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

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

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Tag Archives: ati

Life Focus: The Price of a White Polo

21 November 2013, 06:00

Moderator

I could share countless stories of spiritual, physical, and mental abuse from my time spent in the Life Focus program. But one experience that stands out in my mind was when I was confined to the Prayer Room during Life Focus IV. The “scandal” that began a witch hunt started with a young lady from […]

Life Focus: A Sister’s Perspective

18 November 2013, 06:00

Carolynn

I was 13 when my parents chose to send my brother to Life Focus. Josh was the first in our family—at age 16—to experience an apprenticeship program, and the whole family was both excited and apprehensive. What would the Indianapolis Training Center (ITC) be like? (My parents attended a short admissions seminar there several years […]

Examining “Life Focus”

14 November 2013, 06:00

Rachel

A couple of years ago I heard that there was a program for young men in the Advanced Training Institute (ATI) called Life Focus. Apparently Life Focus came into existence right around the time I left ATI. When I heard some of my friends discussing it, I was intrigued and started asking around. While there […]

Separating the Wheat from the Chaff

31 October 2013, 06:00

Moderator

I grew up on the West Coast and have noticed a pattern where families from California who were enrolled in the Advanced Training Institute (ATI) tended to be a bit more lax in their way of going about the program, compared with the experiences of families in the Midwest and elsewhere. Perhaps that had a […]

Reflections on Healing After Surgery

21 October 2013, 06:00

RyanR

Within the Recovering Grace community, many often are confronted by well-meaning friends or family who believe that the spiritually wounded should just get over it. The refrains vary from, “You’re being bitter,” to “You just need to leave it at the cross,” to “You WANT to hang on to this.” I recently underwent lumbar spinal […]

The Blessings of God

17 October 2013, 06:00

Wendy B

Bill Gothard’s courtship literature promises rewards to those who do courtship right and consequences for those who date — rewards and consequences that are not promised in Scripture. I’ll take examples from Gothard’s recent courtship teaching, then share my own experience with courtship and dating. In the article “What Is Courtship?” Gothard lists the Foundational […]

From Rules to Grace

23 September 2013, 06:00

Moderator

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 […]

Does Jesus Love Me?

19 September 2013, 06:00

Moderator

Jesus loves me. I need to know this. Like, not some kind of empty platitude I say or others say to me. I need to KNOW this. Not like something I sing on a Sunday morning after watching my parents rush around, getting us ready for church. Looking like a perfect child, putting on the […]

Finding My “No”!

9 September 2013, 06:00

Moderator

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 […]

Issues of Concern—Bill Gothard and the Bible (1984)

2 September 2013, 05:00

Moderator

162

A Report by Ronald B. Allen, Th.D. Professor of Hebrew Scripture Western Baptist Seminary, Portland, Oregon May 30, 1984 The week that I spent at Basic Youth Conflicts in 1973 (Portland) was one of the most difficult of my life. In this seminar I was regularly assaulted by a misuse of the Bible, particularly of […]