Broken Arrow

Very very sad. An organization that espouses Christianity, that is, the way of Christ, should be more concerned about holding a marriage together than hiring a talented staff employee. Strong marriages will make for a stronger organzation. Promoting weak marriages will eventually lead to shipwreck. Notice I said promoting weak marriages. Nobody's perfect, but enabling a troubled marriage? I don't think so.

Yeah, I had the "dangerous" job of painting coffee cans red, and when dry, painting the word "butts" on the outside. They were for cigarette butts...we could smoke in the Corps back then. Soon I was promoted to walking around the campus changing lightbulbs. That was a true honor and prepared me for a job on the outside.

I went into the Corps right out of college. Maybe I was still afraid to face reality. Anyway, I came out of residence 26 years old without ever having to really support myself. I had been WOW twice, but that's a whole different ball of wax. So I decided to get a "real job", and immediately I faced a dilemma. TWI was on the one hand supportive of my efforts. But companies that pay decent wages all seem to be of the opinion that you should actually come to work on a regular basis. The 9-5 Mon.-Fri. routine is often a pipe dream. Often they require extra things like meetings, weekends, training sessions and the like. TWI didn't really care what I chose to do for a living as long as I could run 3 fellowships a week, be at every Corps, Twig Coordinator, WOW Vet and Advanced Class Grad meeting plus run classes. Then, of course, you needed to attend all of Corps Week and the Rock of Ages. People that I knew that bucked the system were looked down on. If one chose job related activities over ministry activities they were told they were not putting God first and that they were living in fear. People are asking "why?". From the Ministry's viewpoint, it was about control. The Corps were supposed to be the "sold out ones". From someone who was in the Corps, it was wanting to "be somebody". It was a need for recognition. Maybe a person never received that from their family growing up (just supposing) and they wanted TWI to be the encouraging parent they never had. These hidden pains of the heart are much more driving than even a job with a high salary. Sadly, there was no way TWI was ever going to deliver on what was promised. It was this very issue that drove me out of TWI. The poop paper just gave me an open door. I never did get a decent job, though. I'm waaaay underemployed. I can't blame that on TWI any more than I can blame TWI for my decision to go Corps right after college.

Thank you for bearing with my brain farts.

She remarried someone who already had the same last name as her?

They probably still do then because it's a federal law. They wouldn't do it if they didn't have to, I'm sure. Social Security isn't enough in today's economy, but at least it's something.

Thanks for the links Waysider. :) I have another question. Since TWI is considered a religious organization they don't have to pay into unemployment. Therefore, if anyone is fired or laid off, they cannot collect unemployment. I was wondering if TWI was exempt from paying into social security as well. If that is the case, then long-time staffers face quite a very difficult predicament if they wish to leave. Moreover, they face a great deal of difficulty when old age sets in and they are unable to work.

Your husband left you, went on staff, and TWI didn't insist or encourage him to try to save his marriage first?

And healthy boundaries are good, right?

Amazing! When I was a WOW in Idaho we had a lady who was a single mom that took the class. She was on welfare and other types of government assistance. One day we decided we'd get together with her and listen to a SNS tape of a teaching from VPW. VP started talking about abundance and yelled, "Way believers are not on WELFARE!!" He then proceeded to lamblast people who received such assistance. I can't remember specifically what he said, but he talked about "if you don't work, you don't eat", and other such uplifting truths. Made for a pretty uncomfortable moment in our fellowship. I tried to cover and probably said something stupid myself. In any event, the lady never returned to fellowship. It wasn't because of distance or driving that kept her away because she lived in the other half of the double we were renting. Now you're telling me that TWI is requiring and even enabling staffers to go on medicaid? Amazing. How hypocritical.

And I still am!! Well, see? You learned something valuable after all!

Thanks...I'm more the wiser!

Most of the offshoots, from what I've seen, don't dialogue with other Christians and don't read any outside material. Then again, there's JAL so that shoots that theory, huh?

No No! Nametags, I'm having a flashback about colored nametags exhibiting one's spirituality. I know! It's what keeps me in line!

Cool! Sounds fun! Yeah, be proactive, not reactive. When you react "away from" something you tend to run to something else just like it or worse.

I was just thinking about you FLOS today. I thought about how it must have really sucked to go all the way through the program and then have to go through the Corps to get taken seriously as a leader. You guys went through this rigorous program only to watch Corps people, many with less talent, assume the main leadership positions in the state. Well, I'm glad I was able to bless your day! :) You're the best!

I know what mogfot is. What does HOGFOT stand for?

Now...you know full well that V.P. "traveled light". He didn't own any of those things, they belonged to the Ministry and were there to bless people. They belonged to you and I and everyone else. Well, I bet we could have even used any one of those vehicles ourselves if we had just asked.

Yep! Well, "Don't treadeth out the ox that eats the corn". That's the verse they use. As far as him living off of believers, he's been doing that all along anyway.

I don't recall them giving the cause of death for Not-Our-Uncle Harry. They didn't give the cause of death for VP either but I guess somehow it came out anyway. I thought I read on here somewhere that the 14th in-residence Corps got blamed for VP's death because he died on their watch. They were supposed to believe for the health of the Man of God and obviously their believeing wasn't high enough. Can someone corroborate this?

I don't know, but I have a good one!

a

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I have a confession to make...I said "Christmas" even when I was in The Corps! :o I never said "Ho Ho Relo" unless I was making fun of other people. I was waiting for someone to figure out that the word "holiday" comes from combining the words "holy" and "day". Thus, to say "holiday" is actually saying "holy day" and the Bible says we are not to consider one day holier than another. Of course, I didn't have the guts to ever bring this up to leadership.

I read books relating to recovery, or relating to character, and I try to constantly be reading something. It keeps my mind from imploding on itself. I can be pretty introspective and start living in my own little world pretty easily. So I try to keep fresh material constantly coming in. Doesn't have to be new material necessarily. I like to ponder other peoples' opinions and ideas unles their like, Osama Bin Laden or something. Speaking of not imploding, I stay involved with other people in some fashion. I happen to attend a church but even if I didn't I would still involve myself in something outside myself where I think I can make a difference. That is very difficult and even painful sometimes. But it's also very important. I have to do it or like I said, I get real introspective and move into "erkjohn world". Honestly, I become a real wierdo.