MK forum

Written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, produced by Quincy Jones
USA for Africa - We Are The World

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2W4-0qUdHY

1 Timothy 2:1-4
New International Version (NIV)


I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— 2 for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. 3 This is good, and pleases God our Savior, 4 who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

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For those who plan to listen to Rush Limbaugh today, have you prayed for our president this morning, in obedience to the above Scripture? Have you prayed that God will protect his marriage? Have you prayed for his two daughters? Might you pray that God will give him wisdom as he directs the affairs of our Executive branch?

"sweet and touching post"?

I'm a Josey Wales wannabe.
I come from a long line of Anglo-Saxon/Cherokee/Portuguese pirate warriors.
I cheer for the Tennessee Volunteers (I actually threw half a chocolate bar in disgust when we were getting creamed by Alabama at Neyland Stadium....it accidentally hit a Bama fan in the next row, right on top of his Bear Bryant hat). He turned around but my good Christian friend next to me said he had no idea where it came from...I just looked ahead, trying to figure out how my aim had gotten so bad....I intended to launch the projectile up in the air, and instead it went almost straight down)

Anyways, could you modify your description of my ramblings, to bolster my fragile male ego? I await your next offering with bated Trident breath.

Haha, Demos, you started my morning off with a good chuckle! I can totally picture the candy-bar-missile story!

Don't choke on your Trident, but I'm not going to retract my previous post. Because I know you love your entire extended family, and understand the complicated tangle that is the NTM family tree so well. And that is something I can relate to. From the time I toddled around Fouts Springs up till just a couple of years ago, my NTM roots ran so deep they reached almost all the way back to Paul Fleming.

Now through marriages in my extended family I am "related" to Royers (et al), Aspinwalls, Jean Dye Johnson (et al), Gutweins (et al), Steffens ... all familiar names. And because all through childhood my family prayed for every family in NTM, I recognized many of the names on the now-defunct List of Abusers. I have known a majority of the members of the Executive Committees of years past, and certain field committee members and other leaders and people of influence.

Yes, I do get it. All of it. Your poignant concern for people you love. And your insistence that child abuse cannot be addressed properly in-house.

Keep dripping that faucet, Demos. Or ringing that bell! Or tossing that candy bar! You are not alone in this!!

Then there was the New Tribes family where the daughter was married to her first cousin, who was married to another famous New Tribes family's second cousin, who's uncle was also her grandfather, which made her her own Aunt three times removed .

Hence the saying "Beware Unmarried/Family/Matriac Cousins of a Lovely Nature"

Even for people (like me!) with no family connections to the mission, it is hard to see the seriousness of issues - whatever the issues may be - as they come up. I have nothing but total sympathy for those people now in NTM who are at a loss as to what to do!

Back in the days when I was a Triber, I excused one weird aberration after another. This was easy to do since they were, after all, aberrations! After a while, when it became apparent that they were too common to be, strictly speaking, aberrant, they became "just the way things are" and I still overlooked them.

Using mistreatment of missionaries as an example, let me share part of the reason why it was so easy to fall into this:

It didn't touch me. I'm ashamed to admit it, but it's true: I saw missionaries treated unfairly, hounded off the field with their reputations shattered and I did nothing, said nothing. I may have, on some occasions, commiserated with fellow missionaries, but it usually devolved into a "yes-he-was-mistreated-but-he-should-have-handled-it-differently" resolution. In the trade, this is known as "blame the victim." It is subtle and it is pernicious, because it is a self-defense mechanism.

I knew the men in leadership, even though I wasn't related to them, and I admired them. The men I knew on both the field and home ends, with few exceptions, were personable, warm, talented and accomplished people. (Yes, I was in the same NTM as you, Mosquito Bite!) Consequently, it was easy to trust them. After all, no one is perfect.

I was convinced that the ministry I was involved in was an important part of God's plan. If I quit in protest because Mr. and Mrs. Missionary were mistreated, would that accomplish anything besides my leaving the work? That would be pointless. Unspoken, of course, was the fact that it would also be uncomfortable and inconvenient for me, which leads to the next point...

New Tribes Mission was to me like Roman citizenship was to Paul. However bad it was, it was my ticket to being here with the tribal people. It was also, not insignificantly, the way I got my money. Self-interest at work again.

Inexplicably, New Tribes Mission has a lot more credibility than any single person in it... probably for very similar reasons as I've just listed!

That is a good accurate summary of how someone ends up condoning something that they don't actually agree with. It's a gradual process where the small bad is initially outweighed by the enormous good, but slowly the enormous good is eroded by the incoming tide of bad, until one day the sand castle is gone.
It's how cults attract adherents, even political parties do it. It takes a brave person to draw a line in the sand and say "enough is enough"!

http://usa.ntm.org/mission-news/45954/m ... t-ministry

Dear Jon Parker,

I enjoyed the article at ntm.org about your ministry.

Thank you for singing at our wedding, along with your lovely wife.
Thank you for teaching me Sunday School when I was in the 6th grade.
You never rolled your eyes once when we picked "Father Abraham", Sunday after Sunday. You are a very patient person.
We all thought you were going to marry Kristina Whitaker. And, with no offense to Kristina, we're glad you married Lisa.
May God bless you both in these times of separation from those you love most, including your grandchild.
You taught us how to treat a girl. We watched you date Kristina for 3 years. You guys sometimes sat at the well near the Jane House (I think that is the only house currently inhabited on the "land", although they're fixin' to move Shekinah to Via, so that place should be hopping again in January---please don't give up Shekinah, MNTB....I still want to swim in the represa one more time). Anyways, I'm sure all the high school girls would have liked a chance to be your girlfriend, but you never acted like the "ladies man". I was in the 4th through 6th grades while you guys dated. We would play "shark" on the mutirama next to the little dorm, while you guys strolled by. We didn't dare tease you too much, because you were already so tall, we knew we could get in big trouble really fast. But your example was the best example I had growing up of what it meant to be faithful, even in a dating relationship. You treated your classmates with dignity. I think you worked behind the scenes to make sure Ritchie got to be Student Council president your senior year. Do you know where your classmate Tom Caylor lives? It's interesting, your class seemed to ooze maturity, and I think that was, at least in part, because of your example. It was you, Ritchie Hann, Tom Caylor, Kristina, Donna (she married Scott, didn't she), and one more....was it Scott's oldest sister, or was it Mary Nichols? I forget.

Anyways, um bom dia de trabalho. Que Deus te abençoe ricamente.

Nashville pastor
headed to prison
for sexually
assaulting church
member

John T. Vine, a former South Nashville
pastor, will serve 22 years in prison for
sexually assaulting a teenage girl who
attended his church.

In May, a jury found Vine, 68, a former
pastor,, guilty of two counts of aggravated
sexual battery and one count of solicitation
of a minor.

Davidson County Criminal Court Judge Seth
Norman delivered the sentence on
Wednesday.

Vine met the victim at the Baptist church
when the victim was a small child. He was a
longtime church member who gave
occasional sermons, according to to district
attorney spokeswoman Susan Niland.

For years she attended the church with her
mom, a single mother of five.

According to the police report, Vine used to
buy the mother clothes and food for her
kids and helped her out with bills. The
family used to affectionately refer to Vine
as “Granddad.”

When the victim was 11, about six years
ago, her mother was attending a women’s
retreat and left her daughter with Vine at
his home, which is when the sexual abuse
began. Several other instances followed.

The report described how he, on various
occasions, rubbed the victim with lotion
against her will and spoke to her about
sexual topics. In one incident, he
purchased a bathing suit for her and tried
to cajole her to try it on, but she refused.

According to the report, Vine stepped
down after other allegations against him
emerged. He then became a pastor at
Faith United Church in North Nashville.

When he was approached about the sexual
abuse, he said, “I was foolish. I’m human,
and I make mistakes. I’m alone and
lonely,” according to the report.

Before his conviction, he said he was in sex
offender treatment.

Vine was sentenced to 11 years for each of
the aggravated sexual battery charges,
which will be served consecutively. He was sentenced to five years for the solicitation charge, which will be served alongside the other convictions.

The Tennessean does not identify victims of sex crimes.

Reach Bobby Allyn at 615-726-5990 or ballyn@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyAllyn

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120 ... ck_check=1