belding71

I first saw this movie at a theater with my then husband and Jim and Margie Plunkett in Holland Michigan in 1973. Margie and I were both hugely pregnant and must have looked so funny dancing down the street together afterward, but the music was so much fun!!! Raised my kids with this movie and they still know all the words. Ah, yes, I do still have some happy memories of way back when..."Come here, Jesus, I got somethin' to show ya..."

welcome belding. I was afraid of leaving, too. I've only been out a little over a year. sounds like they didn't change their imprisonment tactics! the fear of my kids dying if I left God's protection "in the household of zion" is what kept me in far too many years.

Thank you all for your welcome...the nausea is subsiding...I was obviously afraid to post here, but you have all made me feel that I have not made a mistake. I look forward to getting to know some of you and having folks who understand...Peace to you all. And much thanks for your gentle responses.

I got in the ministry in the early 70's when I was in my early 20's. That time period was in the midst of the sexual and drug revolution. When I got witnessed to I picked up the bible for the first time in my life and learned that God loved me. That very same night I turned away from my previous lifestyle and have never looked back. I can't imagine what would have happened to me if I hadn't gotten involved in the ministry at that time in my life. The ministry in Kansas, in the beginning, was really wonderful.

I received a new family, acceptance, understanding, love, encouragement, discipline, friendship, a home to live in (The Way Home of Kansas), among other things. I gained a lot in the ministry. Back then it was a pretty unique time. It didn't get much better than what I had in the beginning and it was better than what I had with my biological family and worldly friends.

I don't regret getting in the ministry, going into the Way Corps or leaving the ministry when I did. Those 7 years in my life was a season, served a purpose and was a stepping stone in my life.

I too met TWI in the early 70s, as you can tell from my name. Less than one year prior to my exposure via WOWs in my hometown I had been brutally gang-raped after escaping from a State Correctional Facility for juvenile girls, traveled to British Columbia, was arrested and deported from Canada, returned to the correctional facility from which I was finally released just a month before meeting the WOWs. I was awaiting the beginning of the winter term in January when I was scheduled to begin classes at a state university when I decided to go home to Belding from Ann Arbor where I was staying with friends. The night I met the WOWs I was on acid and really was only interested in the fact that they were from NY and KS. Nobody from anywhere came to my hometown, so I was intrigued. And my grandmother warned me that the Way Kids, as she called them, were not to be trusted, which, of course, tweaked my curiosity even more. As you can imagine, I was looking for a home and people to love and shelter me. My life up to that point had been less than lovely and TWI looked like heaven. And in lots of ways it was...for a while. Having been institutionalized off and on since I was 12 years old, I was open to the rules and regs and being positive that I was on the right path finally. I even met my first husband and father of my children at that first fellowship. I took PFAL in Minneapolis in March of 1972 (I wonder if Dave Bedard or John Clay remember me). My participation in the ministry and my marriage lasted 10 years. I left before the big row about which I have read so much. I took the Advanced Class in Kansas in 1980, was a WOW that same year (although I was not a good one) and left the ministry and my husband the next year. I thought that I was crazy. Maybe I was. I do remember sitting in a meeting at HQ in 1972 when Dr. Weirwille called a girl to the podium who had left the ministry for a while and ended up in a mental ward. He said that was what happens when we leave...

Anyway, here I am in my mid-fifties now, no longer the wandering child looking for a home for I have found happiness with my present husband and life. I am working with another woman who left The Way (we found each other by "accident" - I was her landlady and saw some mail from TWI in her mailbox. After I vomited I asked her if she was with the ministry and learned that she had left after a WOW year from Hell) in an holistic health and wellness center. There are people I wonder about. Some I really miss. And sometimes I still get nauseated when I hear something that reminds me of my time in the ministry. I am not a believer. But every time I fill up my oatmill cannister the voice in my head recites: Pressed down, shaken together and running over...

Anybody with a comment, please be gentle...