alleycat

I think it looks really good and festive!

Yes, about a year and a half ago I had some mental healing that was unexpected, though very welcome. A year or more before that happened, I lost a beloved pet and blamed my husband for allowing that to happen. I was very angry with him and held my anger by shutting him out of my life in several ways. I do not recall asking God to help me with this situation, except that I had acknowledged to God that I knew I needed to be kinder to my husband. The healing experience happened in the middle of the night one night while I was half asleep. All of a sudden I felt a sensation of just letting all the anger go and a peacefulness taking its place. I really don't believe that I had taken any sustained action (such as prayer or "believing") to cause this. The anger never returned. I do believe this event was God working in my life, just in an unexpected and unrequested way.

Loved the poem WW!

That sure is what people at my church do. Thanks for the verse references!

does anyone else ever cry in church? I find myself tearing up almost every time. Especially during the altar calls, sometimes during the singing or sermon. Not sure if it is joy or sadness. Just really gets to me when I see people going down the aisle to get prayed for or baptised. yes, even though I was in twi for about 20 years, I did get baptised by immersion recently after much thought.

also the lead singer from Sawyer Brown reminds me of Dan Moran. BTW - this video was featured as part of the sermon at my church today!

That song "I Can Only Imagine" must have been inspired by God, because it has had a huge impact (from what I have heard from MercyMe itself and from what I heard from secular radio stations that played it). Give their other songs a listen, the band is pretty good. Their new CD is called "Coming Up to Breathe" and has a whole lot more to it than the average contemporary Christian music/lyrics. And whatever happened with Ken McCaw? He was supposed to be headed for writing movie scores last time I heard quite a few years ago.

I haven't heard anyone on this thread mention love. Although I only met Mrs. W. a few times, I would bet that there was a strong love in their marriage - at very least on her part. That colors a lot of a person's thoughts about their spouse, so perhaps she was not as aware of VPW's misdeeds to others as we think she was and was willing to put up with his mistreatment of herself.

I know the Bible Lands tour was in 85, is there another thread for that event or time period? And when was the dedication of the Word Over the World Auditorium? I think that must have been in this time period.

And the best way to forgive ourselves is to know that God has forgiven us if we have asked Him.

I recall that the gift ministries came before the ordination - one had to have the gift and then be ordained. And I know of at least one person who was a Corps grad, definitely had a gift ministry or two and was not ordained. Seems to me very evident that the ordination was a formality that was optional. No opinion about HA, though.

I remember door to door witnessing in 74-75 as a college WOW, but it not being restricted to WOWs. I really didn't like it, but chalked that up to my personality which is definitely unsalesmanlike. I think there was actually a guy who taught sales techniques at HQ or to the Corps and then those were filtered out, about closing a sale, etc. I also did not see much results from our door to door witnessing. We did have a street grid map that we notated so that we did not cover the same area twice. But, I did have one success with "cold call type" witnessing - if you want to call it that. There was a guy that I could not care less about, but I decided to witness to him boldly when I ran into him at a bus stop, I guess because I didn't care what he thought. Well, it turned out that he took the class (mostly our measure of a successful witness) and did stick around for a while. I would actually really like to have that kind of boldness now, not to offend, but to take advantage of those moments that are likely in my path often to share the gospel. There are so many people who could benefit...

I've been thinking about them lately, hope their life is good whether in or out at this point.

Anyone know where Peter Doliber is these days. Last I heard, years ago, he was in Louisiana opening a restaurant or two. Been thinking of him more since Katrina.

Took PFAL in April 73 Advanced Class in 75 after being a college WOW that year living in a Way Home Continued happily learning the Word, never noticed bad stuff except from a few jerks - always chalked that up to the individual, not the organization Started to drift away in 87 Attended fellowships off and on until about 92 (part of that was with D**g Seed's offshoot in CA) Took a break from organized religion for a couple of years Attended a Methodist church for about 10 yrs, bland but somewhat fulfilling - taught Sunday School, kids are more fulfilling than the adults I've found Year ago started attending a very large Contemporary Christian church (even got baptized by immersion!) Feeling much more satisfied with my spiritual path and growth than at any time since I was active in TWI

I remember in about 83 or so being so convinced that a certain guy and girl should go WOW. I talked it up and they almost did, but when they didn't I was kind of hard on them because I felt they hadn't done God's will and hadn't lived up to what was best for them. I feel bad for judging them and being less than loving. I trust God has/will heal any damage.

At the time, I don't think she viewed the deprogramming favorably at all. I think she felt betrayed by her parents. Amazing that there was healing enough for the estrangement to not last years and years. And, since she went right back to twi wholeheartedly, going through the corps, etc. it must not have taken deep root. Can't recall which corps, but I think it was 7th or 8th. I have really never discussed it with her, but the most recent time I spent any time with her was in 86 and she seemed solid and the same personality as always. (We were hallmates one year, then roommates 74-75.) How was your deprogramming experience? Hope you are OK... I was paranoid enough around that same '75 timeframe to wonder if my parents would consider doing that. I even left a note at my student job desk saying who to contact if I didn't come back from a lunch with my mother and a friend of hers. Thankfully there was no incident.

I was thinking today that there might have been a generational influence on how we accepted the teachings and twi ways. You know, the protests of the late 60's and the youthful idealism of the time. Anyone know of a good book analyzing the late baby boomers and their reactions to popular culture, ideas of the time, etc.? I'm thinking that might be a good context for me.

Belle said - TWI was either all good or it was all bad. I do remember feeling that way - that there was no grey area about anything - whether it was doctrine, situations, or just news events. Not sure if it was so much twi, or just my age and idealism. my start in twi was when I was 17 and i think many teens/college students see things in black and white terms. Not that twi did anything to discourage this type of thinking, and I can see did everything to encourage that type of thinking. I've always been a gullible person, and I guess a joiner, so makes sense I would be pulled in. Yet there was all the goodness, love, and truth that did shine through all the rest of it.

It is good to see that there are those who have good memories. I've been thinking about all that I've read on the various threads recently and realize that it is mostly God's grace that kept me from knowing about most of the junk that went on. I never got nearer to the inner circle than TC and College WOW (74-75), and although there seems to have been a good share of error taught, there was also so much truth that really helped me. By the time things got really bad all over, I was already involved with a non-twi guy after divorcing the believer I was married to for 10 yrs, so I was even more on the fringes. I guess the Bible Lands tour in 85 was the beginning of the end for me due to my marriage breaking up right after that. Lawrence and Barry were living outside of Boston last I knew. We exchange Christmas cards, though I don't think I got one this year. I seem to remember they have 3 kids. Not sure when they exited, we never talked about it. Found my old tapes yesterday. Royal Tapestry among them - the first one I plan to listen to. I listen to contemporary Christian music most of the time now, so it will be fun to see how the old Way music sounds compared to that new stuff.

Just read through this whole thread and it sure brings back things I had forgotten about. I surely loved all the Joyful Noise music and much of the other music. To me, even the song book songs provided much comfort and encouragement. I attended that class given by the Maine senator (or wannabe) and remembered liking it. As a college student, the whole college experience including twi was eye-opening in seeing the wide range of thoughts about a subject after growing up in a very homogeneous middle class suburb. B@rry H!ll was a roommate of mine and I clearly remember her speaking at ROA (or some other big event) after just escaping her deprogrammers. She and corps grad husband L@wrence L@w!s are happily married with grown/nearly grown children last I heard (few years ago). I believe she successfully reconciled with her parents not too long after the deprogramming. Also remember the conspiracy mindset and the advice to collect the older dimes that were real silver, etc. Gotta check to see if I still have any of that good music and will surely be glad when ItIsWrittenBooks is up and running.

Yes, I do own a copy of TW LIL.

I started with twi in the fall of 1973 as a freshman in college. I attended weekly twig meetings coordinated by one of those Rye Groovy Christians - a wonderful woman of God to this day! I took the PFAL class on film in April 1973. It was coordinated by C. Geer and was a lifechanging experience. Although I loved the twig meetings (strongest refreshment was juice and cookies), I was not interested in taking the class until I read TW - LIL. I attended ROA in 73 for one day - it was at the Lima fair grounds, I believe. I continued with twigs as the Word grew on our campus in 73-74. I went to Summer School at HQ in 74 and really was blessed. I remember 2 out of the 3 classes - Tabernable that was taught by an older couple and helped connect the new and old testaments. Leader's Wife - taught by Mrs. Wierwille about how to do pack a suitcase, how to make a house a home, to more spiritual stuff. Wonderful experience with Dorothy Owens leading Hillside Sings and all the healthful foods in the dining hall. 74-75 year I was a college WOW and did feel some pressure to spend enough time to honor that commitment. Summer of 75 went to Emporia (I think) or might have been Ball State Indiana to take the Advanced Class = can't remember. That was also a really good experience. 74-75 year I lived in a "Way Home" with other college students. We had a pretty structured schedule and it was difficult at times, but I can't say it was ever such that I wanted to leave. Went to ROA in 74 and 75. Can't remember when it switched to HQ. I do remember being at the open air location before the tent and having it rain during the evening teaching time. Dr. Weirwille had such a heart for the people that he came off the stage with big sheets of plastic to give to those listening so that they could use the plastic as cover as we were listening to the teaching. As he was giving those sheets of plastic to the audience, he slipped on the slick surface. I'll never forget his heart for the believers, no matter what his shortcomings may have been. My experience in those years was that the Word was alive, was being taught with integrity, and there was enough love of God to cover any shortcomings of the people involved. I learned so much that has benefited my life to this day.

Hi - of course I'm just getting my feet wet here. Hopefully this avatar is more suitable. I do love cats, have 4 right now! Not at all sure if I am posting correctly, but I'll try. I have to agree mostly with Oldiesman for most of the posts I've seen. Pertinent to this topic, I tithed and abundantly shared (15% of pretax) for the time that I was active in twi (which was 73-86) and felt blessed to do it and felt blessed with the results. Since then, I have given less to the mainstream church I was involved with for 10 years and felt blessed to do that. Recently, I have become involved with a large contemporary Christian church and have been so blessed by the Word taught there that I have once again begun to tithe, pre-tax. I wholeheartedly believe that regardless of what twi taught, tithing is laid out in the Bible as something that God desires of those who believe His word and want to be obedient to it.