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I couldn't give a toss, really, about Rosalie or about TWI. If Rosalie's retirement is boring, however, I'll invite her to come alongside me for a week - to see how I serve in my community and how God allows me to meet peple's needs (and how they meet mine, by paying me!). While she's here, she can also come alongside my church (in a low-income community) and see the many things that this church does to engage people, help meet their needs, make the building available to all sorts of people in all sorts of receptivity. A few strange and nervous people have just ventured as far as the couch in the lobby and sat there for months before venturing a "hello" without being talked to first. But now, they are contributing members of the congregation. The young people have football and table tennis tournaments. Every six months, we hire skips and people from the estate bring rubbish (rather than let it litter the estate) and better stuff is sold at the cost of pennies. The old and lonely have meetings there, too. There are two or three events/meetings in the church every day, as different ways of meeting the community's needs and showing Christian love to them. She wouldn't be bored; there's always something going on. The kitchen is a good place to be. Lots of our activities involve food or at least drinks, available for donation - or nothing. Lots of plates and cups to wash (we have a dishwasher). Dishroom duty isn't considered a punishment posting; it's a blessing to be able to serve. Come on in!! Then, maybe, she could go back and share some of what she'd learned about Service, Living the Word, Believing Action, and suchlike.

I suspect she is behind the new marketing effort to make TWI appealing to more people before she "steps down." There are several newish Way websites listed in the right-hand sidebar of the main website. IMO, they are an attempt at showing different "faces" for the organization. Here's one A more modern looking TWI website. The common thread: they hammer away with V.P. Wierwille's insistence that TWI offers followers a way to find "the accuracy of the Word." With no credentials, with no understanding of what everyone OUTSIDE TWI considers as "biblical research," it may be that the next TWI "prez" --without R.R.'s marketing skills that she learned first-hand from VPW, will have his hands full trying to convince outsiders that TWI is what it purports to be.

*sip* . . . Ctrl-C . . . . *gulp* . . . Ctrl-V . . . *Chug* . . . Ctrl-S . . . *pours* . . . hit send

Welcome to GSC, Lanikaigal. Hope you find some good, helpful, and insightful info around here. Maybe some of it will be upsetting, but this community has some "other side of the TWI story" stories to offer here. And much love, insofar as love can be given and felt online. Goodwill is our intention here. And truth telling. Cheers to your post-TWI life. Penworks

Hi L!! Sorry about just the "L" but no way, will I ever remember your screen name!! I have been coming to the GSC for years, but I too had a hard time logging in!! Wow, you were got in a year before I did; 1978 for me. I got out in 1988. From what I read here in GSC, the late 80's and early 90's were among the Fog years. I guess Craig really went nuts with all his purges; I think Rosie also went overboard with her leadership! If you can call it leadership. I remember JAL and his wife Pat when they were the Limb Leaders of NY. Late 70's, early 80's (?). This was before John and Pat were divorced, obviously. I know John is a bit off these days, but at one time, he and Pat were fun to be around, and taught great teachings. The Limb meetings in Hunter Moutain every year was a great time to hear The Word, and fellowship with people from all over the state. I do have special memories of moving The Word in New York State, before TWI fell apart.

I'm late to the party but wanted to share what I can to help you, Brainstormer. My heart goes out to you. I was in my early 20's when I got involved with TWI and my local fellowship was also butterflies and rainbows. I felt like I had a home away from home and a second family. They made me feel all warm and fuzzy and fully supported which was real nice for someone many miles away from home and out on her own with not many friends in a new city. TWI was able to answer every one of the questions I'd had about God and the Bible that the Baptist Church I grew up in couldn't answer. They showed me chapter and verse and I read the answer right there in black and white with my own two eyes. It was intoxicating to feel like I was learning the Bible and would eventually know more than any minister in any other church. ('cause us in TWI are so smart, doncha know?) The encouragement to learn more - to do more and to be more was always there and with my desire to please and succeed it was definitely tempting to join the ranks of leadership or outreach programs. It's a very slow process, though. Kind of like putting frogs in boiling water or putting them in cool water and ever so slowly increasing the temperature till they boil to death. The people in my direct fellowship were successful business people who made decent amount of money but there were far more I noticed the longer I was in, who were living paycheck to paycheck and at a financial standard much less that what I had expected and desired with my college degree. They have an answer for everything and are very good at justifying how/why they teach about the "more abundant life" but so many of them don't seem to be living it. My parents actually considered hiring a "deprogrammer" to get me out but my dad was afraid if it didn't work that I would never talk to them again and they'd lose me forever. I don't know if he was right or not but .... probably. So they kept loving me and calling to check on me - visiting for holidays and vacations when I wouldn't/couldn't get up to see them. My daddy was excellent at asking questions that provoke thought without being offensive or even letting on that he was asking these questions with ulterior motives. I was getting bored with all the same ole - same ole teachings because after a while there is nothing new that they talk about or teach. Always having to be at a meeting or going out witnessing or just never having time to veg and couch potato was getting old. Mom said every time she talked to me I was exhausted because they manipulated every waking moment of our lives. When the lawsuits against Craig Martindale were made public and they told us to stay off the internet or we would be possessed by devil spirits I knew they were hiding something. That's when I found this wonderful community of people and yet it still took me another five years to fully extricate myself (but I had a husband I was trying to get out, too). Two books that helped me tremendously are "The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse" and "Releasing the Bonds: Empowering People to Think for Themselves". Please feel free to PM me if I can help in any way.