What is an Acquire the Fire Weekend Like for the Average Teen?

Continuing our discussion of Acquire the Fire events produced by Teen Mania Ministries, let's look at the typical schedule of the average, church-going teen that attends an ATF convention.

Friday

6:30AM - 7:00 AM - Wake up for school

2:30-3:00 PM - Leave school for the day

4:00-4:30 PM - Arrive at church to leave for Acquire the Fire

6:00 PM - Arrive at arena for Acquire the Fire

7:00-10:30PM - Attend 3 hour ATF Session 1 (which usually runs late)

Midnight - Arrive back at church

Saturday

2:00-4:00 AM - Fall "asleep" on church floor

6:00 AM - Wake up/Eat "breakfast"

7:45 AM - Arrive at arena

8:00 AM - 12:15 PM - Attend 4.5 hour ATF session 2

12:30ish - 1:30ish - Eat "lunch"

2:00 PM - 5:15 PM - Attend 3.25 hour ATF session 3

5:30is - 6:15ish - Eat "dinner"

7:00 PM - 9:30 PM - Attend 3.5 hour ATF session 4 (almost always runs long)

11:00 PM - Arrive back at church

Midnight - Arrive at home

Sunday

2:00-4:00 AM - Crash in bed

8:00 AM - Wake up for church

9:00 AM - 10:30 AM - Attend Sunday school and watch Teen Mania videos

10:30 AM - 12:30 PM - Stand up in church and give a testimony about how much God changed your life at Acquire the Fire

I attended several Acquire the Fire conventions growing up, and I can assure you this was a very typical schedule for the weekend. I just looked at the schedule for the Acquire the Fire being held in Baltimore this weekend, and it looks like absolutely nothing has changed. As we will explore in the next post, this intense, jam-packed schedule creates an environment of sleep-deprivation and extreme physical hunger that coerces teens into making rash decisions...like signing up for a questionable Teen Mania program that will cost them and their parents thousands (if not tens of thousands) of dollars.