Twinky

Steve, your posts are always challenging and thought-provoking. Totally agree that we have to think with the background of the time in mind, and not with our this-year (and worse, Western) understanding "preventing" us from seeing things as they were then, and extrapolating where necessary. In fact, we need input like yours to enable us to "pre-vent" appropriately.

Great performance from a kid that really needs a box to stand on!

Interfering beggars, Bolshevik. I've heard the expression, "It takes a village to raise a child," but this appears to be, "It takes a Branch to raise a child." Parents not required. :(

Yes 1994 it would have been. Only AC ever run in NZ. Big show made of it and people came from Australia and a couple came from USA representing HQ: Bru-ce ?? and his wife, can't remember their names. Everyone went up north for a week, to a nice location on the beach (of which there are many in NZ). Big push getting people ready for it. HG, you told me privately who's still around and most of those people took that AC class and so have had very little to do directly with HQ except perhaps (decades ago) having gone to RoA, which was hardly representative of what long-term living/being involved with TWI was like.

Think it might have started as an accidental by-product, but rapidly became a means of working. Like the accidental discovery of Pyrex, for example. Quickly became desirable in its own right. Like the opportunity to "soften boundaries" and crack the door ajar, ready for abusers. My church meets in home groups, about a dozen or so people. I have been in several housegroups. Most meet in the home. And NONE of them have indulged in over-intimate hugs, kisses, touching, backrubs or like physical contact. A chaste kiss on the cheek, a handshake, a quick hug if you know someone quite well but without close body contact ... that's as far as it goes. I cannot imagine the TWI-style close contact greeting going on in any housegroup I have attended.

But Skyrider, surely you knew how important it was to take care of and return those horns of plenty and rolls of fax paper! Gotta take care of things, you know, and be a good steward. /sarc/ Never mind the stewardship of one's primary resource - people! Never mind guarding people's hearts, souls, lives. But things...! Echo LKG's sentiment and Rocky's thought - would have been good to tell 'em to come and pick up when you'd had time to sort through in your own time. But I completely understand the "jump to it" mindset. I'll tell you for a fact - when CG was ordered to return all the PFAL materials that were in Scotland - he took months if not years about doing that, and only when he'd recorded his own class based on those materials. The stuff, such as did arrive (not everything) didn't come back until 1991.

Yes, I think they might be. Another useful vehicle for VPW's ego-trip stolen class. Private homes where hippies smoked dope and engaged in free sex... wow, what a draw, what a model, for a person like VPW. Uncontrolled and unregulated activities with no responsible overseer (like a church minister).

You've got it, Chockfull. Violation of pretty much all boundaries. Grooming for all kinds of mischief. Grr!

Been reading here lately and in correspondence and thinking a bit. It's all very well having meetings in the home - "home church" - good idea, keeps things intimate. Too intimate. I imagine the original idea was to avoid shelling out $$ for meeting rooms or building places (like church buildings!). But meeting in the home had a dual purpose. Think how lovey-dovey everyone was. Greeted with hugs and kisses, despite not knowing the greeter well and perhaps despite one's own personal reservations. Everyone squished on couches or chairs during fellowship, and again after fellowship when things might be more relaxed. There came also more hugs and the back rubs and shoulder rubs, in sympathy or whatever. All this can be nice, can be friendly. It was a sort of enforced intimacy that could be manipulated by some. Everyone wanted to be round a charismatic leader. But what if that charismatic leader had other ideas? In the "group hug" on the couch, ostensibly putting arms along the couch back, perhaps, then allowing them to stray onto the shoulders of young women? Seeing who shied from that touch and who didn't. The occasional "accidental" brush of the hand in an inappropriate way. A too-long hug when people were leaving. And then, at bigger fellowships, everyone was used to this behavior because it had become the norm. So on coming into contact with the more rapacious type of leader - well, the softening up had already taken place. Rather than "promoting harmony in the home," I'm coming to the conclusion that meeting in the intimate home setting, where people's guard is down somewhat, was the start of the grooming process for the sexual abuse for young women. A lot of this unwanted touching just wouldn't have got started, would have been rejected earlier, if meetings had taken place other than in homes. Who smooches up like this in a church? In a meeting in a public room at the library or town hall or school hall? In a park or beach meeting? Thoughts, anyone?

If you weren't an "energized minister," Sky, don't know who else would have been. Oh wait... energized? You'd given it all up. No more energy left to give. Mrs Sky too, most likely. I remember working to prepare for the AC Special. I was working 18-20 hr days, about a week of that, no time for "personal things" like doing laundry and scarcely time for things like showering and "getting ready." Totally exhausting. But you were doing that for far longer than a week. Incessantly "on duty" even when you weren't. Unreal. Illegal, probably. Tell us how Mrs Sky was coping.

And that would be God being kind to them... Chocky, your "news footage" well represents the wreck of Wayfers' lives after TWI and the "road to Damascus" that opened our eyes to the evil of TWI. Clearly JYdL hasn't had that epiphany yet. I knew JY and liked him, knew his wife a bit better, lovely lass. But I think the only way I could take JY seriously now, would be if he posted a public repentance on the TWI website in a prominent position, and wrote a letter of apology to people here and on other exWay sites. Not holding my breath for that.

A cat is a "large pet"? I have two and maintained them even though for a couple of years I was on unemployment benefit (less than "need" basis). Litter and food cost me about £4pw and IT WAS WORTH IT for the companionship. (no insurance on them, though. Illness... vet bills... might have been curtains. Thankfully, not happened yet. Skyrider, I know this pet policy is only a very small point in your narrative. The whole of what you have posted on this thread is just so enormous and intrusive that I have no words to express my own resentment at your treatment! How are you supposed to live, with your wife and two growing kids, on $27K? Wouldn't be so bad if you knew that the trustees and their own "needs" were being curtailed too... hahahahahaha.

Think I burned mine. "Crook book," LOL!

"Wilkinson," I think, not Wilkins. Think it was a way of getting CG out of the hair of the trustees in the USA. RW was a good guy, but didn't want more responsibility than he already had. He was trying to run his own business, as well as run his twig, or run the country, as well as doing "voluntary" work for CG. Eventually he was doing so much that he had to ask Chris to put him on FT paid staff, and had to mothball his business. I'm not aware of the details, but without warning RW disappeared from view and some new people were designated as country coordinators. I think maybe that would be at the time the trustees finally put their foot down and M&A'd CG.

Oh, and WELCOME to the cafe. Enjoy this one on me while we have a yarn:

Higherground, I am most interested in what you have to say about TWI-NZ. I'd love to know where some people are, what they are doing now... There were some good folks and some real horror stories. If Allan is Public Enemy No.1, I might be No.2. Maybe we know each other, but probably not. PM me, please :)

An old thread, this, but some may have no knowledge, so it may be of interest. Bear in mind that Gartmore was supposed to be the European HQ. As such - why seek a place in the farthest north, most remote part? Scotland isn't at all close to Italy, Germany, other locations. Not too far from Scandinavia, where there were quite a number of believers, and Ireland, likewise - but England would be just as accessible for those people and MUCH easier for any overland travellers from Europe - and probably cheaper in airfares for those who flew. Europe has, and had at the time, fantastically good overland networks. Great rail through many countries, great wide roads and motorways, no border controls once within the area... You would think somewhere in France or perhaps Germany might be more appropriate. With a national to lead the ministry. But HQ was keen to get rid of CG, and a European HQ anywhere other than the UK would require CG to be completely fluent (rather than just "good") in one or more European languages - or rely on interpreters - heck, he wouldn't like that loss of control Ego. It was all about his ego.

Just bumping this old thread. Mommas, make sure your daughters are warned as per Rascal's opening remarks. Not just in the church/ religious context - males anywhere. I think young women are a bit more savvy nowadays - but predators still have their same seductive methods.

That's interesting, TLC, about how you felt relief when POP was published. These were formative year for me in early TWI involvement. But I was in the UK. Some WC were nice and easy to get on with; others were hard, dogmatic, things had to be done in such a way. Perhaps they too were confused and didn't know where things were going. Meantime, we have CG parading around Europe and specifically the UK. He had been "given" the UK to oversee, and obediently people "followed" his lead, which was so legalistic ... well, you know what he was like. Others maybe saw through him and gave allegiance to the USA (HQ). It was a very peculiar time. CG got hold of Gartmore House on the shores of Loch Lomond in Scotland. It is a stunningly beautiful location, and believers from all over the UK travelled there regularly. (I have my own tales about that time: not a blessing!) I saw through CG at the first weekend and never wanted anything to do with him, so the decision to stick with TWI based in Ohio was easy. That caused rifts and much unpleasantness (again, there are tales: not a blessing!) with some of the other believers, one of whom I had sponsored as a spiritual partner. WC were based at Gartmore, and believers especially from all over the UK went to help with the refurbishment. CG rounded on them and said they weren't doing work up to scratch and he had to do everything himself to make sure it was done right. He alienated many people but was all smiles and smarm when "teaching" or otherwise the centre of attention. I think he dismissed a number of the "incompetent" WC - but maybe it was just the ones who (to him) didn't seem fully committed to him. You will notice there are no people who 'fess up to being E-corps who post here. (If I'm wrong about that and there are some E-corps, do PM me please!).

You make interesting points about the ft corps timeline. Twas shortly after they kicked me out, with max ignominy. But if I'd been there, there would have been both me and my fiance to support as ft corps. That would have meant 6 FT corps to, what, 20 committed wayfers. Be kind... 40 wayfers. Unsupportable in so many ways. Get rid of me, my fiance also goes, hey presto, 2/3 the bill goes.

"Rise and Expansion"? Don't you mean "Rise and EXPULSION"?

I'm glad somebody is FINALLY interested in hearing about this period. When I first started posting here, I felt like a lone voice and nobody cared a whit. Just ignored what I said. Like it didn't matter, wasn't really an issue, or their mega-issues were more important. And now I've forgotten most of the junk that I had to put up with. Except for this: LCM shouted ALL THE TIME and Corps Nights were a two hour shout-fest. What about? Anything, really; mostly anti-homo stuff, but not exclusively. I don't care to try to remember. And the shoutfest was replete with the kind of words that are usually ** out. Foul language, used many times in each sentence as both (composite) noun and verb. Oh, and this: I was usually in disgrace, seemingly always in condemnation, and the object of several face-meltings. YAH BOO SUCKS to the lot of 'em. I learned to say NO!!!! again. Or even, F*** OFF outa my life.

You're right, much better looking website (what's "weeble"?) - but the button takes you straight back to the boring usual page. I don't like websites where there are constantly moving things and buttons to press, etc, but the Way's website is static beyond belief (well - like the organisation, really). Take one look and you are boooorrrreeeeddddd rigid within seconds. Not attractive. Hear that, Way Pubs? It's scarily boring!

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.

Possibly not much, since much was stolen and directly re-used in PFAL and in the book RHST.