MK forum

I never said my children weren't abused but that i didn't hear about it from them till they were a bit older and by then it was too late as Frank had already passed away. I didn't know about the cover up till now and I am waiting to hear from Grace. They told me I would be contacted when a investigation is under way. I am doing all I can for now. I can't see what calling the police would do at this point as Frank is already gone.
About the mission, I guess I just see it differently. I see the mission more as purpose than a group of men,but I can see your point too. We are just looking at it from a different perspective. You see it as people. People who have failed miserably. And they have, but to me the mission is more than just those men. And when this is all over hopefully NTM will have a group of leaders (new ones of course) who are putting Christ first. Not themselves, not a mission board, and certainly not those who have lost their focus on what the real mission(purpose) is. Christ first, then family and then ministry.
Concerning the statement from MrsM(" I just ask that you don't make victims all over again of the ones who suffered abuse and are continuing to suffer.") I really don't know what you mean. How am I making anyone a victim all over again?

Re: Post by Keri ”Lets all be careful in instructing others in what we must and must not do.”
I am sorry that that came across so strong and was offensive. I meant it in a tone of pleading not commanding. Sorry. A poor choice of words when intonation and facial expression are lacking. Sorry

Many years ago a church was started in this area by a man who desired to spread Gods love to the community.This man had an obvious heart for God albeit a bit on the legalistic side. As time passed, the church grew and the power seemed to go to this pastors head. He began to control and not lead and the church became increasingly legalistic. As this was a gradual change over the years the people in the church didn’t see what they were being drawn into. It eventually came to the point that it was almost a cult before the people woke up to what was happening. As they investigated they discovered a number of sins this man had been covering up in his life. He was ousted immediately and other churches were notified. But the damage was done. They had a bad rap in the community because if this man. It took along time for them to heal and forgive.

Today they are a loving body of believers free of legalism and full of grace with a great, but humble, pastor. It would have been so easy for the sins of the leadership to have destroyed the whole church and it almost did. I see it the same with NTM. Not all people in NTM have the philosophies of the men who failed in the positions of leadership. If it IS the philosophies and theological basics of the mission that are in error, as Gene Long stated, then maybe NTM needs to disband or at least rewrite their philosophies and theological statement. My kids are both pretty perceptive when it comes to philosophy statements and theological stands and they both have shown a desire to return to NTM. This was not something I encouraged them to do in any way. I even warned then that things are not always the way they present them to you. (This was before the GRACE report )
But I stand behind them 100% in their decision. NTM needs people like them. People who know from experience how to forgive the way Christ forgave us when we were so completely undeserving. People who show grace like Jesus did with the woman caught in adultery.(Jn. 8:7 He that is without sin... let him cast the first stone) Jesus said in Matt.9:13 “I did not call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
So my goal is to see those who have abused their positions of leadership to repent. That repentance also entails that they need to own up to the penalty that they deserve for any crimes they committed. My concern in all of this is that SOME (not all) of us are more interested in destroying the persons who have wronged us, than we are in getting them to acknowledge and repent of their sin. If we are just trying to hurt them the way they hurt us then doesn’t that make us just as wrong as them?
God showed grace to all sinners( including me and you) so can’t we show grace too? That does not mean we let them off scot free. It just means that we tell the truth, the whole truth, in Love, not in spite.
Sorry if I sound preachy, but I hate seeing this forum used as a place to bash people who come on to share their thoughts, hurts and feelings. I saw a lot of bashing before I posted by a few people in the forum so I expected a few bashes as well. My concern is that there may be many out there who read the forums, but are afraid to share and be bashed for it. I belive it was developed to be used (correct me if I’m wrong) to encourage people to open up and share their fears, frustrations and experiences. I don’t have a problem with people who disagree with something I said or the way I said it(eg. Keri {thank you}) but I don’t believe the forum was begun as a tool to tear people apart. If people reading it see it as a bashing board they may clam up and not say anything to anybody, not even GRACE. I will do my part when it comes to GRACE but you probably won’t see me much around the forum any more.
For those of you who want to see the accused people repent and be held accountable for their sins, may |God bless you in your endeavor. In that, at least, I hope most of us agree.

Brasil: Good choice of words "bashing board." I have heard this said by others as well which is why some will no longer read the forum. I realize we are all in different stages here. Many have fresh wounds who are just now beginning to look at their hurts. Many have kept it bottled up inside for too long. But then there are many of us who are further down that road of healing. I don't desire to bash anyone. I just want the truth to be told, for there to be healing, and for there to be changes made by leadership. I think it's possible that there are many people reading who would like to share their stories but they don't want to throw stones at anyone nor do they want others to throw stones for them. Let's just try to be sensitive to others who post.

Very Well put Survivor.

i just read through this thread - if anything said on it is being taken as bashing, people are being over-sensitive. seriously. people will not agree with other people's posts, but so far everyone is being respectful of other opinions. so if that kind of fear is keeping people from posting, then i don't have a lot of sympathy, sorry.

I didn't mean bashing towards others who have written posts, I meant bashing of other people whether that be leadership, other MKs, or anyone else.
verily: You must be new? I haven't seen you post before. Welcome.