Have you Shiny Happy People? Looking for more info? Start here.

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.

Tag Archives: homeschooling

Remember Your Brethren in Bonds

13 June 2013, 06:00

Moderator

13

In 2 Timothy 3:12, it is written, “Yea, and all who live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.” I don’t remember much persecution, at least not the kind that the Bible talks about. Sure we were ultra conservative and occasionally got some strange looks from people who had no idea what we were talking […]

Christian Women Should Not Eat Chocolate

10 June 2013, 09:54

Moderator

120

Occasionally Recovering Grace likes to offer other articles and resources that our readers may find helpful in their road to recovery. One such humorous, but thought-provoking article was written by former ATI student, Dulce Chale, and hosted on a Home Education blog. This article provides great “food” for thought on the issue of modesty: “Christian […]

We Were The Normal Ones

6 May 2013, 06:00

Moderator

79

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 […]

A Life Defined By Externals

15 April 2013, 06:00

Moderator

14

My story is an interesting one. Until I found Recovering Grace I did not know there were many others like me. When I was eight years old my mom and biological father divorced. Even as a child I understood why their divorce was necessary. People say I was born an adult. Within a year my mom re-married a […]

Third Witness: Sexual Harassment at Headquarters

8 April 2013, 06:00

Moderator

88

Editor’s note: This is the third article in a series of stories relating Bill Gothard’s sexual harassment of young girls at Headquarters. Click on these links to read the previous stories: Lizzie’s story Part 1 and Part 2, and Annette’s story, as well as a follow-up article, “A Call to Repentance.” My story begins like […]

Behind Every Good Man…

30 July 2012, 06:00

Moderator

52

The concept of authority is central to Bill Gothard’s teachings. So much so, that I remember performing a coronation ceremony crowning my dad “king” of our family as a Wisdom Booklet project. I was 16 at the time, and struggling with authority being defined as dad’s complete control over every aspect of my life. My […]

Failure to Conform

23 May 2012, 06:00

Joshua B

47

As an ATI (Advanced Training Institute) student, I was a walking contradiction. So much of me wanted to be a perfect, sharply dressed, smiling young man in navy and white with a shining smile and a perfectly slicked comb over–just like the fine young men that sang on the main stage at the Knoxville conference […]

No Place for Shame!

16 May 2012, 06:00

Joshua B

21

Talking about my family’s involvement in ATI & IBLP is something that is so incredibly difficult for me, mostly because my family refuses to talk about and would like to pretend that it never happened. It wasn’t until I was 25 years old and found myself having panic attacks, intense feelings of shame, and anxiety, that I […]

Choosing Both Forgiveness and Prosecution

6 April 2012, 06:00

Moderator

38

Along his journey to becoming a convicted felon, pedophile, and sexual predator, I was one of my older brother Michael’s earliest victims in life. He began “grooming” me when I was six; “Grooming” is a term I have since learned that is clinically used to refer to the deliberate preparation of an intended victim for […]

The Cost of a Vow

14 March 2012, 09:15

Anne

38

From the time I was a little girl, all I wanted was to find my knight in shining armor and be a mommy. If the Disney Princesses had all been around when I was a child, I’m quite certain I would have been enamored by their stories. But they weren’t, and they wouldn’t have been kosher anyway, as […]