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Articles about how Bill Gothard mishandles the Bible to support his legalistic viewpoint.

Personal testimonies of finding true freedom through God's matchless grace.

Living and thriving through the grace of God.

Stories and accounts of the destruction caused by the teachings of Bill Gothard.

Category Archives: Personal Stories

What’s Wrong with Guarding your Heart?

30 September 2013, 06:00

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I was raised in an ultra-Conservative Christian homeschool environment, during what I consider the heyday of the “guard your heart”/purity/courtship movement (90s and early 2000s). Needless to say, that teaching affected and continues to affect me deeply. What started out as a (presumably) well-intentioned effort by parents to prevent their children from experiencing pain, has […]

From Rules to Grace

23 September 2013, 06:00

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In the past few years, since I have expressed many disagreements with the theology of Bill Gothard, ATI (Advanced Training Institute), and his parent ministry, IBLP (Institute in Basic Life Principles), I have invariably been asked how ATI had negatively impacted my life. Here is my story. My family joined ATI in the ‘90s. It […]

Finding My “No”!

9 September 2013, 06:00

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As a teen growing up in the Advanced Training Institute (ATI), my parents would not have said I was compliant. But I was. My parents decided to homeschool me the summer before I entered seventh grade. Four years later, I ascertained it was most certainly not in my best interest to continue. I fussed, argued […]

Life Isn’t a Role-Playing Game: Part Three

22 August 2013, 06:00

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This is Part Three of a three-part personal story. Click here to read Part One; Click here to read Part Two. After much thought and prayer, I settled on pursuing a marketing degree at a local, small Christian engineering and flight school called LeTourneau University. Most of my first two years were spent obsessed with […]

Life Isn’t a Role-Playing Game: Part Two

19 August 2013, 06:00

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This is Part Two of a three-part story. Click here to read Part One. During my early high school years, I was very blessed to find an incredible youth group with leaders who valued relationships over rules and encouraged guys and girls to know each other more intimately as friends instead of remaining isolated from […]

Life Isn’t a Role-Playing Game: Part One

15 August 2013, 06:00

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“Your face…I don’t know what it is, but it’s like it’s glowing!” That comment was made by a character in one of my favorite role-playing games (RPGs). For those who don’t know, RPGs are a fascinating video game genre in which the game player must create a character and develop his or her skills, abilities, […]

The Pressure of Perfection

4 July 2013, 06:00

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“If you would just do it right!” This was the oft-repeated mantra in my family. It usually happened when something went wrong and my dad was angered by it: simple things like a broken dish, a dirty room, or sibling squabble, or more complex things like a broken window or childhood injury. If we had […]

Not My Doctor

1 July 2013, 06:00

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I forced a twisted, pained smile and begged an excuse for a hasty retreat. It took every inch of strength within my small frame to control the overwhelming urge to run away. Fear tightened my throat as intimidation, unworthiness, and hate I couldn’t explain turned somersaults in my stomach. Suddenly I hated myself for letting […]

We Were The Normal Ones

6 May 2013, 06:00

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I have heard many people talk about how they still want to be involved in ATI (the Advanced Training Institute), but be “normal” families and just “filter out the bad stuff.” I’ve seen some of those responses in the Recovering Grace comments. If that’s your premise, then this post is for you, because that’s my […]

When the Courtship Crashes

2 May 2013, 06:00

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“Lindsey? Do you miss them?”  The swing creaked as I pushed a blonde boy who attended our church.We came from different families, backgrounds, and were far apart in age, but today I’d been drawn to play with him by one thing in common. Our friends were gone. “Yeah.”  “Did you tell them not to come […]