X-ATI Guy

Cell Phones for Convicted Students

INDIANAPOLIS, In - Brett Johnson has a simple request for the ATI training center counseling seminars: provide cell phones for students calling home to clear their conscience.

Brett, 15, was recently attending a young man's counseling seminar at the ITC. After a particularly convicting talk from Mr. Gothard, Brett decided he needed to confess some sins to his parents. "I walked over to the confessional phone booths and they were packed full," he said. "Guys were standing in line to call home."

Brett waited for an hour and a half beyond curfew, and was finally sent to his room before he had a chance to call his parents. He arose at 4:30 the next morning to make his cathartic phone call.

When he finally reached a phone, he called his parents and tried to think of how to confess his sins. "Mom, dad," he said, "I have some things God has convicted me of."

At that moment, Brett noticed at least three young men listening to his conversation. "I froze up," he said. "How could I confess my darkest deeds when guys were standing all around me?" He quickly told his parents he'd call back, and hung up the phone, to the disappointment of his curious neighbors.

Brett approached Mr. Gothard and other leadership members to lobby for confessional cell phones. "Just think about it--you can give people a little more privacy. They can call their parents from their room or while they are walking around the parking lot."

The suggestion was met with minimal enthusiasm among ITC leadership. "That's probably not a good idea," said one. "You might use the phone to call a young lady."

8 Comments:

Anonymous said...: this sure does bring back memories----Memories of phone time (or the lack thereof) at a certain training center; 2:57 PM
Anonymous said...: Memories of people listening in on my phone calls, at a certain training center!; 2:58 PM
Anonymous said...: Ahh.. what fond memories of either being at or around the guys "counseling seminars" and watching many young lads being guilted into calling their parents sobbing for two hours detailing every offense they'd done since they were 2 years old. I remember thinking that I was going to be demon possesed or enslaved in bitterness since I didn't have the guts to call my parents and tell them I had secretly cursed once when I hit my finger with a hammer. My excuse was the lines were too long and I didn't have a calling card : ) Working security during those seminars was also great fun, grown guys sneeking downstairs at 2AM to sit and sit and cry on the phone to their mothers about how home sick they were. If only they had cell phones...; 6:41 AM
Anonymous said...: Ah...my fonest TC phone memories, include not a phone, but a computer...hooked up for e-mail. And me sitting next to and holding the hand of the giy who owned the computer. Isn't that what phone booths are for??; 12:05 PM
Anonymous said...: I went to my first counseling seminar when I was 14, so I had alot of pent up baggage.

I remember my mom saying somewhere in the middle of my confession session, "Okay! That's enough! I don't want to hear anyMORE!"

-Jane Doe; 9:57 AM
Anonymous said...: Indy? That's peanuts. Try the first confession session from Moscow. I had to watch Jim Sammons for a week to figure out how to pay off that bill.; 1:33 PM
Anonymous said...: "i had to watch Jim Sammons for a week"??!!! haw haw haw, guffaw! that is so funny!; 5:40 PM
Anonymous said...: OMG!!!! i HATED that!! i called my parents one time from EMTC and a certain person LOVED to listen in on EVERY phone call! i actually got treated like a heathen after confessing once. there was one time that my dad called to tell me something, it made me upset and i was disconnected from the call and told to go back to my cabin.; 10:48 AM

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