Leaderboard

The twi landscape changed a great deal after the 1988-1989 split that lost 80% of the membership. Before that, the classes and meetings were comfortable because they were more organic and let people make them comfortable. And the people that grew twi were generally quality Christians. Once they were gone, there was the twi that you knew- mechanistic and controlling (a lot moreso than before.) People often got swept into twi and enjoyed their time there. The classes were billed as a big part, and talked up as critical, so people expected to go through them- and many came away with stories of what they overcame to take the classes, more like a badge of honor than a millstone around the neck. Sometimes, a member would volunteer to pay for the class fee for a new person who seemed unable to raise the money, or gave him/her a new Bible when the class started. When things are like that, getting to sessions 8-12 gets elements of excitement as well as anxiety. Nobody wants to disappoint a group making them happy, and nobody wanted to feel left out. With 4 classes ironing out hesitations, most people had no trouble beginning to, say, "speak in tongues" when it was time. Most of the remainder moved along as soon as someone running the class addressed them specifically (while everyone was speaking and nobody was looking), and a tiny handful had to be worked with afterwards. vpw himself had to be worked on afterwards like the remedial student he was, when JE Stiles taught him and spent hours working with him. That doesn't even count those who were already "speaking in tongues" before taking that class, due to being too young to take it or having to wait for an official class. So, no pressure for those people. We all WANTED to believe. We all were invited into a group of nice people who believed. They generally didn't want us to have anxiety or problems. That starts setting the stage, and sessions 8-12 finished the job.

Your link seems to lead to background information about the subject of the Hulu documentary. THIS LINK is to the Hulu documentary (trailer). Hulu says The Deep End premiers on May 19.