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Ministries: How to Prevent and Respond to Alleged Sexual Abuse of Minors
Today I’m happy to host guest blogger Suzanne Keffer Wipplinger, a student in Biblical Counseling at Dallas Theological Seminary: When considering what guidelines to follow if a minor who has attended a church or para-church ministry reports sexual abuse, it is important for churches and ministries to remember that their first priority is to focus on protecting minors before potential abuse occurs and continue to protect the abused minor, should abuse happen. The focus of church and para-church organizations must be on protecting the minor reporting the abuse before shielding the alleged abuser or the organization itself. Since sexual abuse is a crime, the person who receives the initial report should…
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Resource for Sexual Abuse/Harassment and Domestic Abuse
Today I'm grateful to host guest blogger Joy Pedrow Skarka, who has provided the following wonderful list of resources for helping victims of sexual abuse, sexual harassment, rape, domestic violence and other forms of abuse of power. Keep it handy. Hopefully you will never need it. Awareness & Organizations The Rape Foundation Ministry Safe RAINN Restored: Ending Violence Against Women The Rave Project G.R.A.C.E. Sexual Assault and Abuse Rid of My Disgrace,by Justin and Lindsey Holcomb Healing the Wounded Heart: The Heartache of Sexual Abuse and the Hope of Transformation by Dan B. Allender The Wounded Heart: Hope for Adult Victims of Child Sexual Abuse, by Dan B. Allender Abuse/Dating Violence Statistics Sexual…
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Abuse: Rise Up, Church!
Today I have a guest writer whose story you need to hear: ^ I'm not even sure if the Hebrew is correct. But it doesn't matter. It means something to me. This is where girls would have scars from cutting themselves in attempts to escape the pain of abuse. But by the grace of God, and by His grace alone, my wrist doesn't have cuts. It says “Daughter of the King.” There have been a few accounts and testimonies of abuse circling around social media lately, including the Larry Nassar case and sexual assault on campus in my hometown. And I want to help raise awareness for the sake of many victims…
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#MeToo: A Time to Believe, A Time to Disbelieve
First, we have the accused: Bill Cosby. Donald Trump. Judge Moore. Harvey Weinstein. Kevin Spacey, Matt Lauer, Charlie Rose, Al Franken, Louis CK, George HW Bush, Dustin Hoffman, James Toback, Brett Ratner, Russell Simmons, Mario Batali, Harry Thomas… . On the other side are the accusers, those who have spoken up via #MeToo, #BalanceTonPorc, #YoTambien, #Ana_kaman, #churchtoo, and many others . . . millions of men and women claiming abuse. One of the surprises for me as so many good people in my life have come forward with their stories is how the initial reaction of some other good people has been to (1) discount it all as a trendy…
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#MeToo : Just Another Trend?
A lot of people think it all started on October 5, 2017, when the New York Times first broke the story accusing Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment. Actually, as far as I know, the real first “Me Too” movement started a decade ago by the African-American activist Tarana Burke. And ten years from now, we’ll probably still need one. But about the recent one… Ten days after the NYT story hit, actress Alyssa Milano tweeted, “If you’ve been sexually harassed or assaulted write ‘me too’ as a reply to this tweet.” Soon, the #MeToo hashtag took over social media. Twitter alone had more than 50,000 uses. But Facebook had 12…
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“Locker-Room Banter”: A Teachable Moment
The candidate for the US presidency who has received the most enthusiastic support from evangelicals made the following comments, which were leaked recently from a 2005 conversation in which he was talking with a member of the media: "I moved on her like a [vulgar use of term for female dog], and I could not get there, and she was married. And all the sudden I see her and she's got the big phony [vulgar word for breasts], she's totally changed her look." "I'll admit it. I did try to f***her. She was married … and I moved on her very heavily." "I'm automatically attracted to beautiful women — I…
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50 Shades of Blue
Last Sunday at the 2015 Grammy’s our friend Brooke Axtell appealed to women trapped in abuse to raise their voice and escape like she did. When the man she loved began to abuse her she said, “I was stunned…I believed he was lashing out because he was in pain, and needed help. I believed my compassion could restore him and our relationship. My empathy was used against me. I was terrified of him and ashamed I was in this position. What bound me to him was my desire to heal him.” The Grammys audience erupted in applause as did The Washington Post, ABC News, Time magazine, Salon, Slate and many…
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Mad at God
I knelt down next to my bed, ten years old, and once more poured out my heart to God. “God, please heal me! You know how much I hate having polio, I hate limping, I hate going to physical therapy every week, I hate the surgeries, I hate the way people stare at me because of how I walk. I hate that no one could love me with polio. I hate this, God! I know You can take it away—please let me wake up tomorrow morning all healed and restored!” Once again, I fell asleep, hopeful that God had heard me and He was able to snap His fingers or…
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Watching Transformation Happen
Last week I was privileged to attend the annual Exodus Conference along with a thousand people coming out of homosexuality, as well as some family members and people like myself who minister to them. Nothing has built my faith in the power and the loving heart of our life-changing God like my decade-long involvement in this kind of ministry. I got to experience the power of answered prayer as I stood in worship with a divorced couple whom I have known online for several years but met at the conference. The husband had gone AWOL for the past year, choosing to pursue his feelings instead of his identity as a…
