Was I in a Cult?

By high school, church wasn't just Shannon McElroy's faith, it was her community and her future. She was going to be a Christian counselor.
Then her youth group took her to something called "Acquire the Fire": a massive Christian youth conference that was part rock concert, part revival, and for Shannon, one hell of a spiritual high.
Before long, she'd be leaving college to join Teen Mania's Honor Academy. A year-long "internship" in rural Texas that promised purpose, ministry, and a chance to change the world. All she had to do was pay hundreds of dollars a month for the privilege of working for them... for free. 
All she had to do was pay hundreds of dollars a month for the privilege of working for them... for free.
As you can imagine, what Shannon thought she'd signed up for was not exactly what she got.
Like the retreat where they simulated a prison and made her do wall sits. For Jesus.
And that was just one of their so-called "Life Transforming Events."
Now, to be fair, they did transform her. Just not the way it said in the brochure.

Twenty-five years later, Shannon, now a professor, therapist and social worker, still finds herself untangling from what one very intense year at Teen Mania instilled in her.
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FOLLOW SHANNON
Website → mendedbeing.com
Instagram → @mendedbeingcounselingllc
Facebook → Mended Being
 
More Teen Mania stories → Recovering Alumni
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Daniella Mestyanek Young was born three generations deep into the Children of God and today, she finally gets out. 
At 15-years-old, she lands in Texas with no real education, no money and no friggin' idea how life on the outside works. 
But true to form, she badasses her way through it. And excels. 
Somehow, the girl who escaped one extreme, hierarchical world becomes an intelligence officer in the U.S. Army, deploys to Afghanistan, and helps make history for women in combat.
But on her very first day of basic training she thinks: 
"Oh... I've joined another cult."
 
Part Two of Daniella's incredible story is about what happens after you escape.
Because getting out of a cult is one thing.
Figuring out who the hell you are once you're free is another.


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FOLLOW DANIELLA
Her website → Knitting Cult Lady
Instagram → @daniellamyoung_
YouTube → @KnittingCultLady
Her books, Uncultured and The Culting of America → here
FOLLOW US
Instagram → @wasiinacult
TikTok → @wasiinacult
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Join our Patreon!
Ad-free episodes, bonus content, behind-the-scenes conversations, and our forever gratitude.
HAVE A CULTY STORY?
Email us → info@wasiinacult.com
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!
Boll & Branch makes organic cotton sheets woven to keep you cool all night.
15% off plus free shipping → bollandbranch.com/cult, code: CULT
 
Quince makes elevated everyday essentials at 50-80% less than similar brands.
Free shipping and 365-day returns → quince.com/cult

Daniella Mestyanek Young was born three generations deep into the Children of God, yet somehow, that was only the beginning. 
She would go on to become a US Army intelligence officer, help make history for women in combat, become Harvard educated in organizational psychology, and write two books.
But first, she had to survive her childhood.
In Part One, Daniella takes us inside the Children of God world she was born into: child labor, child performers, massive communes, David Berg's increasingly deranged teachings, and a family history so complicated Daniella has a name for it... sex cult math.
And one rainy day at 12 years old, one casual comment from her mother about glasses changed what Daniella thought she knew about her own family forever.
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FOLLOW DANIELLA
Her website → Knitting Cult Lady
Instagram → @daniellamyoung_
YouTube → @KnittingCultLady
Her books, Uncultured and The Culting of America → here
FOLLOW US
Instagram → @wasiinacult
TikTok → @wasiinacult
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Join our Patreon!
Ad-free episodes, bonus content, behind-the-scenes conversations, and our forever gratitude.
HAVE A CULTY STORY?
Email us → info@wasiinacult.com
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!
Larineco offers gum that actually makes your teeth stronger.
Up to 50% off → buylarine.com/wasiinacult

At 21, Stephanie Vaughn wanted to make some extra money. Then she won a "raffle" at her gym for a free case of energy drinks.
Lucky her, that free case won her entry into one of the biggest and most influential MLMs in the world... 
AMWAY.
And the Amway lead her to the LTD, the Amway-affiliated training organization Stephanie says would eventually take over nearly every part of her life.
For nine years, Stephanie chased the promise of becoming a "Diamond": financial freedom, early retirement, and the life she was told was waiting for her if she just worked hard enough.
Instead she endured control on every level, including how much she slept, when she could visit family and even... who she was allowed to love. 
 
FOLLOW STEPHANIE
Instagram: @steph.vaughan
TikTok: @steph.vaughan
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Every cult calls itself a family. Audrey's actually was one. 
 
For Audrey, there was no guru, no religious doctrine, and the only members were her ten other siblings. And the leader? Her parents, particularly her mother. But from the outside, they looked pretty "normal": a big family living in an ordinary Idaho subdivision, houses close together, neighbors on all sides. 
 
Except not one of them was ever allowed to have a friend. 
 
And eventually, they weren't allowed to have interactions with anyone outside the family. As the isolation tightened, Audrey got older and increasingly aware that the outside world looked nothing like the one she'd been taught to fear.  At 18, she finally made it to community college, where little tastes of independence began to crack open everything she'd been raised to believe. And eventually, one small act of defiance would force her to make an enormous choice: follow her parents rules, or lose her family. 
When Audrey finally left in 2020, she thought the separation from her siblings would be temporary. Six years later, nine of them are still living in the family home, cut off from their big sister.
So now Audrey has stopped waiting.
She's taking matters into her own hands, finding increasingly creative, and at times risky, ways to remind her siblings that she's still out there... that there is life beyond the front door. 
 
A big, messy, beautiful world they've barely been allowed to see. And when they're ready to walk into it, their big sis will be there, waiting with open arms.

_________________
 
FOLLOW AUDREY
Follow her story as it unfolds → TikTok @audreyinreallife
FOLLOW US
For more culty content — Instagram & TikTok → @wasiinacult
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Join our Patreon! Get ad-free episodes, bonus content, and behind-the-scenes conversations. (And our forever gratitude) → patreon.com/wasiinacult
HAVE A CULTY STORY?
Email us → info@wasiinacult.com