MK forum

There has been some discussion regarding retroactive terminations of former members of NTM who committed child abuse and/ or conspired to cover it up.

I think it is simply a way of making a statement, of saying "We are now doing what we should have done before." That may seem weak, but my feeling is that it is better than nothing. It's certainly better than allowing such people to resign and then giving them a recommendation to another ministry or even a job in the larger marketplace.

Moreover, from the standpoint of tangible action, if NTM follows the suggestion GRACE made regarding fully cooperating with any and all civil and/or criminal investigations and/or actions relating to the actions of these people, there is hope that some progress will be made on that front as well.

My question is this: Will this sort of action be considered for other crimes/ sins as well? Or, will other, similar events be ignored?

For example: Joel Price resigned from NTM before he was arrested for, and eventually pleaded guilty of, possession of child pornography. In talking to the press, NTM "forgot" that Joel Price had had contact with young people, even though this information was widely available in NTM's own publications.

As long as retroactive terminations are on the table, maybe one could be allocated to Mr. Price as well. And maybe the person who misled the press could get a termination from active membership and start contributing 10% of their total receipts to the MK Fund.

Do you have any notion of whether retroactive terms afford a legal benefit?

I can't see any specific benefits to anybody over retroactive terminations. It just looks to me like NTM is being told to say, "We did not fire him before when we should have. That was wrong and we admit it." But, I'm no lawyer.

The GRACE report seems to handle the legal implications under this recommendation: "Finally, NTM shall fully cooperate with any and all civil and/or criminal investigations and/or actions relating to the alleged abuse and conduct of" the various members/ former members.

One wonders how these sorts of agreements could ever be enforced. What happens once NTM has made the appropriate gestures, the pressure subsides and a couple of years roll by? Or, for that matter, a couple of weeks? People are easily distracted. Who will know how NTM handles any civil and/ or criminal investigations and/ or actions? Who will care?

"People are easily distracted. Who will know how NTM handles any civil and/ or criminal investigations and/ or actions? Who will care?"

This is very true. This is a big problem for humanitarian non-profits too. Haiti was a big example: As long as Haiti was in the news, the public was aware and was donating to the relief effort. As soon as Haiti dropped from the media spotlight, donations dropped too. This issue with NTM will probably have the same effect on concerned observers once the heat dies down. Maybe what's needed is some way to monitor NTM's actions over the weeks/months/years, reporting regularly (bi-weekly? monthly?) on a website. Just an idea.

For Gene Long did you know that Joel Price is in jail isnt' that enough. You sound very bitter to me and I just think that if you would forgive and leave Joel Price alone he will be better off he is a registerd sex offender so what good would that do to fire him now? He quit on his own before he was ever arrested and he pleaded guilty he did not fight it and make it a big embarrassment for NTM and his parents so why are you?

By the way did you notice that not many people are saying positive things about NTM maybe it is because there is too much hate and not enough love on this site.

Update 10/05/10

Personnel: We have not yet been able to finalize action on the four remaining personnel recommendations as we had planned. In three cases, we are waiting for GRACE to complete their work, and in one case we are still looking into the situation in order to determine the appropriate measures to take.