When in Doubt, Report Suspicions of Abuse: Lessons from Vinelife Church (Longmont, CO)

Youth Pastor arrested and Five church officials charged with failure to report. A recent situation in Longmont, Colorado touches on several important teaching points for church leadership: 1. Sexual Abusers have no visual profile; 2. Sexual Abuse Awareness Training is critical to protect our young people; 3. The ‘grooming process’ involves manipulation and deception, rather…

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Church Employees Arrested/Charged for Failure to Report Sexual Abuse

Five employees at Victory Christian Church in Tulsa, OK arrested for two-week delay in notifying authorities of sexual abuse allegations Article : Tulsa World Link to article Brief Facts Chris Denman and Israel Castillo, both members of Victory Christian Church  (VCC), were both recently hired as janitors in the same department.   In August, Castillo allegedly…

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Standards of Care are Rising for Church Planters and Missionaries

FLORIDA BAPTIST CONVENTION FOUND LIABLE IN ABUSE CASE … though abuser was not an employee of the Convention Article in the Orlando Sentinel: http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2012-05-17/news/os-baptist-sex-abuse-verdict-20120517_1_triangle-community-church-douglas-w-myers-church-planter Brief Facts Douglas W. Myers was a Baptist pastor and church planter.  Myers allegedly received training and funds from the Florida Baptist Convention (Convention), and others, in connection with planting two…

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The Cost of Being a Shepherd: How Vienna Presbyterian Church chose between its sexual abuse victims and a potential loss of insurance coverage

Recently, Vienna Presbyterian Church of Vienna, Virginia made headlines by ‘trying to do the right thing’ about past sexual abuse at the hands of a student ministries director hired by the church. http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2011-05-09-vienna-virginia-church-abuse-case-lawyers-insurers_n.htm#uslPageReturn (USA Today, May 10, 2011) The article describes the struggle between church leadership and insurance defense counsel in detail, after church leaders…

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Training: The single most important step a church can take.

Train your people to understand the problem.  The creation of safe environments for children’s programming requires training.  When staff members and volunteers have an awareness of the basic characteristics of a sexual abuser, the process by which an abuser picks and prepares a child for abuse, and key indicators of child sexual abuse, they are better…

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