Listening to Charlene is very comforting...As always in her book, blog, GSC posts and this interview, she comes across as being so relatable - which for me demystifies and destigmatizes how people can fall prey to a harmful cult.
Listening to Charlene is very comforting...As always in her book, blog, GSC posts and this interview, she comes across as being so relatable - which for me demystifies and destigmatizes how people can fall prey to a harmful cult.
Good morning, GreaseSpotters! This is Charlene chiming in thank Rocky for posting this link to what is in fact my FINAL public talk. For what I say about that:
I'm here also to thank Pawtucket for risking so much, giving so much, putting up with so much as he's hosted this venue for so many years. Aren't we lucky we can meet here to share our stories, get info, and offer each other support!
Good morning, GreaseSpotters! This is Charlene chiming in thank Rocky for posting this link to what is in fact my FINAL public talk. For what I say about that:
I'm here also to thank Pawtucket for risking so much, giving so much, putting up with so much as he's hosted this venue for so many years. Aren't we lucky we can meet here to share our stories, get info, and offer each other support!
Cheers to you, brave ones!
For sure, thanks to Pawtucket for the years he has been such a patient host putting up with so much criticism and BS. I truly do not know where I would be today if not for this forum.
Thank you to Charlene for putting into words what so many of us have felt deep inside.
So sorry that some of the folks in the ministry had such awful things happen to them. I was actively involved for about ten years and was one of the many who experienced nothing at all like this. I left because of the many "rumors" and because the leadership in my area had become very controlling. That's it.
A lot of us were spared the worst of it. If you lived at a twi location, that was a different story. In some areas, local or general area leaders insulated locals from the worst of it, whether by accident or by design. New Yorkers, for example, are notably stubborn, and did NOT march lock-step to every little thing- at least once vpw was dead. When lcm tried just barking orders, he got almost all of NY State´s leaders just quietly disregarding them. When he demanded an oath of loyalty to himself to follow him personally and blindly (he clarified to someone that IS what he meant and that wasn´t a misunderstanding), they refused to do that and said their loyalty was to God. lcm responded by firing them all, and trying to damage their reputations with the members in NY State. This largely backfired and damaged HIS reputation with the members in NY State. More than 4/5 of the state´s leaders were fired all at once, making it a lot easier for them to simply unite as a new group at once, with more than 4/5 of the state leaving with them. (In other areas, the numbers were very different, which is why lcm only lost 4/5 of the group overall when he demanded his foolish oath of loyalty.)
Naturally, since this new group was formed from twi members, many of the things that were wrong with twi were wrong with the new group, but some of the worst things (rapes and druggings by the top people comes immediately to mind) seemed to have been left behind at twi.
So, yes, my area had problems, but I was spared the worst of many, many horror stories of people who just wanted to serve God.
So sorry that some of the folks in the ministry had such awful things happen to them. I was actively involved for about ten years and was one of the many who experienced nothing at all like this. I left because of the many "rumors" and because the leadership in my area had become very controlling. That's it.
That's understandable...
...going by your 10 year active involvement yet being unaware of such awful things happening to some folks, I would venture to say you were never in the way corps program.
The general flow of information is from the top down – from the top brass at HQ down and out to the general TWI-public via the Way Tree...depending on variations in personality and management styles there might be some filtering, buffering, reinterpretation and tweaking of the info sometimes...and if you were real lucky maybe you've got some disenchanted leader in your area who just might give you the real scoop on something...it's a longshot but it could happen ...Unless one is privy to the inner workings of The Way International, inquiring minds will have to sift through the noise, bull$hit and obfuscation from rumors, prognostications, blame-shifting, “situation reports”, spiritualizing, propaganda, pseudo-significance and general hubbub that flows downstream from TWI-headquarters...
...the informative value of knowing what really makes TWI tick cannot be overstated – and that's something known only to the people who actually work for it – I'm not referring to just TWI-salaried workers but non-salaried workers as well, like myself who were way corps and had to work a secular job to support our “bad habit” of working for a sleazeball cheapskate ministry in our “spare time” - running twigs, branches, classes, taking time off from secular jobs to work at the R.O.A. and corps week and any other super-duper hyped-up event that the top dogs deemed was necessary for way corps to work at...I'm sure a lot of non-salaried way corps workers were gung ho like me during their secular career(s) – having TWI's agenda at the top of the list of priorities in choosing any job...in other words the number one stipulation in considering any job was that schedule-wise it should accommodate my desire to participate in ministry classes, fellowships, large group events and programs...and think of what that looks like to an employer – so great, you're a hard worker and honest, but it always seems like you're working this side job so you have some money for your real passion of playing church - and news flash: it's not even a real church ... this inside look of TWI was discussed recently here and here ...geez - if you saw what actually goes into making the way corps you'd probably run for the hills - because of the phony ingredients - there's nothing Christian or biblical about it - you could slap all the Christian and biblical sounding labels on any of the curriculum you want to...at best it's almost Christian in appearance...maybe you've seen the SNL commercial spoof Almost Pizza ...yeah - it's weird like that.
Coming to Grease Spot – it's like Paul Harvey use to say “...and now you know the rest of the story...good day!”
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waysider
Thanks. It's a long one but certainly worth a listen.
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T-Bone
Rocky, thanks for posting that !
Listening to Charlene is very comforting...As always in her book, blog, GSC posts and this interview, she comes across as being so relatable - which for me demystifies and destigmatizes how people can fall prey to a harmful cult.
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Rocky
Me too.
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penworks
Good morning, GreaseSpotters! This is Charlene chiming in thank Rocky for posting this link to what is in fact my FINAL public talk. For what I say about that:
Visit: Charlene's Last Public Cult Talk | Charlene L. Edge (charleneedge.com)
I'm here also to thank Pawtucket for risking so much, giving so much, putting up with so much as he's hosted this venue for so many years. Aren't we lucky we can meet here to share our stories, get info, and offer each other support!
Cheers to you, brave ones!
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annio
Will listen ASAP, thank you Charlene et al!
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Stayed Too Long
For sure, thanks to Pawtucket for the years he has been such a patient host putting up with so much criticism and BS. I truly do not know where I would be today if not for this forum.
Thank you to Charlene for putting into words what so many of us have felt deep inside.
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St. Christopher
So sorry that some of the folks in the ministry had such awful things happen to them. I was actively involved for about ten years and was one of the many who experienced nothing at all like this. I left because of the many "rumors" and because the leadership in my area had become very controlling. That's it.
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WordWolf
A lot of us were spared the worst of it. If you lived at a twi location, that was a different story. In some areas, local or general area leaders insulated locals from the worst of it, whether by accident or by design. New Yorkers, for example, are notably stubborn, and did NOT march lock-step to every little thing- at least once vpw was dead. When lcm tried just barking orders, he got almost all of NY State´s leaders just quietly disregarding them. When he demanded an oath of loyalty to himself to follow him personally and blindly (he clarified to someone that IS what he meant and that wasn´t a misunderstanding), they refused to do that and said their loyalty was to God. lcm responded by firing them all, and trying to damage their reputations with the members in NY State. This largely backfired and damaged HIS reputation with the members in NY State. More than 4/5 of the state´s leaders were fired all at once, making it a lot easier for them to simply unite as a new group at once, with more than 4/5 of the state leaving with them. (In other areas, the numbers were very different, which is why lcm only lost 4/5 of the group overall when he demanded his foolish oath of loyalty.)
Naturally, since this new group was formed from twi members, many of the things that were wrong with twi were wrong with the new group, but some of the worst things (rapes and druggings by the top people comes immediately to mind) seemed to have been left behind at twi.
So, yes, my area had problems, but I was spared the worst of many, many horror stories of people who just wanted to serve God.
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T-Bone
That's understandable...
...going by your 10 year active involvement yet being unaware of such awful things happening to some folks, I would venture to say you were never in the way corps program.
The general flow of information is from the top down – from the top brass at HQ down and out to the general TWI-public via the Way Tree...depending on variations in personality and management styles there might be some filtering, buffering, reinterpretation and tweaking of the info sometimes...and if you were real lucky maybe you've got some disenchanted leader in your area who just might give you the real scoop on something...it's a longshot but it could happen
...Unless one is privy to the inner workings of The Way International, inquiring minds will have to sift through the noise, bull$hit and obfuscation from rumors, prognostications, blame-shifting, “situation reports”, spiritualizing, propaganda, pseudo-significance and general hubbub that flows downstream from TWI-headquarters...
...the informative value of knowing what really makes TWI tick cannot be overstated – and that's something known only to the people who actually work for it – I'm not referring to just TWI-salaried workers but non-salaried workers as well, like myself who were way corps and had to work a secular job to support our “bad habit” of working for a sleazeball cheapskate ministry in our “spare time” - running twigs, branches, classes, taking time off from secular jobs to work at the R.O.A. and corps week and any other super-duper hyped-up event that the top dogs deemed was necessary for way corps to work at...I'm sure a lot of non-salaried way corps workers were gung ho like me during their secular career(s) – having TWI's agenda at the top of the list of priorities in choosing any job...in other words the number one stipulation in considering any job was that schedule-wise it should accommodate my desire to participate in ministry classes, fellowships, large group events and programs...and think of what that looks like to an employer – so great, you're a hard worker and honest, but it always seems like you're working this side job so you have some money for your real passion of playing church - and news flash: it's not even a real church
... this inside look of TWI was discussed recently here and here ...geez - if you saw what actually goes into making the way corps you'd probably run for the hills - because of the phony ingredients - there's nothing Christian or biblical about it - you could slap all the Christian and biblical sounding labels on any of the curriculum you want to...at best it's almost Christian in appearance...maybe you've seen the SNL commercial spoof Almost Pizza ...yeah - it's weird like that.
Edited by T-BoneComing to Grease Spot – it's like Paul Harvey use to say “...and now you know the rest of the story...good day!”
formatting & typos
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