Church Trauma/Deconstruction Thread • Page 4

I went to Acquire The Fire when I was 13. Ours was the Day One event at the Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit. Important to note here that it was only a handful of days away from the Columbine shooting but they were already pushing the idea of being a martyr for Christ on us. Like that was a really big thing. They trotted out geriatric former President Gerald Ford into the middle of the stadium and led us into what can only be described as a Christian Nationalistic screed about saving the world from itself and being the generation that would destroy Satan’s nefarious plans. Lots of crying teens. Lots of shouting from Ron Luce (after, yes, he rode in on his stupid motorcycle). Performances from The O.C. Supertones, which I was really into at the time.

I specifically remember meeting Ron Luce at the end and telling him I wanted to join the Honor Academy when I got older and he was pressuring my dad to stay on me about it because that was his “job”. I thought it sounded cool because, like the kids in the documentary, I thought it would be so cool to be doing Acquire The Fire 24/7 and that I could be a volunteer intern helping set up the live shows. When I was seventeen and ready to start applying to college, my dad was disappointed when I told him I’d changed my mind. Think he felt like he’d failed his “job.” Looking back now and knowing what the Honor Academy and E.S.O.A.L. was really like, I’m so grateful I changed my mind and saved myself some extra trauma. Fuck Ron Luce. Dude got off so hard on exploiting emotionally vulnerable teens.