hardest things I did in my life,” said Lindsay, who was 19 at the time. “Every day there’s an application for the things I learned.”

Not every participant’s experience was positive. Some say they were physically pushed too far, that leaders were too confrontational and that injuries were too common.

One alumnus started a website critical of Honor Academy. Although she did not go through ESOAL, she claims her Honor Academy experience caused her to question her Christianity and become depressed. One couple likened Honor Academy to a cult.

CHANGES MADE

After the criticism and concerns, Teen Mania formed a committee of medical professionals, a social worker and a local youth minister to examine ESOAL. The committee recommended medical training for staff members who oversee the event, keeping a medical professional on site and giving participants a physical exam before taking part in the physically demanding experience.

“We listen to our alumni,” said David Hasz, executive director of the Honor Academy. “We've learned from others. That's the reason we changed from ESOAL. We're thankful for their feedback. We were able to make the event better.”

The revamped event is called “Physical, Emotional and Relational Learning,” or PEARL.

“Comparing ESOAL to PEARL would be like comparing baseball to cricket,” Hasz said. “They both use bats and balls, but they're different games.”

With both PEARL and its predecessor, young interns are expected to work as group and under the eye of “coaches” to complete a series of grueling physical and mental exercises while receiving very little sleep. Activities include carrying logs, pushups and running. Mental exercises require keeping track of detailed instructions and math to complete an activity.

When an exhausted or over-stressed intern snaps or wants to quit, a coach intervenes.

“PEARL is an opportunity for interns to practice real emotions,” Hasz said. “It's a role-playing game. It's not like a video game where your character is getting tired.”

Critics say interns were pushed too far in ESOAL.

Hasz said that some leaders adapted too much of a drill sergeant style in ESOAL.

“In the past, we had some people who maybe watched ‘Major Payne' too much,'” Hasz said, referring to a movie.

Hazs said leaders no longer use military titles but are referred to as coach, and the interaction is more life coaching than yelling.

Many Teen Mania interns and staff who participated in ESOAL and now PEARL like the changes.

“ESOAL was more structured in a pushing state, the same as PEARL, but PEARL is more structured to sharpen the mind and engage the heart,” said Jonathan Parrilla, Honor Academy dorm director who participated in ESOAL and served as a PEARL facilitator.

“PEARL has the same structure, but there's more relationship, more counseling,” he said. “It's about controlling your emotions, being strong in adversity and knowing that you're not alone, that there's the Lord and others to build you up when times are hard.”

Interns now also get more sleep. In PEARL, interns get at least four hours of uninterrupted sleep, which wasn't the case with ESOAL, Hasz said.

Another change involves an intern's ability to opt out of the experience.

In the past, interns started and then, if they felt it was too much to bear, rang a bell signaling that they were quitting, a practice called ringing out. Critics say leaders made those who rang out feel guilty or as if they had failed.

Now to participate, interns voluntarily sign up for PEARL. Interns are not required to participate to complete Honor Academy.

However, the practice of ringing out continues.

“In the past, we didn't handle (someone ringing out) well,” Hasz said. “Now we cheer.”

There are two reasons for people to ring out, Hasz said — either for a medical injury or they give up.

“If you're limping, you need to make a wise choice,” he said.

Of 272 participants —interns, and staff and parents of interns — who voluntarily took part in the most recent PEARL, 103 rang out, Hasz said. All were evaluated, as required, at an on-site clinic; 42 visited the clinic with potentially more serious issues, such as feeling faint, sprained ankles or knees, or potential breathing issues.

DISAGREEMENT

Two years ago, Teen Mania alumna Micah Marley created a website, recoveringalumni.com, for alumni who were unhappy with their Honor Academy experience. Ms. Marley was an intern in the late '90s. She never went through the ESOAL.

Other alumni who did participate were critical of the event.

“My main concerns with Teen Mania are because of the fact that for the past 15 years various interns from every single year of the Honor Academy have come forward with the exact same concerns about neglect of health and safety issues, condemnation, violation of personal boundaries and a lot of other different things,” she said in a telephone interview. “Every single year, those issues have remained the same, no matter the minor changes that Teen Mania claims to have made.”

Ms. Marley claims, based on an email list, about 200 alumni who have attended Honor Academy “consider themselves recovering.”

“People were like, ‘Oh my gosh, nobody else is talking about this, this makes so much sense' or ‘This is what I went through, please keep posting,'” she said. “It kind of just grew from there.”

Brian Alderidge, 29, intern in 2001 and 2002 and later a facilitator for ESOAL, claims on the site that the experience did “irreparable harm to my young adulthood.” He believes the organization maintains a damaging psychological climate.

Ms. Marley says on the website that Teen Mania taught her that if she couldn't feel God's presence, it must be because of sin in her life. After spending months agonizing over what she could be doing wrong, she left the organization.

“In what can only be called a miraculous divine appointment, shortly after leaving the internship, God provided a way for me to live with a pastor and his family whom I barely knew in another state,” she wrote on the portion of her site titled, “My Recovery.” “I spent countless hours talking with them about my depression stemming from my seeming lack of relationship with God. Why had God left me?

“Why couldn't I sense his presence? I remember over and over, they reassured me that it didn't mean that God had left me. It did not mean He would never speak to me again. In fact, this desert experience was a normal part of Christian life. … They did not teach this at Teen Mania.”

Hasz said that theology — that a lack of God's presence is dependent on sin alone — is “absolutely not” a mindset that he or the organization endorses.

“There's a lot of reasons people might not feel the presence of God in their life, and many, many, many of them are not related to sin whatsoever,” Hasz said. “We all go through dry periods. … I wouldn't blame them on sin whatsoever. I go through dry places that have nothing to do with sin. It's why we don't walk by sight, by what we feel. We walk by faith.”

CONCERNS

Doug and Wendy Duncan are former cult members who became anti-cult activists. They met Ms. Marley at a cult-awareness presentation they gave at their church. When Ms. Marley referred several alumni to their group, the Duncans took a closer look at the Honor Academy.

After the Duncans posted an entry about Teen Mania on their website, http://www.dallascult.com, they were contacted by Heath Stoner, Honor Academy operations director.

At the invitation of Stoner, the Duncans visited the campus last year. Duncan said Teen Mania referred them to interns who had a positive experience.

“The problem with that is that if you have something like this — not just ESOAL, now PEARL, but really the whole experience of the Honor Academy — if there's a certain number of people who are being seriously impacted in a negative way by the experience, that's an issue, and that doesn't get erased by the fact that some people had a good time,” Duncan said.

Duncan, a licensed professional counselor, called the changes made from ESOAL to PEARL “a bit of a whitewash.”

Ultimately, the Duncans and Hasz disagree.

“People always get in the weeds about ‘How do you define a cult?'” Duncan said. “The central thing is this idea of thought reform. You're going to take somebody and put them through a process that changes their personality. That is the core of a cult.”

Duncan alleged that the psychological effect of Honor Academy and ESOAL remain.

“What happens is, when you put people in a group setting like this and put them through a series of things that give them a little trauma bonding, they go through this whole event together, there's exhaustion, there's sleep deprivation, you put them in a state of heightened suggestibility,” Duncan said.

According to Teen Mania's website, Honor Academy interns spend a week on the campus learning about the organization before they are ever required to commit.

Duncan alleged that teens and their parents don't understand what they're getting into when they commit to a year of service at Teen Mania.

“They get them right up front and hit them with all this stuff about commitment,'” Duncan said. “Then people feel obligated to go through the full year at the Honor Academy or whatever it is, even though in a lot of cases, they're miserable. Of course, when people are miserable or depressed, the nature of the group dynamic is people think it's their own fault, ‘It's because you're not praying enough;' ‘It's because you don't have enough faith;' ‘It's because you're not a good Christian;' ‘If you were like the other Christians around here, you would be happy here in this little paradise that we've set up.' It's the same environment, the same kind of control that cults do.”

Honor Academy leadership maintains PEARL and other exercises are an opportunity for practice.

“Yes, we should turn to the Lord in real life, and if we have opportunities to practice real-life responses, what a great place to do it in a safe environment, like the PEARL,” Hasz said. “That's what so great about playing sports. You get to see what's in your heart. That's why I love playing basketball; it shows me who I am. Does that change my personality? I hope so. I hope I choose to change my personality when the stuff that comes out is not Christ-like.

“The key thing to realize here is, PEARL is not designed to be ‘the event' that will spiritually change them forever,” he said. “It's a small part of the Honor Academy.”

cmack:
http://www.cbs19.tv/story/15986617/teen ... under-fire

Reaction after Teen Mania comes under fire
Posted: Nov 08, 2011 10:37 AM EST Updated: Nov 08, 2011 10:42 AM EST
By Courtney Friedman - email

TYLER (KYTX) - A national network documentary on East Texas based Christian youth organization Teen Mania, claims parts of the program are too extreme.

The organization has come under fire before for it's unique programs, but the program's Executive Vice President David Hasz believes Teen Mania is often misunderstood.

He says, it's all about the big picture, and putting things into context.

Hasz says, "We have had young people voice concerns over the years in the Honor Academy. We listen to those concerns, we take that feedback very seriously."

Hasz says more than 6,000 teenagers have completed the Honor Academy, a one year internship program that includes weekend retreats.

These retreats feature activities related to a traditional boot camp, and are the target of controversy.

Hasz says, "It's optional. Young people these days like to get involved. They like to do a mud run or do the edgy stuff. but interns do not have to participate."

Hasz says they are continually evaluating their programs with input from both people in Teen Mania, and people in the community to form the Honor Academy.

David Hasz says Teen Mania has tried to contact the girls who spoke against them in the documentary, but he says they did not get a response.  

People like Lindale parent Tommy Roden have heard negative things about Teen Mania.

"That it's cult-like, and it's a little extreme compared to the other youth organizations around, and me personally, my kids wouldn't be involved in that."

He says it's a matter of opinion, but he does know people who are involved in the organization.

"I've worked with a couple people that are high in Teen Mania," he says, "and they talk nothing but good about it."

He says regardless of what he's heard, the documentary should have been more balanced.

"I think you should hear both sides of the story too. You can't just judge on what you hear."

Others have also heard mixed opinions about teen mania.

Tylerite Michelle Baetz says, "I've heard things that kind of relate it to a cult and I've also heard from people that they do a lot of good work and that it's a good organization."

Baetz says when it comes to big religious groups, there's bound to be controversy.

"I think with any religious organization that requires so much commitment, which I think that this organization does, that there's going to be talk."

That's something Hasz agrees with.

"There are individuals over the years who have said, 'You guys are crazy, and why are you like that?' I really don't think they understand that we believe this is who God has called us to be."

Ursus:
Comments left for the above article in the OP, "Teen Mania Says Boot Camp Revamped, But Critics Liken Program To Cult" (by Rebecca Hoeffner; November 05, 2011; Tyler Morning Telegraph):


Howard Dale Beggs · University of Tulsa · Saturday at 10:12am
All religions are cults!Susan Michelle Tyrrell · Texas A&M ·
That's like saying all people named Howard are ignorant.Howard Dale Beggs · University of Tulsa · Sunday at 2:36pm
Susan, you could be right, but at least I won't have to spend eternity with bible-thumpers like you.[/list]
Heath Stoner · Staff Member at Honor Academy at Teen Mania Ministries · Saturday at 4:01pm
If you would like to see video's from the recent PEARL event that occurred 7 weeks ago, please check out the video's below. There were a number of parent's that participated and watch the event. If you would like to come and see the event next year, please contact us at Teen Mania so we can give you the dates for 2012.

http://www.honoracademydirector.com/category/the-pearl/[/list]
Brian Aldridge · IT Specialist at CareTech Solutions · Saturday at 10:34pm
you spelled my name wrong.Shannon Nelson · Saint Paul, Minnesota · Sunday at 3:54pm
Brian, I'm so glad to see how much you have healed in the past few years. God bless you.[/list]
Steve Hazen · Garland, Texas · Sunday at 1:05pm
A per-requisite for becoming a Christian is that we become aware of being sinners. There is no group or boot camp that will force that sinfulness out of us. What happens to these young ones that never come to grips with the reality of being forgiven for being a sinner. There are no amount of push-ups that replace the grace of God in Christ Jesus. I my view this is dangerous...Shannon Nelson · Saint Paul, Minnesota · Sunday at 3:51pm
ou are right on, Steve. We need to focus on Christ and His life-saving Grace.[/list]
David S. Holder · Dallas, Texas · Sunday at 3:32pm
Duncan's observations are eye opening. Mind manipulation is a real and serious danager no matter how it is vailed- Hoeffner has written a fair piece here and should be applauded for bring about an alternate view-Shannon Nelson · Saint Paul, Minnesota · Sunday at 3:46pm
Unfortunately the rest of my Honor Academy was full of the same lessons as the original ESOAL. And this story didn't touch on the Gauntlet, which IS required and breaks you down emotionally and physically the first week you're there. I believe I was brainwashed into believing the harder I pushed my body, the more I would prove I wanted and deserved to be there. There was all sorts of abuse going on throughout the course of the program, but many of us don't realize it was happening until our time there was over.Kristie Kittok · Admin Asst at Think Eternity · 2 hours ago
As a parent of an intern, I have witnessed a beautiful atmosphere there on Teen Mania campus. The interns are polite and cheerful, and enthusiastic. My daughter has had an amazing experience as part of the Center for Creative Media, and recommends the programs to others. She is a month from graduating. I am sorry for the sour experience Ms Marley has had, but glad that she has had a new outlook personally. The Lord puts people in our paths who are the help we need. But she is attempting to tear down the works of God in the lives of others. I hope she becomes aware of that, and moves on. This ministry does NOT fit the description of a cult!

©2011 TylerPaper.com/Tyler Morning Telegraph
410 W. Erwin St., Tyler, Texas 75702

Ursus:
From that second article above, posted by cmack, "Reaction after Teen Mania comes under fire":

"I've worked with a couple people that are high in Teen Mania," [Lindale parent Tommy Roden] says, "and they talk nothing but good about it."[/list]

Probably not the best choice of words, when refering to upper or middle management in Teen Mania... :D

Ursus:
19·KYTX - tv
Comment left for the second above article, "Reaction after Teen Mania comes under fire" (by Courtney Friedman; Nov 08, 2011; KYTX):


Anne777 · 8 hours ago
My daughter went through teen mania's honor academy and came out a different, better person. She voluntarily participated in the "boot camp" weekend retreat and although it was extremely challenging, she loved it. She did have some minor injuries but life beats us up pretty good and the boot camp teaches these kids how to be tougher and stronger in the face of life's very difficult challenges. She is a different person altogether because of Teen Mania. She is one tough cookie and I know when I am gone, she will continue to do well, grow, and be a great servant to mankind. What that program did for her transformed her completely, and no one can ever take that away from her. Some kids just aren't up to the challenge. And that is ok, too. I won't say I didn't worry about my daughter that weekend, but all went well. And she FINISHED the course!

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