"We, the Board of ABWE and ABWE Administration ask for your forgiveness."

Repentance is great, but SO many in church leadership have no concept of the predator mentality, and what’s worse, they don’t want to know. It’s high time folks put down their commentaries long enough to do some reading on forensic criminology and victimology. If one chooses to remain ignorant of these issues in spite of all the information available, they are an accessory as far as I’m concerned.

I know the president of ABWE personally, and I hear his voice coming through this letter so well. You would hear it, too, if you had ever met him. He is a somewhat unique and sensitive man. I’m glad he’s holding to his integrity and being a leader. I pray it continues and he has God’s wisdom.

[ABWE] Dear ABWE MKs and families, please do not think that we now believe the matter is settled simply because we have taken ownership of our wrongs against you. This matter is not settled. It is only a first step in the right direction. There are more steps to be taken. While we will never be able to make it all right, we are committed to redressing the wrongs and making right what we can. We desire to see your faces and hear your voices. We desire to voice our apologies to you face to face and are willing to meet with any of you, anytime, in a safe setting acceptable to you.

We want to be both public and private in our apologies to each of you. That is why we are sharing this first on the blog, publicly. But we also want to be personal, specific and individual in our apologies, and so we hope with all our hearts that you will give us the opportunity to ask for your forgiveness face to face.

Roland,
There’s lots of biblical precedent for confessing the sins of one’s predecessors. Some poignant examples in Daniel and Nehemiah.
If you identify strongly with those who committed the offenses, it’s quite appropriate to “own” them. It’s also necessary for an organization to make things right and move forward in its relationships with victims and their descendents.
Since the organization has an identity of it’s own, those who are part of that organization are part of it’s past failures.

Nehemiah 1:6-7
Jeremiah 3:25
Daniel 9:7-8

[RPittman] You’re heard of wearing one’s piety on his or her sleeve, this is wearing one’s repentance on one’s sleeve. It’s a great show of political correctness.

Breathtaking. You not only fault them for following the pattern of Scripture but attribute ugly motives to them as well!

Thank you,

Forrest

Thank you, Aaron. “Breath-taking” is the correct word.

I know Mike Loftis personally and I agree with Anne and this letter has his fingerprints all over it and because I know him, I can also sense his pain and regret. I also know that Mike loved his predecessor and this letter assumes responsibility that is now his without casting dispersion on a leader who can no longer speak for or to his actions. Classy.

I’ve seen boards, churches and other spiritual institutions sweep stuff on the rug all my life. The board of ABWE has set an example for all of us to humble consider should we find ourselves in a similar situation. My respect level has soared for them as has my empathy for those victimized by the pedophile in question. We should pray for all involved.

Thankful that ABWE has taken responsibility for this situation in a rather public and transparent manner.

I wish [redacted] had done this when [redacted] was arrested years ago for a similar crime. Instead, they hid behind lawyers and attempt to cover things up.

Thank you ABWE for setting an example of how to handle a sensitive situation.

[tlange] Thankful that ABWE has taken responsibility for this situation in a rather public and transparent manner.

I wish [redacted] had done this when [redacted] was arrested years ago for a similar crime. Instead, they hid behind lawyers and attempt to cover things up.

Thank you ABWE for setting an example of how to handle a sensitive situation.

Having Mr. “Redacted” redacted makes it seem like we are covering up for sin. If Mr. “Redacted” actually did wrong he ruined his own reputation. We also have a responsibility to protect our charges from potential injury by Mr. “redacted”. How can we do that if we don’t know his name?

Is he on a predator list?

Yes. All the redacting gives evidence to the “good ol’ boy” network in the IFB that protects mens’ reputations on the backs of victims.

Ironic.

Any moderator editing you see is for the purposes of keeping this thread on topic. The topic is contained in the opening post. Please do not use this thread to rehash past incidents of this nature.

After learning of additional victims in 2002, an investigation was begun but never completed. This was wrong. Please forgive us for this failure.

I think this was where the MK’s from Bangladesh frustrations with the current administration came from. That the culture of cover up continued until a few weeks ago. Yet ABWE has taken an important first step of making things right by asking for forgiveness and pursuing justice, healing, and reconciliation with and for the many MK’s that were abused and their families. I fully believe that they will continue to do the right thing, especially if there is a non-biased 3rd party that can do the full investigation. The MK’s and their families are strongly recommending a group called Grace.
http://www.netgrace.org/index.asp?str_string=Home~none~none

Grace just finished investigating and working with New Tribes over an sexual abuse scandal from the 1980’s in West Africa.

*** Forum Director Comment ****

On the redactions

I’m not a big fan of redactions, but seriously we are just trying to keep this thread on track. The moderators and admin team have a private thread where we discuss (and try to reach a consensus) Sharper Iron forum issues. We don’t always handle things consistently or even always handle things well (hindsight being 20/20). But there is no “coverup” or conspiracy. All the redacted names have been thoroughly discussed on SharperIron and those threads are still out there. So just a reality check for all

Thanks

*****************************

(OK, all the “redacted” stuff is my fault. I bypassed our usual team discussion of these things and just started hacking away. Not sure what came over me. Maybe it’s my other job with the NSA. Oops. Did I just say that out loud? Anyway, “[redacted] ” is not how we usually do these things, and you’re not likely to see it much going forward.)

It is kind of funny how people get to thinking that a reluctance to turn a discussion into a rehash of old arguments that have all been talked to death already all over the Web = some kind of coverup or is somehow protecting some guilty party.

To get back on topic…
It’s encouraging to see ABWE be so unvarnished about this and I sincerely hope it helps both them and all those hurt move forward with a renewed zeal for the work God has given them to do.

Others in our movement could learn from ABWE’s first step.

Roland,

The sin confessed here lies at he hands of previous ABWE leadership that covered up a crime. I will say again. Other’s in our movement would do well to follow this example.

[Louise Dan] I understand, Aaron. But this is quite relevant to these other situations and discussions. Could I start a new thread that discusses the implications of ABWE’s example on these other situations?

Fair enough. Go for it.