Old ATI Yearly Conference in Knoxville Pics

[Shasta ODonegal]

Would it bother him to be hated by former ATI children? Only if he has a conscience.

The more I know about this, the more it resembles some of the more reviled cults in the US.

Thanks for sharing the pictures. Good for you for getting out! (And yeah, my first thought was, "Leni Riefenstahl would be so proud!")

[Visionoyahweh]

:idea:

Maybe that's why I got denied...because I'm not.

I think Gothard is ok with people of color as long as they live in other countries and never have sex with white people.

[Jessica]

Would it bother him to be hated by former ATI children? Only if he has a conscience.

Only because that means the x-ATI'ers children wouldn't be enrolled and he'd be missing out on the almost-$700 a year membership.

[lizziesmom]

Is Gothard some sort of charismatic guy? I don't understand the appeal of a man who has never been married telling everyone how they should live their lives as husbands, wives and parents. It seems to strain all credibility

[Maude]

Of what I could tell from David and Priscilla Waller's wedding, Gothard isn't even that great a speaker. I think the appeal must be more about the Little House on the Prairie image than anything else.

[Ex 2x2]

Were your parents ostracized b/c their kids went to college?

[Jezebel Duggar]

Is Gothard some sort of charismatic guy? I don't understand the appeal of a man who has never been married telling everyone how they should live their lives as husbands, wives and parents. It seems to strain all credibility

He looks creepy to me.

[doggie]

he talks the talk and walks the walk. just because he is a turkey does not matter. The more fundy you are the more gullible you are the easier you are to fool.

[DarkAnts]

If a reversal baby is special then my vasectomy baby friend must be super special. She was conceived sometime between the procedure and the two weeks or so it took for all of the live sperm to leave the body or die. Her parents had wanted one more child. They had tried for years and finally just gave up. They had the procedure done to keep my friends mom from having to worry about pregnancies later in life (family history of late menopause). My friend is a miracle to them. They never reversed the vasectomy. They were happy with the two children they had. They also knew that at the time they did not have the financial means to have any more.

[Coconut Flan]

Isn't that just kind of perfect? Success when it's least expected.

[formergothardite]

Were your parents ostracized b/c their kids went to college?

At that time it was still looked down on. I think he was just starting to come out with his version of college (Verity or whatever the hell it is) and other ATI families couldn't understand why my parents didn't send us to that. They got prayed for a lot. :lol: My family was the family that other ATI families would socialize with, but not become very close to lest we lead their children astray.

[razingruth]

Last I heard, you could get your child's "fees" waived or get a ministry-scholarship to help with the weekly fees. To put it in perspective, they never really claimed it was a charging your kid to work at headquarters, or one of the satellites; it was your "living expense" or materials fee or some other excuse for collecting money and getting cheap/free labor. It's a total racket. I also heard that they're having to require the fee less because they're having a hard time staffing HQ. As others have said, there aren't as many 2nd generation families. The economy has also led to families making the choice to withdraw from the formal organization because being an ATI family is EXPENSIVE. That was one of the things I tried to get across in my blog: patriarchs make their family go without or do with less to be part of this scam. Gothard was, and probably still is, making money hand-over-fist and the irony is that he's not supporting a family! He never goes without. I suspect that another bone sticking in Gothard's craw is the number of prior ATI families that are creating their own ministries as a means to support their families and are becoming competition for that limited dollar (*cough*Maxwells*cough*).

The mention of the caravans of ATI-labeled families made me think of another memory of conference attendance: the closer you got to the location, the more you started seeing prairie-style fashion. Going to the closest supermarket was always entertaining because there would be a horde of ATI folk and a frazzled checker trying to keep up. LOL

I remember the large conference days and I think the above poster is right: they broke it into regionals to avoid the reality that they just didn't have the numbers anymore. Of course, they never played it off like that. It was always the opposite ("due to the massive attendance and space issues, we've had to create regionals"). Big Sandy is still quite large, though. It's still nothing to ignore.

I don't think this will end when Gothard dies. I actually think this will get worse before it gets better. I think the Duggars and Bates will inspire a fresh crop of ATI devotees. But, that's just my opinion.

[razingruth]

Is Gothard some sort of charismatic guy? I don't understand the appeal of a man who has never been married telling everyone how they should live their lives as husbands, wives and parents. It seems to strain all credibility

I realize you were asking someone else, so I hope this isn't interupting.

I think Gothard is charismatic; but, not in the conventional ways. He's very superficially understanding and sympathetic. He's also a pro and saying everything and nothing at the same time. He rambles and says a lot- by the end of it, most people are so confused that they start grasping onto the things that apply to them. Kind of like cold-reading, if that makes sense. He's good at cold reading. And, that talent makes people identify with what he says and they feel a personal connection. He's not really energetic or inspiring- he's just saying what you (collective) want to hear if you're a patriarchal male. The fact that he's a single man doesn't seem to bother these guys and that's the ultimate irony.

[lizziesmom]

I realize you were asking someone else, so I hope this isn't interupting.

I think Gothard is charismatic; but, not in the conventional ways. He's very superficially understanding and sympathetic. He's also a pro and saying everything and nothing at the same time. He rambles and says a lot- by the end of it, most people are so confused that they start grasping onto the things that apply to them. Kind of like cold-reading, if that makes sense. He's good at cold reading. And, that talent makes people identify with what he says and they feel a personal connection. He's not really energetic or inspiring- he's just saying what you (collective) want to hear if you're a patriarchal male. The fact that he's a single man doesn't seem to bother these guys and that's the ultimate irony.

Thanks for your input. I was basically asking anyone who knew him or had been involved with ATI. I am late the ATI/Gothard way of life and trying to learn as much as possible about it.

[zoestercoaster]

I realize you were asking someone else, so I hope this isn't interupting.

I think Gothard is charismatic; but, not in the conventional ways. He's very superficially understanding and sympathetic. He's also a pro and saying everything and nothing at the same time. He rambles and says a lot- by the end of it, most people are so confused that they start grasping onto the things that apply to them. Kind of like cold-reading, if that makes sense. He's good at cold reading. And, that talent makes people identify with what he says and they feel a personal connection. He's not really energetic or inspiring- he's just saying what you (collective) want to hear if you're a patriarchal male. The fact that he's a single man doesn't seem to bother these guys and that's the ultimate irony.

When I was in ATI circles, Gothard's singleness was packaged as him having a "balanced, unbiased view" outside the framework of marriage. Since he wasn't married, he could look at the institution of marriage from the perspective of an outsider and offer sage advice from his perspective.

[kaetrin]

I worked at the Dallas Training Center for a couple of three-month periods in the mid-late 90s, (after EXCEL and a couple of Children's Institutes) but I think formergothardite and (definitely) razingruth have much clearer and better memories than I do. I was never the most observant and I forget easily for some reason.

But it took me about 15 years to start wearing navy again. :-)

[thoughtful]

I sometimes what it must feel like to have your life's work end up like Gothard did. He has pretty much spent his whole life on ATI/IBLP, and at the end of the day, instead of creating adoring followers who are thankful to him, he just has thousand of former students who hate him and can't wait for him to die.

On some level that has to bother him.

I certainly hope so.

Glad you got out.

[synchroswimr]

Thanks for sharing with us, FG (and RR!). I'm glad both of you got out.

[formergothardite]

I realize you were asking someone else, so I hope this isn't interupting.

I think Gothard is charismatic; but, not in the conventional ways. He's very superficially understanding and sympathetic. He's also a pro and saying everything and nothing at the same time. He rambles and says a lot- by the end of it, most people are so confused that they start grasping onto the things that apply to them. Kind of like cold-reading, if that makes sense. He's good at cold reading. And, that talent makes people identify with what he says and they feel a personal connection. He's not really energetic or inspiring- he's just saying what you (collective) want to hear if you're a patriarchal male. The fact that he's a single man doesn't seem to bother these guys and that's the ultimate irony.

He really can sound like he is so very humble and truly just cares about people. And that he has the answers to all their problems if they would just listen and follow him.

Now when I met him in real life he totally ignored me while gushing over the skinny, long, curly haired teen next to me, but I can see how easy it is to get sucked into following him. Especially if you are desperately looking for answers to how to keep your teens out of drugs and stuff like my parents were.

[formergothardite]

I worked at the Dallas Training Center for a couple of three-month periods in the mid-late 90s, (after EXCEL and a couple of Children's Institutes) but I think formergothardite and (definitely) razingruth have much clearer and better memories than I do. I was never the most observant and I forget easily for some reason.

But it took me about 15 years to start wearing navy again. :-)

I really do think the DTC is so beautiful. If it were a hotel I would go stay there. Of course, in my memory it had tons of problems, but if someone had the money to really fix it up it would be amazing.

And, I am pretty sure it was once used in an episode of Walker Texas Ranger. :lol: I used to watch reruns with my grandma of that show and one episode it so looked like the DTC. But I could be wrong.

[kaetrin]

I really do think the DTC is so beautiful. If it were a hotel I would go stay there. Of course, in my memory it had tons of problems, but if someone had the money to really fix it up it would be amazing.

And, I am pretty sure it was once used in an episode of Walker Texas Ranger. :lol: I used to watch reruns with my grandma of that show and one episode it so looked like the DTC. But I could be wrong.

I think you're right! A friend who also went to EXCEL found a clip of that episode, with bad guys jumping over the lobby railings, and showed it to me last year sometime. I don't think I have it, though.

[lizziesmom]

I think you're right! A friend who also went to EXCEL found a clip of that episode, with bad guys jumping over the lobby railings, and showed it to me last year sometime. I don't think I have it, though.

Chuck Norris right? Is he an ATIer?

[formergothardite]

No, this was filmed before ATI bought it. No way they would have let a WTR be filmed there while they owned it!

[Justme]

Wow, I am suprised, and GLAD, ATI is dying a slow death. What do you think happened to most of the 2nd generation? Did they become concervitive Christian? Did they leave Christianity altogether?

It will be very interesting to see what happens to the Duggar and Bates kids in 10 years when nobody remembers their names....

[Katydid]

Wow, I am suprised, and GLAD, ATI is dying a slow death. What do you think happened to most of the 2nd generation? Did they become concervitive Christian? Did they leave Christianity altogether?

It will be very interesting to see what happens to the Duggar and Bates kids in 10 years when nobody remembers their names....

I'm surprised to see that ATI is dwindling, what with the popularity of the Duggars. It also seems like there are a lot more fundamentalists out there than I had previously realized.

I guess I had confounded ATIers with all fundamentalist Christians, and hadn't quite gotten it through my head that while ATI = Fundamentalist Christian, Fundamentalist Christian /= ATI.