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Tag Archives: ati

My Life in ATI, part two

5 December 2011, 06:00

DavidA

2

Life Focus Advanced. Soon after I turned 15, I received a letter about a new program called Life Focus Advanced. The concept of the program was this: two Life Focus graduates would room with a leader in training (LIT) for three months and try to counsel and help him out. I was like, “It’s the […]

Vow vs. Relationship

1 December 2011, 06:31

Moderator

11

I was saved at the age of 5. I remember where I was and the basic content of the conversation with my dad that led up to me accepting the gift of eternal life. Over the next 8 years, I don’t remember many specifics about my life as a Christian. I do remember a hunger […]

The Little Things

30 November 2011, 06:30

ChristinS

3

I’ve been pondering quite a bit lately about how many “little” things were missed throughout the publications and teachings of the Institute in Basic Life Principles. I’m dumbfounded when I read a passage from the Bible that was well-known from my Advanced Training Institute studies, and realize that I know almost nothing about what the […]

My Life in ATI, part one

29 November 2011, 06:00

DavidA

8

Beginnings. I was raised in a normal home until we joined the Advanced Training Institute (ATI) in 2000. Up until then we did normal family things and went to church. I had friends and held normal expectations of myself — as did my parents. Our family attended the annual conference in Knoxville and quickly afterwards […]

Keeping Up Appearances.

21 November 2011, 06:00

Moderator

19

I am a survivor of Gothardism. I fully believe ATI is a twisted system of unrealistic rules and regulations. Even more, it gives abusive parents the tools and justification they need to rationalize their behavior. Let me start at the beginning. I went to public school from preschool through first grade. After that, my family […]

Circumcision and Victory Over Sin

18 November 2011, 06:00

Ileata

34

I went to my first Basic Seminar when I was 12. My family enrolled in The Advanced Training Institute (ATI) three years later. It was about seven years after that when I began having serious problems with the teachings of Bill Gothard. Oddly enough, my doubting started because of the Institute’s teaching on circumcision. I […]

Tragic Misguidance: Gothard’s View on Mental Health Treatment and the Petit Family Murders

17 November 2011, 06:00

JoyS

35

Benedict, Joshua, Naomi and Jude Komisarjevsky

On November 6, 2011, Recovering Grace blogged about a news article on Joshua Komisarjevsky’s family and their involvement with Bill Gothard’s Advanced Training Institute (ATI). This is my take on that sad story.  Jennifer, Michaela, and Hayley Petit. Three lives cut tragically short in a brutal robbery, rape, and murder. William Petit, sole survivor of […]

A Real-Life Lesson

15 November 2011, 05:52

lizs

1

Candles are an essential part in making rooms homey. A room that is going to be your home for a year (or more) needs atmosphere and ambiance, and candles can help to fulfill that need. Some time ago, two girls shared a room in a certain tall building in the central part of the Mitten […]

Forced Family Relationships

10 November 2011, 06:03

Moderator

40

The Advanced Training Institute (ATI) encouraged strong family relationships. This was a big draw for many families–seeing the tight-knit, glowing families that hinted of yesteryear’s ideals. But some ATI parents took it upon themselves to force this family ideal in order to be the perfect ATI family. Most homeschoolers I know outside of ATI have […]

Quiverfull or “Full of It?'”

9 November 2011, 06:00

RyanR

148

These days, the Duggars are the most well known family to have participated in the Advanced Training Institute (ATI). For those not familiar with ATI or the Quiverfull movement, the prospect of a family having 19 (going on 20) children is just mind boggling. Yet for those of us who grew up in ATI, having […]