Gothard got his start in 1961 by founding Campus Teams, an organization that aimed to address the problems of “wayward youth.” Inspired by research he had conducted for his master’s thesis in Christian education at Wheaton College, Gothard sought to apply Christian principles to solving conflicts between parents and teens. He later changed the name of the organization to the Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts to reflect this focus. (He would later change the name again to the more general Institute in Basic Life Principles, or IBLP.)
