Teen Mania started by Ron Luce gets itself into the media several ways. The Aquire the Fire rallies held by this organization across the US often provoke reaction. Luce:
“This is war. And Jesus invites us to get into the action, telling us that the violent—the ‘forceful’ ones—will lay hold of the kingdom,” and exhorting his young followers to proclaim in unison “I will keep my eyes on the battle, submitting to Your code even when I don’t understand.” This type of imagery is said to be used under the context of a spiritual “battle” between good an evil. The Battle Cry rallies use militarist imagery and wording, even the presentation of active and former military personnel to promote their ideas of spreading Christianity throughout the U.S. and the world.
An organization called Aquire the Evidence has been following the militantcy of Luce for the past eight years and argues that counter protests are used against those who sincerely disagree with the organizations religious militarization. The site is suggesting better ways to avoid being used to fuel the instinctive rebellion of teens coached on by a charismatic leader, who teaches teens this opposition is persecution.
Parents need to educate themselves before sending their teens off to these rallies which can cost $99/US just to get in the gate. Although they are billed as ‘Christian’ parents need to do their homework.
Kemtal Glasgow is the Canadian director of Teen Mania, he visits the rallies in the US frequently as a speaker, and has held Aquire the Fire rallies in Hamilton since 1999. 2002 the rally was in Ottawa.
In 2005 it was Stand up and Be Counted at Canadian Christian College in Toronto.
in 2006 Vancouver, followed by Calgary, Hamilton, Saskatoon, Ottawa, London, Charlottetown, Moncton, and Winnipeg. Coca-Cola is a known sponsor.
Teen Mania Ministries - Battle Cry - wiki
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The latest news on the Canadian subsidiary of Teen Mania is that a series of 3 “Acquire the Fire” events scheduled for 2007 has apparently been cancelled (”postponed until 2008″). The 2006 series never materialized. The Hamilton ATF event produced by the Texas-based corporate parent in October 2006 was covered in depth by the Toronto Star, the Hamilton Spectator and the CBC.
http://www.acquirethefire.ca/
http://tickets.ticketwindow.ca/eventperformances.asp?evt=667&c=41&pg=
http://www.acquiretheevidence.com/reading/
Thanks Mike - do you know why they’ve been cancelled?
I’ve not been to any ATF events, but I’ve seen a number of churches that I’ve been with send their youth; my sister has been to quite a few when she was helping out as a youth leader at her church.
The “Onward Christian Soldiers” meme might not sit well with a more pacifist crowd, but it does get the teens that go more interested in evangelism. All in all, I’d rather kids err on the side of being overzealous about spiritual warfare than erring on the side of being non-combatants.
I will grant that the gung-ho rhetoric that flows out of those stadium events are hard to sustain when you get kids back into a work-a-day or school-a-day grind. The same thing applies to Promise Keepers and similar women’s devotional conferences; the mountaintop experience of a Saturday conferecne is hard to carry into Tuesday and Wednesday.
I think part of the education process for our youth (and our adults) is to be rather careful about giving support to our governments’ earthly warfare and not equating that with spiritual warfare as much as those of us on the right tend to do
I linked through to the Acquire the Evidence site; the folks behind it seem to dislike anything on the evangelical right and prefer the secular left alternative.
They’re keeping an eye on both some of the true dominionists like Gary North and the garden-variety theocons like Gary Bauer, James Dobson and the Acquire the Fire folks. While some of their research may be good, I’d take them with a healthy teaspoon of salt.
Thanks Mark, I know Luce puts on a good show, but I don’t know that I can call it more than that.
The flash intro for the Cdn site looks like a Health Canada ad.
Only 1500 seats left in Moncton looks pretty silly.
6 thousand for the Hamilton event in the Ontario south mega corridor isn’t worth Luce and his crews crossing the border for.
A religious concert doesn’t need to be left/right pacifist/warrior/ militant/patriotic. Steep out of pocket money to get in the gate.
Good to see churches offering alternatiaves with/for teens when Teen Mania comes to town.
Do you know why the Canadian shows were cancelled? I’ve written the Canadian office and asked.
I’ve received a response from Teen Mania Canada:
We had to cancel our London event which was supposed to be in March as ticket sales were not going to cover costs for the event. That is the ONLY event that has been cancelled. The Hamilton event is run by our parent organization in Texas, and it will be happening in October as usual. We are in the process of finalizing dates on some more Canadian events, stay tuned to teenmania.ca for more info. Thanks for your inquiry.
Jason Weening
Director of Event Operations and
Honour Academy Development
Teen Mania Canada