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Author Topic: Any horror stories from those LT summers?  (Read 46925 times)
ScottChase
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« Reply #40 on: May 10, 2016, 03:56:29 pm »

"I just remembered a trip we took to Denver a few years ago... We were doing renovations on the church there as well as passing out flyers for the church. Thinking back I cannot believe the dangerous situations they had people in! They had unskilled college students up on scaffolding up on the ceiling painting, and climbing on pipes to get hard to reach places, they had all the guys using power tools they had never touched before (as a tech theater student I had more experience then all of those guys, but I'm a girl so of course I wasn't allowed to do that). We were tearing out piles of fiberglass without goggles... I got fiberglass in my eyes, as well as paint and paint thinner, causing some mild but permanent damage to my eyes. We worked 12 hours a day, for no pay, actually we had to pay to
Go on this trip. When passing out flyers they dropped me and another girl off in an area of town that we didn't know, we didn't know Denver at all, and it was fairly sketchy. We had to walked around and pass out church flyers for four hours, in 90 degree heat, with no water(we each got one bottle but of course it ran out fast) I'm honestly surprised no one got hurt, when we needed to go to the bathroom we asked some guy if he knew where we could go, and he just invited us into his apartment, it was a cool apartment but.... Probably not the smartest choice. Idk, ultimately the trip was fun but looking back I can't believe some of the things we did on those trips"

That sounds about right and reminds me of when we helped remodel a pastors house that he had just bought, since I was the only one with general maintenance experience I did all of the electrical and plumbing repairs (I am qualified) but the frustrating part was about the third time I got shocked because someone felt the need to turn a breaker back for a circuit that I was working on. After that I got everyone together and basically told them all that if anyone touched the breaker box again I was going to flay them alive. Didn't go over to well but at least I lived through the experience.
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nutrichuckles93
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« Reply #41 on: October 25, 2016, 03:41:03 pm »

The following is a quote from one of this summers LTCs, I thought you all might get a kick out of it:

What does the summer look like? How will the group spend their time? Where will they be living?
 
This summer’s theme is about finding identity in Christ.
 
Rock students have jobs during the weekdays, then the following LT activities:
 
• Monday — Worship and teaching
 • Tuesday — Worship and teaching
 • Wednesday — Small Group
 • Thursday — Prayer
 • Friday — Relational outreach (with coworkers)
 • Saturday — Service project and cold-turkey evangelism
 • Sunday — Prayer and church service
 
The guys’ house is a duplex with about 25 men living there. They sleep on the floor, on camping pads, in sleeping bags. The ladies live within a stone's throw of Candlewood. The house has a Victorian feel, and most of the ladies get either a bed or couch to sleep on.
 
As for meals, each visiting church takes a turn doing the weekly shopping trip to Sam's for 60-plus students. They then assist a professional chef (a member at Candlewood Church) in cooking dinners every night. We have not cooked yet, but it has been fun to eat mac and cheese with weenies, as well as tater-tot casserole during the first week.

To think that I was a part of that just last summer. It didn't seem so bizarre last year when I was joyfully on the inside of it (see my introductory post in hellos and testimonies). Now I see that the level of control and pressure to participate was borderline if not outright unhealthy.
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lovebombed
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« Reply #42 on: January 10, 2017, 07:55:59 pm »

I spent two summers in a beach town on project in the early 2000s.
The first summer was led by my pastor. Same issues of control and schedules, but I thrived in the routine. We had to read "every women's battle: young women's edition" or some such, and my pStor couldn't understand why a book for middle schoolers didn't apply to us as we were all supposed to be virginal and focused on jesus and friendships with ladies.
The second summer was a different story, and was led by a pastor in training? With major health problems? That gcm responsibilities like walking around campus for hours a day in the heat harrasjng students about surveys  just made worse?
On the men's side, there was somebody who left real early. To my memory, he caused a lot of drama and so he was pushed out- but there had to be more to the story than that. In the girls apartment, there was a young women experiencing mental health struggles (depression? Something worse?) who would barricade herself in her (shared) room and refuse to come out for prayer or any shared activities. As a household leader, I was supposed to harass her to get her to come out, and was even sent from morning prayer after we prayed with her to bang on her door to get her to come out. I have felt terribly for the way we treated Her- at best, as a broken thing in need of repair, and at worst, that we were the cause of her mental health issues. I would love to apologize to her- I did wrong and have actively worked to learn how to respond to mental health issues in the years since then. My pastor and most of my compatriots... best as I know... they have continued on the same path. And it's gross.
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Ned_Flanders
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« Reply #43 on: January 12, 2017, 09:49:38 am »

I spent two summers in a beach town on project in the early 2000s.
The first summer was led by my pastor. Same issues of control and schedules, but I thrived in the routine. We had to read "every women's battle: young women's edition" or some such, and my pStor couldn't understand why a book for middle schoolers didn't apply to us as we were all supposed to be virginal and focused on jesus and friendships with ladies.
The second summer was a different story, and was led by a pastor in training? With major health problems? That gcm responsibilities like walking around campus for hours a day in the heat harrasjng students about surveys  just made worse?
On the men's side, there was somebody who left real early. To my memory, he caused a lot of drama and so he was pushed out- but there had to be more to the story than that. In the girls apartment, there was a young women experiencing mental health struggles (depression? Something worse?) who would barricade herself in her (shared) room and refuse to come out for prayer or any shared activities. As a household leader, I was supposed to harass her to get her to come out, and was even sent from morning prayer after we prayed with her to bang on her door to get her to come out. I have felt terribly for the way we treated Her- at best, as a broken thing in need of repair, and at worst, that we were the cause of her mental health issues. I would love to apologize to her- I did wrong and have actively worked to learn how to respond to mental health issues in the years since then. My pastor and most of my compatriots... best as I know... they have continued on the same path. And it's gross.


When I was involved in GCx (I left in the mid-1990s), the establishment there was really against any understanding of psychology and mental health.  Granted, at that time, I had never heard about mania, bipolar disorder or even ADD/ADHD.  I deal with ADD firsthand but I can't recall back then if I knew much about it as a condition.  I don't know when you were there but I don't expect those people will ever have a functional understanding that some people have stuff going on in their lives that they didn't ask for.
« Last Edit: January 13, 2017, 05:30:38 pm by Ned_Flanders » Logged
lovebombed
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« Reply #44 on: January 12, 2017, 03:03:47 pm »

You are probably right, Ned. There was a number of mental health emergencies that were prayed for/treated as bad behavior instead of appropriately addressed. Slightly deviating from  summer projects, I had a close friend from church who was having such mental health issues (mania then depression?) that they would have seizures Someone had to stay with them overnight, and there were a number of hospital stays (related to getting the seizures under control. This person did a summer on project when they were having less issues, but during the height of it, my pastors were well aware. Our homegroup fasted for three days then tried to cast out the demon that must have been causing it- and after doing that a couple of times, declared them healed. What actually happened was that they got married, and nobody ever talked about all the demons ever publically again. I know that the issues didn't go away- but it went to be their spouses problem to deal with (badly).
And to be honest, thinking about this now makes me ill.
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Ned_Flanders
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« Reply #45 on: January 13, 2017, 06:42:52 am »

You are probably right, Ned. There was a number of mental health emergencies that were prayed for/treated as bad behavior instead of appropriately addressed. Slightly deviating from  summer projects, I had a close friend from church who was having such mental health issues (mania then depression?) that they would have seizures Someone had to stay with them overnight, and there were a number of hospital stays (related to getting the seizures under control. This person did a summer on project when they were having less issues, but during the height of it, my pastors were well aware. Our homegroup fasted for three days then tried to cast out the demon that must have been causing it- and after doing that a couple of times, declared them healed. What actually happened was that they got married, and nobody ever talked about all the demons ever publically again. I know that the issues didn't go away- but it went to be their spouses problem to deal with (badly).
And to be honest, thinking about this now makes me ill.

I left that Church a long time ago but it's sad to hear that they continued to do damage to people's lives, even though they wrote a statement in the early 1990s in efforts to turn from the errors of their ways.  But when I was there, they did something that in hindsight doesn't look like a good idea at all.  In their constant efforts to re-form and re-invent small groups/cel groups/life groups/home groups/student groups/friendship teams/etc., one year I was there they created a bunch of different groups.  One of them was a "Support and Recovery" group.  I was not a part of it so I have no idea what the people in that group talked about but from what I know now about mental health and professional counseling, I'm not sure it was a good idea to have a bunch of people sharing their stories like that without a professional there. 
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Janet Easson Martin
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« Reply #46 on: January 24, 2023, 08:25:00 pm »



The blitz or summer LT is a joke. Candlewood families would use it as free babysitting and extra income for the summer. LT refers to leadership training, which for women is following the men and church leadership. At the end of my last LT they handed out the summer tshirts, they were on unity and love. The last summer LT had been the worst LT, the teachings were supposed to bring us together in love and unity. I chose to not wear the shirt or share in sharing, I didn't know where the love and unity was present.

-Hope


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For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.        - Saint Augustine
Free.to.love.Jesus
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« Reply #47 on: October 12, 2023, 05:39:17 am »

Quote from: jack
I think "leaders" aren't made, they're born.  Everyone has unique talents and abilities.  That's one of the problems with GC, they try to make everyone fit the same mold, but most of us don't fit.

Spiritual leaders are not made or born, they are gifted by the Holy Spirit at His discretion.  And in His timing.

Good spiritual leaders study the Word and know how to read it and interpret it.  Good spiritual leaders may not be brimming with charisma, but they take an intense interest in how you respond to the pure Word. 

Bad spiritual leaders may not even be gifted as leaders, but they do not seem to know it.  They have a tough time understanding the genuine meaning of a text and often take the easy way out by quoting someone else's opinion.  Bad spiritual leaders care less whether you understand and respond properly to the Word so long as you honor them and obey them.

I was one of those "stiff necked fools" who refused to go to leadership training.  Guess we cannot all be apostles, prophets, and elders, now can we?  Shocked


It's about letting the Holy Spirit lead you in whatever circumstances you're in.
I don't like how GCX hailed over leaders instead of God's Word. I don't generally consider myself a leader but I kind of feel like one now that I'm in a mostly Catholic country with Catholics all around me. They're not used to reading the Bible. I try to direct them to His Word. God's Word is simple enough for a child to understand if a person is willing to obey Him. Obey what we know, God will show the rest. If people start with obeying the greatest commandment, the rest will flow (God's Spirit will do the work through us).
GCX wants it to be about them and their program.
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Huldah
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« Reply #48 on: October 13, 2023, 07:48:20 am »

Thank you for posting, Free.to.love.Jesus. I agree with you. GCx has always been more pastor-centric than Jesus-centric.
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Janet Easson Martin
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« Reply #49 on: October 13, 2023, 08:39:23 pm »

I agree also, Free.to.love.Jesus. That is so true, the very best leaders are those led by the Holy Spirit. Praise God, you are leading those people to his Word. How true that loving & trusting God puts us in that humbled posture to lean on Him and thereby cooperate with Him.

Your observation of GCx’s idolatry is spot on. Focusing on the leaders, their “system” and their approval certainly does short-circuit God’s Glory and real fruit. Thus “fruit” must be manipulatively manufactured.

Glad for your posting here.




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For grace is given not because we have done good works, but in order that we may be able to do them.        - Saint Augustine
Huldah
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« Reply #50 on: October 14, 2023, 04:10:13 pm »

Free.to.Love.Jesus, I read what you posted when you first came here, about them conning you out of your savings and having someone follow you to make sure you didn't talk to a friend who'd been excommunicated. That was so wrong! I'm so sorry that happened to you.

Also I've just sent you a PM.
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