Greetings, friend! Thanks for stopping by my corner of the Web. I enjoy getting to know people, so welcome!
My name is Joel Horst. I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a writer, a delivery driver, a musician, a songwriter, and a recording engineer.
My background includes being raised Mennonite until age 14; homeschooling in ATI; conservative values; no college education.
But lest you think that you can put me in a box, let me assure you that God has been busy breaking my boxes and setting me free to follow Him. I no longer espouse Mennonite values; no longer call myself a Mennonite; in fact, I refuse to be associated with Anabaptism at all.
Nor am I a conservative, either. The more I learn about conservatism, the less I want to be conservative. I am not a liberal or a moderate; I am a follower of Jesus. If that means siding with conservatives on some issue, so be it. If that means siding with liberals on some issue, so be it. But there’s a good chance that it means that I don’t side with anybody, liberal or conservative.
My ATI background means that I end up talking, sometimes, about Bill Gothard, the founder of that organization, or other facets of the conservative homeschool movement.
I am also a survivor of spiritual and emotional abuse, and I strongly support victims of all types of abuse: spiritual, emotional/psychological, physical, and sexual. I have seen and experienced the devastating effects of abuse, and I want to help others recover as well.
Thanks again for stopping in. Feel free to click on the “Contact” link above and drop me a line! And if you like what you’ve seen here, please subscribe to my email list, where you can get updates when I post new articles.
I am enjoying your thoughts and plan to read more of them. You sound like a true Christ follower and one who desires to be all that God created him to be.
Keep up the good work Joel. Keep following and sharing Jesus. He still has work for you to do.
Well I’d like to know why you talk about Gothard still. Was being in ATI your hell? It was mine as a parent. Being in a church that followed Gothard is what I am healing from. We can not be put in boxes any more. I don’t want to talk about Gothard anymore except to say ATi is a cult. Jesus is the opposite of ATI. I don’t know anything about being a Mennonite.
Continue to help and serk counseling. my daughter has been helping me on my healing Journey. I will pray for you emotional , mental ,and spiritual healing, Joel. I’m glad you are helping others now.
Thank you, Susan. ATI was definitely part of my hell. In fact, it caused a whole lot of hell through my life.
Keep up the good work Joel I enjoyed your article. It helped me alot.
Hi Joel,
I am so sorry what you had to go through. I am helping a beautiful woman come to terms with the way she was raised. She was a Mennonite too. It is difficult for her to make decisions and stick to them. She is always afraid to hurt someones feelings. She is so gifted in music. She is young and has her whole life to look forward to. I will tell her about you. I hope she has the courage to learn more. It would be nice if she knew other Mennonites that has left too.
She lives in Canada and we live in USA. We are always so sad to see her go. She struggles with it. We stay in contact almost every day. Last time she was in Canada she got a job at a school. Everyone falls in love with her (In a good way) Man, Woman, and Child.
I will continue to pray for all the Mennonites trying to come out of the box and break it too. It’s funny because she uses the same terminology.
I’m glad you have this website. Is there somewhere else to see more up to date info?