Researching Teen Mania: Initial Research Questions & Objectives November 18, 2011

Please read the introduction to this research project on yesterday’s post for relevant information about why I am researching the rift between Teen Mania’s Honor Academy and the Recovering Alumni community.

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When I applied for my grant, I was asked how I would measure the success of this project. One of the ways I would like to measure success is by composing a list of initial research questions and objectives and then gauging at the end of my project whether or not I have successfully answered those questions and achieved those objectives. As I begin this process, these are my initial questions. These may change and grow as my research goes on, but they are a starting point.

1. What is the historical timeline of Teen Mania and its Honor Academy?
   • I already know a lot about this question, but I would love to understand the history from the perspective of those who founded and developed Teen Mania.
   • If Teen Mania’s leaders were to put it on a map of all other Christian organizations, where would it fall? What organizations would be near it in terms of belief systems and goals? What organizations would it be distanced from?
   • What are the goals of the Honor Academy in terms of future growth, development, and change?
2. What is the historical timeline of the Recovering Alumni website?
   • Specifically, when did Mica decide to start the blog? What prompted her decision to start blogging about the HA?
   • What has influenced various changes in tactic, tone, and goals?
3. What makes Teen Mania so polarizing?
   • Based on the reaction I get when I say “Teen Mania” in evangelical AND non-evangelical circles, I do not buy the idea that the dissatisfied participants are small in number or proportion. So why is it that people tend to be so polarized in their response to the group?
4. How has the Recovering Alumni blog affected the ethos of the Honor Academy?
   • Additionally, how has the blog affected prospective interns and their parents? I have heard that enrollment is down significantly, and I wonder if Teen Mania credits the RA site with dropping numbers.
5. Many people have posted their stories to the RA blog, and I would like to verify certain information and accusations that have been levied against Teen Mania. Is there supporting evidence outside of the point of view of the storyteller?
6. On the other hand, Teen Mania alleges that many of the stories posted are exaggerated or issues that have long since been resolved. Are they willing to identify which specific stories they feel are untrue or misrepresentative of the truth?
7. What has been the motivation behind each of Teen Mania’s public responses to the RA community?
   • Who crafted each response, and what kind of discussion and planning went into those responses?
   • What ideas were proposed and discarded?
   • I am particularly interested in the initial letter that Ron Luce sent to the HA mailing list about Mica’s use of the alumni mailing list; the Recovering Alumni Response website; the HA stories website; the letter of support from Jack Hayford; the development of the Honor Academy Director blog; and the interviews and public responses following MSNBC’s Mind Over Mania documentary.
   • I am also interested in the semi-private responses that have been made through social media, via sites like Facebook, Twitter, and various blogs.
8. Is there anything that the stakeholders in this debate would have done differently?
   • For example, what would Honor Academy leaders have done different in terms of their response to the RA community, had they been able to anticipate the scope of the dissatisfaction?
   • What about Mica and RA community members? Would they have gone about things in a different way if they had known what to expect from Teen Mania?

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In the next few days, I will post a call for interview subjects and information about what the interview process will be like. I appreciate all of the interest that I have already received regarding this project, and I hope to be able to talk with as many of you as possible. Please be aware that most of my research will take place in 2012, so although I hope to reply to every interested party right away, I will not be conducting most interviews for a few months.

Comments from first time commenters are put in moderation. Once approved, you will be able to comment as much as you like.

Researching Teen Mania: An Introductory Post November 17, 2011

Several weeks ago, I was awarded a substantial faculty development grant from the university where I teach. I am excited about the opportunity that this grant gives me: through the generous support of my institution, I will be able to spend three weeks in 2012 dedicated to researching the rift between Teen Mania’s Honor Academy and the Recovering Alumni community. The grant also covers my airfare and travel expenses for a six-day trip to Texas in order to interview key players in this conflict.

In order to provide information for those who may like to talk with me about their experiences with Teen Mania and other similar organizations, I have decided to chronicle as much as my research as possible. Through this blog, I will keep track of my research questions, information that I gather toward answering those questions, and conclusions I am able to draw from that information. All of these posts will be tagged as “Teen Mania Research.”

This will be an ambitious project. It is ambitious because this is a complicated, nuanced situation. There are complexities that are difficult for those who have never been part of Teen Mania to understand. I hope that I am able to shed light on those complexities. I do not know what the research will lead to—an article? A book? Useful content for my composition students? Nothing more than personal enrichment? I envision the results to be a work of literary journalism, although I cannot anticipate the length or scope at this point.

For those who are just now being introduced to me through this project, I want to introduce myself: My name is Liz Boltz Ranfeld. I have an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of New Hampshire, and I am an English professor at a small college in Indiana. I am mother to an almost two-year-old. I am a believer and a skeptic, a liberal Christian who is a lot more comfortable around atheists than evangelicals. That said, there are a lot of evangelical Christians in my life that I dearly love. I have been writing for as long as I have been able to hold a pencil, and my writing tends to focus on spirituality, doubt, relationships, and the bonds of family.

My involvement with Teen Mania dates back to the early 90s, when I began attending Acquire the Fire as an eleven year old. Throughout my adolescence, Teen Mania played the most important non-familial role in my life. My siblings and I went on around a dozen trips with the organization in the 90s, and my brother is a 1999 Honor Academy graduate. Because my parents were well-known in certain evangelical circles at the time, they helped raise a lot of money for Teen Mania and were vocal supporters for years.

My involvement in the organization ended when my parents decided that it was no longer physically safe to be part of Teen Mania. I hated their decision at the time, but I continued to be involved in youth missions throughout my teenage years. The experience of being a teen missionary prompted an intense period of introspection once I became an adult, and in 2011 I completed my MFA thesis, a 240-page memoir that chronicles the ways that a single summer with Teen Mania caused equal levels of growth and detriment to my faith. I am currently seeking a publisher for that book.

I have been a reader of the Recovering Alumni blog since its first month, and I consider myself a member of the community. I have tried to set boundaries to my involvement, however, because I recognize that I was never an Honor Academy intern. I support the RA community because I believe that there have been instances of systematic abuse at the HA, and I do not believe that Teen Mania has appropriately handled the criticism that has been made regarding their programming.

Some may say that this makes me a “biased” researcher, and I can see their concerns. My response would be this: my research is not an attempt to prove or disprove claims of abuse at the HA, nor is it to answer the question of whether or not Teen Mania is a cult. I believe that individuals who are inclined to believe or disbelieve those statements can come to their own conclusion by looking at the evidence that has been presented by each stakeholder in this debate. It is not my goal to convince anyone that abuse does or does not happen at Teen Mania.

Instead, my research is about discerning the truth about the complicated history of this rift. I want to understand how an organization goes from little events called Beach Bash to being a huge and reputable organization with tens of thousands of participants, and then ends up in a position in which hundreds of former alumni speak out against it as abusive. I have also read rumors that the RA blog has drastically affected enrollment, which I think would be of interest to other volunteer-based organizations that have unhappy alumni. I want to clarify the timeline of events, evaluate the role that Mica of Recovering Alumni has played, and understand the motivation behind each of Teen Mania’s public responses to the RA community, as well as the semi-public responses that have happened via social networking sites.

Future posts in this series will:

• introduce my initial research questions.
• outline my hopes for interviews.
• call for stories from Teen Mania participants of all persuasions, whether exceedingly positive about their experience, overwhelmingly negative, or some blend of the two.
• chronicle my research.

I welcome questions and feedback regarding these posts. I hope to be as transparent and public as possible as I work through this process, and I welcome your involvement.

Thank you!

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Comments from first time commenters are put in moderation. Once approved, you will be able to comment as much as you like.

Disheartened November 15, 2011

I am trying to decide whether or not it is appropriate to use Facebook as a platform for sharing why I am so disheartened by America today. I know that a lot of people don’t care to read about politics on FB, and I know and love many people who have different political leanings than I do, but today I am having a hard time keeping my thoughts to myself.

I am saddened by the lies that led to the watering down of the Affordable Health Care Act, and I am upset by the power that health insurance companies have over the lives of Americans, including my husband’s.

I am ashamed for what happened to the Wall Street Occupiers last night.

I don’t understand how Herman Cain, a man with zero political experience and a history of assaulting women, can continue to be a frontrunner in the Republican presidential race.

I hate that people seem to have more compassion for an 80-something coach who was fired for a failure of ethics than for children who were raped and abused.

I don’t comprehend the language of “take our country back.” I would much rather move our country forward, away from the evil, hateful things that are happening now.

I posted this today as a Facebook note and wanted to put it here on my blog, too.

A morning conversation with Chuck November 10, 2011

I have been awed lately by the fact that I can have conversations with my 21-month-old daughter.

This morning, Chalupa got Chuck out of bed and brought her to me in our bedroom. I was just getting ready to leave for work.

“HELLO!” she said. (A bit more like “’ello,” but you get the point.)

“HI!” I replied. “Did you sleep well?”

She nodded. “Raffe.” Which is, of course, her name for Giraffe.

“Giraffe slept well, too?”

Another definite nod from Chuck, followed by, “Ah-bee.”

“Oh, yeah, Brobee was in bed with you last night, too, huh?”

Another nod. Then her eyes widened and she pointed to the button on my sweater. “Ah-DAT!?”

“That’s a button.”

“OOOOOHHHHHHH!”

A skeptical look crossed her face, and she pointed to the sweater’s embroidered flowers. Concerned, she said, “Ah-dat?”

“That’s a flower.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“TEEEEEEEEEEE!”

“I guess it does look a little like a tree,” I agreed. The flowers are somewhat tree-like. “Honey, I’ve got to go to work.”

“NOOOOO wuuk.” Sad faced girl.

“Yeah, sweetheart. I’m sorry. But I can get you some breakfast. Are you hungry?”

“HUNNNNNNDY!”

“Okay, what do you want—”

“NONUT! NONUT! NONUT!” That, of course, means donut. When does this kid not want donuts?

“Can you say DO-nut?”

“NONUT!”

“Do?”

“DO?”

“NUT!”

“NUT!”

“Okay, now put it together!”

“NONUT!”

 

 

Ten minutes later, as she happily scarfed down her powdered sugar donuts in her high chair, I packed my lunch and gathered my work bags. (I have lots of work bags.)

“Nye-nye!” she said, waving to me.

“Bye-bye, baby!” I gave her a kiss on the head and went to leave.

“NOO!” she cried. “UUUGGGG!”

I turned and saw her with a donut stuffed in her mouth and her arms reached wide. “I’ll give you a hug!”

As I hugged her, she smiled broadly and showed me her powdered-sugar mouth. “NIIISSSS!” she said.

“Kisses, too.” I gave her a kiss before I left.

I didn’t notice until I was halfway to work that I had powdered sugar on my lips from a good-bye kiss.

Chatting with Chuck at her table