MK forum

Last month I read the Grace report. My heart was broken. Not only because I knew some of the adults involved but some of the children too. How could they do such a thing? How could the leaders in our mission actually allow these things to go on? They, of all people had the power to stop it and chose not to. I was very upset. It also got me thinking. I began to wonder how long they knew about it in Via before they intervened. I had assumed they were acting on completely new information. Now I know from reading in the Forum that it had been reported before and ignored. How maddening. I remember my daughter in 3rd grade crying and not wanting us to leave her in the dorm. I remember crying all the way back to Anapolis. I remember wanting to take her out of the school and teach her at home but my husband said “no, she would get used to it.” He had Frank and Joanne as dorm parents and he thought they were great. I gave in. I never felt welcome in the dorm by Frank but Joanne was always sweet. I trusted her completely.

I was so glad someone spoke up about Frank . Whoever spoke up and was responsible for getting Frank out of the dorm then I just want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your courage. And I do mean COURAGE.

As the years passed my daughter opened up more about what happened to her. I can’t say any more about that as that is her story to tell. However both my kids have told me that they were glad they went to Via and have mostly fond remembrances of Via. If I was to do it again, I would wait till high school. at least. when I knew my kids would not be afraid to tell us anything that was going on. Of course, now with all the on line stuff and home schooling tools and helps I feel home schooling is definitely the way to go. Boarding schools are definitely not needed now with all we have available at our fingertips.

What I did do at the time, however, was try to make changes in the regime. I requested that we have go home visits every weekend for those families living close enough to do so. After all they were our kids and leaving them at the boarding school was for education purposes only so why couldn't they come home when there wasn’t any school. I was told it was not fair for those who couldn't go home. I felt that was pretty lame, after all they were my kids. So, we visited once a week instead. That didn’t go over too well with Frank, but Bucky and Joanne N were all for it when they got there.
When my daughter went into 7th gr. I put my foot down and wanted visits to continue every 3 weeks and not change to every 6 weeks. This time I won! My best year in Brasil was the year that we were in the girls dorm. It was also my hardest year on the field. I saw first hand the real workings of Via. The rules that seemed to be there for no reason in particular. When I asked about them, no one seemed to know why the rule was there. That’s just the way it was. When I suggested changing it I was told to talk to Linda. She said it was there for a very good reason but could not tell me the reason just that it had to be that way. I was told by another staff that I better be careful about trying to change things because if not the “powers that be” would have us kicked out of the dorm.
They said it was best to be quiet and just go with the flow. Typically that is my way, but i was seeing too many injustices to the girls that I felt I needed to say something. So I continued, and sure enough we were kicked out of the dorm. Oh, they named off a list of accusations against us a mile long, which were untrue, and never gave us a chance to respond, but I always felt the real reason we were asked to leave was because I stuck up for the girls one too many times. Incidentally one of the board members resigned after that. I was told it was because he disagreed with what was done.
Us Anapolis people considered starting a school amongst our group with the parents teaching different grades and subjects but it was shot down because there would not have been enough kids left at Via to make a school. Looking back I wonder why I allowed them to control me so. Don’t get me wrong, I like these people. I like them a lot. Were they right ? NO. Should things have been done differently? YES. Have I made mistakes? Most definitely. So If I have made mistakes can I harshly judge others who have also made mistakes. No.
Where is God in all this? God doesn’t say bad things won’t happen, He just promises to be there for us when we run to Him.

So, do I fight for the Mission? YES. Am I a coward ? NO. Do I condone what they did? NO NO. Do they need to make changes? Absolutely. Should those involved in the cover up be removed from position ? YES. Should the sex offenders be prosecuted? YES. But, as Jean Johnson always said “Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater”. There a lot of good sincere people in NTM who have a real heart for the Lord. Will they make some mistakes along the way? Certainly. Can we forgive them? I hope so.
So what about those who have been hurt along the way by those who made mistakes and(worse) by those who chose to sin willfully? Only God can heal those wounds completely. An apology from the offenders will help and in some cases punishment needs to be meted out, counselling is helpful too, but only God can heal a broken and hurting heart.

We must not be bitter at the Mission. The bitterness will hurt us way more than them. Besides, it is not the mission that is bad, it was a generational culture. That’s right, a culture, the culture of a generation of people that grew up with, “Children are to be seen and not heard”, “Spare the rod spoil the child”, “Adults are right, even when their wrong”.....

A generation that grew up not talking about sex, let alone sexual sins. That’s how it was. Sex sins were hidden. Pregnant teenagers were sent away to a relatives till after the baby was born to hide the shame SHE brought on the family, even if the father of the baby was an uncle or your friends husband. Things were hidden. Not punished. These things have gone on (and continue to go on) for years and not just in boarding schools and missions, but in churches, families, communities, you name it. NTM is just a part of the evil world we live in. Do we have the right to condemn NTM? No more than we have the right to condemn the world. That is Gods job. Our job is to do the best we can to clean it, and ourselves, up. All this that is coming out right now may succeed in cleansing NTM and making it a better instrument in Gods hands than it ever has been before. Will it hurt? You bet. But it is a good hurt. A cleansing and correcting hurt. I know I need it sometimes in my heart and so does NTM.

We must not try to destroy them. God is at work through NTM despite its past and present sins. Many have been abused and hurt by people in the mission. The mission itself has been abused and hurt by the sins of people within it. God can heal us all and I believe God can heal the mission and use it once again for His purpose.

~a mom resting in God's grace

Let's all be very careful in instructing each other what we "must" and "must not" do.

Actually the mission has been abused. NTM was set up as a mission to share Gods word with those who would never have had the opportunity to hear of Gods saving grace any other way. But in order for this mission to get of the ground you need people. Some of those people had a heart for God and the mission to win souls for Him. Others got side tracked with their own agenda and the true spirit and purpose of the mission was abused. They used the name of the mission to fulfill their own need for power and control. They used our need for a school to teach our children to fulfill their sinful desires, all under the name of NTM and their purpose. To me this was abuse of the mission that Paul Flemming set up and the mission that many of us joined.

Thank you Brasil, for sharing your experiences. I appreciate you sharing what you went through. It means a lot that you were willing to share in a place that is a bit volatile right now, as far as people's emotions go.

As Mrs. M said, however, it is not just about whether abuse occured, but the fact that it was covered up. That is the real issue. When sin is covered up, it can not be dealt with appropriately! And meanwhile, other children may have been/will continue to be abused by these same perpetrators.

You said yourself, Brasil, that some of these men should not be around children, and they are! Until NTM decides to abhor the sin, and deal with the perpetrators of these CRIMES (let's not forget they are crimes!), the abuse will continue.

So, we must speak out. We must fight for justice for these victims...past, present and future.

Thank you for joining the discussion. I'm sure we will learn from each other how better to prevent such abuse from ever happening again. First, however, we must face the facts. The hard, ugly, dirty facts. And that is not easy for any of us!

The phrase "the mission has been abused" caught my eye. It personifies "the mission." I doubt I would have thought about this without that phrase. I know that another topic board has been discussing if New Tribes is culpable, or if it is New Tribes people that are culpable. The point of this post isn't about that. The personification is what intrigues me. I wonder what thoughts are created and what we overlook when we view the inanimate as a living and breathing thing.

If jackhammers and wrecking balls are bashing at the brick wall of a building I would never say they are abusing the building. I could say they are destroying the building, but not abusing. However, if I have mentally personified the building, I might use see abusing. Of course, my illustration is a little silly. New Tribes Mission is not a building. Think about it though. Let's say this building is a church building where many are being brought to salvation and nourished in the word and this has been true for centuries. Is it abuse to demolish that building? Are we destroying the church? Are we destroying God's work? Will God be limited in what He can do if this institution is destroyed?

I recently learned some family history. My Dad's grandfather and step-uncle worked with a crew drilling oil wells around the state. (in the 30's,40's) The two of them bought a tent canvas and a bunch of folding chairs. At every town they had tent meetings. My Dad told me that 13 churches resulted from those meetings. Awesome! How exciting! Then my Dad went on to say that only about 3-4 of those churches still exist and my heart sank. It was as if I thought, "Oh, so they actually only started 3-4 churches." Silly me! What about all the people who believed during the years that those particular institutions/organizations existed?

It is so easy to forget that God doesn't need any of us; people, groups or organizations. Have you ever heard someone say..., "If so-and-so got saved, God could really use them." implying that the person has special skills or life story that make them more useful than some other person? This is so inconsistent with what we know is true. We have nothing to give God that He didn't give us. I can stand and do a sermon, or teach a Sunday school lesson or evangelize. This is empty and meaningless unless God accepts these offerings and does what is His alone.

In Isaiah 42:8 God says,
"I am the Lord, that is My name; My glory I give to no other, nor My praise to idols".

Idols made of wood, or jade, gold and silver are easy to recognize as idols. Enough sermons have been preached that we recognize that money, health and family can become idols. Is it possible for a mission agency to become our idol?

In Amos 5:20-24 God says,
“I hate, I despise your feasts, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,I will not accept them;
and the peace offerings of your fattened animals, I will not look upon them.
Take away from me the noise of your songs;to the melody of your harps I will not listen.
But let justice roll down like waters,and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Do you see it? Do you see what these verses say to us individually and to the mission corporately?

Brasil, I appreciate you sharing honestly with us. I think it's interesting that you used the word perspective. You are exactly right, this is your perspective. And while you suffered injustices at the hand of NTM, apparently your children were spared. I praise the Lord with you that your daughters were never abused. However I have to assume that if one of your children had been abused, then the board covered it up, then you were ostracized while told to be quiet about the abuse, etc...............your perspective would be different. As a mom now myself, I would go to the ends of the earth to protect my kids. Am I making sense? Everyone's perspective is different based on their life experiences, but as Ornery has so eloquently pointed out to us NTM has covered up crimes and sins. No one here is trying to destroy the mission, BUT we want to see drastic change and a real purging of the organization.

Yes, I did speak out about Frank, and although he was removed from the dorm, he was given safe haven at Via. NOt only was there a cover up of his crime, he became the victim. Others before me tried to speak but were shut down.

There is such a break down in accountability and true justice in NTM. It's appaling to me that you were kicked out of the dorm for defending the girls, but yet a pedophile was left to stay in the dorm without any investigation or inquiry. (referring to the time that Memories' parents went to the board)

We want change and justice, not destruction!!!

to MK Sheri - My spouse and I thought your message above was succinct and thorough. the verses in Amos are such a light on this whole process. We will be pondering this. thank you for your eloquence in sharing.

I think I can state for my fellow MKs that many children were sacrificed on the altar of NTM, which was idolized by many in leadership. The mission organization HAD to go on. Thus, people were hushed up, brushed aside, shot down, dismissed because they rocked the boat, victims were ostracized, pedophiles were granted asylum and/or promoted, and the silence was DEAFENING!!!

So, yes, I believe those in leadership made an idol out of the mission, seeking to preserve it and their reputation as leaders at the cost of the souls of children they should have done the most to protect.

Therein lies the outrage so many of us feel!