Power Team

For English we were asked to read the article "The Power Team" by Sharon Mazor.  It was an interesting article about a religious group that gets supporters by completing physically demanding athletic tasks.  They also discussed how the group travels to schools to talk to kids about avoiding drugs and alcohol.  The power team actually visited my school when I was in high school.  It was by far the most interesting assembly I attended throughout my high school career.  The article even discussed how they would visit the school and perform physical tasks, like ripping a phone book.  Then they would ask you to attend a church event later that evening.  They did this at our school as well.  The author seems to have respect for the power team, however she goes on to say that they use deception and their stunts are not real.  I believe whether they are real or not is irrelevant.  The stunts are only necessary to attract people in order to get their message across to as many people as possible.  Also, the author says that the phone books could have been tampered with and that is why the power team could so easily tear them apart.  This is not true, because when they came to our school they let many of my classmates go on stage and try to rip the phone book.  No one could so much as put a small tear on it, but they ripped it in half.  The author also feels as though the power team focuses far too much on masculinity and male domination.  I do not believe it that is their intention, but they do focus more on teenage boys and young men.  However, anyone who hears their speech can relate to their message.