RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus: Part Fifteen

We are finally nearing the end of the Application Form for RU: School of Disciples.    So far, RU's collected personal identification information, legal information, health information and previous employment information.

They have a section on a background check that matches closely the background check run by the school districts I have worked for.  The two major differences are that the background check used for teachers costs ~100 dollars and involves being fingerprinted by the local police department.  The RU background check costs $40.00 and is limited to what information was provided by the applicant.

The drug screen form is similar to one I signed for an industry job with one little change:

I'm pretty sure the legality of the document is based more on the signature of the applicant than the fact that RU is paying for them.

Notice that RU never asks for permission to see the results of the drug test - that's an interesting oversight.

This next part is a doozy that I didn't see coming.

RU requires their students to apply for food stamps.

That's really fucked up - especially since the patients/clients are ineligible based on the amount of wages they should be earning.

Why should students in RU's program be ineligible for food stamps?

From the USDA website: the gross monthly income eligibility maximum for a family of one is $1,276.

Illinois' minimum wage is $8.25 per hour.  According to RU, patients are working a minimum of 40 hours a week which is 160 hours a month.  160 hours x $8.25 dollars per hour = $1,320 gross income per week.  In the previous post, I argued that most of the patient / students probably earn more than minimum wage, so RU's fleecing the government.

How much could RU earn?  

From the USDA website:
 - Take the net monthly income for the family unit and multiply by .3.  This is the amount of money a household is expected to pay for food.
     - Since RU students/patients make $0, $0.00 x 0.3 = $0.00
-Subtract the maximum monthly allotment limit from the expected household payment to get the amount of food stamps.
     - $194 is the maximum for 1 person.  $194 - $0 = $194 dollars monthly.

That's $1,164 in six months.

Follow up question - Do the patients/students declare themselves as a family of one - as I did - or do they count their dependent spouses and children?

Let's run the math for Josh Duggar if RU required him to declare Anna and his four kids. He's still making $0.00 - but the maximum allotment for a family of six is $925 per month.

 Josh's monthly EBT would be $925 per month or $5,550 dollars in six months.

I think I just figured out why they wanted the age and marital status of all of the kids of the clients/patients.   Fuckers.

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus: Part Fourteen

Honestly, I never expected this series to get this long - but the more I read about this program the more freaked out I got.  In fact, my husband argues that signing up for RU's Schools of Discipleship should be legally admissible as a sign of mental incompetence.

Today, we look at the work information that RU wants prior to acceptance.

Previous Employment:

1. Notice the conspicuous absence of the standard box under each job that asks "Can we contact this employer?"  I don't want RU to call anyone I've ever worked with...ever....for any reason.
2. RU doesn't seem to care about length of employment either.  
3. What do you do if you have more than three previous jobs?  I've had nine paying jobs since I was 16.

Skills Section:

1. Later in the application, RU argues that all of the work completed during the ministry is similar to an unpaid internship.  Without going into all of the problems with their interpretation of an unpaid internship, the first legal requirement of an unpaid internship is that the intern is learning new skills that can be applied to other employment opportunities.  As such, if you have any of these skills before the program, you can't do an unpaid internship to learn the same skills.
2. Let's do some math on how much money RU is actually making on each "student volunteer".  To find salaries/wages, I used salary.com for median salaries in 61101 which is the Rockford, IL zipcode.  

Example One: A woman who working in the shipping/orders department for 40 hours a week, completes 2 hours of chores that the facility should have paid wages for and 5 hours of janitorial work on Saturdays.

• Median salary for shipping clerk in Rockford, IL is $30,995 per year - so that would be approximately $15,497.50 in six months.  
• Minimum wage for 2 hours per week which is 48 hours in six months at $8.25/hr = $396
• Median salary for janitors is $13.00 per hour for 120 hours in six months = $1,560

Total wages to RU: $17,453.50

Example Two: A woman works as an office assistant for 40 hours a week + the same 7 hours of extra work in Example One.

• Office assistant median wage is $19.00.  Six months of 40 hour weeks is 960 hours for $18,240.
• Seven hours of additional work across 6 months = $1,956

Total wages to RU: $20,196.00

Example Three: A woman works in the North Love Christian School or College as a substitute or "specials" teacher.  

• The first quartile* (25%) hourly wage for teachers in Rockford is $22.00 for $21,220
• Seven hours of additional work across 6 months = $1,956

Total wages to RU: $23,185

Example Four: A man works as an intermediate level carpenter or auto mechanic for 45 hours a week with 2 hours of additional chores.

• Carpenter II median hourly is $23.00 per hour for 960 hours for $22,080.
• 120 hours of over-time for $34.50 per hours for $4,140.
• 48 hours of minimum wage chores is $396.

Total wages to RU: $26,616

Example Five: A man works as an intermediate level electrician for 45 hours a week with 2 hours of chores.

• Electrician II median hourly is $27.00 per hour for 960 for $25,920.
• Overtime wages: $4,860
• Chores wages: $396

Total wages to RU: $31,176

RU gets a good amount of cash from each of their "students".  In addition, RU Ministry manages to avoid having to pay the matching taxes and workmen's compensation that would be required if the jobs done by "students/patients" were done by employees.

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus: Part Thirteen

Now that RU: Schools of Discipleship has collected enough personal and legal information to steal your identity or mess with your life, they move on to collecting health information.

If RU was an employer, they would be allowed to ask if you can perform the job you are applying for.

If RU was a medical facility, they would ask detailed questions about your health after accepting you as a patient.

At this point, remember:

• all information is being collected prior to acceptance into the program
• RU has no written policy on who has access to your records or how those records will be managed if you are accepted or rejected from the program.
• At least one current staff member has been in prison for unspecified charges.

Can anyone who has a chronic condition fit their appointment schedule and medications in the space provided?  I know I'd be way out of space....

Interesting fact: If you are "required" to volunteer for anything, you are not volunteering any more.

1. I don't trust these goofballs enough to give them a list of prescription drugs I am using right now, let alone a list of drugs that were abused with dates and length of time I used them.  Minor annoyance: they spelled length as "legth".
2. I can live with the question about hospitalization for mental illness.  The details of when, why, where and discharge date are none of their damn business on an application.
3. I can live with the therapist question.  The dates and reasons are none of their business.
4. The list of health issues is both strangely over-detailed and missing things at the same time.

• How many adults have NEVER had a toothache or backache?
• Leukemia is a type of cancer.
• "Kidney, Thyroid, and Prostate" are names of organs not disorders.
• HIV is missing; AIDS is the point where someone's immune function is impaired from HIV.
• Odd omissions: asthma, allergies, skin disorders, sleep disorders, and muscular disorders.

Interesting fact: The 45 hours per week is work at RU ministries and outside employers.  They forgot to count the ~30 minutes a day you spend doing facility chores that students/patients are supposed to get paid for in Illinois.  It's more like a 48 hour work week.

Why did it take 5 pages of personal information BEFORE the disclosure of RU being "not a medical facility?"

If this is not a medical facility AND they will provide no medical assistance, why do they need all this medical information?

NO non-medical facility should be involved in treating eating disorders or people who are currently physically addicted to a substance.  Anorexia has the highest fatality rate of mental health disorders.  Some drugs are safe to stop taking "cold turkey" although the process is miserable.  Some drugs - like alcohol and some frequently abused prescription drugs - change brain chemistry in a way that makes going "cold turkey" life threatening.

"Have you ever thought about or tried to commit suicide?"  I don't think that question is asking what they want it to since everyone has thought about suicide as a topic or a word at some point in their life.  

My two cents: Do you want to give these people a list of your current and former family members, how to contact them and the information that you had a STD at some point in the past?  Do you trust these people to use this information responsibly? 

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus - Part Twelve

We've moved on to the Complete Application portion of RU Homes.  So far, you've coughed up enough information for your identity to be stolen (name, address, birth date, SSN), and plenty of information that could be used to steal passwords and/or use as emotional manipulation (current and previous marriages, children's name, age and marital status.)

As previously, red/orange marks are for information that has potential to be misused while blue is something I find funny or ironic.

Today's theme: Legal information that RU Homes wants.

Have you ever been arrested or in jail?  Where? Charges? Time Served?

Oh, freaking no.  Arrests and being in jail are not a sign of guilt; many people have been arrested or been in jail without having done anything wrong.  

Why would RU Homes want this information?  Well, emotional manipulation springs to mind - or blackmail.

Status of supervision, parole, probation:

I don't have a problem with that question per se; the problem is that people who are on supervision and parole are generally required to stay in a tight geographic area.  I doubt they are going to be allowed to relocate for RU Homes.

Name and contact information of parole/probation officer:

I wouldn't give that information over either - before or after being accepted to the program.  So far, RU has information that can be used to embarrass patients.

 Contacting a parole or probation officer with a negative behavior report can have negative repercussions on personal freedom.

 Imagine a parole officer getting calls that Jane Smith has received two major infractions during her program.  Now, hopefully the parole officer would ask about the cause because this could be as minor as "occult or New Age behaviors" or talking with a guy.  On the other hand, a parole officer could mistakenly assume that a major infraction means Jane is using drugs again or has tried to escape.  Bluntly, turning this over is giving RU a free rein to threaten to have you returned to jail or prison.

Details of upcoming court cases:

Is RU Homes a lawyer?  No.  They don't need to know the details - except perhaps dates needed in court - in writing.  

You may be obligated to reschedule court dates when accepted to the program.

Uh.....seriously?  Does RU Homes expect the US Court System to accommodate them?  Good luck with that.

Do you have to register your residence with any entity whatsoever? Y/N

*Sniggers*

Everyone over the age of 18 should answer "Yes" since you would need to register as either a resident of Rockford for voting purposes OR report your long-term absence from your home voting precinct to get absentee ballots.  After all, any student/patient who has not lost voting rights due to a felony conviction has the right to be involved in the political process.

Answering "Yes" may or may not disqualify you from the home:

A few thoughts:

• While men and women are theoretically separated during this program, I would be extremely uncomfortable being in a program with men or women who had been convicted of violent crime or sexual misconduct.    The program seems understaffed to be sure of patient safety.

• Who is doing the screening?  Is there a preset list of convictions within a timeframe that excludes people or does a "I found Jesus" story outweigh an aggravated assault charge?

Driver's license information:

You can have it when you explain why you need it.  Since presumably I won't be driving during the program, I have no idea why they need it.

State photo ID and SSN card/birth certificate are required for entrance:

You do often have to show a photo ID at a hospital, but I've never needed to show an SSN/birth certificate in a hospital.

Of course, I've needed both to fill out my I-9 for employment purposes - but that makes no sense.  All of the people at the RU Schools of Discipleship are "volunteers" or "unpaid interns".  Either way, they have NO reason to turn in an I-9.

Questions about Government Assistance:

Why on Earth would RU Homes need this information - unless they can take that funding from you....

This is sketchy.....

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus - Part Eleven

According to the application process on RU: Schools of Discipleship website, you need to read the handbook, fill out an application, then fill out a supporter agreement.  Once you've completed all of that, you send all of the information in and RU calls you to discuss going to the school.

My main concern with the application is that it asks for information that is far too sensitive and/or can be used for identity theft long before accepting you into the program.  There is no statement - anywhere - about how they handle the data before, during, or after the program or what they do with the information of people who are rejected from the program.

As with the handbook, the screenshots are taken from the application.  I've marked areas that give me great concern in red or orange. They correspond with bolded sections. Things marked in blue are simply amusing or contradictory and have a italicized heading.

Social Security Number:

1. NEVER give you your social security number blindly.  With your address, birth date and SSN, RU Ministries - or any member of their staff - can steal your identity.  
2. RU Ministries shouldn't need your SSN anyways.  

• Since all of the work is "volunteer" or "like an unpaid internship", RU shouldn't need to report earnings to the IRS or Social Security agency.
• Since RU isn't a medical facility, they don't need your SSN for any kind of record-keeping; plus medical facilities haven't used SSNs for record-keeping in years.

Business Phone:

1. Nope.  You can contact me at home or through a cell phone.  You may not have access to my employment number since I don't trust you to keep personal information safe.  Plus, that's some primo blackmail information as in "If you don't do what the program says, we will call your job and tell them you are addicted to ______".

Can you read and write? Y/N

1. It's a fair question - but one that should be asked over the phone in the interview.  If someone is functionally illiterate and is having another person fill out this paperwork, why would they circle N?

The ENTIRE section about Monthly Support:

1. What monthly support?  It's a $7,500 flat fee + your wages while in the program.  
2. Why would I give you this information before you've accepted me into the program?
3. I would accept the question "Are you able to pay for the program and incidentals? Y/N" because that's all the information they actually need.

Emergency Contact Information:

1. Interesting fact:  When making contact with people during an emergency, speed matters. My emergency contact information for my spouse or parents always consisted of every phone number that they could be reached at - not their home address.   A letter doesn't cut it.

There's an odd typo I just noticed: I doubt RU wants people to skip section III; that's legal information.  Proof-reading seems to be a lost art at RU.

Detailed information on Spouse:

1. There is NO reason for them to collect the address, phone number, age, occupation and marriage date of your spouse on an application.
2. If accepted, the phone number and address (if something is going to be sent there) could be useful.
3. I don't know why they want to know your spouse's age, occupation and/or marriage date - but it's handy information if you want to steal identities or apply pressure to a patient who is asking too many questions.

Detailed information on children:

1. I have no idea why they want that information.  I've never been asked that on any medical, employment or volunteer form before - let alone the age and marital status of each kid.

Give brief information on previous marriages:

1. The information has to be very brief because you have less than an inch to fill out any information.  What would you write?  "I got married; it didn't work; we got divorced."

My mom worked in Loss Prevention at a large retail store for 15 years.  If I filled out this part of the application so far and sent it in, she'd go berserk because I'd be giving enough information to ruin my credit for the rest of my life.

RU Ministries: Just Say NO!

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus: Part Ten

This is the last post from the handbook!

• For starters, Hebrews 12 is about remaining steadfast when life gets hard and viewing the normal hardships of life as becoming more like Jesus. 
• Things that are legal to do in hospitals in the USA that will get you punished in RU:
• Carrying cash, cash equivalents and bartering
• Occult and new-age type behavior (What does that mean?  Would I get a major offense for doing yoga, praying the Rosary or making an Advent tree?)
• Fraternization with the opposite sex.
• Breaching the "Chain of Command" or complaining.
• What does "loss of all privileges" mean?  The patients don't have any privileges to take away unless phone calls are counted.
• When do any of the patients have 10 extra hours of time to do anything?  They have NO free time built into the schedule.  Are "service hours" extra working hours?  When can they do that?  How can they do that? 
• It's amazing how a problem action by the student ends up bringing in more cash for RU - e.g. students work more hours and their wages are sent back to RU.

• I find this section more scary than the major offenses.  For any "minor offense", you end up doing more work for RU.   Let's think about some minor offenses listed so far:
• Not making your bed properly.
• Not wearing a belt if you are a man or having an untucked shirt.
• Having an unauthorized photo in your room
• Showing any non-happy emotion.
• I spent years in Catholic schools where having your shirt tucked in was paramount - but you never got a detention because of it.  
• Think about this:  
• If you have your shirt untucked twice, you are punished by RU getting four hours of your wages. 
•  If you have your shirt untucked a third time, you get 10 hours of discipleship training.
• Make it to a fourth time and RU starts racking up 10 hours of labor wages + an extra month of wages.

My concerns:

• Notice the lack of timeline for dealing with any complaints.  You can fill out a "Complaint Form" and the staff can handle it that day - or in two months.  Either way, you can't tell anyone about it - that's the outcome of "general complaining = major violation".
• Notice the fact that the student/patient cannot be present when the person in authority is confronted with the "alleged" offense.  You have no idea what the steward said to the dean or intervention mentor - just the outcome.
• Procedural question: How do you give the written grievance to the non-offending steward without interacting with them?  Remember, you can't have a conversation or fraternization with anyone of the opposite gender.
• Notice that you have to fill out a complaint form to go around the steward - which you have to turn into the steward....who has no timeline to deal with it.....and could bury it.
• The entire process pits patients needs against the needs of a group of people who work together.  It's really hard to be genuinely objective towards your coworkers which is why there is generally outside oversight.
• There is no outside oversight.  You have no appeals to an outside entity or people not involved in RU.

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus - Part Nine

I think I can get through the rest of the handbook in two posts.  Today's theme: clothing and cleanliness.  You may be confused - didn't we cover clothing requirements before?  Yes, in Part Six

My thoughts:

• The quotes from 1 Peter: " for it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” and " But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people,[a] in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
• Quote from 2 Corinthians: "15 What agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we[a] are the temple of the living God; as God said,
  “I will live in them and walk among them,
      and I will be their God,
      and they shall be my people.
  17 Therefore come out from them,
      and be separate from them, says the Lord,
  and touch nothing unclean;
      then I will welcome you,
• I have no clue how any of these verses apply to wearing a belt and keeping shirts tucked in.
• No V-necked tee-shirts, huh.  Must be the sign of the devil.
• Another way to save on costs: make the patients do the cooking.  This practice is illegal in the way that RU Ministries does it.

From Illinois Legal Aid:
"Working for the Facility

The facility cannot force you to perform work for the facility, except that you may be required to perform your own housekeeping chores.
Example: The facility can have rules requiring you to sweep and dust your room, but the facility cannot require you to cut the grass or sweep the hallways.

If you agree to perform work for the facility, you are entitled to be paid a fair amount for your services, in accordance with federal and state wage laws."

•  I strongly doubt the legality of being paid by the facility and then having the facility take that money directly as payment for treatment. Doubly so since RU has no set "total cost" that a patient needs to cover during their stay; RU just takes all of your wages earned during your treatment period.

My thoughts:

• So far, all I know to pack as a woman is 3 dresses or 3 skirt/blouse combinations, a black sweater, shoes and hosiery.  How do I know what to bring?  I suspect there are rules about how much skin can be showing - but if you don't tell me ahead of time, how can I plan accordingly?
• How does this fit in with one of the "volunteer jobs" available for RU women - working in the shipping department of RU?  I stumbled upon this gem while looking up the tax status of RU.

  

  Screen Capture from 11/2016.  Underlining adding by Mel for emphasis.
  
  
  

  

  
  

  My two cents:

  
  

  
  

  Mark 5:15 tells me what I to know about how RU views their patients.  "They came to Jesus and saw the demoniac sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had had the legion; and they were afraid."  Yes, patients need to dress nicely because like the demonically possessed man in the Gospel, you can scare your neighbors into believing in Jesus if you wear a nice shirt and hair cut above the ears while dealing with addictions.  

• John 11:39 tells me what I need to know about how RU views their patients. "Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”  Fuckers.

My thoughts:

• The main bullets are SOP in most institutions to prevent chaos.
• The random search and seizure of items in rooms is completely legal.  I don't know about searches of persons - that's not covered in the legal documents I've found online.
• We covered above how unpaid chores outside of keeping your room clean is illegal in Illinois.
• To my way of thinking, the Bible verse from 1 Corinthians is a scathing indictment of RU:
• 1 Corinthians 4:2 "Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy."
• To my way of thinking, the Bible verses from Matthew are a scathing indictment of how RU sees their patients:
• Matthew 25:21 " His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’"
• Matthew 25:29 " For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away."

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus - Part Eight

We're into page 7 of 10 in the RU: Schools of Disciples Handbook.  Today's theme: conduct, conduct and more conduct - and the Bible verses that don't really support them.

First up: how to behave during educational components.

My thoughts:

• How many Bibles do the students need?  Is this a way of adding that Bible Concordance to the list of needed materials?  How long do you need to do that journal a day?

• I have a mental image of staff members running surprise checks of patients to see if they are carrying their "Daily Meditation Cards" during dinner or at work.

• How much Bible work is required on top of the work from the "Phases"?

• How far do you need to progress in the "Program" each week?

• The last two bullet points are weird for any program - and creepy for adults.  During my time in Pine Rest, I gave and received support from people of both genders. Often, people in similar life situations - unmarried young adults, married adults, older adults who had lost a spouse - shared good times with each other.  Also, how does this work out practically on a job site?

My thoughts:

• 2 Corinthians 5:12 " We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us, so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart." I have no idea how that has anything to do with riding in a van to a job site.

• 1 Corinthians 14:40 "But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way." Sounds better - but the chapter is about how to conduct yourself in church so perhaps it should be moved to the previous chunk.

•  All of my math for the scheduling bit is a bit off now since a full 30 minutes is wasted at the beginning and end of all programs and services.

• Does keeping all conversations "Christ-like" mean that you have to use the aphorism "Amen, Amen I say to you....." at a certain frequency?  Or that all convos will be in ancient Aramaic? I missed the obvious one: It's all about carpentry.

 My thoughts:

• Sweet!  I call turning over tables and yelling at people when they do something I don't like after Mark 11:15-16. Go Jesus-style or go home!
• Notice that most of the outlawed verbal behaviors - e.g. griping, negative criticism, complaining, faultfinding and sowing discord - create problems for the staff, not the patients.
• Good luck trying to contain gossiping in a place with 50 men or 80 women and 3 full-time staff.

• In real therapeutic settings, you talk about "old habits or lifestyles" - e.g. your addictions - to help clearly see how they were hurting you and the people in your life.  By talking with others, you gain understanding of what triggers your behaviors and other bad consequences that can befall you if you continue in your current path.  Now, glorifying the old habits and lifestyles is a bad idea - but in a therapeutic setting either the therapist or fellow patients will call you out on that.
• Who is scrutinizing the relationships to determine their relevance?  The correct answer is the patient with support of a therapist - not a blanket prohibition on anyone that is not your spouse or a blood relative.  Two of the people who were most helpful to me when I was recovering from depression were two family friends who had experienced depression themselves and reached out to help me recover.

• I worry that there is no timeline for dealing with complaints addressed by the patients.  I'm sure this surprises no one, but there is also no appeals process or outside oversight - but we'll cover that more when we get to the Complaint Process.

My final thought for today: The priorities of a group become clear in their writings.  Helping patients recover takes low priority for RU compared to crowd and cost control measures.

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus: Part Seven

We've made it to page 6 of 10 in the Handbook for RU: School of Discipleship.

The next section covers "Care Packages".  Since RU doesn't provide any clothing, bedding or personal hygiene materials for the six months the students are in the program, a more honest term would be "Resupply Packages".

The first thing I noticed when reading about the care packages is the presence of a "Bible Concordance" and "Personal Reading Lamps".   The reading lamps should be included in the room since the daily schedule includes most of the hours of study during times when there is no sunlight in Illinois.  I've never used a Concordance and sincerely hope that the RU recovery program doesn't require using one.  If it does, that's another $20-30 dollars per patient that RU is foisting off onto the patients.

The second thing I thought about is how heavy these packages could end up.  About half the items are liquid-based and weight ~ 1 pound each.  

For people who live in warmer climates - like Arkansas - they will likely need to purchase heavier gloves, scarves, HATS (don't know why that's missing, but you want a hat on a cold day) and possibly a heavy-duty winter coat if the job the person is working at is based outdoors.  I plan to spend between $80-110 dollars on a work coat that I use on the farm - hooded, water-repellant outer shell, insulated inner shell, cuffed sleeves, and zipper with snapped placket on the outside - that lasts me 2-3 years if I wear it as my "good" coat for nonfarm times during the first season, then use it for farm work in following years.  My husband's coats last 1 season maximum of full-time farm work.  For patients who have no income for 6 months, that's a large outlay of cash that may be required if you are in the program from late October through the end of March.

It looks like patients also have to provide their own medication throughout the program.  That would cause problems for me.  There is no way my doctor would let me disappear off the radar for 6 months while still getting refills on my SSRI's.

Notice that patients aren't allowed to have access to any forms of legal tender or Walmart gift cards.  That's patently illegal in Illinois. From Illinois Legal Aid:

"Handling Your Own Money
The facility must let you use your own money as you choose. You have the right to deposit your money in a bank. Some institutions will maintain accounts for residents. If you deposit your money in an account with the institution, you are entitled to any interest earned. You are entitled to the return of all of your money when you are discharged from the facility."


The next section of the handbook covers visits during the program.  I'll start by saying that the entire visitation section is illegal under Illinois law because limitation of communication access can only be done to protect patient safety or health.  You can't remove visitation rights as a punishment or use visitation rights as a bonus for going along with the program.

Note: The weird sentence "A signed variance form from the Dean or must be on file." is word-for-word from the original since the section is a screenshot of the handbook.

So, the actual visitation period isn't from 5pm on Friday since the patient is required to be present from 5:30-9:00pm at church services.  Likewise, the visitation actually ends around 6:00 pm on Sunday.  Let's assume visitation lasts from 8am-6pm on Saturday and from 12:30pm-6:00pm on Sunday.  That's a total of 10 hours on Saturday and 5.5 hours on Sunday for 15.5 hours of visitation time per trip.

Across three trips - which may be revoked at any time - that means patients get a total of 46.5 hours of visitation across six months.  That's about the same as a 2 hour visit per week.

 By comparison, at Pine Rest, we had a 1 or 2 hour visitation period each evening.  Plus, if you had a family member who couldn't come during the scheduled period due to work or childcare issues, the facility was more than willing to schedule a visit during other times of the day.

This program needs to be shut down or strongly rewritten.

RU: Labor Exploitation For Jesus - Part Six

This next section of the handbook covers what people need to bring with them for their 6 month stay at the RU School of Discipleship.

The clothing section seems to imply that the men will be working on some kind of physically demanding labor crew along with some kind of white collar job while women will be working in some kind of white collar job.  Based on the schedule from earlier in the handbook, I also suspect that women are in charge of laundry duties because I can't figure out when anyone would have time to wash their clothes.

How RU saves money:

• When I was at Pine Rest, I brought my own comfortable clothing, personal hygiene items, slippers and a book or two to read before I fell asleep.  Pine Rest, however, provided ALL of those things if you needed them.  You could also make local phone calls for free - and without monitoring.
• Things that were provided by Pine Rest that RU makes the patients bring:
• Towels
• Alarm Clock
• Bedding
• Pre-paid phone cards
• Office Supplies.
• When I was in Pine Rest, I did ask for Pastoral Counseling.  One of the chaplains was an elderly retired priest who was a big supporter of psychology and psychiatry.  He asked me if I wanted a Bible.  I did and mentioned I liked the NRSV.  He gave me a copy of the NRSV Bible that I still have to this day.   The fact that the staff at RU makes people bring their own Bibles - and paper - makes me feel sad as well as angry that RU is passing off normal business costs onto the patients.
• Why do you need two forms of ID?  All I've ever needed in medical situations are a single, picture ID and in emergencies you'll get treatment without it.  In fact, the only time I've ever needed two forms of ID was for a job..... hmm.  Fuckers.

1 Corinthians 6:19 is oddly fitting: " Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;" since you're turning over your whole life to RU.

Most of these prohibitions make sense.   A few don't.

• I'd like to know who is in charge of deciding which medicines are authorized and which are not.  Does this person have advanced medical training?  Are they legally liable for any negative side-effects if someone goes off a medication at their behest?
• What is the obsession with jewelry?  I doubt that a man who is addicted to meth is going to be cured by not wearing a necklace or removing an earring.   In a medical setting, jewelry is discouraged for reasons of personal safety or theft, but if you aren't suicidal, no one cares if you are wearing a necklace or three earrings in each ear.

RU's communications policy is in blatant violation of the rights of mental health patients in Illinois.

• Patients may communicate freely with any persons they want without monitoring or interference of staff.
• Patients must be given access to phones and writing materials if they cannot afford them on their own.
• Communications can be restricted only to prevent "harm, harassment or intimidation".

Compare those rights with the program handbook:

Another way of looking at this: 

• In Phase 1, you get a 6 ten minute monitored phone calls for a total of 60 minutes of outside contact to pre-approved people across six weeks.
• In Phase 2, 12 ten minute phone calls for 120 minutes (2 hours) across six weeks.
• In Phase 3, 18 ten minute phone calls for 180 minutes (3 hours) across six weeks.
• In Phase 4, 24 ten minute phone calls for 240 minutes (4 hours) across six weeks.

You get to talk to your family for 10 hours across six months.

When I was in Puerto Rico for 16 days, I talked to my husband for close to 10 hours by just having 30 minutes of talk most days and a few longer talks when I had had a hard day.

I don't trust programs that limit contact to outside human beings.

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus - Part 5

We're working our way through the Handbook for RU ministries.

Page Four outlines the weekly schedule for inmates disciples.  Since these are people who are dealing with legitimate mental illnesses like alcohol and drug addiction or anorexia, medical treatment programs would include group therapy, individual therapy, classes to learn about coping mechanisms and plenty of time for rest.  The rest time is as important as the other parts because when someone's brain is injured, the brain's way of recovering is through sleep.

(This is something I've learned both from a very severe case of depression when I was 19 and a closed head injury I received a few weeks ago.  I've started to tell people that my main daily activity is sleeping followed by hard-core napping followed by short-bursts of mental work which leads to more napping.)

Here's the weekday schedule.

Things I've Noticed:

1. The day starts very early and ends very late.  Assuming that you fall asleep immediately at lights out, men can get 6.5 hours of sleep per night during the week and women can get 7 hours of sleep per night during the week.
2. Somewhere in all of the materials for this program the fact that disciples have chores is mentioned.  I'm assuming that's included in the first hour of the day compared to the normal 30 minute dinner period.
3. I can find 3 hours of time to work on the "Phase" work - the cornerstone of the recovery bit - from 5:30-7:30 AM and 9-10PM for men and 6-8AM and 9-10PM for women.
4. Men put in a 9 hour workday; women put in an 8.5 hour workday which says quite a bit about the priorities of the program.  Unless the men get a full hour lunch and the women get a half-hour lunch, these work periods move into overtime rules.
5. You also get 3.5 hours of chapel, church services or something thrown together by the volunteers involved with the ministries a day.
6. I'm guessing that using the 9-10pm slot to actually relax will end up either slowing your program down to a crawl or end in disciplinary measures taken against the person.
7. I'm curious who provides lunch.

Here's the weekend schedule.  Men are on the left; women on the right

 Things I've noticed:

1. On Saturday, men get a Bible class.  The program overview describes the Saturday morning class as
    "College level classes will be held every Saturday. These classes may include: Theology, financial management, health and nutrition, basic computer skills, auto mechanics, driver’s safety training and childcare. The college classes give students an opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of God’s word, life skills, and Bible doctrine. The classes also prepare students for greater usefulness to their local church when they return home."
2. On Saturday mornings, women clean the buildings.  Sexist much?  Actually, to bring the women up to 9 hours of work per day like the men, I'm guessing that the women are used as a local cleaning crew for either the ministry or businesses for at least 2.5 hours on Saturday after doing any grunt work needed around the campus.  Maybe it's the whole time.  RU sells a daft book for women called "Handing Her the Heritage of Holiness and Homemaking" so I can see how they could justify using the female patients as a cleaning crew.  This would also add to overtime pay.
3. Saturday gives you 1 hour of time to work on the Phases.
4. Is there really a monster chapel session from 5:30-sometime before 11pm?  That's overkill.
5. Friday night into Saturday morning gives a decent 9 hours of sleep for men and 10 hours of sleep for women, plus eight more hours of sleep on Saturday night. God knows they would need it at this point.
6. Looks like everyone get mandatory rest time on Sunday afternoon from after lunch to dinner.  That must be the time that the website talks about being able to enjoy their lovely campus because I can't find any other time on the schedule for it.
7. Sunday does allow you 2 hours of work on the "Phases" program.

 Summary Per Week:

• A maximum of 50.5 hours of sleep per week instead of 56 hours of sleep per week recommended for healthy adults.
• 18 hours of work on the "Phases" Recovery Program.
• 26.5 hours of chapel, services or other scheduled worship times (That could jump by 6.5 hours per week to 33 hours per week if you are male and the Saturday Morning Class is on a theological aspect.)
• 45 hours a week of "paid" employment for men; 42.5 hours + "cleaning crew" of "paid" employment for women.  In case you haven't put it together, the money earned by patients goes right into RU's pocket to "offset expenses".

How much can RU earn from their patients a week?
For one person working 45 hours a week at $8.25 per hour - the minimum wage in Illinois - the person makes 371.25 before tax and ignoring overtime.  Let's say that's $300 per week.  That's $1,200 per month.

For 80 women and 50 men, that's 156,000 per month income.

The numbers start climbing if the women do secretarial work and the men do construction work - but we'll get to that later along with the unethical ways they keep their costs low.

RU's emphasis isn't on recovery; RU uses desperate, hurting people as an income stream. 

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus - Part Four

 We've covered why RU should be compared to inpatient treatment facilities, their spurious views on addictions and the lack of trained staff on site.

This information alone would be enough to send me running for the hills, but let's pretend for a minute that I'm still interested in going to RU Schools of Discipleship like Josh Duggar did.  They have a four part application process.    The first step is to read the handbook fully and until you completely understand it.

Page 1 is a cover page.

Page 2 is a standard welcome letter explaining that you have to read the handbook, fax the application packet and supporter packet, and someone will call you back.

Page 3:
The total program cost is $7,500 which is non-refundable.
The same page lays out the fact the program will take a minimum of 180 days because there are 4 phases each of which requires a minimum of 45 days.   Most inpatient drug rehabilitation centers cost between $18,000 - $35,000 per month.

 Six months at the low end of that range should cost $108,000 - so how is RU making up the $100,500 difference per patient?  We've already covered that their staff has no degrees from accredited colleges and most are recent graduates of the program, so that drives the salaries way down.

The handbook lays out the "Phases".  I've linked the materials that are for sale through RU.

Phase One (minimum of 45 days)
 1. Complete the Challenger Workbook
 2. “It’s Personal” Daily Journal
 3. View a principle a day, every weekday
 4. Attend all evening training functions
5. Six individual student intervention meeting sessions with the Intervention Mentor (SIP)
6. Read Nevertheless I Live chapters 1-2 by Steve Curington
7. Read Distressed, Oppressed, or Possessed? by Steve Curington
8. Your First Phase will be evaluated by the Dean of the Home upon completion.

Phase Two (minimum of 45 days)
1. Complete the Transformer Workbook
2. “It’s Personal” Daily Journal 
3. View a principle a day, every weekday
4. Attend all evening training functions
5. Four individual student intervention meeting sessions with the Intervention Mentor (SIP)
6. Read Nevertheless I Live chapters 3-4 by Steven Curington
 7. You must pass the Transformer level test to enter into Phase Three.
 8. Your Second Phase will be evaluated by the Dean of The Home upon completion.

Phase Three (minimum of 45 days)
 1. Complete the Conformer Workbook
2. “It’s Personal” Daily Journal 
3. View a principle a day, every weekday
4. Attend all evening training functions
5. Three individual student intervention meeting sessions with the Intervention Mentor (SIP)
6. Read Nevertheless I Live chapters 5-7 by Steven Curington
7. Read Tall Law by Steven Curington
8. You must pass the Conformer level test to enter into Phase Four.
9. Your Third Phase will be evaluated by the Dean of The Home upon completion.

Phase Four (minimum of 45 days) 
1. Complete the Reformer Workbook
2. “It’s Personal” Daily Journal 
3. View a principle a day, every weekday
4. Attend all evening training functions
5. Two individual student intervention meeting sessions with the Dean (SIP)
6. Read Nevertheless I Live chapters 8-10 by Steven Curington
7. You must pass the Reformer level test in order to graduate.
 8. To graduate you must be have a final evaluation with the Dean of the home.

Things that I've noticed:

1.  There is no reason the "educational" component of this program should take 6 months.  It consists of 

• a workbook which is probably based on the "Nevertheless I Live" textbook readings.
• writing journal entries (the journal lasts 90 days, so you work through it twice during the program)
• look at one of 10 principles on a weekday (which means you'll have them memorized by the end of Phase 2 at the latest)
• Reading two additional books - one on how "satanic oppression" makes you feel unmotivated and one on how this whole curriculum isn't really "works" based.

2. You have to attend all evening meetings which run from 6:30-9:00pm at night and be in a good mood the whole time.

3. You get fewer and fewer meetings with actual staff members as the program goes on.  Since the women's program is missing an Intervention Mentor - and I have no idea what SIP stands for - either everyone in the program has ground to a halt or something has been modified.

4. How does the staff handle all these meetings?
The women's program can have 88 women in it. For simplifying the math, I'm going to assume 80 women are enrolled.  I doubt the number of people in each phase is evenly distributed, so let's assume 10% are in Phase 4, 20% are in Phase 3, 30% are in Phase 2 and 40% are in Phase 1.

This means:

8 women in Phase 4 needing 2 meetings per 6 weeks = 16 meetings

16 women in Phase 3 needing 3 meetings per 6 weeks = 48 meetings

24 women in Phase 2 needing 4 meetings per 6 weeks = 96 meetings

32 women in Phase 1 needing 6 meetings per 6 weeks = 192 meetings.

That's a total of 352 meetings per 6 weeks or ~59 meetings per week.

If each meeting is one hour - 50 minutes of time with the patient and 10 minutes of bookkeeping and prep - that's 59  hours of meetings a week for two staff members to handle.

This doesn't include anything about making plans for new patients, dealing with "discharge summaries" for anyone who leaves, or running any of the administrative items involved with this type of care.

The next section in the handbook is on the daily schedule.

RU: Labor Exploitation for Jesus - Part Three

The quality of staffing in inpatient treatment varies greatly.  The American Psychological Association noted that getting qualified staff in substance abuse treatment facilities is difficult due to low pay and weak educational opportunities for employees (pg. 16).  The implied educational criteria is that there are multiple layers of professionals with advanced degrees - doctoral, master's and bachelor's degrees in psychology or medical degrees in psychiatry - with paraprofessionals with less education being overseen and trained by people with advanced degrees (pgs. 16-17).

Compare those ideas with the listed staff for the RU Schools of Discipleship; a school that treats potentially life-threatening disorders such as heroin addiction and eating disorders like anorexia.

Cribbed from their website:

Dr. Paul Kingsbury: 

• Pastor of North Love Baptist Church; cofounder of RU
• Attended Maranatha Baptist College  (which has regional accreditation) - but gives no dates of graduation or degrees earned.  The highest degree awarded by Maranatha is a Master's Degree in Education or various Master's in Ministry degrees.  None of the degrees has an emphasis in healthcare ministry let alone training for working as a provider of healthcare.
• Graduated from Hyles-Anderson College (which is unaccredited). Hyles Anderson has Master's degrees in Education and Ministry.  They have a certificate program for counseling - this is equivalent to about 1 year of freshman level college classes.
• When researching North Love Baptist College (also unaccredited) from another staff member's blurb, I found a different educational list for Dr. Kingsbury.  He got a Bachelor's from Hyles-Anderson and a Doctorate of Divinity from both Ambassador Baptist College and West Coast Baptist College.  I hate when people can't get website information correct.

He's a highly educated individual within the unaccredited Baptist college world.  Unfortunately, that's not enough to run an inpatient program.

Steve Currington:

• Cofounder of RU based on his personal recovery from a heroin addiction.
• Wrote or coauthored most of the recovery materials used by RU.

His credentials are moot; he died in 2010 of a heart attack.  I find it strange that he's still listed on their staff page.

There are six people listed who sound like administrators for day to day operations at the Schools of Discipleship houses.  The men's program can have 55 inpatients while the women's program can have 80 patients.

Donnie Barnes:

• Graduated from the RU program in 2007 from a previous drug addiction.
• Married Hannah Barnes in 2008.
• Has been the Director of Housing for some unspecified time.
• Earned a degree from North Love Bible College in Ministry in 2014.

Hannah Barnes:

• Graduated from West Coast Baptist College with a ministry degree.
• Has served in RU since 2008
• Became the Dean of Women in 2012.

Dale Akin:

• Graduated from Hyles-Anderson and served as a pastor in CA from 1995-2011.
• Graduated from RU in 2003 for an unspecified addiction.
• Has worked in RU as an Assistant Steward (spring 2012), Student Mentor(summer 2012) and is currently the Men's Intervention Mentor

Shirley Rawlings:

• Began as a patient at RU in 2011 addicted to heroin and "other sins".
• Became a volunteer monitor after graduation for two years.
• Became the Head Steward in around 2013.
• Became the Assistant Dean of Women at some time in the past.

Sheridan Powell:

• Began as a patient at RU in 2013 addicted to meth, heroin and "other sins".
• Volunteered for a year after graduating from RU.
• Became the Head Steward either in late 2014 or early 2015.

Charles Rodberg:

• Addiction to crack cocaine lead to discharge from the Marines and prison
• Graduated from RU in 2014
• Became Head Steward sometime after graduation.

Things that concern me:

1. None of the staff members have a degree of any level from an accreditation agency recognized by the US government.
2. Five of the six staff members who are presumably interacting with patients have graduated from RU because of previous addictions.  Of those 5, two have been "graduated" for less than 3 years.  Only one of the five has been graduated for more than 10 years.
3. The one staff member who was never enrolled in the program married a former patient within one year of the patient graduating.   While this is not illegal - to the best of my knowledge - it opens up questions about professionality since she was volunteering while he was in treatment.
4. Based on those three previous points, I question the oversight available by the staff towards volunteers and patients.
5. This appears to be a closed-system.  Since most of the staff rose up through the RU program, has no outside education, and has no oversight from an outside body, there is no one available to question any unethical or illegal behaviors by RU.

We haven't even gotten to the really shady stuff, though.