"Shiny Happy People" Consumed by the Call

1 00:00:02,545 --> 00:00:04,130 [Corey] Looking at this honor ring now, 2 00:00:05,673 --> 00:00:07,717 I think about how excited I was 3 00:00:07,800 --> 00:00:12,805 when I was being told that I was going to get a piece of "honor". 4 00:00:14,682 --> 00:00:16,976 And I remember thinking, 5 00:00:17,059 --> 00:00:20,396 "This is probably going to be the best decision that I've made in my life." 6 00:00:20,980 --> 00:00:22,606 [light music playing] 7 00:00:22,690 --> 00:00:26,736 [Dani] We had a saying, "It was the ring, the line, the plan." 8 00:00:26,819 --> 00:00:28,195 So this is the ring. 9 00:00:28,279 --> 00:00:32,241 And the line was the individuals that were in this group. 10 00:00:34,243 --> 00:00:38,748 And the plan, which is to go out into the world 11 00:00:38,831 --> 00:00:42,209 and make disciples and lead a generation to Christ. 12 00:00:43,085 --> 00:00:45,337 But I actually wore it for like ten years 13 00:00:46,005 --> 00:00:48,424 because it really did mean something significant to me. 14 00:00:48,507 --> 00:00:52,553 It's like my entire life is just encapsulated in this little thing. 15 00:00:52,636 --> 00:00:55,514 Here it is, my precious. 16 00:00:57,016 --> 00:00:59,268 [dramatic music playing] 17 00:00:59,351 --> 00:01:03,564 Right after you go to the Honor Academy, you receive your honor ring. 18 00:01:04,230 --> 00:01:09,445 When you receive your honor ring, you pledge loyalty for life. 19 00:01:09,528 --> 00:01:13,157 I received the privilege of wearing the ring. The ring! 20 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:17,787 The line, the plan, always honorable for life! 21 00:01:17,870 --> 00:01:20,414 -[cheering] -Congratulations... 22 00:01:20,998 --> 00:01:22,124 I took the pledge. 23 00:01:22,208 --> 00:01:23,793 [cheering continues] 24 00:01:23,876 --> 00:01:28,088 One of the commitments was, "I will never portray or allow Teen Mania 25 00:01:28,172 --> 00:01:33,426 to be portrayed in a negative light, past, present, or future." 26 00:01:33,511 --> 00:01:36,764 Which... I have definitely violated. 27 00:01:36,847 --> 00:01:38,765 [all laughing] 28 00:01:38,848 --> 00:01:40,851 [theme music playing] 29 00:01:42,000 --> 00:01:48,074 Do you want subtitles for any video? -=[ ai.OpenSubtitles.com ]=- 30 00:01:50,485 --> 00:01:52,822 [intense music playing] 31 00:01:57,451 --> 00:01:58,744 [Ron] The Honor Academy, 32 00:01:58,828 --> 00:02:02,373 a one year internship for committed young adults who are driven 33 00:02:02,456 --> 00:02:06,418 to find their purpose and make a difference with their lives. 34 00:02:06,502 --> 00:02:09,213 What this means is taking young people who are serious about God 35 00:02:09,295 --> 00:02:11,549 and helping them to grow up as leaders. 36 00:02:11,632 --> 00:02:14,176 Then the spark that they've received, their passion for God, 37 00:02:14,260 --> 00:02:16,012 their heart for the world, doesn't just stay with them, 38 00:02:16,095 --> 00:02:17,847 but it ends up affecting their whole generation. 39 00:02:17,930 --> 00:02:20,641 "Take a year of your life and major in God." 40 00:02:20,724 --> 00:02:22,393 And I will never forget that as long as I live. 41 00:02:22,476 --> 00:02:24,853 That was the phrase that hooked me. 42 00:02:24,937 --> 00:02:28,315 I really started to just learn who I was here, 43 00:02:28,399 --> 00:02:31,235 at the Honor Academy, like who I'm meant to be. 44 00:02:31,318 --> 00:02:35,322 You're a piece of coal in that fire, just being kindled consistently. 45 00:02:35,406 --> 00:02:40,536 I wanted to go somewhere before college, just get grounded in my faith. 46 00:02:41,912 --> 00:02:44,206 [laughing] That's when my journey started. 47 00:02:44,290 --> 00:02:46,333 [strings music playing] 48 00:02:47,167 --> 00:02:50,379 [Jeff] The Honor Academy is the engine of Teen Mania. 49 00:02:50,462 --> 00:02:55,843 Every intern who worked for Teen Mania, had to go to the Honor Academy. 50 00:02:55,926 --> 00:03:01,640 Here, we're going to utterly transform you into this kind of soldier, 51 00:03:01,724 --> 00:03:02,766 in this army of God. 52 00:03:03,601 --> 00:03:06,228 When we come to Christ, it's like joining a new family. 53 00:03:06,312 --> 00:03:10,316 You're joining a new kingdom, Jesus talked about, you're a warrior for Christ. 54 00:03:10,399 --> 00:03:12,651 Ron would use this phrase, "the mark of the warrior." 55 00:03:13,819 --> 00:03:19,283 [Carrie] Going to the Honor Academy was considered the ultimate mark of a warrior. 56 00:03:20,075 --> 00:03:22,745 It was a mark of being chosen. 57 00:03:23,787 --> 00:03:25,204 You were the elite. 58 00:03:25,289 --> 00:03:29,543 [narrator] An army of leaders, a generation of world changers. 59 00:03:30,711 --> 00:03:35,257 [Mica] There's always the overarching idea that we're in a war between good and evil. 60 00:03:36,300 --> 00:03:40,429 So we were always told that we're going to take the victory over the line. 61 00:03:40,512 --> 00:03:43,349 We're going to take Christianity to where it hasn't been before. 62 00:03:43,432 --> 00:03:45,017 Media, politics, education. 63 00:03:45,100 --> 00:03:48,978 And so it just seemed like the natural next step to me 64 00:03:49,063 --> 00:03:51,065 to go to the Honor Academy. 65 00:03:51,899 --> 00:03:55,319 Going to a place where everybody else was like me and was just as obsessed 66 00:03:55,402 --> 00:03:58,614 with being bold for Jesus and being on fire and changing the world. 67 00:03:58,697 --> 00:04:01,367 Okay, I'm a high achiever. Let's do it. Let's go, baby. 68 00:04:03,827 --> 00:04:07,414 [Phil] You're going to have classes in how you become a leader. 69 00:04:07,498 --> 00:04:13,128 Classes in how you influence America, how you influence the world. 70 00:04:14,380 --> 00:04:18,884 You would also do huge, dynamic spiritual training experiences. 71 00:04:18,968 --> 00:04:20,427 And I was like, "That's awesome." 72 00:04:22,429 --> 00:04:25,474 [Zachariah] There was just something in me that said that I should go. 73 00:04:25,557 --> 00:04:27,977 I'm sure I said, like, "Yes, God told me I should." 74 00:04:28,060 --> 00:04:30,562 I'm sure that's what I said. [laughs] 75 00:04:30,646 --> 00:04:32,314 You gonna argue with God? 76 00:04:33,691 --> 00:04:37,152 [Carrie] I had a full scholarship to a community college, 77 00:04:37,987 --> 00:04:41,657 but I dropped out and joined Teen Mania, for the internship. 78 00:04:42,658 --> 00:04:45,703 I was driven. I took it seriously. 79 00:04:47,287 --> 00:04:48,664 You know, I argued for my parents. 80 00:04:48,747 --> 00:04:51,000 I want to go to Teen Mania. I want to go to the internship. 81 00:04:51,082 --> 00:04:54,169 I want to commit my life. I was like, "That sounds like an adventure." 82 00:04:56,255 --> 00:04:58,924 [light music playing] 83 00:05:02,219 --> 00:05:06,015 [Mica] Teen Mania was located in Garden Valley, Texas. 84 00:05:06,098 --> 00:05:07,558 Very remote location. 85 00:05:08,058 --> 00:05:13,981 [Zachariah] You went by a guard station, where a teenager would wave for you in. 86 00:05:14,064 --> 00:05:20,320 The dorms were all named for martyrs, like Elliot Hall, named for Jim Elliot. 87 00:05:20,404 --> 00:05:21,488 The modern day martyr. 88 00:05:23,157 --> 00:05:27,536 [Mica] You're with all of these people from all over the country. 89 00:05:28,203 --> 00:05:31,123 The relationships that you form in that kind of an environment 90 00:05:31,206 --> 00:05:36,420 are so intense and so intimate, and there's such a feeling of belonging. 91 00:05:36,962 --> 00:05:40,799 [Zachariah] I was an artsy, go thy-looking teen. 92 00:05:42,134 --> 00:05:44,887 I got very lucky to make a lot of great friends. 93 00:05:46,138 --> 00:05:47,306 Phil Boltz. 94 00:05:48,474 --> 00:05:49,767 Carrie Saum. 95 00:05:49,850 --> 00:05:52,561 I know that the leaders called us the Rat Pack, 96 00:05:53,604 --> 00:05:58,067 and it was a really fun group. We were very sincere kids. 97 00:05:58,150 --> 00:06:01,320 We were believers, but we knew something was weird. 98 00:06:03,697 --> 00:06:08,077 [Dani] When we first got there, we have to purge the outside world. 99 00:06:08,160 --> 00:06:10,162 Those were the nights where you've got the big bonfire 100 00:06:10,245 --> 00:06:13,165 and people are throwing their CDs into the fire. 101 00:06:13,248 --> 00:06:14,417 You brought Twilight in with you? 102 00:06:14,500 --> 00:06:16,500 That was getting thrown out as soon as you arrived. 103 00:06:18,462 --> 00:06:22,633 [Liz] Ron very much emphasized that your parents will not understand this. 104 00:06:22,716 --> 00:06:24,802 They're not going to understand your passion. 105 00:06:24,885 --> 00:06:27,554 God is the one you have to truly respect. 106 00:06:29,556 --> 00:06:34,061 When I went to the Honor Academy, I was writing for Rolling Stone Magazine. 107 00:06:34,144 --> 00:06:37,898 The long time story of Rolling Stone is, "What are the kids into?" 108 00:06:37,981 --> 00:06:42,194 But also always looking at suspicion with like, "Who's trying to fool the kids?" 109 00:06:42,277 --> 00:06:43,695 [cheering] 110 00:06:43,779 --> 00:06:45,656 Welcome, all of you guys who just got here. 111 00:06:45,739 --> 00:06:49,827 Congratulations. You made it. You are here in the Honor Academy. 112 00:06:50,619 --> 00:06:53,455 Obviously, Ron was really a big deal. 113 00:06:53,539 --> 00:06:55,666 He was "the" Ron Luce, right? 114 00:06:57,042 --> 00:07:00,212 [Carrie] We all wanted to be there because of Ron. 115 00:07:00,295 --> 00:07:02,673 -Coming to the Honor Academy? -Yes, I am. 116 00:07:02,756 --> 00:07:07,594 But once we got there, he wasn't coming down to slum with us. 117 00:07:07,678 --> 00:07:10,222 Sometimes you'd hear a motorcycle, and be like, "Oh, here comes Ron." 118 00:07:10,305 --> 00:07:12,641 [motorcycle revs] 119 00:07:13,559 --> 00:07:14,810 [Phil] Ron was the president, 120 00:07:14,893 --> 00:07:20,023 but Dave Hasz, as executive director, was the man in charge on campus. 121 00:07:20,774 --> 00:07:23,152 [Mica] Dave was Ron's right hand man. 122 00:07:23,235 --> 00:07:26,363 Ron cast the vision, and Dave is the one that carried it out. 123 00:07:27,156 --> 00:07:28,866 Who made me the director of the Honor Academy? 124 00:07:28,949 --> 00:07:31,577 Yes, God did. I understand that. Excellent. Well done. 125 00:07:31,660 --> 00:07:34,163 But God used who to put me in this position? 126 00:07:34,246 --> 00:07:35,497 -[audience] Ron Luce. -Ron Luce. 127 00:07:37,666 --> 00:07:40,002 [Phil] Dave was an intern in the early days, 128 00:07:40,085 --> 00:07:45,048 and then he was hired on by Ron Luce to run the internship. 129 00:07:46,049 --> 00:07:48,093 [Mica] He had a very authoritative presence. 130 00:07:48,177 --> 00:07:49,011 Feet! 131 00:07:49,094 --> 00:07:50,053 [audience chatter] 132 00:07:50,137 --> 00:07:55,893 [Liz] Dave was like the very cool older brother that everybody wanted to impress. 133 00:07:55,976 --> 00:07:58,103 Exactly right. Seats. 134 00:07:58,187 --> 00:08:02,482 He would say things like, "When I was at school, my friends would run. 135 00:08:02,566 --> 00:08:06,695 We would run from everywhere we went, to save time." 136 00:08:06,778 --> 00:08:08,280 So my friends and I started running. 137 00:08:08,363 --> 00:08:11,617 We'd go from the dorm to the cafeteria, and we would... "Let's run." 138 00:08:11,700 --> 00:08:15,412 We would run as fast as we can. Big Jordan Peterson vibes. 139 00:08:16,038 --> 00:08:18,290 He was supposed to be the spiritual advisor. 140 00:08:18,373 --> 00:08:20,500 [battle cries] 141 00:08:20,584 --> 00:08:22,669 [Zachariah] He loved the movie Braveheart. 142 00:08:22,753 --> 00:08:25,380 A lot of comparing spiritual warfare to Braveheart. 143 00:08:25,464 --> 00:08:28,133 I think he had a Braveheart sword in his office. 144 00:08:28,217 --> 00:08:32,054 We need to be remembering the fact that we are people of honor. 145 00:08:32,136 --> 00:08:33,639 Down! Down! 146 00:08:33,722 --> 00:08:38,227 [Zachariah] With Dave Hasz, everything was army oriented. 147 00:08:38,309 --> 00:08:39,811 [Dave] You should know better by now! 148 00:08:39,895 --> 00:08:43,106 Essentially, we were like the Marines for Team Christ. 149 00:08:43,982 --> 00:08:47,653 [Mica] You have to be regimented, and you have to listen to the hierarchy. 150 00:08:47,736 --> 00:08:51,406 I mean, it makes sense because we are here to change the world. 151 00:08:53,492 --> 00:08:56,161 [Carrie] Every morning, we would wake up at four o'clock. 152 00:08:56,245 --> 00:08:57,162 -[Dave] Count! -[kids] Nine! 153 00:08:57,246 --> 00:09:02,292 We would do jumping jacks. We would work out until we threw up. 154 00:09:02,376 --> 00:09:06,129 [Zachariah] What they would say when we were doing our morning exercises was, 155 00:09:06,213 --> 00:09:08,757 "You beat your body, and you make it your slave." 156 00:09:08,840 --> 00:09:11,969 How many got to beat your body a little bit? Make it your slave? 157 00:09:12,052 --> 00:09:13,512 As a black man... [laughs] 158 00:09:13,595 --> 00:09:16,140 And you have a campus full of white people coming up to me going, 159 00:09:16,223 --> 00:09:19,017 "Beat your body. Make it your slave." Not appropriate. 160 00:09:19,101 --> 00:09:20,686 We'd all get back, have two minutes to shower 161 00:09:20,769 --> 00:09:25,816 before we would get dressed and go eat and start our jobs for the day. 162 00:09:27,776 --> 00:09:30,487 What we were told about job assignments 163 00:09:30,570 --> 00:09:33,991 was that you were being observed, and then they were very seriously praying 164 00:09:34,074 --> 00:09:36,076 about where you should go in the ministry, 165 00:09:36,159 --> 00:09:39,496 where God would most be able to use you effectively. 166 00:09:39,579 --> 00:09:42,749 But what I realized way after the fact... [chuckles] 167 00:09:42,833 --> 00:09:46,837 Was that the divine inspiration for where you end up 168 00:09:47,546 --> 00:09:50,132 is a lot more like a draft. [laughs] 169 00:09:50,215 --> 00:09:54,886 Leaders sit in a room, and they say, "I want so-and-so. I want this person." 170 00:09:57,306 --> 00:10:00,642 If you were placed in exec, in Ron's purview, 171 00:10:00,726 --> 00:10:03,854 that was the very best placement you could hope for. 172 00:10:05,897 --> 00:10:08,400 I was placed as one of Ron Luce's executive assistants, 173 00:10:08,483 --> 00:10:11,445 which is not even something I had on my radar as a possibility. 174 00:10:11,528 --> 00:10:13,822 As an 18 year old, like, that's pretty cool. 175 00:10:15,032 --> 00:10:19,077 My job was a dancer and an actor for the ministry team. 176 00:10:20,579 --> 00:10:22,122 And what the ministry team does is they travel around 177 00:10:22,205 --> 00:10:24,525 to the Acquire the Fires, and they put on the performances. 178 00:10:25,834 --> 00:10:27,669 [Dani] I was on the ministry team as well. 179 00:10:28,253 --> 00:10:32,716 We were the ones that were running almost everything that you saw at these events. 180 00:10:32,799 --> 00:10:35,039 I ended up being the worship leader for Acquire the Fire. 181 00:10:37,304 --> 00:10:41,850 My first show that I ever sang was in front of 10,000 people. 182 00:10:41,933 --> 00:10:44,019 [cheering] 183 00:10:44,686 --> 00:10:47,314 But I had friends that did not like their job. 184 00:10:47,397 --> 00:10:48,982 [dramatic music playing] 185 00:10:52,652 --> 00:10:55,280 [Mica] Teen Mania was very much of its name. 186 00:10:55,364 --> 00:10:59,409 Every role that you can think of was being filled by teenagers. 187 00:11:00,494 --> 00:11:02,913 There were almost 1000 interns on campus at any given time. 188 00:11:02,996 --> 00:11:04,706 This was a huge operation. 189 00:11:05,749 --> 00:11:11,546 [Zachariah] You could be put on grounds crew, janitorial crew, cafeteria crew. 190 00:11:12,089 --> 00:11:13,716 After you've been told you're going to go out there 191 00:11:13,799 --> 00:11:15,134 and make this difference for Christ, 192 00:11:15,217 --> 00:11:18,553 you're going to go make tater tots for a year. 193 00:11:19,679 --> 00:11:22,265 These kids were like, "God called me to the internship, 194 00:11:22,349 --> 00:11:24,643 and now I have to scrub the toilet." 195 00:11:24,726 --> 00:11:27,437 There was definitely a hierarchy at play. 196 00:11:27,521 --> 00:11:29,856 International operations. That's where I wanted to be. 197 00:11:29,940 --> 00:11:33,985 That's where trips were planned. That's where global work was worked out. 198 00:11:34,069 --> 00:11:36,488 And there was one place I didn't want to be. 199 00:11:36,571 --> 00:11:38,323 That was the one... the whole ministry. 200 00:11:38,407 --> 00:11:41,284 I was like, "You want me to mow lawns, dig holes? I'll do... 201 00:11:41,368 --> 00:11:45,580 Just don't put me on this one task." 202 00:11:45,664 --> 00:11:49,626 So I thought, "I will trust God. God is going to take care of me in this." 203 00:11:50,544 --> 00:11:53,547 And I was assigned to the call center. 204 00:11:54,631 --> 00:11:56,550 The one place I didn't want to be. 205 00:11:57,843 --> 00:12:00,554 -I was a teenage telemarketer for Jesus. -[laughs] 206 00:12:02,472 --> 00:12:05,684 [Jeff] They were selling blocks of tickets to Acquire the Fire, 207 00:12:05,767 --> 00:12:08,520 or harassing people to go on missions. 208 00:12:08,603 --> 00:12:11,273 That's where the bulk of us worked day to day. 209 00:12:11,356 --> 00:12:15,986 You were a telemarketer that was paying them to telemarket. 210 00:12:16,528 --> 00:12:21,032 Oh, yeah, I forgot about that. [laughs] We paid to be there. 211 00:12:21,116 --> 00:12:23,118 Nobody paid us to do this work. 212 00:12:24,119 --> 00:12:27,330 As an intern, we all paid a monthly sum. 213 00:12:28,832 --> 00:12:30,834 I would raise funds to attend. 214 00:12:31,793 --> 00:12:33,545 It was really expensive. 215 00:12:34,629 --> 00:12:36,131 [Carrie] At the end of Acquire the Fire, 216 00:12:36,214 --> 00:12:38,675 you would fill out a card with all of your information, 217 00:12:39,593 --> 00:12:41,428 all in the name of keeping up with you, 218 00:12:41,511 --> 00:12:44,514 making sure you were getting connected with the right resources. 219 00:12:46,057 --> 00:12:49,728 We would have entire pallets full of cards. 220 00:12:50,562 --> 00:12:52,481 -They became our lead cards. -[phone ringing] 221 00:12:52,564 --> 00:12:53,398 Hello? 222 00:12:53,482 --> 00:12:56,110 Hey, this is Morgan calling from Acquire the Fire. How are you today? 223 00:12:56,193 --> 00:12:57,593 Hey, Morgan. I'm doing really good. 224 00:12:58,487 --> 00:13:01,198 [Phil] I worked A shift. I would call youth pastors during the day. 225 00:13:01,281 --> 00:13:04,159 B shift would call kids getting home from school to be like, 226 00:13:04,242 --> 00:13:06,161 "Come on the trip. Come on the trip. Come on the trip." 227 00:13:06,244 --> 00:13:08,622 And it's like, there's a bell that you ring 228 00:13:08,705 --> 00:13:10,540 when you get a commit for a summer trip. 229 00:13:11,708 --> 00:13:15,295 It was, "Can I get 120 or so calls a day?" 230 00:13:17,130 --> 00:13:20,342 Working in the call center was tallying how many calls you made 231 00:13:20,425 --> 00:13:22,636 and how many commits you made. 232 00:13:24,262 --> 00:13:25,805 I was calling synagogues. 233 00:13:25,889 --> 00:13:27,641 "Don't you want to come to this evangelical youth conference? 234 00:13:27,724 --> 00:13:29,059 You really should come." 235 00:13:29,142 --> 00:13:33,146 And they're like, "We're Jews." They were like... [laughs] 236 00:13:33,230 --> 00:13:35,774 "You've misunderstood." [laughs] 237 00:13:35,857 --> 00:13:37,857 But we're like, "Let's get them called numbers up." 238 00:13:37,984 --> 00:13:40,737 -I wasn't bad at it. I was good at sales. -Yeah. 239 00:13:40,820 --> 00:13:43,823 But it was kind of soul killing. 240 00:13:45,867 --> 00:13:49,412 I was in this to learn how to do better international missions, 241 00:13:49,496 --> 00:13:54,876 but they wanted me to move those fingers to dial. 242 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:57,128 They wanted me to get those commits. 243 00:13:58,129 --> 00:13:59,839 Meanwhile... 244 00:14:00,757 --> 00:14:04,052 I worked my entire year to get off that team. 245 00:14:04,135 --> 00:14:06,472 Started going to people and being like, "Hey, a mistake's been made." 246 00:14:06,555 --> 00:14:08,140 "No, no, you need to be faithful with little. 247 00:14:08,223 --> 00:14:10,725 You need to not complain. You need to not be bitter." 248 00:14:10,809 --> 00:14:13,895 You might say, I didn't want this task. I wanted that task. 249 00:14:13,979 --> 00:14:17,148 Well, you're not going to get that task until you're faithful with this task. 250 00:14:18,942 --> 00:14:24,072 You'd hear the phrase "die to self". Dying to self is putting yourself last. 251 00:14:24,155 --> 00:14:28,326 Shut down any selfishness, any thoughts of your own self, your own needs. 252 00:14:28,410 --> 00:14:31,913 -Don't listen to your body, your mind. -Yeah. 253 00:14:31,997 --> 00:14:36,835 Your life means nothing compared to the purpose. 254 00:14:37,961 --> 00:14:40,380 And they're like, "That's what you don't want to do? 255 00:14:40,463 --> 00:14:41,840 That's what God wants you to do." 256 00:14:43,883 --> 00:14:47,387 [Jeff] 31 hours was the official amount of time you're supposed to work, 257 00:14:47,470 --> 00:14:50,599 but many were working 80, 100 hours. 258 00:14:50,682 --> 00:14:53,852 Because you wanted to show how intense for God you were. 259 00:14:54,686 --> 00:14:58,690 I almost wish it was just a grift because that's pretty easy to undo. 260 00:14:58,773 --> 00:15:03,069 But this was more than that. This was meant to transform them. 261 00:15:04,237 --> 00:15:06,698 Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone, 262 00:15:06,781 --> 00:15:10,910 to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey, 263 00:15:10,994 --> 00:15:13,246 whether you're slaves to sin, which leads to death, 264 00:15:13,330 --> 00:15:16,249 or to obedience, which leads to righteousness. 265 00:15:17,834 --> 00:15:20,879 [Mica] Ron taught the weekly character development class. 266 00:15:20,962 --> 00:15:22,881 [cheering] 267 00:15:22,964 --> 00:15:27,344 He was very good with words, very good with framing things in a way 268 00:15:27,427 --> 00:15:29,804 that made you go, "Oh, yeah, you're right." 269 00:15:29,888 --> 00:15:31,765 Without you getting a chance to think about it. 270 00:15:31,848 --> 00:15:35,518 Jesus learned to be obedient, he wasn't naturally obedient. 271 00:15:35,602 --> 00:15:38,980 [Jeff] They might call it growth, or they might call it character development. 272 00:15:39,064 --> 00:15:42,567 But it was the same lesson plan every class, obedience. 273 00:15:42,651 --> 00:15:44,527 What's character development about? Obedience. 274 00:15:44,611 --> 00:15:46,446 Well, how do you grow? Obedience. 275 00:15:47,155 --> 00:15:50,367 When you go to Honor Academy, you commit to this set of rules. 276 00:15:53,286 --> 00:15:59,668 They are all designed to separate you from all the pieces that made you, you. 277 00:16:00,418 --> 00:16:01,818 That's what we're experiencing now. 278 00:16:02,379 --> 00:16:05,465 [Dani] A lot of rules were based on purity culture. 279 00:16:06,424 --> 00:16:10,095 I remember in high school being told things like, "Oh, you're the hot one. 280 00:16:10,178 --> 00:16:12,097 She's the marriable one." 281 00:16:12,180 --> 00:16:15,141 Right? Things like that that would really mess with my brain. 282 00:16:16,017 --> 00:16:19,646 At the Honor Academy, I wanted to reinvent myself. 283 00:16:20,855 --> 00:16:24,734 During your year at the Honor Academy, you're not allowed to date anyone. 284 00:16:24,818 --> 00:16:27,445 And if you were in a relationship when you got there, 285 00:16:27,529 --> 00:16:30,824 you needed to break that off immediately, which I did. 286 00:16:33,660 --> 00:16:35,745 Purity culture was really big. 287 00:16:37,038 --> 00:16:38,790 And at the Honor Academy, 288 00:16:38,873 --> 00:16:41,960 we subscribed to a strict version of Joshua Harris's book, 289 00:16:42,043 --> 00:16:43,378 I Kissed Dating Goodbye. 290 00:16:43,461 --> 00:16:46,214 [cheering] 291 00:16:46,297 --> 00:16:49,926 He's a Christian activist and the author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye, 292 00:16:50,009 --> 00:16:52,095 Joshua Harris, Joshua! 293 00:16:53,221 --> 00:16:55,014 [Carrie] Joshua Harris jumped onto the scene 294 00:16:55,098 --> 00:16:59,769 and took purity culture to a more extreme level. 295 00:16:59,853 --> 00:17:01,688 It's not just about saving sex. 296 00:17:01,771 --> 00:17:05,108 And the point is is that a lot of us get into rela... 297 00:17:05,191 --> 00:17:08,569 I did this. I'm writing the book from the mistakes that I've made in the past, 298 00:17:08,653 --> 00:17:13,074 that we get emotionally involved, we lead someone on, and then we break it off. 299 00:17:13,157 --> 00:17:16,661 And we get into a pattern in our lives of doing that for the rest of our lives. 300 00:17:16,744 --> 00:17:18,704 -[Bill] And that's a... -But wait a minute. 301 00:17:18,788 --> 00:17:20,332 But look, Bill, I mean, you kind of say that, 302 00:17:20,415 --> 00:17:24,544 and yet the picture you threw on your book is kind of a pimp photograph. 303 00:17:24,627 --> 00:17:26,337 -[laughing] -You know what I mean? 304 00:17:26,421 --> 00:17:29,007 -[clapping] -It's a little like... Right? 305 00:17:29,090 --> 00:17:34,846 I was like, "Oh, he's hot. He's so cute." And all of us had a crush on him. 306 00:17:36,389 --> 00:17:41,978 Oh, how the heartthrob has fallen. I'm just now an old, bald guy. 307 00:17:42,061 --> 00:17:44,856 So I'll take the past compliment for sure. 308 00:17:46,983 --> 00:17:49,444 In my book, I was like, "We shouldn't date. 309 00:17:49,527 --> 00:17:53,156 We should save ourselves, and you should prioritize a godly marriage." 310 00:17:53,239 --> 00:17:55,366 Basically, your thesis is that the best way to find 311 00:17:55,450 --> 00:17:58,286 the person of your dreams is to stop dating. 312 00:17:58,369 --> 00:18:00,413 -Right. -[laughs] 313 00:18:00,497 --> 00:18:04,250 Teen Mania really embraced the message of I Kissed Dating Goodbye. 314 00:18:04,834 --> 00:18:09,172 [Carrie] And it became the purity culture handbook at Teen Mania. 315 00:18:10,173 --> 00:18:13,968 I bought it, I read it, I followed it. I believed in it 100%. 316 00:18:14,052 --> 00:18:19,265 In the past, I have kissed many different girls. 317 00:18:19,349 --> 00:18:22,644 And you know, the reason that I so regret that today 318 00:18:22,727 --> 00:18:26,731 is because in each of those relationships, 319 00:18:26,815 --> 00:18:31,027 I was kissing someone else's future wife. 320 00:18:32,487 --> 00:18:37,116 The definition of purity became more and more extreme, 321 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:41,579 even to the point of your thoughts and your emotions. 322 00:18:41,663 --> 00:18:44,457 Like you not only need to keep your body pure, 323 00:18:44,541 --> 00:18:47,126 but you need to keep your mind pure. What are you thinking about? 324 00:18:49,587 --> 00:18:52,423 [Carrie] Everyone was assigned an accountability partner. 325 00:18:53,550 --> 00:18:56,010 We would have to tell accountability partner 326 00:18:56,094 --> 00:18:59,973 every sinful thought we had, any time we had broken the rules. 327 00:19:00,056 --> 00:19:04,978 We were self enforcers. We policed each other. 328 00:19:05,061 --> 00:19:07,021 We were encouraged to confront each other. 329 00:19:07,105 --> 00:19:09,148 They gave us lessons. There was a whole session. 330 00:19:09,232 --> 00:19:11,317 [Dani] It was the system of control. 331 00:19:11,401 --> 00:19:13,987 Positive reinforcement and reward for telling your peers 332 00:19:14,070 --> 00:19:15,470 if they were doing something wrong. 333 00:19:16,030 --> 00:19:18,741 I got confronted one time for singing too good. 334 00:19:19,450 --> 00:19:20,994 He told me that it was too distracting, 335 00:19:21,077 --> 00:19:23,162 and it was like leading people away from worship. 336 00:19:23,246 --> 00:19:24,998 If you did something wrong, 337 00:19:25,081 --> 00:19:30,128 but then you immediately went to somebody and said, "I did something wrong," 338 00:19:30,211 --> 00:19:32,964 they would, in theory, be more lenient on you. 339 00:19:34,465 --> 00:19:36,634 They called it running for forgiveness. 340 00:19:37,802 --> 00:19:42,223 During winter break, I did something that a lot of teenagers did. 341 00:19:42,307 --> 00:19:46,185 I watched a couple of minutes of scrambled porn on HBO, 342 00:19:46,269 --> 00:19:49,355 and in my mind, I'm going, "I shouldn't have done that. 343 00:19:49,439 --> 00:19:52,442 I shouldn't have done that. Well, I'm not going to do it again." 344 00:19:52,525 --> 00:19:59,157 And the guilt, the hot coal of guilt, is just burning down into my stomach. 345 00:20:00,366 --> 00:20:04,579 And I tell them what I did, and they gave me three months of probation. 346 00:20:05,079 --> 00:20:09,167 I didn't leave my room. I had to tell my parents about it. 347 00:20:09,250 --> 00:20:11,294 My mom immediately says, 348 00:20:11,377 --> 00:20:15,548 "If you want to come home, that is fine with us." 349 00:20:16,716 --> 00:20:18,801 And I almost left. 350 00:20:20,136 --> 00:20:23,222 However, since the day I got there, 351 00:20:23,306 --> 00:20:27,518 I could tell that the leadership there thought I was not going to make it. 352 00:20:27,602 --> 00:20:32,357 I was like, "I am going to stick this out, and I'm going to show them." 353 00:20:34,442 --> 00:20:37,737 [Josh] Teen Mania definitely used the message of purity 354 00:20:37,820 --> 00:20:41,616 to create these rules and to exert control. 355 00:20:42,116 --> 00:20:45,745 And that is a pressure cooker. 356 00:20:49,040 --> 00:20:52,418 This idea of a regime with total control. 357 00:20:52,502 --> 00:20:56,839 Well, human beings being human beings, we know that that never really happened. 358 00:20:56,923 --> 00:20:59,759 It's not so much about the rules never being broken. 359 00:20:59,842 --> 00:21:04,305 It's about people always, always thinking about the rules. 360 00:21:06,766 --> 00:21:10,269 [Corey] The rules were designed to remove the appearance of evil. 361 00:21:11,187 --> 00:21:15,024 The appearance of evil was being in a situation 362 00:21:15,108 --> 00:21:19,487 or behaving in a way that could give off the idea 363 00:21:19,570 --> 00:21:24,033 that you're doing something wrong. It didn't matter the intention behind it. 364 00:21:24,117 --> 00:21:26,536 A guy and a girl sitting next to each other in the dark. 365 00:21:27,245 --> 00:21:28,538 That was the appearance of evil. 366 00:21:30,331 --> 00:21:33,126 I wanted to get my hair braided. 367 00:21:33,209 --> 00:21:39,340 I had to present to them the idea that it was culturally a part of who I am. 368 00:21:39,424 --> 00:21:41,264 So they need to find somebody to braid my hair. 369 00:21:42,260 --> 00:21:43,845 Well, there was a girl on campus, 370 00:21:43,928 --> 00:21:47,557 but the thing was there was like maybe seven, 371 00:21:47,640 --> 00:21:50,435 five to seven black people on campus with me. 372 00:21:50,518 --> 00:21:52,311 And whenever we were sitting by ourselves, 373 00:21:52,395 --> 00:21:54,814 we were confronted about segregating ourselves 374 00:21:54,897 --> 00:21:57,025 from the rest of this all-white academy. [laughs] 375 00:21:58,609 --> 00:22:02,780 So to avoid the appearance of evil, that we weren't segregating ourselves, 376 00:22:02,864 --> 00:22:05,241 she braided my hair in one of the offices, 377 00:22:05,324 --> 00:22:07,744 but a staff member walks by, and she's like, 378 00:22:07,827 --> 00:22:09,037 "Guys, this doesn't look right. 379 00:22:09,120 --> 00:22:11,831 This doesn't look right. This is... This is... No. You're playing in his hair. 380 00:22:11,914 --> 00:22:14,792 No. You have to... No, we can't do this. Not here. No." 381 00:22:16,836 --> 00:22:19,380 We had taken the steps to do what we thought was right. 382 00:22:19,464 --> 00:22:23,009 And here we're being told, "Hey, what you thought was right is wrong." 383 00:22:23,968 --> 00:22:27,388 When she said that, I felt tiny. 384 00:22:27,472 --> 00:22:30,683 Like I didn't have the ability to think for myself. 385 00:22:30,767 --> 00:22:32,769 In that particular place... 386 00:22:34,103 --> 00:22:36,105 there was no questioning of authority. 387 00:22:40,068 --> 00:22:43,112 We had, for the Acquire the Fires, 388 00:22:43,196 --> 00:22:47,575 a group of tribal dancers, me, three white girls. 389 00:22:49,202 --> 00:22:51,120 Brown paint. 390 00:22:51,204 --> 00:22:52,538 And it was Ron's idea. 391 00:22:53,498 --> 00:22:54,999 And we thought nothing of it. 392 00:22:55,833 --> 00:22:59,128 Because it came from people that we were taught not to question, 393 00:22:59,212 --> 00:23:03,132 and to question would be rebellion. And rebellion is not of God. 394 00:23:04,383 --> 00:23:09,430 There was no space for racial identity, human identity, 395 00:23:09,514 --> 00:23:11,933 just Christian identity. 396 00:23:13,768 --> 00:23:17,688 And again, obedience, obedience to authority. 397 00:23:17,772 --> 00:23:22,443 Even if you think authority is wrong, even if you know authority is wrong, 398 00:23:23,528 --> 00:23:26,322 the fact of authority is right. 399 00:23:28,991 --> 00:23:33,871 Ron always sort of looking to blur those lines between fantasy and reality. 400 00:23:33,955 --> 00:23:36,833 He understood good theater had a ritual element to it, 401 00:23:36,916 --> 00:23:39,752 and he wanted to create collaborative theater. 402 00:23:42,588 --> 00:23:46,467 LTE's were "life transforming events", and each one was different. 403 00:23:46,551 --> 00:23:48,970 And they were all multiple days, 404 00:23:49,053 --> 00:23:52,932 and they were supposed to teach you through some sort of an experiential way. 405 00:23:53,015 --> 00:23:57,145 We're going to drive people to get out of their stinking little baby comfort zone 406 00:23:57,228 --> 00:23:58,688 and get out there and change the world. 407 00:23:58,771 --> 00:24:00,815 We're going to find a way to get the gospel 408 00:24:00,898 --> 00:24:04,861 to the people that have never heard. The unreached people groups of the world. 409 00:24:04,944 --> 00:24:08,072 Can you tell us a little bit about what you're going to go do? 410 00:24:08,156 --> 00:24:10,283 [chatter] 411 00:24:10,366 --> 00:24:12,076 Well, what we're going to be able to do 412 00:24:12,160 --> 00:24:15,371 is we're going to be able to go preach the gospel to people. 413 00:24:15,454 --> 00:24:17,331 We're gonna go tell them about Jesus. 414 00:24:17,415 --> 00:24:19,792 [dramatic music playing] 415 00:24:19,876 --> 00:24:23,421 The Unreached People Group. Oh, boy. 416 00:24:24,714 --> 00:24:26,424 They split the campus in half. 417 00:24:26,507 --> 00:24:29,427 Half into missionaries and half into tribal people. 418 00:24:29,510 --> 00:24:32,430 In what we call "the back 40", so there's about 460 acres. 419 00:24:33,806 --> 00:24:37,185 You have to figure out their language, what God they serve, 420 00:24:38,186 --> 00:24:41,397 and if you've converted them by the end of the weekend, 421 00:24:41,480 --> 00:24:42,648 you're a good Christian. 422 00:24:43,649 --> 00:24:47,862 [Dani] And in the descriptions in the handbook, they say very vague... 423 00:24:47,945 --> 00:24:51,282 "Your child will learn how to go deeper in their faith." 424 00:24:51,365 --> 00:24:52,867 Christian LARPing is what it is. 425 00:24:52,950 --> 00:24:57,538 But the goal is to kind of blur those lines between fantasy and reality. 426 00:24:59,332 --> 00:25:02,084 [Corey] We were always told that in third world countries, 427 00:25:02,168 --> 00:25:04,754 they're seeking us out to eliminate us. 428 00:25:05,588 --> 00:25:07,757 We had to go through "customs", 429 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:10,051 to give you a "real experience" of what it's like to be a missionary. 430 00:25:10,134 --> 00:25:12,428 -Hello. What's your name? -Jessica. 431 00:25:12,511 --> 00:25:14,931 -May I see your papers? -Yes, ma'am. 432 00:25:15,014 --> 00:25:17,600 And I remember lying and saying, "No, I'm not preaching the gospel." 433 00:25:17,683 --> 00:25:19,685 We're agriculturalists for the Peace Corps. 434 00:25:19,769 --> 00:25:22,063 I am a journalist doing an article on the Peace Corps. 435 00:25:22,146 --> 00:25:25,191 Doing a documentary with the University of Phoenix. 436 00:25:25,274 --> 00:25:27,526 We are with National Geographic. 437 00:25:27,610 --> 00:25:29,404 [boy] So what are you guys really going to do? 438 00:25:29,487 --> 00:25:31,030 We're gonna go minister to people. 439 00:25:31,113 --> 00:25:35,326 [offensive chanting] 440 00:25:35,409 --> 00:25:38,788 [Dani] Other cultures were seen as these objects to be saved. 441 00:25:39,747 --> 00:25:43,501 Cultural competency within that space was almost nonexistent. 442 00:25:43,584 --> 00:25:46,629 You have to go come into a culture sensitive to the culture, 443 00:25:46,712 --> 00:25:49,090 but you're invading it. You aren't... 444 00:25:49,173 --> 00:25:54,387 [chuckles] You're not totally becoming like the tribe you're going to. 445 00:25:54,470 --> 00:25:56,305 You're going to change some things. 446 00:25:56,389 --> 00:25:58,349 You might make some waves, and that's okay. 447 00:25:59,642 --> 00:26:01,602 [Dani] When you look at other cultures, 448 00:26:01,686 --> 00:26:05,106 and you find all of the things that make them in need of saving, 449 00:26:05,189 --> 00:26:10,111 you break the ability to truly be in communion with them. 450 00:26:10,736 --> 00:26:12,321 And that can be very dangerous. 451 00:26:14,407 --> 00:26:18,077 There were more and more things that I was telling myself, 452 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:21,080 "Well, this doesn't totally make sense, 453 00:26:21,163 --> 00:26:25,793 but I'm sure it makes sense in a way that I don't even realize." 454 00:26:26,294 --> 00:26:31,549 Rest assured, if it seems like it's going in a bad direction, it'll get worse. 455 00:26:33,592 --> 00:26:36,345 [Jeff] Another life transforming event was much worse. 456 00:26:37,346 --> 00:26:40,057 The staff would literally come out at like 3 o'clock in the morning 457 00:26:40,141 --> 00:26:42,810 with pots and pans in the dorm and wake you up out of a dead sleep. 458 00:26:42,893 --> 00:26:44,062 [Dave, through megaphone] Oh, boy. Oh, goody. 459 00:26:44,145 --> 00:26:46,314 I wonder what we're going to get to do next. 460 00:26:47,732 --> 00:26:51,319 [Zachariah] You were blindfolded, put in a van, 461 00:26:51,402 --> 00:26:53,779 and driven out to an undisclosed location. 462 00:26:54,989 --> 00:26:56,741 This was crosswalk. 463 00:26:58,200 --> 00:27:01,495 Every so often they would go and tap you on the shoulder if it was your turn, 464 00:27:01,579 --> 00:27:03,289 and they would drop six, seven, eight kids off. 465 00:27:03,372 --> 00:27:05,082 My group was dropped off in Oklahoma. 466 00:27:06,417 --> 00:27:10,212 [Zachariah] You didn't have any money. You didn't have any cell phone. 467 00:27:10,296 --> 00:27:14,717 [Phil] And they give you two days and a six foot tall wooden cross, 468 00:27:14,800 --> 00:27:17,011 and they say, "Get back to campus." 469 00:27:21,932 --> 00:27:25,770 You are depending "on God" for your food, 470 00:27:25,853 --> 00:27:28,105 for where you're going to sleep that night. 471 00:27:28,189 --> 00:27:29,982 You couldn't ask for anything. 472 00:27:30,066 --> 00:27:33,736 And because everyone is so eager to obey the rules, 473 00:27:33,819 --> 00:27:37,865 "Don't ask for things" becomes "don't ask questions". 474 00:27:37,948 --> 00:27:39,116 You can't ask anything. 475 00:27:39,200 --> 00:27:40,743 "Where are we?" 476 00:27:40,826 --> 00:27:44,205 Becomes "That's a cool map. I wish I knew more about it." 477 00:27:45,956 --> 00:27:48,042 After a couple of hours of walking, 478 00:27:48,125 --> 00:27:51,420 one of the girls goes, "Why aren't people stopping and talking to us?" 479 00:27:51,504 --> 00:27:55,466 And I go, "We're a bunch of white kids in the middle of Texas with a wooden cross. 480 00:27:55,549 --> 00:27:58,135 We probably look like we're looking for the sheet store." 481 00:28:00,221 --> 00:28:02,932 [Phil] My group got picked up by a pickup truck 482 00:28:03,015 --> 00:28:06,352 whose driver may or may not have been intoxicated. 483 00:28:06,435 --> 00:28:08,437 Other groups had guns pulled on them. 484 00:28:09,563 --> 00:28:12,316 [Zachariah] One night, we are in the middle of nowhere. 485 00:28:13,317 --> 00:28:16,320 Finally, we see some headlights in the distance, 486 00:28:16,404 --> 00:28:20,241 and then the car turned its flashers on, it was a cop. 487 00:28:20,324 --> 00:28:23,160 And that cop was not happy to see us. 488 00:28:23,244 --> 00:28:26,080 We go, "Okay, well, can you help us out?" 489 00:28:26,163 --> 00:28:28,958 He goes, "Okay, I can drive you back." 490 00:28:29,041 --> 00:28:31,836 And then he points to the cross. He goes, "I'm not taking that." 491 00:28:31,919 --> 00:28:34,630 And then one of the girls starts crying 492 00:28:34,713 --> 00:28:37,550 because we are going to leave the cross behind, 493 00:28:37,633 --> 00:28:39,427 and we are going to fail our mission. 494 00:28:41,512 --> 00:28:45,141 And this cop, who looked completely overwhelmed by this teenage girl, 495 00:28:45,224 --> 00:28:49,311 He goes like, "Okay, okay, okay, Just put it on the top." 496 00:28:49,395 --> 00:28:51,689 So we drove back in this cop car. 497 00:28:51,772 --> 00:28:56,861 We are holding on to the cross on top of this cop car, holding it in place. 498 00:28:58,237 --> 00:29:02,074 [Jeff] Because to get rid of that cross, I mean, this is the message they want. 499 00:29:02,158 --> 00:29:04,577 "You carry that cross even if it kills you." 500 00:29:04,660 --> 00:29:06,454 This isn't funny. If you don't get back there, 501 00:29:06,537 --> 00:29:09,415 it's not like you're not going to get invited to the cool kids party. 502 00:29:09,498 --> 00:29:10,374 If you don't get back there, 503 00:29:10,458 --> 00:29:13,544 if you don't pass this test, you're going to have betrayed God. 504 00:29:13,627 --> 00:29:16,714 You're going to betray your parents. You're going to betray Ron. 505 00:29:16,797 --> 00:29:17,923 That's a real thing. 506 00:29:18,632 --> 00:29:20,217 That's our martyr. 507 00:29:24,388 --> 00:29:26,933 [interviewer] Did you assume as a kid that you would die a martyr? 508 00:29:27,016 --> 00:29:29,518 And that you would have a short life? 509 00:29:33,147 --> 00:29:34,356 Hmm. 510 00:29:43,407 --> 00:29:45,159 When I look back in time, 511 00:29:45,242 --> 00:29:47,244 I never thought there would be another option. 512 00:29:48,329 --> 00:29:50,748 [intense music playing] 513 00:29:54,126 --> 00:29:58,714 Ron Luce invited Dad to go on a global expeditions trip with Teen Mania, 514 00:30:00,966 --> 00:30:02,801 and Dad was affected by this. 515 00:30:03,594 --> 00:30:07,139 On the plane ride back, there's Dad and Ron Luce. 516 00:30:08,849 --> 00:30:12,603 And Dad is penning the lyrics to this song called "Allegiance". 517 00:30:13,229 --> 00:30:15,231 Dad, has it always been this way? 518 00:30:16,315 --> 00:30:20,110 Well, even from the beginning, men hated Jesus. 519 00:30:20,194 --> 00:30:22,738 Ray Boltz' "I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb" music video 520 00:30:22,821 --> 00:30:26,492 where basically the dad's being persecuted for being a Christian, 521 00:30:26,575 --> 00:30:28,285 and he's like talking to his kid. 522 00:30:28,369 --> 00:30:31,830 But Dad, did they want to die? 523 00:30:31,914 --> 00:30:35,751 No, but they were forced to make a choice. 524 00:30:35,834 --> 00:30:38,629 I remember watching that. I'm traumatized from that 525 00:30:38,712 --> 00:30:41,715 because the dad gets drug away, and the kid's still in the prison cell. 526 00:30:41,799 --> 00:30:44,093 So, you know, he's probably going to die next. 527 00:30:44,927 --> 00:30:49,974 But there was just this understanding that we were willing to die for our faith. 528 00:30:50,057 --> 00:30:52,476 That was a huge song for Dad. 529 00:30:52,560 --> 00:30:57,565 [singing] ♪ Christians, long ago ♪ 530 00:30:57,648 --> 00:31:00,025 ♪ Were brought before ♪ 531 00:31:00,901 --> 00:31:03,279 ♪ A tyrant's throne ♪ 532 00:31:03,362 --> 00:31:07,658 [Liz] "I Pledge Allegiance to the Lamb" is such a clear depiction 533 00:31:07,741 --> 00:31:10,703 of what was the cultural understanding. 534 00:31:10,786 --> 00:31:16,250 [Ray] ♪ But one by one They chose to die ♪ 535 00:31:16,333 --> 00:31:21,755 [Liz] We were told that eventually Christians are going to be martyred again. 536 00:31:26,844 --> 00:31:31,682 [Phil] In April 1999, we were driving to Pontiac, Michigan, 537 00:31:31,765 --> 00:31:34,518 with Teen Mania for this huge stadium event. 538 00:31:36,854 --> 00:31:40,816 Practically the entire internship of 500, 600 kids went to Pontiac. 539 00:31:40,899 --> 00:31:42,610 [Zachariah] We were all working up to an event 540 00:31:42,693 --> 00:31:44,695 that was being called "Day One". 541 00:31:45,779 --> 00:31:50,743 That was going to be at the Silverdome in Detroit, a huge arena. 542 00:31:50,826 --> 00:31:53,829 It was going to be the big daddy of them all. 543 00:31:55,331 --> 00:31:58,334 [Ron] Day One is a national gathering of young people 544 00:31:58,417 --> 00:32:00,586 that are on fire from all over the country. 545 00:32:02,379 --> 00:32:05,090 Coming together at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan. 546 00:32:05,174 --> 00:32:08,010 It seats almost 90,000 people. 547 00:32:08,093 --> 00:32:12,014 To make a statement to the world there is a generation who do love God. 548 00:32:14,850 --> 00:32:16,268 [Phil] So we're driving up, 549 00:32:16,352 --> 00:32:20,522 and we start hearing rumors of some kind of a school crisis. 550 00:32:20,606 --> 00:32:23,025 Something happened at a school. It involved guns. 551 00:32:27,154 --> 00:32:30,324 [newsman] This tragedy is about an hour and a half old now. 552 00:32:30,407 --> 00:32:33,702 Apparently, the SWAT team has mobilized outside of the school. 553 00:32:35,204 --> 00:32:37,706 [Phil] It was the Columbine massacre. 554 00:32:37,790 --> 00:32:40,001 [newswoman] Columbine High School looks like a battle scene 555 00:32:40,084 --> 00:32:42,961 after the worst school shooting in US history. 556 00:32:43,045 --> 00:32:45,923 Possibly as many as 25 students dead. 557 00:32:48,008 --> 00:32:52,971 For us, who were teenagers, school shootings were not common. 558 00:32:53,055 --> 00:32:55,766 The idea that you could be murdered in your school 559 00:32:55,849 --> 00:32:59,895 was shocking and horrifying and visceral. 560 00:33:02,606 --> 00:33:06,026 [Phil] So we get to Day One, and we're trying to go on with the event. 561 00:33:07,027 --> 00:33:13,534 But we started hearing the stories of students who died. 562 00:33:13,617 --> 00:33:18,205 These gunmen were going into the school to single out individuals. 563 00:33:18,288 --> 00:33:21,166 And one of the students 564 00:33:21,250 --> 00:33:25,170 who was in the library reportedly says that one of the gunmen 565 00:33:25,254 --> 00:33:28,590 went up to a young girl, asked her if she believed in God. 566 00:33:29,091 --> 00:33:31,385 She said, "Yes, I do." And they shot her. 567 00:33:32,136 --> 00:33:35,806 [newswoman] The story of Cassie Bernall, one of the students killed at Columbine. 568 00:33:35,889 --> 00:33:39,643 [newswoman] Quickly becoming a national symbol to people of faith. 569 00:33:41,562 --> 00:33:43,313 [Mica] That did not turn out to be true, 570 00:33:43,397 --> 00:33:46,483 but everyone thought, "What would I have done?" 571 00:33:47,943 --> 00:33:52,364 Darrell Scott, his daughter Rachel, was killed outside Columbine High. 572 00:33:53,240 --> 00:33:57,161 [Darrell] We always felt that the Lord was going to use her in a mighty way, 573 00:33:57,244 --> 00:34:02,249 and I think none of us would have believed it would be in this manner. 574 00:34:02,332 --> 00:34:04,126 When I heard the whole story of... 575 00:34:04,209 --> 00:34:09,590 that her dream was to be a missionary, and she was just on fire for the Lord. 576 00:34:09,672 --> 00:34:11,257 And then she gets cut down. 577 00:34:11,341 --> 00:34:15,179 And in her youth, I thought of some of the great martyrs 578 00:34:15,262 --> 00:34:19,766 of Henry Martin Livingston, Borden, Jim Elliot. 579 00:34:19,850 --> 00:34:23,603 [Mica] Rachel was signed up to go with Teen Mania on a mission trip, 580 00:34:24,730 --> 00:34:28,817 but before she could go, she was murdered in the Columbine shooting. 581 00:34:28,900 --> 00:34:30,860 [crowd yelling] 582 00:34:32,905 --> 00:34:37,284 [Carrie] A few days later, at Day One, Ron talked about Columbine. 583 00:34:37,868 --> 00:34:40,121 [Zachariah] And it was the moment the room turned upside down. 584 00:34:40,204 --> 00:34:42,915 [Ron] Rachel Scott died that day. 585 00:34:42,998 --> 00:34:45,583 One of the several martyrs that stood up for her faith. 586 00:34:46,335 --> 00:34:48,462 Now, the thing that is unique about Rachel, 587 00:34:49,379 --> 00:34:51,965 if you look around this room right now, she was a normal person. 588 00:34:52,049 --> 00:34:54,760 She'd been to concerts like this, just like you. 589 00:34:54,842 --> 00:34:56,261 There was something in her heart that said, 590 00:34:56,344 --> 00:34:59,097 "I've got to make my life count this summer." 591 00:35:00,265 --> 00:35:03,644 Ron looks at that, and he sees an opportunity. 592 00:35:03,727 --> 00:35:05,687 So he claims ownership of her. 593 00:35:06,355 --> 00:35:09,399 And just like a myth says, "This could be you." 594 00:35:09,483 --> 00:35:12,277 Someone who cared about the kids would say, 595 00:35:12,361 --> 00:35:14,321 "This could be you, you could be killed in school. 596 00:35:14,404 --> 00:35:16,782 We've got to do something to stop that." 597 00:35:16,865 --> 00:35:19,576 He says, "Wouldn't that be awesome? 598 00:35:20,494 --> 00:35:23,956 This could be you. Your name will be remembered." 599 00:35:25,499 --> 00:35:30,671 And he was willing to teach a generation of kids, you're expendable. 600 00:35:30,754 --> 00:35:35,217 And maybe the most valuable thing you could ever do is die. 601 00:35:37,302 --> 00:35:41,306 Send me, Lord, where no one ever wanted to go to. 602 00:35:42,891 --> 00:35:49,439 Use me, Lord, to finish the job, taking this world for you. 603 00:35:50,774 --> 00:35:54,611 [Jeff] You're imagining yourself as the subject of violence. 604 00:35:54,695 --> 00:35:57,447 That the glory is the martyrdom. 605 00:35:57,531 --> 00:35:59,617 These are the things I'm thinking about as a teenager. 606 00:35:59,700 --> 00:36:00,826 "I have to die. I have to get ready to die. 607 00:36:00,909 --> 00:36:02,161 You can do it, Mica. You can do it." 608 00:36:02,244 --> 00:36:05,414 You got to gin yourself up because you don't wanna go to hell. 609 00:36:05,497 --> 00:36:09,293 [cheering] 610 00:36:09,376 --> 00:36:11,295 [Ron] You can do it. 611 00:36:11,378 --> 00:36:15,215 We're not just screaming it with our voice, 612 00:36:16,174 --> 00:36:20,262 but with our very lives. We're shouting. 613 00:36:20,345 --> 00:36:25,183 We are those with a relentless pursuit of God. 614 00:36:25,267 --> 00:36:29,313 A relentless pursuit of the people He loves. 615 00:36:29,396 --> 00:36:32,691 Now, shout! For the Lord has given you this generation. 616 00:36:34,776 --> 00:36:37,821 I don't think we would be talking about Teen Mania now, 617 00:36:37,905 --> 00:36:41,491 were it not for the Columbine massacre in 1999. 618 00:36:43,535 --> 00:36:48,749 [Carrie] After Day One, the tension and the atmosphere at the Honor Academy 619 00:36:48,832 --> 00:36:52,794 went from like a six to a 12 overnight. 620 00:36:53,462 --> 00:36:55,631 [Dani] There was this big push for everyone to know 621 00:36:55,714 --> 00:36:59,885 where they stand in their faith, to just push you to your limits, 622 00:36:59,968 --> 00:37:02,804 to see if you would stand up for your faith. 623 00:37:03,805 --> 00:37:08,769 [Carrie] Nobody was playing anything anymore. Everything was very real. 624 00:37:08,852 --> 00:37:12,481 -[suspenseful music playing] -[chatter] 625 00:37:14,775 --> 00:37:18,028 The Honor Academy became more intense. 626 00:37:18,946 --> 00:37:21,573 It became scarier and harder. 627 00:37:21,657 --> 00:37:25,077 [Dave] This is one of the most demanding 628 00:37:25,160 --> 00:37:28,497 and challenging training opportunities that I know of, 629 00:37:28,580 --> 00:37:32,459 and you are going to be challenged more than you can possibly imagine. 630 00:37:32,542 --> 00:37:36,296 [yelling] 631 00:37:36,380 --> 00:37:39,549 [boy] You are going full right now. You are going full right now. 632 00:37:39,633 --> 00:37:41,218 Move it, move it, move it! 633 00:37:41,301 --> 00:37:43,095 [Dave] We are not going to feel sorry for you. 634 00:37:43,178 --> 00:37:45,472 Please do not feel sorry for yourself. 635 00:37:46,473 --> 00:37:50,435 [Mica] ESOAL, which was the "Emotional Stretching Opportunity of a Lifetime". 636 00:37:50,519 --> 00:37:53,605 [Dani] It's a simulated Navy SEAL hell week, 637 00:37:54,648 --> 00:37:58,777 outside in the mud for 90 hours straight. 638 00:38:00,821 --> 00:38:03,573 We've got crosses, platoons. 639 00:38:04,616 --> 00:38:06,576 We all have helmets with numbers on them. 640 00:38:06,660 --> 00:38:09,454 We are no longer our names. We are numbers. 641 00:38:09,538 --> 00:38:11,415 [boy] 353, do you feel 642 00:38:11,498 --> 00:38:13,375 -that you are in tension with someone -[crying] 643 00:38:13,458 --> 00:38:16,253 out there, by the way that you pushed yourself? 644 00:38:16,336 --> 00:38:19,047 [girl crying] I don't know. 645 00:38:19,965 --> 00:38:22,509 [Dave] Well, you're gonna wanna be gentle, laying those crosses down. 646 00:38:22,592 --> 00:38:24,052 If your belt breaks off your cross, 647 00:38:24,136 --> 00:38:26,221 -it's not going to be pretty. -[kids] Eight... 648 00:38:26,304 --> 00:38:30,308 [Carrie] Crawling through tunnels ten feet underground and 30 feet long. 649 00:38:30,934 --> 00:38:32,644 [boy] We need you in that hole now. 650 00:38:32,728 --> 00:38:34,312 Head first. 651 00:38:34,396 --> 00:38:35,355 You just need some help here. 652 00:38:35,439 --> 00:38:38,775 Once you get in, you can take him off of you, but you need get in first. 653 00:38:39,526 --> 00:38:43,030 [boy] Keep going, keep going. Keep going. 654 00:38:43,113 --> 00:38:47,200 [Dave] This event is designed to make you look inside of yourself 655 00:38:47,284 --> 00:38:51,788 and depend upon God for your strength and go beyond what you thought you could do. 656 00:38:51,872 --> 00:38:56,168 God, the father, be with us for this day and throughout the rest of the days. 657 00:38:56,251 --> 00:38:58,712 -Father... -I am a strong man of God. 658 00:38:58,795 --> 00:39:02,716 I'm a strong man of God. I'm a strong man of God. 659 00:39:04,092 --> 00:39:06,011 [yelling] 660 00:39:06,094 --> 00:39:07,638 [Dave] What's your number down there, orange shirt? 661 00:39:07,721 --> 00:39:10,515 -[boy] 243. -243, why are you crying? 662 00:39:10,599 --> 00:39:12,239 -I'm scared, sir. -What are you scared of? 663 00:39:13,977 --> 00:39:16,938 Pay attention! You are a loser! 664 00:39:17,022 --> 00:39:19,149 This is my favorite part of ESOAL. 665 00:39:19,232 --> 00:39:21,193 I'm going to go be the strong one now. 666 00:39:21,860 --> 00:39:23,070 Come on, now. 667 00:39:29,367 --> 00:39:31,036 This is the Mensa challenge, okay? 668 00:39:31,119 --> 00:39:34,206 It is a whole bunch of eighth grade math problems, right? 669 00:39:34,289 --> 00:39:37,000 We're going to give each team the paper and a pen 670 00:39:37,084 --> 00:39:40,128 and a certain amount of time, and then we're going to see how well they do. 671 00:39:40,212 --> 00:39:41,922 Then we're going to run down and grade them, 672 00:39:42,005 --> 00:39:44,674 and then we're going to line them up by their intelligence. 673 00:39:49,387 --> 00:39:52,140 [Ron] No matter how hard you push yourself, 674 00:39:52,224 --> 00:39:54,392 there's always a little bit more you can push. 675 00:39:55,894 --> 00:40:00,107 Do it as if your pursuing the thing that God put you on this planet for. 676 00:40:00,190 --> 00:40:03,485 [indistinct chatter] 677 00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:06,488 [man] Go. 678 00:40:06,947 --> 00:40:09,950 -All the way down to your shoulders. -Let's go! 679 00:40:10,033 --> 00:40:12,035 -All the way down here. -Just keep walking. 680 00:40:12,119 --> 00:40:14,204 -412, come all the way down here. -Don't let go of the rope! 681 00:40:14,287 --> 00:40:18,834 [breathing hard] 682 00:40:18,917 --> 00:40:22,379 -[crying] -[girl] All the way down. 683 00:40:24,422 --> 00:40:28,760 [overlapping yelling] 684 00:40:32,013 --> 00:40:36,184 [Carrie] That pain and that hurt and inappropriateness 685 00:40:36,268 --> 00:40:39,938 of creating a spiritual climate 686 00:40:40,021 --> 00:40:44,234 with this pretend military training 687 00:40:44,317 --> 00:40:48,280 was to get you to come to the very, very end of yourself. 688 00:40:50,407 --> 00:40:52,784 That was the moment I knew 689 00:40:53,994 --> 00:41:00,083 that whatever it was before, now they were raising martyrs, 690 00:41:00,876 --> 00:41:02,836 and they were recruiting children. 691 00:41:04,754 --> 00:41:07,007 [sniffles] 692 00:41:07,090 --> 00:41:10,343 The rough beast now comes plainly into view. 693 00:41:12,596 --> 00:41:16,057 [Dani] One time, they called us into the auditorium. 694 00:41:17,851 --> 00:41:19,686 Suddenly, some people in military garb come in 695 00:41:19,769 --> 00:41:21,605 and tell us we need to bow to their flag. 696 00:41:21,688 --> 00:41:24,566 -Get on the ground! -[screaming] 697 00:41:24,649 --> 00:41:26,568 That was the End Times, it felt to me. 698 00:41:28,528 --> 00:41:29,768 It wasn't even in the handbook. 699 00:41:32,449 --> 00:41:34,409 [Zachariah] The end times, a lot of Christians believe 700 00:41:34,492 --> 00:41:38,872 there will be a one world government that will execute Christians. 701 00:41:41,750 --> 00:41:45,795 Our leaders play act, they were the evil one world government. 702 00:41:45,879 --> 00:41:47,965 I don't even know how many, people stormed in everywhere and like... 703 00:41:48,048 --> 00:41:49,728 -[girl] The reception! -[boy] Quiet, quiet! 704 00:41:52,719 --> 00:41:55,055 [Zachariah] It was an attack on Christians, 705 00:41:57,474 --> 00:41:59,643 and it was an attack on us. 706 00:42:00,727 --> 00:42:04,272 And yourself! Sit down, sit down. 707 00:42:16,826 --> 00:42:18,828 [Jeff] They are life transforming events. 708 00:42:21,206 --> 00:42:24,501 If you think it's life or death, and they're being taught that it is, 709 00:42:25,168 --> 00:42:30,131 now we've gone into the area, which I think can fairly be called torture. 710 00:42:34,052 --> 00:42:37,973 Those people were traumatized. They were terrorized. 711 00:42:40,725 --> 00:42:44,104 Heightened sense of over stimulation, over awareness. 712 00:42:45,313 --> 00:42:47,607 Fear, and it's a means of control. 713 00:42:49,734 --> 00:42:55,865 Teen Mania was the most militant fundamentalist Christian youth movement 714 00:42:55,949 --> 00:42:59,828 the United States had seen in at least a century, if not more. 715 00:43:02,539 --> 00:43:06,293 And that's how Ron caught the attention of the Arlington Group. 716 00:43:06,376 --> 00:43:08,378 [intense music playing] 717 00:43:11,006 --> 00:43:15,135 The Arlington Group was founded in part by James Dobson, 718 00:43:16,011 --> 00:43:20,348 and other Christian right leaders with powerful fiefdoms. 719 00:43:20,432 --> 00:43:22,726 They were trying to align the organization, 720 00:43:22,809 --> 00:43:26,688 so that instead of having one fiefdom here and one fiefdom there, 721 00:43:26,771 --> 00:43:31,151 they could build the kingdom of God, and in Washington, DC. 722 00:43:31,234 --> 00:43:36,656 Their goal is retaking America for a certain vision of Christianity. 723 00:43:37,490 --> 00:43:42,037 The Arlington Group was really designed to be behind the scenes. Secretive. 724 00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:44,914 These were really the big, big, heavy hitters. 725 00:43:44,998 --> 00:43:49,502 And then Ron, probably even to his own surprise, got a seat at that table. 726 00:43:50,128 --> 00:43:53,256 Teen Mania became part of the Arlington Group. 727 00:43:53,340 --> 00:43:57,093 That's how Ron and a man named Charles Colson get together. 728 00:43:57,844 --> 00:44:01,139 Colson's organization was also a part of the group. 729 00:44:01,222 --> 00:44:04,642 Colson was Nixon's hatchet man, and he went to prison for it. 730 00:44:06,019 --> 00:44:08,188 In prison, he was born again. 731 00:44:09,356 --> 00:44:14,402 And he's working on this big project. He wants to undo secularism. 732 00:44:14,486 --> 00:44:20,533 Everything is a war against the very conditions that made democracy possible. 733 00:44:20,617 --> 00:44:22,285 [applause] 734 00:44:22,369 --> 00:44:24,037 Everything was the enemy. 735 00:44:24,120 --> 00:44:26,289 He thinks the Enlightenment was a bad idea. 736 00:44:26,373 --> 00:44:30,794 All I care about is advancing the kingdom of God. 737 00:44:31,961 --> 00:44:34,297 [Jeff] And it's a perfect marriage. 738 00:44:34,381 --> 00:44:36,257 Well, we're on the same page here. 739 00:44:36,341 --> 00:44:39,427 If we don't start looking to kids, what's going on with these young people? 740 00:44:39,511 --> 00:44:41,513 Everything we're doing now is going to be moot. 741 00:44:42,347 --> 00:44:44,933 [Jeff] And together, they just decide 742 00:44:45,016 --> 00:44:47,394 we can make the whole country an Honor Academy, 743 00:44:47,477 --> 00:44:51,981 take their worldview and make it go viral. 744 00:44:53,233 --> 00:44:56,486 So they come up with this idea called Rewired. 745 00:44:56,986 --> 00:45:00,240 Their plan had the scope of Acquire the Fire 746 00:45:00,323 --> 00:45:02,742 and the deep indoctrination of Honor Academy. 747 00:45:02,826 --> 00:45:04,369 [indistinct singing] 748 00:45:04,452 --> 00:45:05,870 They produce videos. 749 00:45:08,748 --> 00:45:12,085 It was 12 sessions, each about an hour long on DVD. 750 00:45:12,168 --> 00:45:15,588 All the tools you would need to recruit and indoctrinate these followers 751 00:45:15,672 --> 00:45:19,592 without needing them to even attend Teen Mania events. 752 00:45:22,178 --> 00:45:25,098 They were exciting, highly produced lessons, 753 00:45:25,181 --> 00:45:29,602 telling the teenagers of America a war is being waged against them. 754 00:45:29,686 --> 00:45:33,565 You've got to become a real soldier before you become another casualty. 755 00:45:34,441 --> 00:45:36,484 -[gunshot] -Amy! 756 00:45:36,568 --> 00:45:39,654 [Jeff] The curriculum was the greatest hits 757 00:45:39,737 --> 00:45:43,491 of all their most harmful teachings, but intensified. 758 00:45:43,575 --> 00:45:46,494 It could go farther than any Acquire the Fire. 759 00:45:46,578 --> 00:45:48,496 It could go into every corner of the country. 760 00:45:48,580 --> 00:45:51,583 He's sending them out through youth pastors. 761 00:45:51,666 --> 00:45:54,335 Ron's thinking in terms of cells, right? 762 00:45:54,419 --> 00:45:56,754 Youth group here, youth group here, youth group here. 763 00:45:56,838 --> 00:45:57,839 And indoctrination. 764 00:45:59,007 --> 00:46:02,218 They borrow all these motifs from The Matrix movies. 765 00:46:03,636 --> 00:46:05,263 [screams] 766 00:46:05,346 --> 00:46:08,266 You can take the blue pill and keep being a sucker 767 00:46:08,349 --> 00:46:10,935 and see what the establishment wants you to see. 768 00:46:11,019 --> 00:46:13,563 Or you can take the red pill and see the reality. 769 00:46:14,647 --> 00:46:17,734 You can see the truth, and the truth is much grittier. 770 00:46:17,817 --> 00:46:18,985 It's the battlefield. 771 00:46:19,944 --> 00:46:23,990 -You are breaking through the matrix. -We've got to wake up everyone else. 772 00:46:25,033 --> 00:46:29,370 Rewired was designed to get kids to see every single thing 773 00:46:29,454 --> 00:46:32,665 through this lens of "us versus them". 774 00:46:33,833 --> 00:46:37,128 It's a matter of life or death. This is war. 775 00:46:37,212 --> 00:46:38,546 Which side are you on? 776 00:46:41,925 --> 00:46:45,303 From Teen Mania to Acquire the Fire to Rewired, 777 00:46:45,386 --> 00:46:49,849 it's all preparation for the coming battle. The ultimate fight. 778 00:46:49,933 --> 00:46:50,933 Battlecry. 779 00:46:51,935 --> 00:46:54,687 -Let me hear your battle cry tonight! -[yelling] 780 00:46:54,771 --> 00:46:57,982 I didn't hear you! Let me hear your battle cry tonight! 781 00:46:58,066 --> 00:47:01,152 [Phil] Battlecry was Acquire the Fire on steroids. 782 00:47:01,236 --> 00:47:04,405 We want to shape the culture instead of being shaped by the culture. 783 00:47:04,489 --> 00:47:06,407 Ron's coming out as political. 784 00:47:06,491 --> 00:47:10,745 The Pied Piper led the kids from the stadium into the streets. 785 00:47:10,828 --> 00:47:14,457 We were at war. We were an army for God. 786 00:47:14,541 --> 00:47:17,669 The army of God. You guys don't see anything wrong with the army of God? 787 00:47:18,336 --> 00:47:20,255 [newsman] I'm a little nervous because I think you might want 788 00:47:20,338 --> 00:47:21,965 a theocracy in this country. 789 00:47:22,048 --> 00:47:24,300 -[gunshot] -It's like Sarajevo. 790 00:47:24,384 --> 00:47:26,970 [Jeff] This was fascism, 791 00:47:28,137 --> 00:47:30,098 in front of me, on a massive scale. 792 00:47:30,181 --> 00:47:34,394 And you could say it's divisive. Well, maybe it needs to be divisive. 793 00:47:34,477 --> 00:47:39,357 You create a soldier who will follow orders in an unquestioning way. 794 00:47:41,401 --> 00:47:43,820 Mica was public enemy number one. 795 00:47:45,238 --> 00:47:47,949 This whole Teen Mania thing has had me way down. 796 00:47:48,032 --> 00:47:51,494 I just can't live like this anymore. That's where I'm at right now. 797 00:47:53,288 --> 00:47:54,414 They have to be stopped. 797 00:47:55,305 --> 00:48:55,944