The Weekly Wrap-Up: February 18-22, 2019

You can tell I'm feeling better about life because I've been doing more blogging! Although, if I keep reading/watching the news like I have been, that good feeling may not last too long.

But whatever, you're here to hear what I've been up to this week.

The answer? Spanish. So much Spanish. I was able to format four new groups of files, but I'm still making my way through all of them to make sure all of the text is visible as NVI tends to be longer than RVR. Sometimes, this means whole pages are thrown off. I'll go through them again before publishing, but this is kind of a rush job. A lot of people are waiting on these booklets.

I appreciated our prayer hour this week. Shirley put up all of the active or retired missionaries prayer cards so we could pray for our guys. I think we often pray for projects or regions, but we rarely take the time to pray for our own folks, which is a shame.

I like being on my own when we do these things, so Sarah was kind enough to snap a photo of me doing just that. 

Finally, I can't let you go without seeing how amazing we all are at coordinating our outfits without actually telling anyone about it ahead of time. 

Phil's Ears

We have devotions and prayer every Monday morning in each department. It's a time to fellowship with one another, check in on everyone's work load and personal lives, and set the tone for the week ahead. It looks different in each department, but by and large, I think everyone appreciates having this time. It's certainly different from what happens in other offices.

This week's devotional time has stuck with me quite a bit, so in true Hollopeter fashion, I've decided to beat it to death in a blog post.

Our reading this week comes from Acts 8:26-40, and because I'm a nice person, I'm going to copy/paste the Scripture here instead of making you find it. And I'm even going to switch my BibleGateway back to English so you don't have to read it in Spanish.



Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this:

“Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opens not his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him.
Who can describe his generation?
For his life is taken away from the earth.”

And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.



There is a lot to unpack here, but I'll try to hit some highlights.

We tend to use the I Am Second questions when doing Bible study. If you haven't done it, I'd recommend it. It actually helps you look at a passage more critically. So the five questions are:

What did you like about this passage?
What did you not like or what was confusing?
What does this passage tell us about people?
What does this passage tell us about God?
How do we apply these lessons in our own lives?

One of the first things I noted is that this is a complete story. By which I mean, it's a self-contained story. Yes, there's a lot going on around it, but you don't really have to know a lot of other stuff to understand what's happening in this story. (I think you get more out of it when you do research into the background - for example, a eunuch can't enter the temple, yet he still felt a need to go to Jerusalem to worship. That's fascinating to me.) There's a premise, a conflict, and a resolution. And maybe I'm wrong, but this tells me that there's a lesson contained in this story that isn't necessarily contingent on other stories or the larger story. 

But what is it? You'd be tempted to take it as a lesson of ministry - go away from home, find people who are hungry for truth, give them answers, then leave to reach more people. And I'm not saying any of that is necessarily wrong. But it's not the only example of how to minister to people. It's not consistent with the story as a whole if you take it as the end all, be all. (Which is why you still have to read the self-contained stories in the context of the larger story.) 

So what is the lesson? I posited the theory that the lesson is actually on listening and responding appropriately. It actually happens a lot in the story. The Spirit tells Philip to take the road to Gaza. Philip listens to what the angel says, and he goes. He doesn't argue that he had something else in mind for the day. He doesn't say it isn't part of his strategy. He just goes. 

Then the Spirit tells him to go over to a certain chariot. Philip listens, and he goes. He doesn't say, "Uh, you told me to go to Gaza, so that's where I'm going." He doesn't question the supposed change in plan. (Because it isn't. The Spirit told Philip to take the road that goes to Gaza - not necessarily to go to Gaza. How many times do we interpret a message from the Lord as more than what was meant? But I digress.) 

Philip overhears the Ethiopian reading from Scripture. He doesn't assume the man doesn't know what he's reading. He doesn't force his company on the man. He asks a question (possibly a closed question, but one that could lead to further dialogue either way) and then listens to the response. When the man says he could use some help, he extends the invitation to Philip. Philip listens to his question, and he starts from that question. He doesn't bring the history of his sending organization into it, or the philosophy of the founder. He uses that question as a bridge to the ultimate truth of Jesus. 

At some point, they must have talked about baptism, because when the eunuch brings it up, Philip is cool with it. He doesn't insist the man go to seminary or quit his job or become a member of the Jerusalem church. He listens to the man's heart and baptizes him.

I don't know how the next part happened. Whether the Spirit literally made Philip disappear, or the Spirit told Philip it was time to leave. Regardless, Philip goes. He doesn't insist on follow-up or discipleship training. He doesn't check in six months later to make sure the Ethiopian is doing things the 'right' way. I got a little personal on this one, because I questioned our adherence to one of our most talked-about principles of training - MAWL. Despite being unfortunately named, I actually think it's a good idea. We Model a new application, we Assist those we train, we Watch them train others, and then we Leave. Supposedly. Because sometimes, I feel like we Linger. Are they really doing it correctly? It looks different from when we showed them. Maybe we need to stay in charge, just in case. Which is how you get the white savior complex in a lot of missionary movements. Of course things are going to look different! It's a different culture! If the message is good, then how it gets out is not as important. 

What do you think? Is listening (and responding appropriately) a good lesson to get out of this? What else did you like? What was confusing? What did you learn about people? What did you learn about God? And how are you going to apply those lessons in your own lives?

I, for one, hope to learn how to listen more thoughtfully. But not just listen. I want to be better at responding to spiritual promptings.

It's a terrifying thing. 

The Weekly Wrap-Up: February 11-15, 2019

Do you ever have those days/weeks that are perfectly fine and then you have a moment right at the very end that just throws everything way off and you can't understand how you were fine ten minutes ago but now you're not sure which way is up?

Yeah, me neither.

Anyway, my week was pretty good. Nothing Earth shattering. OMS as a whole has been keeping an eye on things in Haiti and finally made the decision to bring most folks back to the States. I know it was a hard decision, but things have gotten quite bad there rather quickly, so I think it makes sense. Please pray for the national workers, teachers, and students who do not have the ability to leave such a volatile situation.

My prayer letter will be going out next week thanks to the time I spent on it this week. I try to make it interesting, but if you ever have anything you'd like to know that I'm not covering, please feel free to ask. I'm always happy to share more.

I'm working on a training model for T&M production. I was trained over a few years, which isn't overly conducive to rapid output, so I'm hoping to develop some tools that will make the process easier and faster. It's quite a complex process, though not difficult, so I'm trying to figure out what to cover in what order.

In the midst of this, I managed to get another group of Hakha Chin done. But I interrupted the last group so I could get some Spanish NVI formatted. It's fitting into the RVR booklets well, but there are some significant differences in length for certain verses. I've been spending quite a bit of time on Bible Gateway calling on my high school Spanish.

Our staff briefing this week went over the allotted hour. I did learn some things, but my eyes glazed over a bit toward the end, so I lost most of it. I'd listen to the recording, but I don't think I can put myself through that again.

On an unrelated note, it was cold shoulder week. I didn't realize until someone pointed out that I'd worn a shirt that showed off the shoulders two days in a row, and I decided to see if I could go all week. You'll have to take my word for it because I didn't think to take pictures, and what would pictures have proved, anyway? That I have shoulders? Stop the presses.

I told you, we ended in a weird place today. 

Oh look. It happened again 

I don't think I have the emotional capacity to comment on this one. Maybe in the future. But you should definitely read the article. Actually hear what the victims are saying. Listen to how church leaders try to justify their inaction or their sinful actions.

And then stop questioning why people want nothing to do with religion. Millennials aren't killing the church. The church is killing the church.

The Weekly Wrap-Up: February 4-8, 2019

Wow, I am blogging a lot this week. I guess I had a lot to say.

Of course, that probably means I've already used my words for the week.

Oops.

Umm, highlights - two more groups of Hakha Chin in the can. I stole a new desk chair. (It wasn't being used, don't worry.) I had a super productive meeting with V on Tuesday and then a highly frustrating one today.

Oh, and remember when I put my foot down and said, "There will be no Beta publication. If you can't get your stuff done before a training event, don't expect me to stop everything and get a half-done booklet sort of published for this one occasion." and everyone agreed with me and said this will be much more efficient to the process?

Yeah, guess who got overruled...

I'm gonna go do three groups of Korean now in the way we all agreed made no sense to do them.




I waited to post this because I thought I might become less annoyed. I haven't. But I'm done with the job, so I can actually leave now. Thankfully, I can leave all this behind and enjoy my weekend.

Here, have a fun photo from this week. That's Sarah in back, of course, and Ashleigh up front. We were at a stop sign, so don't freak out like I did when I didn't know what was going on.

The Philippine Adventure: Revenge of Qatar

Previously on The Philippine Adventure:

We left Tarlac at 1:30 pm on February 6 Philippines time. That's 12:30 AM February 6 in Greenwood. 



Wow. Way to leave you on a cliffhanger for... um... was it really seven months ago? Wow. Guys, I am sorry. Last year was just, like, not great for finishing things. Or starting things. Or any of the middle bits. But since I can officially give blood again (had to wait a year since the Philippines is apparently a malaria-prone country, despite me not having to take malaria meds while I was there), I figured you should finally have the conclusion to that trip. (Also, my computer went nuts in the intervening period, so I lost some pictures, but we'll do our best to keep you properly entertained.)

Right, so like I said, we left Tarlac on the afternoon of February 6. This was planned, it was in the schedule, and we were solidly on time. 

Along the way, we made a stop at a rest area. And because you can't get away from them, we saw one of these: 

Yes, they are everywhere. But I also got a nice treat of my own, so whatever.

I saw more of Manila this time. Because it's so large, most of our travel time on the bus was actually just getting through Manila and back to the same hotel that we stayed at before. 

I think Jollibee might be the official restaurant in the Philippines. I remember seeing it on Parts Unknown, and while I didn't get to go in, I would have had ample opportunity, because they are everywhere.

This is a very small taste of traffic in Manila. Driving is no where near as bad as Bangladesh, but I would not want to be the one in control of a vehicle here. 

I had to take this picture because I needed you to understand just how high some of the main roads are compared to everything else. Plus, we were in a bus, so I can't guarantee that our center of gravity wouldn't have tipped us over the side if someone had run into us. 

So, my travel companions were once again Vicki, Paula, Brian, and Greg. And the five of us were supposed to be the first to leave. As in, our flight was scheduled for just past midnight. So we ate dinner at the hotel, got our things organized, and then headed off for the airport. 

Now, there's something you need to know before we go any further. It's important for reasons. See, somewhere on the last day or on the penultimate day, Greg had injured his ankle. Enough that he needed assistance getting through the airports. As in, wheelchair assistance. If you can swing this the next time you travel, absolutely do it. Because Greg, and by extension Brian because he was his helper, got VIP access through every airport from this point on. 

Vicki, Paula, and I did not. 

So from the moment we arrived at the Manila airport, we were separated into two groups. Men vs women. I can't really speak to their experience. But I am about to go into excruciating detail of my own.

I wish I'd taken a picture of the departures 'lounge' at the Manila airport. It's not the only one, but we were in the one that serviced Qatar Airways (great airline, stellar), Korean Air, and a few others. (I generally don't take pictures in most airport areas because security tends to frown on that.) But I did steal a Google image of the baggage claim. I want you to imagine this:

And then multiply it by about 50 million, because that's approximately how many people were in this way-too-small-for-this-purpose space. Again, three very white women (who incidentally probably looked like the maiden, the mother, and the crone - sorry, Paula) in a sea of multiple nationalities with lines that possibly lead nowhere or maybe to Korean Air. Because we did that. We stood in a Korean Air line for maybe 30 minutes before someone came along and said no, the Qatar line was immediately parallel to us, which was not obvious because lines seemed pretty interchangeable and DID NOT MOVE. 

So we moved to the Qatar line. And we were starting to get nervous, because again, line no move. And we had a flight that was inching ever closer, unlike our feet to the front of the line. (Okay, look, we maybe moved about sixteen spots in an hour, but in a line like that, who would notice?) And I'm going to be very honest here and say that white woman privilege very likely kicked in. Because a very nice Filipino airport employee came down the line and started picking people out and sending them to the priority line. And we three just happened to be some of those people. I'm not proud of it. But I did take full advantage. 

This is not to say that the priority line was much faster, because in front of us was a family of about 17, all with questionable documentation, apparently. But we did eventually make it to our gate with maybe 30 minutes to spare before boarding.

Only to find Greg and Brian happily ensconced, having been so for almost the entire time we'd been in line.

But whatever, we made it, hard part over.

Ah, the naivety of youth.

We did actually board the plane. And a lot of people fly out of the Philippines, so we were jam packed. 

Not actually sure which flight that was, but it was reminiscent of all of our flights from then on. Tons of people, packed like sardines. Fortunately, I always had an aisle seat. I don't think I could have handled it otherwise. (Sorry, Vicki, Brian. But not really.) 

So we all boarded. And then we sat. And sat. At one point, this guy came from further back and didn't return, and I remember thinking that was weird. And then our leaving time came and went. I started watching Thor: Ragnarok for the second time on the trip (first was on the way over). 

And then the announcement. A passenger had left the plane. They had to get his bags off. In the time it took to do that, the airport had closed the only runway that would take a plane of our size. 

Because of course they did. 

So we deplaned. 

I'll be honest, I don't remember a lot of this. I was so out of it that I laid on the floor and basically had an out of body experience. I trusted my fellow travelers to keep me informed and in the correct location. I think at one point they brought us a boxed meal. Couldn't tell you what was in it. I didn't want to use my devices too much because power points were at a premium. 

I think it was around 5 in the morning that we actually got back on the plane. At my seat, I was greeted by this: 

So at least I hadn't lost my place. (Which, if you know the movie, is actually quite far into it, which tells you how long I had been watching the first time we got on the plane.)

We actually took off this time. Like I said, full flight, because a lot of OFWs come from the Philippines and work in Qatar. (I say work, but like I mentioned before, Qatar is a little sketchy with some of its workers. When/If the World Cup is played there in 2022, you may hear a little bit about it.)

BUT, because the flight crew had been on duty so long (see closed runway), they were in danger of going over their hours. So we made a teeny tiny pitstop in Oman. 

Yeah.

That Oman.

Vicki actually took that photo. I have no idea how long we were on the ground, but it was at least an hour. We didn't actually get off the plane, so that was nice. But I was running out of movies by then. Sleep was not really happening. It's all a blur.

Needless to say, by the time we got to Qatar, there was no way we were making our connecting flight, considering it had already left. And here is where I can't say enough nice things about Qatar Airways. Because they met us at the gate with flights already scheduled, meal vouchers ready to go, and a hotel room reserved for each of us. No sharing. And not five bucks for the vending machine. It actually came out to about $90 for food. For what would be about fifteen hours in the country. 

I will choose them over British Airways any day of the week.

So we ended up in Qatar. 

They actually want you there, so it was no trouble getting a short entry visa. It's a small country, and I think I saw most of it from the air, and possibly from the ground. We stayed at the Ratana, which, again, can't say enough good things about. I'll just show you.

It was gorgeous weather, the food was amazing (that lamb - I would do unspeakable things for it), the room was plush, and I was wearing clothing I'd been wearing for too long. But because I'm less conscientious about the trip back than I am the trip to anywhere, I had failed to include a change of clothing. I did still have toiletries, so that was a small mercy. But I may have slept in less than I normally do just so I could air out my clothes a bit. Sorry for the TMI. 

I would have liked to explore Qatar a bit more, but a) I had been traveling for about a day at this point with very little sleep and b) I am a woman in a predominantly Muslim country. I wasn't really worried about safety, but I did want to be culturally sensitive. But while there, I figured out that a friend of mine was actually also in Qatar (in the Air Force), and with a little more time to plan, we probably could have met up. But we did say hi on Facebook, so that was fun. 

We left the hotel around 5 on February 8 Qatar time, which was 10 am Feb 8 Philippines time and 9 pm Feb 7 Indianapolis time. At the time, I had no idea of dates, times, or pretty much anything. I was just happy to have a bed. 

(Oh, and when we got to the airport, we saw Dick Freed again. He'd left the Philippines after us and was just getting into Doha. He was, of course, on time for his flight. I honestly don't remember if he was on our flight or not.)

I actually got to do some shopping in the Doha airport this time. Probably did a little too much. But I found gifts for people and then realized that I was flying to the United State from the Middle East. Which means security is INSANE. You actually go through it twice, and I was especially blessed because I had a phone, iPad, camera, and portable hard drive. All of which (except the phone) got bagged up nice and neat. 

Oh, and once you get through security into your gate, you can't leave. And there are no bathrooms. 

Greg and Brian, of course, had no trouble whatsoever. 

Our flight left around 8, and because of the change in plans, we were actually headed to Chicago instead of Philadelphia. Which was fine with me, because the Eagles had just won the Super Bowl and apparently, Philadelphians were celebrating by tearing their city apart. 

But it was a long flight. 

Like, 15 hours long. 

And again, people don't really fly to Qatar from the States, but they do fly out of Qatar. So full flight (two full meals and a snack), same clothes I've been wearing for two days, no new movie options. I think I watched Thor two more times. One highlight that I nearly forgot about - I found my favorite Bollywood film of all time! I'm pretty sure it was on this flight. If not this one, then another on the trip, but as I said, they all blend together. Anyway, I actually started watching this one on the screen of the guy in front of me. It kept catching my eye, and I was super confused by the storyline, so I decided to find it on my own screen. The film is called Phillauri. It's set in present day India, and this kid is returning home from Canada to marry his high school sweetheart. But he finds out his first marriage is cursed, so he has to marry a tree before marries the girl. (It's Bollywood, what do you expect?) Then they chop down the tree, but of course there was the spirit of a girl in the tree, so now ghost girl thinks she's married to the guy. And he's the only one who can see her. But it turns out ghost girl is from colonial India times, and she's stuck as a spirit until she finds out what happened to her true love. It's actually really well done, with only one big dance number, and it's got real history in it. Anyway, it's my new favorite (my first favorite was Tees Maar Khan). Part of the reason I like long flights is the vast selection of Bollywood films I can peruse. We get them here, but they are crazy expensive.

Anyway.

Also, I forgot about this until he reminded me, but someone I knew was on that flight. I had no idea. We were rows away from each other for 15 hours, and it wasn't until we deplaned that we saw each other. Weird.

We made it into Chicago around 2 in the afternoon. 

Our flight to Indy was scheduled for 4:45. 

But you know what's coming.

It's Chicago, it's February, and it's an evening flight. None of these are in a recipe for successful departures. 

I hit my wall. I was done. We parked it at maybe our gate for a later flight, everyone piled their stuff around me and then left, and I don't remember much after that. Honestly, people could have stolen all our stuff, and I would not have noticed. My stuff was fine because I was clinging to it for dear life. But everyone else's stuff? Fair game. If they are going to leave it with the least coherent member of our traveling group, I really don't care what happens to it. 

Guys, the zombie apocalypse is not going to be a problem. Because for the better part of three hours, I was a zombie, and I could have been killed in a myriad of ways and not cared enough to even try running away.

I don't know when our flight to Indy left. I don't know for sure when it arrived. I caught an Uber with Greg back to OMS. I recorded the time I arrived at home. 

And then I blacked out for the next 9 hours. It would have been longer, but I was still on Philippines time, so my body was quite out of sync. I've always had a worse time coming back than I have going. 

I set foot in my apartment around 1 am Feb 9 Indy time. That's 9 am Feb 9 Qatar time. And 2 pm Feb 9 Philippines time. 

Three days. It took almost exactly three days to get from Tarlac, Philippines, to Greenwood, Indiana. 

And that's my story. The trilogy is complete. It was an amazing trip, I learned a lot, I laughed, I cried (tired tears), and a good comb was had by all (that's for you, Mom). 

This fulfills my obligation.

Why Christian Missions Should Be Talking About New Tribes... And Others

Consider this your warning. We're going to talk about some difficult things. Specifically, I'm responding to this article about New Tribes. Click the link and read it. Please. Because these things do happen and people refuse to talk about them, and that is no longer an option. It should never have been an option. I'm serious about the warning. Don't read this if you want to remain naive.

I'm going to cover a lot of stuff in here. I anticipate the length of this blog post will be essay-like. But this article brought up a lot of thoughts and issues, some of which I have personal experience with and some of which I don't. I'm going to try to remain coherent, but I think you all know by now that I tend to go off on side rants and forget to string together my main points. Before I go through the article, I want to make some things clear. 

1. I was not a victim of sexual abuse as a child. 

2. I am horrified and appalled at the actions of New Tribes as an organization and at the actions of many of its employees.

3. I am not surprised by either the actions of the organization nor by the actions of its employees. 

I think those are important points to clarify, particularly the first. I don't have trauma of this type hidden in my past, so my commentary on it can only be that of an outsider. Also, I want to reassure you that this isn't going to be some accusatory post - I don't personally know any of these people, nor do I know of anyone who is abusing children (because if I did, they'd either be in jail or in the ground). 

I'm also going to try not to make this an indictment of evangelicals and missions in general. I am an evangelical Christian missionary, and as ludicrous as I find it sometimes to be all of those things (again, this shouldn't be shocking to you, but if it is, we can definitely have a conversation about it), I feel genuinely called by God to share my faith with others, and specifically, to do it through the particular organization with which I serve. 

Also, it's very easy to look at something in hindsight and condemn the 'obvious' problematic aspects of this particular case. But the premise is theoretically sound - keep your children safe and give them a good education by sending them to boarding school. It's been done for years, and ideally, it would produce well-educated, possibly mildly socially-inhibited children. But if you are not very careful, you end up with exactly the situation that New Tribes had, whether you're a Christian organization or not (though it tends to be worse in Christian organizations, the reasons for which we will hopefully explore later). 

Because people ignore a fundamental aspect of life: people are inclined toward evil. Everyone likes to think that people are naturally good. They are wrong. Because of the Fall, we are all born with the old nature. If we think we can get away with something (and even sometimes when we know we won't), we will try. And if we get away with it once (and again, even if we don't), we'll keep doing it until it's so entrenched in our lives that you need dynamite to get it out. 

(Jesus is the dynamite in this scenario, in case you were wondering.)

Now, when people become Christians, there's this assumption that they no longer have the old nature. They've started this new life with Christ and everything is hunky-dory. But I'm going to posit a theory that this assumption is wrong. The old nature is still there. We just don't have to be a slave to it. But this requires us to constantly seek after God's will. We have to be active followers of Jesus, meaning we do the work involved in a constant striving for perfection. Jesus told us to be perfect as he is perfect. Is it possible in this life? That's a debate for another time (and one I think I've had on here before). But I think we should assume it is. We should constantly be working to be better than we were yesterday. 

But that's not what happens. We get complacent. We hear "Jesus forgives you" and we think, "Cool. I'm set." We assume that we are immune to temptation. We lie to ourselves that we aren't really doing anything wrong or we'll just try something once and then repent or we're exempt from that particular commandment or we're just terrible people so what's the point of trying. And then we support each other in our lies - we hear 'avoid the appearance of evil' and think that means 'hide the evil that exists.' We tell each other that we have to sacrifice some things for the good of the mission, that standards can be lowered so numbers can be raised, that a few bad apples don't spoil the crate. 

And that's how you end up with New Tribes. 

(We're picking on them here because they were the ones who got caught and have had their dirty laundry aired publicly. But they are not the sole perpetrators of this, and I will in no way be surprised when stories start coming out about other organizations.)

****

So here's the story. Back in the '80s and '90s (and I'm only limiting myself to that time frame because it's what was in the article and what has been investigated), some dorm parents at New Tribes boarding schools were sexually abusing the missionary kids who were under their care. Some of the abuse was reported right away. Most was not until much later. When it was reported, New Tribes invariably sided with the perpetrator while telling the victim to keep it quiet. There was no investigation until 2010 (and that was only one school). 

I'm going to start with the problematic elements that are glaring in retrospect and should have been apparent at the time. 

1. New Tribes deliberately separated children from their parents. In some cases, I can maybe make a case for this - serving in a security risk country or lack of educational options. But nine times out of ten, I don't see how separating parents and children benefits either of them. 

2. In many cases, there was only one dorm parent for dozens of kids. If the Wiggles can figure out that they shouldn't be left alone with children and that their hands should be visible at all times, it should be apparent to everyone. (Google it.)

3. Dorm parents had access to the rooms of children of the opposite sex. And yes, I realize that same sex access is a problem as well. Basically, doing anything as a dorm parent without a team member with you is a problem. 

4. Missionary kids, by nature, are going to be more vulnerable. We call them TCKs - third culture kids. They don't necessarily fit into the culture of their parents, but they also don't fully fit into the culture of where they live. They create a third culture with elements from both. This can be incredibly confusing, and if kids are already inclined to internalize things, they will also keep quiet about something that they know is wrong, but don't know who to talk to or how to talk about it. 

5. The mission statement of New Tribes set the tone for risky behavior. They fostered an environment that encouraged people to keep quiet about anything that would damage their reputation or hinder them from achieving certain goals. 

6. Their policy (actual, supposedly debated policy) was to not report sexual abuse to the police, either in the field or to authorities in the United States. How you justify this, I don't know. 

There are probably other things, but honestly, this should be enough. One is enough. When you have all of them working in concert, you create an environment that leads exactly where it led. 

Which is why I can't say I'm surprised. As much as it's not an excuse, missions in the 20th century was like the Wild West. There was a huge surge in evangelistic efforts, and oftentimes, ideals and people fell through the cracks. Problems were papered over in the race to save souls. And we're suffering for it now. Some organizations have learned from their mistakes and created policies to guard against similar ones in the future. But I'm afraid that there are others who haven't learned anything from this. They believe it couldn't possibly happen to them. They're all Christians, after all. 

That is a foolish and naive attitude. 

****

There is a lot about this article that makes me angry. But I want to highlight some specific elements that pushed me from angry to livid to screaming into a pillow in the studio. (I won't include descriptions of the abuse because that really was enough to make me throw up. These will be more attitudes and actions that contributed to the problem instead of helping to solve it.)

"I think high-risk offenders are drawn to that environment because these groups are often in desperate need of staff, there's minimal accountability and significant numbers of vulnerable people," Tchividjian said. "That's a perfect recipe for a sexual offender."

This is so true, and I can't emphasize that enough. Mission agencies are DESPERATE for staff. It's why the accountability problem is so difficult to solve. It's hard enough to find one person to serve in a particular ministry, let alone two. And yet instead of saying, "Well, we can't find the personnel, so we're just not going to do this," we just let it go on. We make excuses, figure it will be fine. We're all Christian, after all. Why do we do this? Why, if we know something won't be done properly and well, do we assume that it has to be done? Sometimes, you have to let things fail or end or fizzle out. IF it's something you feel God has called your organization to do, then don't you think God will also provide the means to get it done well? 

"By unflinching determination we hazard our lives and gamble all for Christ until we have reached the last tribe regardless of where that tribe might be," the group said in the May 1943 issue of its official magazine, "Brown Gold."

So I'm not even going to touch that magazine title. The colonial overtones of 20th century missions have always made my skin crawl. But I will address that mission statement. Because it sounds great, doesn't it? We do whatever it takes to reach as many people as possible for Jesus. But it's that phrase 'gamble all for Christ' that I have very specific problems with. There are very fundamental things required of a disciple of Jesus Christ. Love God (and much of that is obedience to what God commands) and love others (specifically as Jesus loved them, meaning you willingly lay your life down for them if necessary and you don't impede someone's journey to and with Jesus). When you say 'gamble all,' it implies that you are also gambling those fundamental things. You say 'gamble' and I hear 'be reckless and do whatever it takes.' (Don't get me started on "Reckless Love," okay? Just don't.) And once you start to have a mentality of anything goes, you've set yourself up for all kinds of problems.

For years, Mikitson dared not speak up. She and the other former students said they were taught reporting negative things could jeopardize their parents' work and strip the locals of the chance to have their souls saved.

THIS. I wish I could tell you that this attitude doesn't exist today, but boy howdy, does it ever. I see it in organizations, I see it in churches, I see it in specific ministries. DO NOT DO ANYTHING TO DISRUPT THE PRIMARY MISSION. IGNORE THE FACT THAT WE'VE ALREADY DONE THAT BY ALLOWING CERTAIN ACTIONS TO GO UNREMARKED UPON AND UNPUNISHED. Every time I encounter this, I understand why someone responds negatively to Christianity. Why would I want to be part of something that allows stuff like this to happen, that in fact actively encourages a coverup? We've only made it harder to share the Good News of Jesus by not practicing what we preach. And then I have to find a way to explain why the actions of others do not reflect the reality of a true Christian life. 

"They asked me to describe what had happened, and I told them," Kelly said. "And they told me to not say anything. It was my duty to protect my family, to protect my dad, and if I did say anything, if I did tell anybody anything, my dad would be thrown in a Filipino jail."

Within a week, Kelly said, her family was shipped out of the Philippines and flown to Missouri to attend therapy sessions with a mission counselor.

"After two weeks we were pronounced healed and whole," Kelly said. "Those were their words."

Emory was ordered to leave the mission, Kelly said, but the real reason for the family's sudden relocation was kept secret from all but a few in the organization.

"You try to do the right thing," Kelly said. "We got shushed and rushed out of the country. They made us all stay quiet. They silenced us."

This entire section illustrates the culture perfectly. Why are the kids the ones who are punished for the adults' actions? The kids are the only innocent parties in this. Telling them to be quiet about something like this just tells them that they are the ones at fault. And then the whole counseling thing - sure, yes, absolutely do that. But no one is 'healed' of the torment inflicted upon them by sexual abuse in two weeks. This is a classic example of an organization that could not ignore the issue, so they quietly made it go away. What Christian organization (or non-Christian one, for that matter) wants to admit that a predator walked among them? So they lie by omission about the reason for someone's departure. They use euphemisms (and if you haven't seen "Spotlight" about the Catholic abuse scandal in Boston, you really should. The lengths to which the Church went to disguise their problem are ridiculous.) and knowing looks. They cast doubt on the accuser and hide under the umbrella of grace. And they force people out of the calling that God placed on their lives. 

Mikitson's father, John, said he called New Tribes around 1989 to report Brooks, and the response left him stunned.

"You are going to ruin this man's ministry if you keep talking about this," he said he was told.

HIS MINISTRY IS ALREADY RUINED!!!! Just because 'no one else knows' about what he did, he's living a lie. Everything he does from that point on is tainted. Again, why would I become a Christian if he's your prime example of what being a Christian is?

"If it is a homosexual act with a child, the person will be dismissed immediately and may never be considered for membership in the mission again. If it is a heterosexual act the person will be dismissed immediately but could be considered for ministry again in the future depending on the case. If it occurs in the field, it is not necessary to report it to the Senegalese or U.S. authorities. It must be investigated as not doing so could be ruinous for the mission."

The double standard here is ridiculous. Yes, homosexuality is a sin. But guess what? So is sex outside of marriage, having an affair, and a number of other things that we now frown upon but allow with little comment. THERE IS NO HIERARCHY OF SIN!! Sin is sin is sin. (Try that one on for size, Lin-Manuel Miranda.) Preying on children of the opposite sex should not be more palatable than preying on children of the same sex. And the whole issue of allowing someone to be considered for ministry again... Look, as a Christian, I have to believe that everyone is capable of redemption. Everyone who repents of their sin (which means not only confessing it but also changing behavior!) and accepts Jesus as their Savior will go to Heaven. Everyone, from the guy who maybe shoplifted a few times and told a lie or two to the guy who molested children in a missionary school to the guy who ordered the murder of millions of Jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and whoever else he didn't like. It's a hard pill to swallow. But that does not mean that they are absolved of any consequences in this life. And there should be consequences. One of those might be that that person is not considered for ministry again - and if they are, I'd watch them like a hawk. Forgive, but DO NOT FORGET. That is biblical. I like this answer.  And finally, not reporting something just so you don't look bad is stupid. You look worse when it eventually comes out. And it will come out. Always. Take charge of the narrative, own up to the mistake, and do what you can to serve those who have been wronged.

New Tribes changed its name to Ethnos 360 in May 2017.

"You have an organization that had to deal with some press and people talking about it but in large part has moved on and continues to do their work around the world."

I mostly included that because I don't want it to get lost. They are still around. And again, I can't be the judge of whether or not that is a good thing or a bad thing. I've had no interaction with New Tribes or their latest iteration. But I don't know that I want to. (They actually do acknowledge the story on their website, which I have to give them credit for, but their response is not exactly satisfying.) If you're debating about joining a mission organization or donating to one, do your research! Figure out what your standards are and determine as best as you can whether that organization meets them. 

"I haven't lost my trust in God," [Joy Drake] said. "I lost my trust in people that claim to be godly."

I don't know that I've related to a statement more than this one. Look, I often joke that I don't particularly like people. I get that it's a weird thing to say, especially for a missionary. But this is a struggle for me. People are capable of the worst kinds of evil, and to know that and still tell them about the love of Jesus and the wonders of Heaven feels like an oxymoron sometimes. But there's the other side of that coin. People are capable of the worst kinds of evil, but Jesus loves us anyway. He wants us anyway. He made a home for us anyway. He sends his followers anyway. There's a reason my blog is titled Because His Love Compels Us. I don't do what I do because I'm such a good person. I wouldn't be doing this if I was the one determining my journey in life. That's just a fact. I do what I do because it's what God wants me to do. I love people because Jesus loves them. I get angry when people who are supposed to be doing the same thing for the same reason screw up. And yes, people fail. This life is a battle. It's not easy to obey God's commands. I fail often. But own up to it! Seek forgiveness and make reparations. Don't shove it under a rug or in a dark corner or in the back of a closet. Don't normalize it. And please please please, if you've been a victim of this or something else, understand that God is not the one who has failed you. The people who did it to you and the people who knew about it and did nothing are the ones who failed you. This is why we don't put our faith in people or things. We put our faith in God. 

Several missionary groups, not just New Tribes, have been battling to keep a lid on their own ugly pasts, according to Tchividjian. He said he's "lost count" of the number of people who have reached out to him with stories of physical and sexual abuse within various mission organizations.

It is still happening. Why? Because evil persists. There are things we can do to guard against it, but we live in a fallen world. We're surrounded by people who are struggling against these evil desires, and quite often, they lose. But we can't lose hope. We still have to do what we can to guard our own hearts and lives and those of people around us. Because as a Christian organization, we have to live by different standards.

****

So what does OMS do to guard against this happening here? And do I trust that it won't happen in our organization?

Here are a few things we do, in no particular order: 

1. Missionaries have to raise their own support. This might seem like an odd thing to put on this list, but it does provide some measure of reassurance. Because they aren't wrong - this environment attracts a specific type of person. And if you can deter a few by making them raise their own support, absolutely do it. (There are other reasons to raise support, and there are reasons not to, but for the purposes of this list, I think it does make the ones who are already predators think twice.)

2. OMS has a child safety team that is specifically trained to investigate abuse allegations. They were carefully selected from our current missionary members, and I trust them to be thorough and vocal in their investigations. (To my knowledge, we have not yet had to make use of their services, thank God. But the fact that we all know they exist is a step further than some.)

3. OMS conducts background checks on all missionary candidates. We have a comprehensive application process (which, yes, I complain about sometimes, but it serves an important purpose) that includes online and in-person wellness interviews. We do panel interviews instead of one-on-one. Any red flags are pursued.

4. Remember when I talked about avoiding the appearance of evil? This is actually a good thing when you do it the right way. We don't want to do anything that makes people raise an eyebrow or question what is really going on. 

There are probably others, but this is getting quite long, and I can't think of anything else right now. 

As for my second question, can I state categorically that this particular situation won't ever happen at OMS? No, I can't. I can't even say it hasn't happened in the past. To my direct knowledge, it has not happened on an organizational level. But I've heard enough stories and read between enough lines to know that some Very Bad Things have happened in our history. We're not perfect, we don't have a foolproof plan, and we still live in a fallen world. I do my best to be on the lookout for it now, though. I don't want to assume it can't happen, because it absolutely can. There are a lot of things that can happen. I never want us to be so consumed by our reputation that we start hiding things from ourselves and the world. And I don't want to get so caught up in the Job that I forget about the people around me. Because I believe in the Great Commission. I believe in the mission of OMS. And I don't want that to be ruined because we forgot the fundamentals.

****

A few years ago, I attended the Christian Leadership Alliance conference in Florida. Francis Chan was the speaker, and his last message was this: some of you are engaging in acts that will permanently damage your organizations when the story comes out. And the story WILL come out. So come forward now. Resign. Repent. Be honest with yourselves and your constituents and with God. Because THAT is more Christian than covering it up.  

One of my coworkers that was also attending leaned over. "I'm guessing we'll hear about some resignations soon."

I didn't have the heart to tell her that I agreed. We would hear about resignations. But it would take months. And we would only hear about them in the context of the scandal that came in its wake. 

This was a long one. But I think it needed to be. I probably overlooked some things. I probably missed a few points. But I think we need to create a culture that takes responsibility for its mistakes, deliberate or otherwise. We need a culture that listens to accusations and actually investigates them instead of assuming that they couldn't be true. We need a culture that works to rehabilitate offenders while still giving appropriate punishments. We need a culture that acknowledges the hurt we've done to people we're trying to help, and we need to work with them to help them heal. We need a culture that practices discipline and humility. We need to be in constant communication with God and with our fellow believers about how we can be better today than we were yesterday. 

Quite frankly, we need Heaven on Earth. But until we get to that point, we need constant vigilance. 

"Be sober-minded; be watchful. 

Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, 

seeking someone to devour." 

1 Peter 5:8