TheHighWay

The desperate desire to leave twi was built over the course of ten years. Leadership setting us up as the bad guys with the local people, then hanging us out to dry. The holier-than-thou (apology, what apology?) attitude of the leadership. The scheduled-to-death boredom of the fellowships. The fact that people who wouldn't even accept an invitation to dinner in my house were telling us how to spend our money and when we could go on vacation...

And then came the Allen lawsuit. And they treated us with total contempt by not telling us anything, by getting angry when we went elsewhere for the information, and by denying the obvious truth that this had been going on for a long, long time. And then, when they gave lcm a top assignment, I just about flipped!!

I had planned on biting my tongue and seeing if I couldn't persuade others to see the truth, but I just couldn't take it any more and got myself in trouble with the leadership, ending up a proud member of the M&A club.

My first reaction as "Hell no!" But I guess I have to be honest and say I would still have a morbid curiosity about anything he said that I didn't already know about... hence my "addiction" to WayDale and Greasespot. Every once in a while, someone posts something I didn't know, and CLINK, another piece of the puzzle falls into place.

Wayfer not... I'm glad to hear she looks happy!! She deserves that much. Thanks for posting that...

Sweet gal while in residence!!

As of two years ago, she was married, was getting more-severe-looking (ala twi-style) by the minute, and was (at least occassionlly) one of the Singing Ladies of the Way.

I don't know about after that. I can only hope she has maintained some of the goodness she had in her, regardless of her twi experience.

Sogwap,

I see from your profile you left twi in '88 and mostly had a good experience. You'll find things changed DRASTICALLY in the '90s. Spend plenty of time reading through the older threads, or if you want the quick version, feel free to email me: dobbyisfree@hotmail.com

Wayward, I don't have any good ideas for getting out of going, because I was married to a nazi-spouse who wouldn't DREAM of letting me stay home "just because". (And at that point we had mandatory witnessing at least 3-4 times a month! --headaches and sick kids only worked about every other month)

So, I just looked for ways to make the best of a bad situation once I was there. I would window-shop, and try perfumes, and play with the toys in the toy store and chat with folks but not bring up twi at all, and just basically try to have my own good time. Then I'd just report back that I had xx amount of contacts but no one was meek to hearing the Word.

Aside from the twice-a-year chewing out over not bringing anyone new to fellowship, it worked like a charm.

Oldiesman...

"Always" is a general and collective term and I think most of us realize that. Is it really necessary for you to nit-pick so? From what I have read, ALMOST ALL cases involve NOT love, romance or even horniness, but power and control issues. Just like rape.

Are adults responsible for their actions, yes. But these women were also highly coerced... physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually manipulated and preyed upon.

I'd say that relieves them of a great deal of the responsibility and places it squarely on the shoulders of the one doing the manipulating!!

Like it or not, even the courts acknowlege "mitigating circumstances".

If you think that life is only black and only white, you are not living in reality.

Let me please add the judge's own comments:

A jury also should decide whether there was a conspiracy among officials of The Way. Evidence existed that Rivenbark knew of Martindale?s sexual relationships outside his marriage as early as 1995, Schmitt noted. Evidence exists that Rivenbark and another woman played a role in events leading to the encounters between Allen and Martindale, which a jury would have to use to decide whether officials engaged in a pattern of corrupt activity against the Allens, Schmitt ruled.

Excerpt from the Sydney Daily News article November 07, 2000.

A-L-P... I agree: getting dumped from active corps during the purge was much harder for me than finally leaving twi. When we got DOA, we spent days and days trying to make some sense of it all. If WE made a lifetime commitment to God, how could THEY come along and just say "we are raising the bar" and drop us? Did we perform so badly that God was upset with us? Was God refusing our commitment of loyalty? Could we ever get it back? Did we want to? And round and round it went. We were a mess for a long time after that.

It was years later when they M&A'd me, and they only did it because I'd already decided to leave twi. I was just getting things ready. I couldn't have been happier to walk out the BC's door knowing I'd never have to see their faces ever again.

And still, it was very, very scary to suddenly face the world with no safety net of having "all the right answers", and there was, even then, a little voice in the back of my head saying, "but what if you are wrong?" But I had all the information from WayDale, the Allen lawsuit, and lots of long-lost friends who had left backing me up. I cannot imagine how hard it must have been for those who left "alone". Especially for those who were blind-sided by bold-face lies and cut-off with no warning. I can only hope that the evil that twi has brought to pass will someday be returned upon them in full measure!!

One more reason to own your own home... lol

Wayfer... don't look for any reason for the problem except human error. Happens all the time. Welcome to the REAL world.

[This message was edited by TheHighWay on January 17, 2003 at 14:18.]

I'm not from that area, neve have been, but I would love to hear any news about Lindsey... what a wild and crazy gal.

Dot... love your comments! Yeah, come to think of it, I wish I'd sneaked out of Emporia myself.

As for Tim Curry and Susan Sarandon (not to mention ol' Barry Bostwick)... they have all gone on to make fine careers for themselves. As you said, Tim has done tons of parts, Susan has been in several top-notch movies, and even Barry was great as the daffy politician in Spin City.

I commend them all. It had to be hard to overcome the backlash of doing those roles.

I did see a "behind the scenes" thing last year and the actors talked about how stinking cold it was and that they had something like a week to shoot the film. No wonder it looks so thrown together... it was.

Could be worse... They could be picturing you as Nigel Thornberry (Tim Curry does his voice)

I was also a big Rocky Horror fan back in my college days. Biograph, Chicago, waiting in line, (sigh), great fun. It took several viewings just to catch all the dialogue and lyrics between audience comments.

Dot, to me the fun of that movie was getting all the comeback lines right, and dancing in the aisles of the theater. It was an EVENT. The movie by itself is pretty stupid.

I bought a copy of the screenplay book and hand-wrote all the local audience lines in it, but made the mistake of giving it away years ago (you know... twi purge) and I greatly regret it.

Zixar, you are right: Monty Python's "Life of Brian" is hilarious!! I remember going with an overly-religious friend of mine who got very offended. Too bad... the joke's on them. "Always look on the bright side of death... Just before you take your terminal breath."

Dot... fyi, a Boston Terrier is not a terrier at all so digging is not an issue. And they are pretty calm for a little dog as well. They don't shed and are great family dogs. (can you tell I am a big fan of the breed?)

I agree with Steve! on the time thing... it's the main reason I don't have a dog these days... I'm gone too often for it to be kind to the critter. But my whiskered purring furrballs don't seem to mind a bit... they like to break all the rules when mom is gone!

Oh... I recognize your name. And I remember that painting business. My ex is exactly as you described Rich: afraid to think for himself. Well, at least a few of us have escaped, eh? We can just keep hoping and praying for the rest of them.

Does anyone know how to reach her?

Last I heard about her she was still in the Columbus, OH area. But that was years ago.

CWF... hmmm, now I'm curious. There were so MANY jackass corps dudes... (and unfortunately, you could even be describing me)

I must honestly say, my spouse and I were UNBELIEVABLY young and stupid, and yet we were thrown right into leadership positions when we moved out there because we were apprentice corps. Two ignorant newlywed ninnies in charge of older married folks with kids. How dumb is that????

We were too wide-eyed and naive to do anything but what we were told to do, which usually ended up not being the best for the folks in our fellowship. By the end of our two years there, I was really unhappy with twi and extremely embarrassed for our role in the Seattle fellowships.

However, dummy me, I allowed my spouse to convince me we needed to go corps to learn how to do things the "right" way and be part of the solution to the ministry's woes, so off we went.

I sincerely hope we weren't the ones you are referring to... I know after we left they got close to S/PF Roberts. Which at the time I thought was good because they was sitting on the fence. But I also remember distinctly the day I found out S. had "declared" his loyalty to twi in no uncertain terms. I wondered about Rich and Linda then.

So... did we know each other back in the day?

CWF... so you sent Rich to Seattle, huh? Well, I must say thank you!! They arrived in the area right after we did and they got an apartment in our complex. (right across the hall as a matter of fact) I have a lot of good memories of them. Very generous and loving folks.

Comp,Comp...

Yeah, the 90s were definately the decade of prevailing... (see definition #2)

PREVAIL-

1. to gain ascendency through strength or superiority

2. to use persuasion successully (syn. induce)

They prevailed upon us to give more money, give more time, let our BCs stick their noses into every aspect of our lives...

Guess the whole Y2K-is-a-bust thing got them all mixed up... they've forgotten we are no longer in the 90s.

Well, dang!

Thanks for the info Caleb.

Real down to earth folks when I knew them. Lived in the Seattle, WA area.

Anyone know for sure if they are still in or finally out?

The loy loo.... hahahahahahaha...

Oh my, Steve, you don't know how badly I needed to laugh this evening. Thanks so much!!

Good point A-L-P...

If anyone has any comments regarding the Pat Lynn / VP thing, I'm starting a separate thread...

We now rejoin our regularly scheduled thread, already in progress. Back to:

Suicide in the Way

A La Pro...

Now that you mention it, I remember comments being made while I was at Emporia about how close Pat and VP were... especially the night they told us he had died. If I remember correctly it was she who read the announcement and it was clear she was very upset.

Does anyone know the facts about why she felt so close to VP? Was he a father figure for her in some way? Or was she part of his stable of gals?

Just the facts, please, not looking for a lot of speculation on this.

Sunesis, not to niggle the details but I repeat:

The doggie show was played at Emporia during 84-85 when the 15th & 13th corps were in-rez. I was there. Vic was on campus and spent a week or so reading through the book Bedside Manners to the corps. Us college folks only got invited to the very last session, which (oh, joy) included that disgusting video.

That was definately the last time he showed it because he died that spring in 85.