The Lord's Boot Camp - Review

Hi, my name is Bob and I'm an alumnus of Teen Missions International.

Hi, Bob.

I sat in my living room on Saturday night and watched the CBS "48 Hours" special on "The Lord's Boot Camp," profiling the work of Teen Missions. See my last post for my long ago connection to the organization.

What struck me immediately is that in 27 years nothing has changed there in Merritt Island. Even the t-shirts the kids wear have the same exact logo design we wore back then. They're still running the same obstacle course, washing in sulfurized water, living in a swamp, etc. They didn't show much of it, but I'm guessing that the food is the same, too. Most memorable for me was a scalding hot soup that had no taste whatsoever...we simply called it, "Hot" as in "May I have some more 'hot' please?" (Not that that phrase was ever uttered).

The other thing that hasn't changed is the basic message--the Christianity is all about getting people equipped for heaven, regardless of their life situation, questions, or critical thought process. The spiritual body count mentality is still quite prevalent there and I physically winced several times as I watched these young teens being "trained" to share "their" faith according to a script. Interestingly, one sincere question could lock them up tight--much like when I go to get my Greek New Testament when the Jehovah's Witnesses show up. OK, some of these kids are only 13, but still... I was eating dinner in front of the TV (my wife allows that on special occasions) and when the young girl on the evangelistic team was getting a lady in a wheelchair to pray the "sinner's prayer" (which, for those of you who may not be aware of such things, is nowhere in the Bible) I started to shake my head. When she finished, however, the girl immediately said something like, "That's great...wait her while I go get a form." I just about spit my lasagna across the room. Yup, that's what it's about...gotta rack up the spiritual body count (they had set a goal of 300 people to convert before the summer was over).

I don't want to make too much light of this because TMI does do some good things around the world. I just wish that we could somehow teach kids to think theologically and critically at the same time. I don't remember ever being encouraged to ask a biblical question outside the script while I was on a TMI team. I would likely have been given a "special blessing" and sent to pull weeds at Bob Bland's house for the day. That's not developing discipleship, in my view.

I most resonated with the girl who was really struggling with the whole process. She was wanting to ask those questions and there was no room for her to do so. I realize that CBS could only give a snapshot of the experience, but coupled with my own experience I'm pretty sure that nobody really took her aside and took a sincere interest in her as a person--only that she conformed and did the job to standard. She had deep compassion for the African orphans and no agenda other than to serve them--but that didn't seem to be good enough. I felt for her because she was seen as a problem and not as a kid who needed someone to really and truly represent grace and compassion to her. Six weeks is an awesome opportunity to make an impact on a kid's life and I feel like that was wasted. She needed to know the love of Christ herself, from the people who were supposed to give it to her, before she could ever share it with others (though she did a pretty good job without them).

I thought that 48 Hours did a pretty good job at portraying the experience. Not everyone who goes through TMI becomes an automatronic evangelical. Some of us grew up to become thinking Christians who read the Bible authoritatively, yet contextually. Some of us grew up to see faith not as a commodity to be sold but a journey to be undertaken.  I still consider myself an evangelical, but in the original sense of the word--one who brings "good news." That good news is an invitation to a radical new of life that we experience not just by praying a prayer in the back of a tract, but by following Jesus in ministries of compassion and justice that change this world instead of escaping to the next one.

So, I've "recovered" from the experience, but at the same time I wouldn't trade it. Hey, if you can get a teenager to give up the XBox and IPod for a summer to do something for someone else that's at least a start!

Comments

[Christy]

Maybe we should form a group for recovering TMI team members!

My summers with Teen Missions were pivotal for me - I'm glad I went, but I'm thankful I didn't buy into the "turn or burn" evangelism they were preaching.

The work teams are still a great opportunity for kids and I agree with you; if you can get them away from life's luxuries and show them real needs... I'm hard-pressed to find much fault in that.