MK forum

I have been reading the Via forum for at least a week now. I remember one person asked in a post if there were any other sexual abusers other than Frank Parker. I'd like to answer that question now. Steve Armour is a pedophile. He abused 5 girls and another that has repressed memories but all the symptoms of having been abused. In that lineup of girls, I was the first. As best I can piece together, the abuse happened over 8 yrs. He never admitted to any of the girls until he was questioned about it. In other words, when asked if there were more victims, he said no. Then years later we find another, than another and so on. He never came clean until he was "caught." But even today he denies that he abused three of the girls I mentioned above.
I told my parents of the abuse in '91. They confronted Steve who said it was something he was over and that no one else had been abused. We were very naive about abuse then and wanted to believe him. Seven years later, we learned of another victim and this time we went to field leadership. He was dismissed from NTM and MNTB although I did hear that MNTB did not think it necessary for him to be dismissed.
Their home-supporting church wanted them to stay stateside for a year in order to get counseling for their whole family. They also did not want them involved in any ministry for a year. Against their church's advice, they returned to Brazil and jumped back into ministry. Steve went to only one counseling session where the very inexperienced and unwise counselor said he was healed from sexually abusing. To this day, from what I know, their ministry is for children.
I write this for two reasons. 1) It recently came to my attention that there may have been other victims. So far all the victims were relatives of mine. If there are any girls out there who were abused by Steve, please don't feel alone. I know the mass of emotions you are going through. If you speak up, you think you will destroy friendships and hurt people. But if you remain silent, you are dying inside and you are living a lie trying to believe that everything's ok. Also, please know that Steve preyed on you. He sought out those who wanted the attention and who weren't very connected with their parents. I know you enjoyed the attention at first and feeling special to someone who was like a dad to you. But please understand that he took advantage of you. He had no right to your body. Sidenote: His preffered victims were 1st-6th grade) 2) I know that the Armour family has tried to recruit many MKs to take part in their ministry. Before anyone decides to be part of that or even be involved with the Armours, I want you to know the truth. Steve still doesn't believe he needs any counseling or accountability. He thinks accountability with his family is enough. He is not truly repentant although he would say otherwise but his actions speak for themselves. He doesn't understand the damage his abuse has caused. This has been mentioned in another post too but an abuser does not just change their actions. It's an addiction which will continue to happen unless they get intensive godly counsel and have major accountability set up in their lives.
Anyway, I just wanted to send this out as a warning and hopefully so that other victims of his won't feel alone.

Survivor - I am so so sorry to hear what you have suffered. You are not alone - you never were. Obviously, God was there. And obviously, your parents loved you. We all thought we were alone, when most of us were experiencing horrific injustices.
Thank you so much for sharing your story. You are so much farther in your healing journey than I. Abracos to you, amiga.

Thank you for your courage. I'm crying for you, and spitting angry at the church for letting him go. Who wants to go down south, find and arrest him?

Thank you, Survivor. Your testimony took a lot of courage! It is my hope, as it is yours, that any other victims might see your post and begin to not feel so alone, to have the courage to come forward and share their story- and then, join with all of us to stop the abuse!

Thanks for sharing your story. Please know we are standing with you!

Hurt-n-Hopeful

Thank you for having the courage to name Steve Armour as a pedophile. All of these corrupt people should be brought out in the open. The sex offenders in our community are all named and put out there for the public to see, it should be no different for these so-called Christians who molested the innocent children of missionaries. THEY SHOULD NOT BE PROTECTED!!
My heart goes out to all of you for the hurt, devastation and torment you have had to endure!!

I should add that their home church stopped supporting them after this. The church really wanted to help restore Steve but it was obvious that restoration was not important to him.

I was so unaware, I´m so sorry you went through that. Thank you for posting and giving others a place to start!

@ survivor:

I never knew and wish I'd known what Steve did to you. Thank you for telling your story. Wow . . . . I grieve . . .unbelievable!

On another note, I spent a fair amount of time around your parents and your brothers while attending Via, and never witnessed your father (or mother) act with anything other than grace. Thanks for sharing and setting the record straight about that issue . . . .

Abracos!

to Staffkid: We are all at different phases in our healing. I have gone through many phases myself, gone through counseling twice, read all I can get my hands on about sexual abuse and tried to surround myself with people who support me in this. There is nothing worse than people who don't understand what you're going through and don't want to understand. One of the most hurtful things someone can do is simply not listen to you when you want and need to explain yourself. But there is healing and what a victory it is. I feel like healing is like giving Satan a big kick in the pants. Satan will NOT get the victory because of someone's choice to sin against me. Neither will Steve continue to control me. Staffkid, I don't know your story but don't give up in the healing process. Having gone through this, I have so much more understanding, compassion, and discernment. Not to say that there weren't times of intense anger, confusion, crying till I ached, and wanting to physically hurt Steve. One verse that means so much to me is in the story of Joseph when he says to his brothers (I'm paraphrasing), "You meant this for evil but God has used it for good." Whether it was Steve or Satan who meant for this abuse to destroy me, God has used it for good. Keep healing, my friend.

Yes, about your parents (who´s parents were perfect? and who´s been a perfect parent?), I felt a sinking when I saw that comment and then was so relieved when I read your subsequent comment defending judiciously. Only, of course, to feel the sinking again when I read what you wrote now. Sonia was kind of a haven for me at Via with the help with the Discovery program - we´re going to pick up the pieces from the fall out from all of this for years. My heart hurts.