In an e-mail sent March 3, 2007, titled "City Attempts to Silence BattleCry!" the promoters of Teen Mania's "BattleCry" campaign continued to put forward the recurring theme that San Francisco was somehow "silencing" the gathering by prohibiting the use of amplified music before 10 A.M. on Saturday. This theme was picked up by the website of KFAX, a Christian radio station based in San Francisco, repeating in a headline that "San Francisco attempts to silence BattleCry." The article which appeared on both the KFAX and "BattleCry" websites attacked the city for passing a novel "last minute noise ordinance" that would somehow single them out, and that would only apply to the "BattleCry" event.
While this story might have made for a great urban legend of alleged domestic Christian persecution, it was easily disproven with a few phone calls. Contrary to these claims that can be attributed to Teen Mania and its head, Ron Luce, no such "ordinance" was passed by city government. Nor has Teen Mania's "BattleCry" event been singled out for special treatment or censure. Nor did this decision rest with the city's Board of Supervisors.
The roots of this sound restriction lie in the effect the March 2006 "BattleCry" event had on nearby neighborhoods, when noise complaints were received by the city and police as a result of the event's start in the early hours of Saturday morning. In the process of granting a loudspeaker permit to AT&T Park for this year's event, these complaints were considered - including a specific recommendation from the San Francisco Police Department - and resulted in the permit being granted with the stipulation of a 10 A.M. start time for amplified music, representing, as one city official put it, "two hours over the span of 20 hours of use."
The restriction was only specific to "BattleCry" in that it was part of the required permit specific to the event, and that no other group has ever attempted to use sound equipment in the stadium early on a Saturday morning. City and AT&T Park officials confirmed that any group expecting to use amplified sound in the stadium before 10 A.M., after the complaints received in 2006, would encounter the same restrictions if they were to apply for a permit.
Ron Luce claimed, in a statement posted on both the "BattleCry" and KFAX websites, "The city of San Francisco has imposed a last minute noise ordinance restricting any use of our sound system until 10 AM... This ordinance is directed specifically at our teenagers and our event this weekend." An "Action Sheet" on the BattleCry website issued by Teen Mania alleged that the restriction was due to an "action taken by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors."
An e-mail sent by Teen Mania to registered "BattleCry" participants on March 5 leveled even more serious charges, of governmental interference with religious expression:
Over the past couple of weeks the BattleCry event has come under mass opposition from the local government of San Francisco, WE NEED YOUR HELP. Today we have over 22,000 young people registered to attend the event and experience life-change through the powerful ministry that will take place. Unfortunately, there are many who don't want that ministry to happen.
Source: Teen Mania "BattleCry" e-mail dated 05 Mar 2007 15:02:33 CST
A completely different picture emerged after a few phone calls to AT&T Park and to the City's Entertainment Commission.
According to Jocelyn Kane, Deputy Director of the Entertainment Commission, when an event, other than a baseball game, that involves sound equipment is planned for AT&T Park, an application must be made to the Commission. According to the meeting minutes, AT&T Park applied on behalf of Teen Mania on February 8, and at the February 20 meeting the application was discussed and approved, with the restriction that no amplified music could be played on Saturday morning before 10 A.M.
The minutes of the meeting show that Sarah Hunt, the director of event production for AT&T Park, "advised them [Teen Mania] to start any musical component after 10:00 A.M. due to complaints last year." When contacted by AcquiretheEvidence.com for clarification, Ms. Hunt confirmed that the issue of noise complaints from surrounding neighborhoods the previous year had been the subject of discussions between AT&T Park and "BattleCry" organizers before the permit application was submitted to the Entertainment Commission, and that she had recommended that amplified music not be used before 10 A.M. on Saturday.
According to Ms. Kane, the Commission received a specific recommendation from the San Francisco Police Department that amplified music not be used before 10 A.M. because of last year's complaints from residents in the Dog Patch and Potrero Hill neighborhoods near the stadium. Acting on that police recommendation, direct complaints from residents to the City and the testimony of Ms. Hunt from AT&T Park, the Commission approved the loudspeaker permit for the "BattleCry" 2007 event with the restriction that no amplified music be used before 10 A.M.
Both Ms. Kane with the Commission and Ms. Hunt at AT&T Park confirmed that, to their knowledge, no other group had ever attempted to use sound equipment at the Park before 10 A.M., and that, given the city's experiences with the 2006 "BattleCry" event, any group seeking to use the stadium early on a Saturday morning would encounter similar restrictions. Ms. Kane also confirmed that only the Entertainment Commission, and not the Board of Supervisors, was involved in the process of granting the permit.
Despite the clear rationale for the sound restriction after the City's experiences with last years' "BattleCry" event, Teen Mania continued to exploit the situation in an apparent effort to demonize the city and to cast its organization as a victim of "spite" and "intimidation." In the "Action Sheet" on the "BattleCry" website this letter was offered, pre-written, ready to be signed and sent to the Mayor and Board of Supervisors, all of whom had no direct involvement with this decision:
I want to respectfully express my concern for the action taken by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in unfairly singling out and menacing the peaceful gathering of Christian youth and parents.
The spiteful action of the Board is in reality a subtle jab at one of the core values of our nation. But a free people must not be quiet. They can turn off our mics, unplug our amps, and try to shout us down, but we will not be silent!
Ours is a message of love, of hope, of acceptance and redemption. It's a message for the youth of today, and a message for anyone who is being lied to, exploited and used. You can be certain that this message will be heard. And the action of the Board will be remembered as an ineffective act of intimidation one step removed from prohibiting our Constitutional right to free speech.
Teen Mania was certainly hurling an enormous amount of invective at a city in which they are guests from out of town. And as for Ron Luce's insistence on myth-making about San Francisco, demonizing its people and its government, perhaps it's time he read what he wrote in his own book about integrity, and consider that it applies even when you're dealing with people, cities and even whole countries that don't happen to agree with you.
... we identified five core values: Faith, Relationships, Vision, Excellence, and Integrity... Core values say, "We value this behavior so much that we will abide by these things, no matter what." ...You make an agreement that if someone goes against your core values, anyone can call him or her on it. You should even give them permission to call you on it, if they think you're in violation. (I've done just that here at Teen Mania. Any intern can confront me, or any member of the staff, if they think we're not living up to the code.)
Excerpted from pages 163 and 165 of Revolution YM by Ron Luce,
a book that is part of the "BattleCry" Campaign
Posted 2007-03-09
Updated 2007-12-20
Teen Mania has been leveling a number of accusations against the City of San Francisco since the City's Entertainment Commission limited the "BattleCry" event's use of amplified sound at AT&T Park before 10 A.M. on the morning of Saturday, March 10, 2007.
Here's a quick summary of Teen Mania head Ron Luce's statements over the past week, assertions now being made in an "action sheet" now being distributed online to "BattleCry" participants, and the facts of the matter:
Ron Luce: "The city of San Francisco has imposed a last minute noise ordinance..."
Fact: AT&T Park must apply to the City's Entertainment Commission for a loudspeaker permit individually, for each event, other than baseball games, at which amplified sound will be used. On February 20, the City granted the permit for the "BattleCry" event, with certain conditions. No "last minute noise ordinance" was passed by the City, nor by any City agency.
Ron Luce: Asks that teens write to the Mayor and City Supervisors to express their concern about an "action taken by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors."
Fact: The Board of Supervisors is not involved. The issuance of permits for this kind of event falls to the Entertainment Commission, an administrative department with four members nominated by the Mayor and three appointed by the Board of Supervisors. Ron Luce is asking people to write to the Supervisors about an ordinance that does not exist and an action that they didn't take.
Ron Luce: The City is "unfairly singling out and menacing the peaceful gathering of Christian youth and parents."
Fact: According to the Deputy Director of the Entertainment Commission, to their knowledge, no other organization has attempted to use amplified sound in AT&T Park before 10 A.M. in the entire history of the venue which opened in 2000. Teen Mania staged "BattleCry" in the stadium last year; the disturbance to residents resulting from the early Saturday start time of that event resulted in complaints to the Police Department and the City. The Police Department recommended to the Entertainment Commission that because of the complaints received by the police last year, that the use of amplified sound be delayed. Responding to that recommendation and direct complaints to the Commission, the sound permit was granted with the condition that amplified music not be played before 10 A.M.
Ron Luce: "And the action of the Board will be remembered as an ineffective act of intimidation one step removed from prohibiting our Constitutional right to free speech."
Fact: For the second year in a row, Ron Luce and Teen Mania are making an extraordinary and unique request to the City of San Francisco to be permitted to start their event at 8:30 A.M. Saturday, a situation that caused problems last year. They fail to recognize that policies change as the result of experience.
While Teen Mania may be accustomed to playing in enclosed stadiums, arenas and churches where sound concerns often do not involve neighbors, the concerns of neighbors must be considered by any open-air venue when events begin or end at unusual times. Government may reasonably limit the use of amplified sound as long as such "time, place and manner" restrictions are content neutral, serve a governmental interest and provide for alternative means of expression. The conditions imposed on this event are driven entirely by the unusual hour and the disturbance to neighbors by noise.
Ron Luce: In a recorded phone message informing "BattleCry" registered participants of the sound restriction, played during a phone call from the Teen Mania East Texas campus on March 6 and received by an AcquiretheEvidence.com editor at 11:48 AM Pacific time, Ron Luce characterized the City's response to its residents' concerns as the kind of thing that would be expected in a Communist country.
Fact: Actually, this is the kind of thing that you might expect from a city government that is responsive to its citizen's concerns and needs.
Posted 2007-03-09
This recent press release from Teen Mania, produced on their behalf by the DeMoss Group, demonstrates something that's often seen in evangelical media: the lumping together of very different things that are together labeled evils or threats, in this case, to teens.
They've put "advertising to teens" at the top of a series of examples of how, they allege, teens are "targeted" and "threatened by pop culture." At least two of the three examples are supported by partisan sources:
DALLAS, April 13, 2006 - Teenagers in America have never before been so targeted and so threatened by pop culture as they are today.
Advertising to teens is an estimated $150 billion a year industry (PBS, 2000).
MTV (watched by 73% of boys, 78% of girls ages 12-19) airs (on average) 9 sexual scenes per hour and more than 8 un-bleeped profanities per hour (Parents Television Council, 2004).
80% of 15- to 17-year-olds have had multiple hard-core porn exposures (Family Safe Media).
If these alleged attackers are considered truly dangerous by Teen Mania's leaders, it stands to reason that someone with a history of being heavily involved with one of these alleged evils, and who was unrepentant about their previous endeavors, would then be disqualified for leadership positions with Teen Mania.
The insistence that teens are somehow under attack by advertisers is continued in a brochure promoting the "BattleCry" campaign recently distributed to youth pastors. It contains the remarkably open-ended and broad generalization that advertisers are not merely an enemy, but are attacking teens by somehow disregarding "moral decay." This assumption, somehow shared by both the producers and intended readers of this brochure, is never substantiated, and appears in a section of this brochure entited "The Attack:"
CHECK OUT THE ADVERTISEMENTS
With more than $128 billion dollars in their pockets, this generation has been targeted by corporate America who do everything they can to grow their brands and their profits without any regard to the moral decay of a generation.From section entitled "01: The Attack" in "The BattlePlan: BattleCry Campaign Classified Document" distributed before Ron Luce's presentation at McLean Bible Church, Vienna, Virginia, May 6, 2006.
Keeping in mind that they've labeled the act of advertising, and targeting the teen market, part of their justification for their "BattlePlan," let's look over this list of people who've held important positions in Teen Mania - one of whom was important enough to have been paid a larger salary than that earned by Teen Mania's founder, Ron Luce. One thing ties them all together - they've all worked for one of the nation's biggest advertisers, Procter & Gamble, in roles involving sales, advertising, marketing, promotions and product management.
-
Teen Mania mocks deodorant marketingFrom opening video of "Acquire the Fire" 2005-2006 season.George Babbes, member of Teen Mania's Board of Directors,1 was Group Product Manager with Oral-B Laboratories, The Gillette Company, 1992-93, and Brand Manager for Procter & Gamble, 1987-1992. In 1989 he was the winner of Procter & Gamble's "Promotions That Work" international competition.2 Babbes is a lifelong friend of Ron Luce, and was quoted in a Regent Business Review article saying that some of the strategic planning for Teen Mania in its early years occurred in "the 'war room' at P&G."3 Now a professor at Azuza Pacific University's School of Business and Management, his doctoral dissertation focused on, among other things, "the impact of conceptual metaphors on consumers."4
Tom Muccio, member of Teen Mania's "President's Council,"5 "is the recently retired President of Procter & Gamble's Global Customer Teams. He was with Procter & Gamble for 35 years in a variety of sales and marketing assignments in both the U.S. and abroad." 6
Rick Brenner, Teen Mania's Chief Operating Officer (2002-2004),7 "began his career in Market Research, followed by six years at Leo Burnett Advertising where he managed accounts including Green Giant and Procter & Gamble packaged soap brands. Following his tenure at Leo Burnett, Mr. Brenner spent eight years at Procter & Gamble where he was responsible for marketing and brand management for consumer products including Clarion Cosmetics, Noxzema Skin Care Products, and Secret and Sure Antiperspirants." He is now president of a Florida startup company. 8
So when you watch Teen Mania attack those who advertise and market their products in the commercial/secular realm, keep one thing in mind. They aren't really attacking the reality of advertising to teenagers, since they themselves are marketers; many of Teen Mania's leaders, and now their hired secular advertising agency, were or are in the business that includes advertising to teenagers. They just want to influence and organize teenagers - for what is, over the long term, a political and social purpose - with their own set of advertised messages that frame militarism and conflict as virtues.
Footnotes:
Teen Mania's Corporate Website - Board of Directors & President's Council
"Conceptual Metaphor in Consumer and Managerial Decision Making." Doctoral dissertation, George S. Babbes, page vi
"The Theology and Practice of Strategic Planning," by Michael Zigarelli. Regent Business Review, Issue 13, September/October 2004, pp. 4.
Teen Mania's Corporate Website - Board of Directors & President's Council
Teen Mania's Form 990 (tax return) for year ending August 2004, via guidestar.org
Posted May 9, 2006
With all the complaining Ron Luce has been doing lately from the stage of the "BattleCry" stadium events, about how the media and advertisers are working to make money from teenagers, we think it's fair to take a close look at the salaries that are paid to Teen Mania's founder and other executives. Now that he's outraged that others make money off teenagers, it's fair to look at how he, and others in his organization, make money off teenagers.
Continue reading >
With all the complaining Ron Luce has been doing lately from the stage of the "BattleCry" stadium events, about how the media and advertisers are working to make money from teenagers, we think it's fair to take a close look at the salaries that are paid to Teen Mania's founder and other executives. Now that he's saying things like, "you don't want to be manipulated by a bunch of old people making money off destroying you," it's fair to look at how he, and others in his organization, make money off teenagers.
This kind of data can be found in the IRS Form 990 tax return filed by non-profit organizations, which is available for public inspection and can easily be retrieved through websites like that of Guidestar.
Non-profit organizations are required to report the salaries of leaders and "key employees" on the fourth page of the return. Teen Mania reported that, for the year that ended in August 2004, Ron and Katie Luce, combined, were paid $162,000, and the then-Chief Operating Officer, Rick Brenner was paid $180,455. The year Brenner was paid that sum, he was about fifty years old.
Update: In the first full year of the "BattleCry" Campaign - the year that ended August 2006 - Ron and Katie Luce's combined salary rose to $183,500. Teen Mania's highest-paid employee, Doug Rittenhouse, made less than half that amount.
Posted May 9, 2006
Updated December 20, 2007
Ron Luce took to the stage of the "BattleCry" San Francisco event last March and spent a large part of a Friday evening in the company of a few real live pigs, saying "we don't want ninety-six percent of your generation living with pigs," later clarifying that he's referring specifically to "this pigpen called American culture."
Meanwhile, this spectacle had been made possible in part by a company that produces shows for secular superstars like Madonna and Nine Inch Nails, which had been hired by Teen Mania to work on the "BattleCry" event.
One of the themes repeated over and over in the "BattleCry" events and propaganda involves the allegation of vileness and worthlessness of much of popular culture, and specifically, music. Here's just one example of many, from Ron Luce's book published as part of the national launch of the "BattleCry" campaign:
Music: pounding home the obscenities. The enemy isn't limited to television and movie screens, of course. Going far beyond the limits of decorum and good taste - while foregoing any attempt at true musicality - most of today's hits simply dish up steaming helpings of vileness.
Ron Luce, "Battle Cry for a Generation," page 38
In the book, Ron Luce then goes on to quote lyrics he finds offensive, including the titles and partial lyrics of two songs by Kid Rock. This, from the head of an organization that's hired Nocturne Productions, a firm that's working in support of Kid Rock's current tour.
Nocturne, an international production company whose website lists Madonna, BonJovi and Nine Inch Nails as some of the tours they're involved with just in 2006, is also involved in the production of "BattleCry." Nocturne Productions is named in the credits of the video coverage of the first two "BattleCry" events, aired on TBN, JCTV and the NRB Network.
Nocturne is also named as one of the top five independent contractors on Teen Mania's tax return, having been paid $91,500 for services in the year ending August 2004.
This instance of Teen Mania relying on a secular firm for essential services is not an isolated incident. Ron Luce himself has admitted that he can't "get the job done otherwise" in a New York Times article detailing the relationship between Teen Mania and Tocquigny, an Austin, Texas based ad agency whose clients include Dell, AMD and Caterpillar.
I think people have gotten more and more open to dealing with secular firms when they see that there's no way to get the job done otherwise, at least in Christian circles.
Ron Luce, quoted in "Christian Message, Secular Messengers," The New York Times, April 26, 2006
This is a startling admission from a person who advocates a black-and-white, absolutist worldview and markets an identity based on an idealized, strict brand loyalty to those in his subculture. He mandates a separation from, and an aloofness to secular content, to be maintained at great cost if necessary, that's a recurring theme across years of his live events and TV shows where he instructs teens to go home and destroy their secular CD collection.
But perhaps Luce's polarized, zero-sum-game worldview is best summarized in this one sentence from his book:
Our cause brings truth and life; their cause results in lies and death.
Ron Luce, "Battle Cry for a Generation," page 199
Ron Luce has made a career selling his idealized, strictly black-and-white world to teenagers. But when confronted with the realities of the marketplace, apparently even he's discovered a few shades of gray that he can't do without. He's taken exactly the middle ground that he berates teenagers for occupying.
Here are some other companies, both secular and Christian, that provide services to Teen Mania:
- SteeleHouse Productions, the Tulsa production company started by self-described Christian comic Mark Steele, produces some of the video clips used in Teen Mania's live show, its TV program, and in its recently released "Rewired" curriculum.
- The DeMoss Group, self-described as a "public relations firm focused on faith-based organizations and enterprises," handles media relations and operates a "newsroom" web site for Teen Mania.
- Cook Communications Ministries co-produces and markets "BattleCry" materials including books and a curriculum kit.
- Apollo, "a risk management company," provides security services.
- KPMG provides audit and tax services.
- Cypress Interactive created the Teen Mania corporate website.
Posted April 30, 2006
AcquireTheEvidence.com Authors' Statement on May 12 "BattleCry" Rallies
This website has never been about recruiting people to counter-demonstrate against these rallies. We have been actively advocating (elsewhere) that people not show up to demonstrate against these particular rallies. This document is here because people are going to show up to do that anyway. There is no one leader of these counter-demonstrations and we are two people and two voices among many.
Teen Mania is at a certain time in its evolution where they have decided to generate publicity to grow their movement, first by going to San Francisco to provoke into existence an opposition where none had existed previously. These City Hall rallies are bait; it is entirely their timing, their framing, and their desire for an opposition deliberately created by their provocative actions and rhetoric. An effective response would be based upon not giving them what they wanted, but instead be an effective counteraction - as opposed to a reaction - on terms other than those set in advance by Teen Mania, and the time and place for that effective response is not at these rallies.
Our advice, and that's all this is, is that people not go out. This advice is not the usual routine of authority figures around the fringes of activism telling activists not to act. One of us has spent the past twenty years as a street activist, and both of us have been going inside Teen Mania's arena events and listening for eight years. Our advice is based on extensive knowledge of this organization, how they're evolving, and thinking strategically as opposed to reacting. Be aware that your mere presence out there, no matter what you say or do, will be used in their propaganda, and otherwise, as validation.
Photo: © 2006 M. Doughney & L.S. Kneisly
Caption lyric from Pillar's "Frontline," used to promote the "BattleCry" campaign
AcquireTheEvidence.com Authors' Statement on May 12 "BattleCry" Rallies
This website has never been about recruiting people to counter-demonstrate against these rallies. We have been actively advocating (elsewhere) that people not show up to demonstrate against these particular rallies. This document is here because people are going to show up to do that anyway. There is no one leader of these counter-demonstrations and we are two people and two voices among many.
Teen Mania is at a certain time in its evolution where they have decided to generate publicity to grow their movement, first by going to San Francisco to provoke into existence an opposition where none had existed previously. These City Hall rallies are bait; it is entirely their timing, their framing, and their desire for an opposition deliberately created by their provocative actions and rhetoric. An effective response would be based upon not giving them what they wanted, but instead be an effective counteraction - as opposed to a reaction - on terms other than those set in advance by Teen Mania, and the time and place for that effective response is not at these rallies.
Our advice, and that's all this is, is that people not go out. This advice is not the usual routine of authority figures around the fringes of activism telling activists not to act. One of us has spent the past twenty years as a street activist, and both of us have been going inside Teen Mania's arena events and listening for eight years. Our advice is based on extensive knowledge of this organization, how they're evolving, and thinking strategically as opposed to reacting. Be aware that your mere presence out there, no matter what you say or do, will be used in their propaganda, and otherwise, as validation.
We wrote the first draft of this essay as a followup to an article on the SF Bay Independent Media Center site that was encouraging a response to this posting on Teen Mania's forum announcing these rallies. We've since revised and expanded that comment posting into this article.
Teen Mania has been running essentially 'under the radar' to those outside evangelical Christianity for twenty years. They are now aggressively seeking publicity for their own organizational purposes - and intentionally trying to provoke an opposition into existence by going to a city (San Francisco) where they knew they could count on somebody giving them exactly the counter-response they wanted. That counter-response is then used by them to organize their people in the U.S. and Canada, on the basic biblical martyr's assumption that if they're seeing opposition then what they are doing is "right." (It may not make sense to you, but that's how they think.)
They have been using what happened in San Francisco in the Christian media and all over the right-wing blogosphere as "proof" that they're on the receiving end of unearned and undeserved hostility. Bogus, but this is how they strengthen and organize themselves. From that they sent press releases before their Detroit event trying to further this persecution-by-hostility-of-the-host-city meme, trying to foment, via press coverage, a confrontation in Detroit... that barely materialized. But they used the video their own video production unit (Center for Creative Media) shot at City Hall in San Francisco, on the big screens in both the stadium shows thus far, as an example of how much harder they need to work, because none of the counter-demonstrations that they see directed toward them gets to their self image, because almost everything they see counter-protesters saying, from their view, has no connection to what they say, or what they're actually doing.
Any response has to be speaking knowledgeably about the organization and the people in it. These are some suggested talking points based on what we know about Teen Mania and the strategy behind the "BattleCry Campaign." These points are based on what's evident from Teen Mania's own materials and events.
Point one: They are creating, through marketing and rhetoric, the exaggerated impression of a horrible new epidemic of teens in "crisis" that is then used to stimulate a particular kind of political movement that has nothing to do with addressing the needs of real, individual teenagers. This is part of the implementation of what Kevin Phillips was talking about when he wrote in a recent Washington Post op-ed (4/2/06) that the GOP is becoming a "religious party," what we'd call a religio-political hybrid.
Photo: © 2006 M. Doughney & L.S. Kneisly
Caption lyric from Pillar's "Frontline," used to promote "BattleCry"
Point two: Having created a list of "threats" to teens that are part of this phony "crisis," they offer religious conversion (specifically, to become a "follower of Christ," a "warrior" for Christ) as a universal solution. No other faith or non-faith need apply - no, all other things must be pushed to the sidelines as their fictional rewrite of American history (a la David Barton) dictates that this is a Judeo-Christian nation and the government must reflect their recent rewrite of those 'values' (value #1: war against your neighbor gives purpose, meaning and expansion opportunities) and nothing else.
Point three: They offer this solution to perpetuate churches; it's a justification to organize teenagers to sell religious conversion to others, and part of that strategy is to remove restrictions (both perceived and real) on religious activity in public schools - a captive audience they seek to harness to further this end. They spread fear among their people by insisting that only four percent of the U.S. population are going to be evangelicals of their desired flavor soon if they don't do something drastic right now; this number, like many of their partisan, questionable "statistics" is completely pulled out of a hat by a Christian statistician who is part of this system and who has a personal interest in setting the stage for its growth, perpetuation, and expansion of political power.
Point four: They seek legislation to create government involvement in this church expansion program, if only to validate some of the more whacked-out ideas in it (that sexually explicit (or even suggestive) media causes physical changes in teen brains and thus must be regulated as a faulty product or environmental contaminant, as one example) or to raise the social status of churches through government endorsement of a particular flavor of religion (theirs). The regulation of expression - and ultimately things the religious consider 'blasphemy' - is floating around in this in offhand comments.
The core point being that any response that has any hope of carrying any meaning and effectiveness, and not just helping them inflate their own movement is going to have to be knowledgable about what they are actually selling, down to the details - and then responds based on that knowledge.
Posted April 20, 2006
Revised April 30, 2006
Updated Wednesday May 10, 2006
Some might assume that Teen Mania Ministries' operations would be confined to the United States. This is clearly not the case.
Teen Mania heavily promotes its missionary operation, "Global Expeditions," which in recent years has sent more than three thousand teenagers on seasonal short-duration trips to about fourteen countries. Not nearly as visible - at least from the U.S. side - is Teen Mania's Canadian subsidiary, headed by Kemtal Glasgow.
Some might assume that Teen Mania Ministries' operations would be confined to the United States. This is clearly not the case.
Teen Mania heavily promotes its missionary operation, "Global Expeditions," which in recent years has sent more than three thousand teenagers on seasonal short-duration trips to about fourteen countries. Not nearly as visible - at least from the U.S. side - is Teen Mania's Canadian subsidiary, headed by Kemtal Glasgow. Mr. Glasgow appeared here in the U.S., speaking from the stage during the 2006 San Francisco "BattleCry," and was reported to have participated in Teen Mania's "BattleCry Leadership Summits" in Philadelphia and Washington, DC during the fall of 2005.
Teen Mania's "Acquire the Fire" arena-sized regional youth event, held in about 30 cities every year, has been held in Hamilton, Ontario, every fall since at least 1999. In October 2002, an "Acquire the Fire" conference was also presented in Ottawa. At least one smaller, locally produced event, "Stand Up and be Counted," was held May 13, 2005, at Canada Christian College in Toronto.
Teen Mania Canada is not without its own political overtones. According to a published report in the Hamilton Spectator, the then-leader of the Canadian Alliance Party, Stockwell Day spoke at the Hamilton "Acquire the Fire" on November 10, 2001.
According to a weblog entry by David Wm. Eckmier, marketing director for Teen Mania Canada, the Canadian leg of the "Acquire the Fire" conference will expand its event schedule to nine cities beginning this fall. The proposed tour will begin in Vancouver on September 29, 2006, followed by Calgary, Hamilton, Saskatoon, Ottawa, London, Charlottetown, Moncton, and Winnipeg.
Update, February 1, 2008: The proposed Teen Mania Canada tour has not yet materialized, outside of the yearly Hamilton "Acquire the Fire" produced by the Texas based parent organization. The Teen Mania Canada website has not been updated since November 2005. Kemtal Glasgow is now a staff member at Teen Mania's Texas headquarters.
Posted 2006-04-30
Updated 2008-02-01
According to the conference program distributed at the San Francisco "BattleCry" stadium event two days ago, Teen Mania's East Coast Regional Coordinator is a Republican politician from Maryland, John McKinnis, who is actively involved in the "Legislative portion of the BattleCry Campaign."
According to the conference program distributed at the San Francisco "BattleCry" stadium event two days ago, Teen Mania's East Coast Regional Coordinator is a Republican politician from Maryland, John McKinnis, who is actively involved in the "Legislative portion of the BattleCry Campaign." McKinnis recently completed a failed bid for a Congressional seat, a political effort to which Ron Luce personally made a substantial financial contribution. The "BattleCry" legislative strategy is described as a "lobbying effort" to "pass legislation" in a new brochure just released by Teen Mania (on pages 9 and 10).
Earlier the same day of his appearance on O'Reilly's show, Luce spoke before the Vision America conference in Washington DC, run by a man whose latest work is entitled "Liberalism Kills Kids." The Washington Times, reporting on this conference, headlined their story "'Values voters' call for congressional action." One year before, Luce had been named as an Executive Committee member of Vision America's "Judeo-Christian Council for Constitutional Restoration."
Vision America's list of so-called "legislative remedies," titled "The Values Voters' Contract with Congress," may serve as the framework for Luce's legislative agenda, given the close relationship between Luce and that organization. The "Values Voters' Contract" is also analogous in form and eventual purpose to the "Teenage [sic] Bill of Rights" presented at the "BattleCry" events. A previous version of this so-called "Bill of Rights" that can be seen on the cover of their most recent "Acquire the Fire" event manual, includes the line, "We refuse to be led by those who are morally bankrupt."
Posted March 27, 2006
Revised April 30, 2006
A Maryland politician who ran for Congress in 2004 and lost was named by Teen Mania as part of a political campaign to influence legislation as part of the "BattleCry" campaign, while Ron Luce denies that Teen Mania is in any way a political organization. Continue reading >
In the conference program (they call it a "manual") distributed at the San Francisco "BattleCry" stadium event is this description of the Teen Mania "East Coast Regional Representatives."
A simple online search reveals the full name that's omitted from this description: John McKinnis. McKinnis ran for Congress in 2004 and lost, gaining only twenty percent of the votes of his district. Ron Luce has personally contributed $1,000 to McKinnis' political campaign. McKinnis is named as being part of a political campaign to influence legislation as part of the "BattleCry" effort, while Luce continues to deny that there is any political aspect to the "BattleCry" campaign.
According to the Washington Post, McKinnis attends Immanuel's Church in Silver Spring, Maryland.
The "Honor Academy" program that McKinnis participated in is Teen Mania's on-campus "internship" program; participants pay a monthly fee to work for the organization in various roles including marketing and media production, or as part of the "Acquire the Fire" and "BattleCry" arena events.
Posted March 28, 2006
Revised April 30, 2006
Two bloggers identified as "Battle Cry" participants have claimed in blog entries that the City Council of Detroit has waived notice requirements for, you guessed it, another taking of the steps of a City Hall by "Battle Cry" participants. It seems the City Council believed they were authorizing a "prayer rally" and not an ugly display of militaristic rhetoric for Friday afternoon (April 7). (Source: blogs of authan and aMoReal)
Posted April 7, 2006
