MK forum

Wow, powerfully sad and true.

The only dream that was considered worth dreaming in NTM was that you'd follow in your parents' footsteps, enroll in New Tribes Bible Institute straight out of high school, continue right on through the training, and go back overseas to reach another new tribe.

Back in The Work. The only way to make your parents and their fellow Tribers proud of you.

Don't you think Scott Kennell had some dissonance? To help his older parents out, to be around them, he had to be a missionary. To be able to speak the language that only he and 200 other people in the world know, he had to be a missionary. To grow up on a river, be in tune with the natural tribal world, and then not to be . . .would have caused some incredible brain chaos. Then throw in sex. How was he to have a normal sex life with hovering elderly missionary parents? To understand that in the NTM culture he was supposed to be asexual? But yet all around him was porn, prostitutes, couples, families. Yes, a little perversion in adolescence can grow into the terrible outcome portrayed on 940 images on a hard drive.

So glad he in jail. But So sad he's in jail. We have triumphed in his arrest. But we mourn that he was one of us, and we failed to help him. We didn't see because we didn't want to. It is easier to halo the missionaries and MKs than to treat them as regular men and woman. If someone up above wants it this way, who are we to ask?

How many more really screwed up missionaries are out there? Who can they go to for help? Nowhere! If they do, their livelihood, their reason for being, their friends, their home, are taken away.

Don't put your eggs all in one basket. Your self-esteem needs a place to go if that falls thru. If you're not living a life saintly enough to be a missionary, well then quit. Resign. Go home. Have a back-up plan. Don't let missionaries go to the field without a back up plan. Desperation breeds irrational acts.
Guilt, shame is a heavy burden best dealt with when you're not desperate.

This isn't over. There are Kennell's among us. Be a real community--one who cares, helps, sees. Knows how to ask the right questions. See what comes up over a night out drinking.

Now that's an idea!

Practical, Allbetter.
Very practical thinking.
You are THINKING!
Victory!!!!

Thank you, Allbetter, for that deeply moving and excellent post.

You express this so well.

From the very first night I heard about the Scott Kennell horror, overarching other emotions I felt was a deep, overwhelming sadness.

Scott was one of us. A fellow NTM MK of mine. He spent his childhood in a tribe, in the jungle, like I did. Like me, his playmates had brown skin, and together they chattered in a different language than the English used around our dinner table.

Why couldn't he have been raised in a broken home by non-Christians, and had a miraculous save, after some wild teenage years during which The World filled his heart with sin? That would have helped explain his iniquity.

But no. He was one of us. And so I weep for him. But more so do I weep for the innocence he stole from vulnerable, trusting little girls. Little girls whose images are now leered at all over the world by other sick, sick people.

Your point is well taken, Allbetter. How many other Kennells are among us? The thought is horrifying.

And the set-up for a life of lies continues. Over and over I hear from MKs whose parents cannot accept their attempt to speak the truth about the pain they carry from a childhood of abuse, neglect and abandonment. These missionary parents cannot listen to truth. They would be happy if their child marched right back out to the field and plunged into the missionary life. But do not tell them the truth. They cannot handle it.

Tragedy upon tragedy. My heart is broken.

Iniquity!! I haven't heard that word since I stopped going to church Its good though. It means among other things--gross unfairness. Scott Kennell's heinous acts were terribly horribly unfair.

Unfairness is really hard to process. One of the toughest things in life to get over. Guessing that sometime in Kennell's life he was treated with gross unfairness. And he took it to an exponential level.

It's so very important that the small things in life are attended to--not just the "big picture"

Thanks so much for thinking and rethinking this stuff with me. I find that very few have the patience and fortitude that you all have displayed!

I need to make a decision very soon about going to the MKSafetyNet mini-conference in Corning. Any thoughts? PM me if you want to . . .

So when is the MK SafetyNet conference?

ViaWings, there is a one-day mini conference coming up soon, in Corning, NY, on May 17 of this year.

The big one, with special speakers and all will be next year.

In Atlanta, GA, April 17-19, 2015.

I hope even more of us can go than last year. Those of us who went to the conference in Chicago last year thought it was wonderful!

If you are going let me know by PM. When you are coming so I can arrange for someone to meet you. Also since I am doing the lunch I need to know how many are going to be there.

Would love to see a bunch of MKs there. Those who went to the Chicago conference said one of the best things was meeting with others who understand. This is a much smaller group but we should have a very good time together. Both the member of the Canadian board and the US board will be there. The board is made up of MKs and those who understand the abuse we have been through.