Teen Mania International was an evangelical Christian youth organization located in Dallas, Texas (formerly Garden Valley, Texas). Teen Mania focused primarily on four key programs, with a few additional smaller endeavors. It was one of the largest Christian youth organizations in the U.S.
Its primary program included "Acquire the Fire" events, described by one writer as "a mix of pep rally, rock concert and church service," that were held in over 30 cities across the United States and Canada each year. The ministry focused much of its energy towards its domestic and overseas mission trips, operated under the title "Global Expeditions". Teen Mania operated a one-year-long residential leadership training program on its campus—the Honor Academy—aimed towards high school graduates, and college students.
The ministry faced criticism for its use of overtly militaristic symbolism, as well as techniques that have been compared as similar to military training. This aggressive element is reflected in the vision statement: "To build an engaged ensemble of young people that are: radical, passionate, resilient, informed revolutionaries that will take the Gospel to the nations and multiply by teaching others to do the same."Guidestar.org, 2015. Retrieved 13 Feb. 2017. Teen Mania has also been criticized by some former interns and employees for what they characterize as spiritual abuse and financial mismanagement. In its final years it faced significant financial difficulties, including a foreclosure on the campus, a lawsuit for breach of contract, and over $5.2 million in negative assets.
In February 2014 the ministry changed its name to "Teen Mania International" as part of a move from Garden Valley to Dallas after defaulting on the mortgage on their campus. In May 2014, Teen Mania announced that it would be expanding its work to include overseas churches.
In December 2015, founder Ron Luce announced via Christianity Today that they "would cease operations", effectively shutting down all of its operations. Teen Mania filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy on December 17, 2015, closing the ministry permanently.
Denomination Teen Mania was not affiliated with a specific denomination; the organization worked with local churches of various denominations as a para-church organization, while providing its programs and other resources for youth, parents and church leaders.
Founder
Ron Luce was the president and founder of Teen Mania Ministries. He and his wife Katie founded Teen Mania in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1986. Luce has publicly condemned "purveyors of popular culture" as "the enemy," who according to Luce are "terrorists, virtue terrorists, that are destroying our kids... they're raping virgin teenage America on the sidewalk, and everybody's walking by and acting like everything's OK. And it's just not OK."
Ron and Katie Luce claimed they did not receive royalties for any product that was sold through the ministry or used for fundraising or other promotional purposes by Teen Mania.
Primary ministries There were six primary ministries within the organization that served to facilitate its mission.
Acquire the Fire
Acquire the Fire ("ATF") was a yearly youth conference that was presented in over 30 major cities in the United States and Canada. These conferences consisted of Christian teachings, full-length stage dramas, worship via song, and live concerts. ATF / Battle Cry producers adopted a militaristic tone, with frequent use of words such as battle, enemy, soldier, foes and warfare, accompanied by the display of military imagery and, at one such event, the use of simulated weapons. Edited telecast of "BattleCry" stadium events recorded in Detroit on 2006-04-08 and in Philadelphia on 2006-05-13. These events were mentioned by Ministry Today magazine as one example of the "crusade model" of evangelism. Youth Today also noted the event's focus on cultural and spiritual warfare. In an interview in 2014, Ron Luce stated, "We're doing everything we can to raise up a young army who will change the world for Christ."
In 2014 and 2015, Acquire the Fire cancelled many events due to financial difficulties attributed to ATF youth music leader and treasurer Jonathan Bimp, leading to criticism from many church leaders who said they did not receive refunds of the money they had paid.
Global Expeditions
Global Expeditions was a short-term missionary ministry. Young people were sent on missions projects of between one and eight weeks in the United States and overseas. Global Expeditions claimed to have sent 67,783 missionaries to 69 countries with 1,324,637 people converting to Christianity.
Honor Academy
The Honor Academy was an internship program for high school graduates and college students. Honor Academy interns performed most of the day-to-day functions of the different ministry programs through ministry placements. Teen Mania reports there are over 5,000 graduates of the Honor Academy. In order to participate in the Honor Academy, individuals were required to raise their own financial support, which ranged from $650 to $850 per month depending on the specific program. These funds were a tax-deductible contribution directly to the ministry and were non-refundable.
During the mid-2000s, the Honor Academy had nearly 1,000 participants per year, resulting in seven-figure profits for Teen Mania. However, enrollment numbers declined to fewer than 100 as of 2014. In 2014, following the foreclosure on the Garden Valley campus, Ron Luce announced that the program would be rebranded in Dallas as the Acquire the Fire Leadership Institute. It was later announced in July 2014 that the new internship would be suspended for the 2014–2015 academic year, with second-year interns participating in a scaled-down road tour called Go Teams. Teen Mania said that prospective students in the cancelled program would be refunded on their payments toward the $8,400 tuition, although some parents complained of the short notice. The proposed new program never took place as Teen Mania filed for bankruptcy in 2015.
Extreme Camps
Extreme Camps was an annual series of summer camps that was held at the campus in Garden Valley, Texas. Activities included paint ball, ropes courses, swimming, and extreme sports with presentations from Christian speakers and musicians.
School of Worship
The School of Worship was a second-year program for Honor Academy graduates focusing on technical skills and spiritual leadership for musicians.
Battle Cry Campaign
The Battle Cry Campaign which ended in 2007, was an organizing initiative of Teen Mania Ministries, started in 2005 and headed by Teen Mania founder Ron Luce; it primarily sought to influence American and Canadian social and political culture. Major backers include prominent evangelical leaders Joyce Meyer, Chuck Colson, Pat Robertson, Josh McDowell, and Jack Hayford.
The campus In 1996 Teen Mania relocated from Tulsa, Oklahoma to Garden Valley, Texas, purchasing the property that was formerly the location of Keith Green's Last Days Ministries. Garden Valley is now home to five other major Christian ministries.
In February 2014, Ron Luce announced that the Garden Valley property had been released to its mortgage holder and the ministry headquarters were to be moved to Dallas, saying, "the reality of land management is no longer practical or germane to the international scope of the organization." Teen Mania's Communications Director later told reporters that the Honor Academy had in fact stopped their mortgage payments in November 2013 leading to default and foreclosure, but that Luce hid "the full nature of the situation" to raise donations. Luce has denied these reports, saying the ministry has only missed one payment, in November 2013. He described the foreclosure as "friendly", and said that after the transfer of property in March Teen Mania would continue to pay rent until it relocated in August 2014.
Canada Teen Mania also had a separate Canadian division titled Teen Mania-Canada located in Prince Edward County, Ontario.
Memberships and coalition activities
Teen Mania Ministries participated in a number of coalitions or networks, both formal and informal. Battle Cry Coalition – Teen Mania's own coalition included prominent Christian Right leaders Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Ted Haggard, Chuck Colson, and Joyce Meyer, and other personalities such as Jack Hayford, Kay Arthur, Jack Graham, Greg Laurie, Josh McDowell, Tommy Barnett, Bob Reccord, Kirk Franklin and John Maxwell. Coalition members participated in Teen Mania's events and programs and also assisted in promotion of the Battle Cry Campaign. The Arlington Group – Teen Mania was a member of the Arlington Group, a coalition which unites the leaders of almost all of the most prominent Christian Right organizations in the United States. Arlington Group members have prominently appeared in Battle Cry materials and events, including Battle Cry Coalition member Pat Robertson and former members Jerry Falwell and Ted Haggard. While campaigning for a U.S. Senate seat, group member Keith Butler delivered the opening invocation at the Battle Cry stadium event in Detroit on April 8, 2006. One of the first "Battle Cry Leadership Summits" was held at the church headed by Arlington Group member Harry Jackson in November, 2005. Ron Luce has spoken before at least two political conferences organized by Arlington Group members in 2006: Vision America's "War on Christians" conference, Conference session recorded 2006-03-27. and Family Research Council Action's "Values Voters Summit". Conference session recorded 2006-09-23. National Network of Youth Ministries – Teen Mania was a member of the Cooperating Ministries of the National Network of Youth Ministries. Other prominent members of this network include Assemblies of God, Campus Crusade for Christ, Church of the Nazarene, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Focus on the Family, The Salvation Army, Young Life and Youth With A Mission. GOD TV – Teen Mania's television program, , and exclusive live broadcasts of Acquire the Fire events were featured on GOD TV, an international Christian television broadcaster. This channel is available in the United States on the DirecTV satellite system. The U.S. version of this channel features a number of personalities and programs connected with the Apostolic-Prophetic Movement of Christianity, including Rick Joyner, Cindy Jacobs, Mike Bickle, Rodney Howard-Browne, Steve Hill, Francis Frangipane, Patricia King, and the Elijah List program hosted by Steve Shultz. Other supporters – In presentations of the Campaign to churches and ministry groups, a number of additional individuals and organizations have been named as supporters, including Senator Sam Brownback, Senator Rick Santorum, Sean Hannity, Benny Hinn, Gary Bauer, Hank Hanegraaff, Dennis Rainey, American Family Association, Trinity Broadcasting Network, Family Research Council and the Traditional Values Coalition.
Finances Teen Mania was a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) until March 10, 2014, when their accreditation was terminated "for failure to provide complete renewal information." The organization said it planned to submit documentation supporting a renewal of accreditation by September 2014.
In 2014 Charity Navigator gave Teen Mania a two out of four star rating, with an overall score of 48.05 points out of 70, a financial score of 38.97 / 70, and an accountability & reliability score of 70/70. Charity Navigator listed Teen Mania as the third-most insolvent charity in the United States, with over $5.2 million in negative working capital. Teen Mania said it had reorganized its finances, and had appealed the ranking. In 2015, the rating was revised to one out of four stars, with an overall score of 66.39 / 100.