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A new season of the docuseries Shiny Happy People details the hardcore and militant practices of Teen Mania Ministries.
The three-part series Shiny Happy People: A Teenage Holy War focuses on teenagers in the 1990s and early 2000s who were part of the radical Christian youth group. The series depicts how the 1999 Columbine High School massacre influenced the manner in which the organization’s leader Ron Luce messaged participants in the program. Luce, who appears in archival audio and video clips throughout the episodes, was not interviewed for the docuseries.
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In the wake of the shooting, in which 13 students and a teacher were killed, a false story circulated in which Cassie Bernall, one of the Columbine High School student victims, was framed as a modern-day martyr. It was also revealed that Columbine student Rachel Scott, who was killed outside of the school, had signed up to go on a Teen Mania mission trip before her death.
In an Acquire the Fire event — large concerts put on by Teen Mania — after the shooting, Luce, 64, referred to Scott as a martyr.
Shiny Happy People features journalist Jeff Sharlet, who covered Teen Mania for Rolling Stone. According to Sharlet, Luce told the Teen Mania community that the “most valuable thing you could ever do is die.”
Teen Mania alum Mica Ringo reflects on Luce’s promotion of martyrdom by saying, “These are the things I’m having to think about as a teenager, ‘Ok, I have to die.’ ”
Teen Mania Ministries also ran an Honor Academy where “interns” (high schoolers who paid to participate) joined summer boot camps that emphasized hard labor. After Columbine, the Academy became “scarier and harder,” according to former members.
In footage from the series, Academy director Dave Hasz tells the interns they will “be challenged more than you can possibly imagine.”
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According to former members interviewed for A Teenage Holy War, interns were forced into Navy Seal-style training and subjected to torturous conditions that included being put into coffins and being forced to eat worms, all in preparation for martyrdom. Hasz can be heard telling interns to “rely on God for your strength” as footage is shown of them vomiting from exhaustion and weeping from pain.
During the training, interns were repeatedly referred to as “losers” and were given numbers to go by instead of using their names. “Obedience was the lesson plan every day,” Sharlet says of the Honor Academies.
Luce and his wife Katie founded Teen Mania in 1986, and the organization went on to become one of the largest Christian youth organizations in the country. It went bankrupt in 2015.
Today Luce continues his evangelical work and co-founded a new project, Generation Next, with his wife Katie. As far as the allegations tied to Teen Mania, Luce has never been charged with a crime.
Shiny Happy People: A Teenage Holy War is now streaming on Prime Video.
