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Their Day in Court: Part Three
February 22, 2019 // 146 Comments -
Their Day in Court: Part Two
February 22, 2019 // 0 Comments -
Their Day in Court: Part One
February 22, 2019 // 0 Comments -
Statement from Recovering Grace regarding the lawsuit a ...
March 28, 2018 // 186 Comments -
Rethinking the Nativity
December 25, 2016 // 144 Comments
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Plaintiffs Amend Lawsuit Against IBLP, Also Sue Bill Go ...
January 10, 2016 // 1311 Comments -
Charlotte's Story
February 5, 2014 // 601 Comments -
Bill’s Cabin: Uncovering Sin
May 21, 2014 // 475 Comments -
How the Teachings of Emotional Purity and Courtship Dam ...
July 22, 2011 // 431 Comments -
Sacred Grooming, Part Six: A Secretary's Account of Lif ...
January 31, 2014 // 405 Comments
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JM, there is a saying "be the change you want to ...
May 19, 2022 -
We fans speak in Narnia code don't we? Like some o ...
May 19, 2022 -
Haha! Reverse Narnia curse. I love it. I'm in F ...
May 19, 2022 -
No. You got off by bringing up the Duggars. It's g ...
May 19, 2022 -
JM that is all I replied to was about music. You ...
May 18, 2022 -
Who could oppose Christmas year-round? It's the op ...
May 18, 2022 -
Let's keep it all about music, shall we? Let's not ...
May 18, 2022 -
You are giving too much credence to their argument ...
May 17, 2022 -
Then there are those of us who never take the stuf ...
May 17, 2022 -
I think you're missing entirely what I have said a ...
May 17, 2022 -
Bill Gothard seemed to like bold innovation, so wi ...
May 17, 2022 -
Ok JM, I never heard of David Cloud so I made the ...
May 16, 2022 -
That sounds very fair, and I appreciate it. It mig ...
May 16, 2022 -
Brother JM, Bill Gothard designed ATI as “unsch ...
May 16, 2022 -
The sad thing is. . .I don't really know what the ...
May 16, 2022 -
I certainly can't speak for a lot of conservative ...
May 16, 2022 -
This really proves that the 37 year ATI run was no ...
May 13, 2022 -
You already know the answer to this. No credible m ...
May 13, 2022
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The Characteristics of a Sexual Groomer
When I think back over my life, and what happened to me when I was 20, when I met Bill Gothard, I think of this quote from the character of Rosa Dartle in David Copperfield. With my good, acute memory that never allows me to forget, I can put myself back in that room, that […]
How “Lessons From Moral Failures in a Family” Blames Victims
An Institute publication entitled “Lessons From Moral Failures in a Family” [Click here for the full pdf document] was first mailed to Advanced Training Institute (ATI) families in the late 1990s, and it has been periodically distributed at conferences since. Recovering Grace does not know the identity of the family members who shared their story […]
Speaking Up Late in the Day
Over the past two weeks and previous two Aprils, Recovering Grace has focused on personal narratives by former Advanced Training Institute (ATI) alumni who endured sexual assault, abuse, or harassment in the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) subculture, sometimes within a context of broader physical abuse, and almost always within a context of spiritual […]
Twelve Characteristics of Fundamentalist Societies that Shelter Sexual Abuse
How could he have fooled so many people, so thoroughly? How did the abuse go on for so many years, unacknowledged? Whenever a leader at this level is ousted or steps down, questions like these come to mind. In the wake of revelations of sexual harassment and abuse pouring in from survivors of Bill Gothard’s […]
Readings on Acknowledging and Healing from Sexual Abuse
Below are some links to readings that members of our community have found helpful on their paths to healing from physical and sexual abuse, especially abuse suffered at the hands of family members, authority figures, and other trusted individuals. In A Theology of Sexual Abuse: A Reflection on Creation and Devastation, Dr. Andrew Schmutzer describes […]
Finding the Words to Say, “No More”
When I was fourteen years old I was diagnosed with a very rare, very aggressive cancer. To be able to start my treatment, we learned, I would need to go to a hospital in a different city. There we met the oncologist responsible for heading up my treatment protocol. He was my future abuser. At […]
There Is No Victim: A Survey of IBLP Literature on Sexual Assault and Abuse
Today, Recovering Grace looks at past Advanced Training Institute (ATI) and Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) materials that address the topics of sexual abuse, child molestation within a nuclear family, and domestic violence. This is not presented as an exhaustive survey, but is the full range of printed Institute material on these topics that […]
A Long Night’s Journey Through the ATI / IBLP System
I grew up in Bill Gothard’s Advanced Training Institute of America (ATIA, later renamed ATI) home school program from 1985 through 2005 — twenty years! I worked at five different Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) training centers run by Bill Gothard and his staff, as well as working at IBLP Headquarters in Oak Brook, […]
When Sexual Harassment at IBLP Headquarters Is Acknowledged
I attended my first Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) Basic Seminar during my junior year of high school. It was interesting, although I couldn’t believe we were watching a video. My parents had been attending these seminars for years. They accepted Jesus at one in 1976. I did my part at the seminar, paying […]
How Could This Happen Here?
Recovering Grace will observe Sexual Assault Awareness Month for the remainder of April. In April 2012 and 2013, we published some very difficult stories of sexual abuse in ATI [Advanced Training Institute] families. Some critics objected that these families were extreme outliers within the program, and that ATI and IBLP have never condoned sexual […]
