Shiny Comfortable Folks: A Teenage Holy Battle is peeling again the curtain on the evangelical youth group that took America by storm within the Nineties.
The Prime Video docuseries premiered Wednesday, July 23, exploring Ron Luce's wildly widespread Teen Mania Ministries, which turned one of many largest Christian youth organizations within the nation. Luce, now 64, toured the group's “Purchase the Hearth” occasions all through main cities within the U.S. and Canada, espousing Christian values by means of reside live shows and high-energy performances. Different packages included International Expeditions mission journeys, Honor Academy internships and Excessive Camps held on the Teen Mania campus in Texas.
As Teen Mania grew extra widespread, its practices took a harmful and militant flip. In line with Shiny Comfortable Folks, younger individuals skilled psychological — and typically bodily — misery that had lasting impacts properly into maturity.
A number of survivors got here ahead to share their tales within the surprising three-part docuseries, together with Mica Ringo, who created the “Recovering Alumni” weblog that gave former Teen Mania followers a protected area to talk out.
“I by no means deliberate to be the demise of Teen Mania,” Ringo stated within the doc. “I simply thought, I wanna assist any individual and provides them the recommendation that I want any individual gave me.”
The weblog got here to be “about 10 years after” Ringo left the group behind. “At the moment, Teen Mania was actually on the peak of their recognition. … I began the weblog as an outlet for folks to share their tales and to inform the reality about what Teen Mania is definitely like and discover therapeutic,” Ringo defined. “I wrote the weblog anonymously firstly as a result of it was actually vital to me that folks take care of the arguments I used to be making and never with who I used to be as an individual.”
Mica Ringo Courtesy of Prime Video
It wasn't lengthy earlier than Ringo's posts reached their meant viewers. “We had a very energetic feedback part, simply attempting to validate folks, like, ‘Yeah, you probably did undergo that and that was heinous,'” Ringo stated, including that what was being shared on-line “was very surprising” and “over the road abusive.”
As Ringo mirrored on how the weblog took off, viewers noticed screenshots of varied feedback from fellow Teen Mania survivors describing their very own experiences on the Honor Academy.
“They'd take a group to an deserted properly and make them crawl down the opening and thru a pipe to return out on the base of a hill,” one consumer claimed, whereas one other stated, “I acquired shot within the head with a paintball.”
A 3rd publish claimed, “I do know for a truth cat meals was served as a result of I helped take it out … [and] place it in Styrofoam bowls … A employees member instructed me that it was wonderful [and] if canines and cats might eat it, so might people.”
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One other alum alleged that they have been “really locked in a coffin twice … with mice and Madagascar hissing cockroaches.” A number of posts referred to well being and security considerations, with a consumer claiming they “went into acute seizure mode” in the course of the internship.
“One of many folks in my firm misplaced consciousness and the opposite was lastly launched when her temperature reached 102,” one publish learn.
With so many alumni coming ahead, Ringo determined to take their tales to the group. “I gathered 20 pages of tales. I [sent them] to every board member's house or enterprise … and anticipated or hoped that they'd learn this and go, ‘Oh, man. I had no thought this was occurring. We gotta get on this, we gotta repair this. That is terrible,'” Ringo stated. “That's not the response that we acquired.”
Throughout an alumni convention name in 2010, the audio from which was featured within the docuseries, Teen Mania government vice chairman David Hasz famous that he was conscious of the weblog. “There are tales on that web site that typically are true,” he admitted. “After which typically there are tales that aren't true.”
When the alumni group's grievances weren't resolved “privately,” Ringo's subsequent step was to go public. “It's completely surprising that you could possibly brainwash a younger grownup to roll down a hill by means of different folks's vomit and in some way assume that's a non secular exercise. It simply blows my thoughts,” Ringo stated in a clip from prior information protection concerning the controversial ways utilized by Teen Mania.
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In line with Ringo, the group “went into full harm management” mode in an try to keep up enrollment in its programming. Together with interviewing survivors, Shiny Comfortable Folks additionally featured Cindy Mallette, the previous comms director for Teen Mania.
“I instantly began wanting on the Recovering Alumni web site. The tales sounded so excessive and weird, I assumed, ‘There's no method that is actual,'” Mallette recalled, including that Teen Mania was “able to do something to cease the dwindling numbers” of individuals.
The ministry did, nonetheless, go on to face monetary difficulties because the accusations emerged. In December 2015, Luce introduced that Teen Mania would “stop operations.” That very same month, information broke that Teen Mania filed for Chapter 7 Chapter, closing completely.
Whereas the ministry is not energetic, its impression hasn't gone away. “There's 1000's of people that've been by means of this system and quite a bit stay loyal to Teen Mania,” Ringo stated within the doc. “They've all been skilled for battle and so they all assume I'm the enemy.”
Shiny Comfortable Folks is offered to stream on Prime Video.
