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Sacred Grooming, Part Four: A Secretary’s Account of Life With Bill Gothard

27 January 2014, 06:00

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The Staff Center at IBLP Headquarters, photographed by the author

[Editor’s Note: The young woman referred to only as “she” and “her” in the following account is the author herself, “Meg,” but she has written it in the third person. The author was twenty years old during the events in this post. The following is a true story. Click here for Part One of Meg’s […]

Sacred Grooming, Part Two: A Secretary’s Account of Life With Bill Gothard

22 January 2014, 06:00

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Good Counsel?

23 December 2013, 06:00

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The first time I attended an All Day Ministers’ Seminar as an ATI (Advanced Training Institute) student, a kind lady approached me. “Are you an ATI student?” she asked. “Yes, I am,” I responded. “What do you think of this passage of Scripture?” A perfect stranger was asking me for counsel on biblical topics just […]

Letter from a Survivor of Spiritual Abuse

25 November 2013, 06:00

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To all those who are a part of my life in some way: Please don’t tell me that my parents loved me and “only wanted what was best” for me. When I hear you say that, I hear you telling me that all the spiritual abuse, oppression, and deep pain I have felt and experienced […]

Life Focus: The Price of a White Polo

21 November 2013, 06:00

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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 […]

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 […]

Hiding

5 November 2013, 06:00

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The world sees narcissists as loud and seeking attention, at least the ones we call “overt.” For the most part that’s true, but those who know even the overt narcissists also know that there is much that the world does not see. In fact, there is much no one sees. Some of the narcissists I […]

Whelp, there it is: 15 Signs of False Humility

29 August 2013, 06:00

Stephen Smith

The leader of a Texas sect once wrote a letter to me in which he said that he wished he could open a vein for me in order to save my soul. That sounded quite nice, though I already follow Jesus—a point I had (fruitlessly) made in several private Facebook messages back and forth with […]

The Dreaded “B” Word

12 August 2013, 06:00

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During the healing process of leaving ATI (or any other legalistic group) and discovering Jesus Christ and His gospel, there is often a very painful transition for individuals as they must face all the lies they believed, lies which are often coupled with a long history of injustices and abuse. I like to compare this […]

Anniversary Milestones

25 July 2013, 06:00

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Dear Recovering Grace Reader, This week marks the second anniversary of the launching of Recovering Grace. It hardly seems possible that a little over two years ago, our website was only a germ of an idea being shared among a large number of former students of Bill Gothard and his Advanced Training Institute and Institute […]