| (Photo: Ignite) Ignite, a weekend Christian conference that expects to attract some 10,000 men to Liberty University next month, is now drawing criticism for including on their speakers list accused rapist and NFL quarterback Ben Roethlisberger And I told him, 'I don't feel comfortable with that.'". In a 2011 email to one victims father, CEO White admitted that Newmans nudity while running through camp was serious, against kamp policy, and treated with sobriety and frankness.. ", Echoing similar suits filed in the past, Doe XIII's complaint asserts that beforeNewmans 2009 arrest and prosecution in Taney County, there were "at least 57 alleged victims of Newman including Plaintiff.". More than 20,000 "The investigation by law enforcement that resulted in the prosecution of Pete Newman did not result in any criminal or civil charges against Kanakuk leadership or staff," they added. Keith Dygert, another 34-year-old who grew up in Branson and currently lives there, filed a civil lawsuit that was later dismissed when "all parties agreed to a settlement," according to Missouri court records. Kanakuk leaders also have described convicted child molester Pete Newman as a lone predator but he wasn't the first or last abuser connected to the camp. Evan Hoffpauir, a man from Branson who says he survived sex abuse by former Kanakuk counselor Peter Newman, praised the First Baptist Church in West Plains for its move. Rather than firing Newman, Kanakuk leaders gave him additional authority. In at least one instance which he wrote about he asked his young daughter to participate in these conversations. Victim advocates and prosecutors have also said the number of Newman's victimscould be in the "hundreds.". In hindsight, I can definitely see how Physical Inspection would have been a pedophiles playground, and I'm glad it was done away with some time in the late 80s or 90s, Cunninghan wrote. That's the No. He added that Newman "already established in my brain that this masturbation stuff was not wrong, because I wasn't lusting. That culture of forgiving extended to Newmanas well. Attached to the lawsuit filed by Logan is a sworn affidavit signed by a former supervisor at Kanakuk. "He was very macho, manly, like, tough, in a way. ", The lawsuit adds, "During each of these activities Defendant Newman falsely represented to the young Plaintiff that these behaviors were okay or normal and were not 'sinful'. Satan had won his mind, White wrote, and the only thing the boy knew how to do was masturbate and mentally rape girls.. Kamp took their own evaluation of the situation and essentially determined no foul play. Court filings in multiple lawsuits have alleged that Newmans nudity was reported to camp leaders repeatedly. He is serving a 10-year sentence at a Jefferson City prison facility, Missouri Department of Corrections records show.). In a 2021 phone interview recorded by a reporter, KanakukCOO Goodwin was asked if the camp knew of any reports, any misconduct involving Grimes during his employment. Dygert said, "We know people who've never told anyone. The News-Leaderleft three detailed voicemails on the phone line linked to Staples' Branson-area counseling practice. Like other young Christianswho crossed Newman's path, Hoffpauir described Newman, then roughly 26 years old,as an ideal person for evangelical youth ministry: "Very charismatic," Hoffpauir told the News-Leader in a recent interview. Cunningham, who was Newmans supervisor at the Branson camp, confirmed the practice was in place in the 1980s through at least the early 2000s.. Fusch said Green packed and left abruptly after hearing Fusch tell his sister about the abuse. We believe in salvation, we dontbelieve in punishment, Jesus forgives, and we are going to forgive the camper, Caroline said Chancey told her. The lawsuit accuses the former counselor of sexually abusing the boy in multiple locales: "Newmans home, the Kanakuk Tree Tops Ropes Course, the Kanakuk Bunk house, the Kanakuk K-Kountry Gym, and Kanakuks lake. The summer of 2016 wasnt the first timeCaroline attended Christian summer camp in Branson, Missouri but it is the one etched most deeply in her memory. 1 priority. Branson-based Kanakuk Kamps and its associated ministries area multimillion-dollar global enterprise that includes the largest evangelical sports summer camp in the world. He didnt tell me that this sexual purity expert hung out nude with kids or that hed wind up in a hot tub with the guy.. The stated objective: To help Pete understand what healthy ministry is, and to make sure Pete never places himself in a compromising position that his integrity would be in question. I know what you were doing to me at night, and I didn't like it, he said on the phone with Green. Since the 1970s, under the leadership of White and his wife Debbie-Jo, Kanakuk has become one of the largest Christian camps in the world. Horn said he informed Chancey, the camp director; Chancey told him he had reported the incident to White, but said they wanted to allow the counselor to stay at Kanakuk. Dygert said he met Newman in a Branson public school lunchroom. () Theyre everywhere. Twodozen of them now regularly communicate by text message, Hoffpauir said. Price, who has worked with at least three schools and is a girlsvolleyball coach in St. Louis, continued to volunteer with the Kanakuk-affiliated KLIFE youth ministry until at least February 2022, when a reporter called the Urban KLIFE chapter in St. Louis. One would stay and keep an eye on the boys in the main cabin. Yet according to an affidavit of Newmans former supervisor, included along with the lawsuit, Kanakuk leadership received reports of Newman engaged in nude activity with campers as early as 1999. Any victim can reach out to Kanakuk by emailing us at victimsupport@kanakuk.com or access several independent victim advocacy organizations such as ChildHelp.org or Rainn.org, which can provide access to local support services, reporting assistance, and educational resources. Webfrom dust we come to dust we return quran. Newman was in his mid-20s. shaka wear graphic tees is candy digital publicly traded ellen lawson wife of ted lawson pete newman kanakuk wife. The letter-writers called Kanakuk's reporteduse of NDAs one of many "intimidation tactics" thecamp uses to stifle allegations of sexual assault and protect its reputation. Since 1926, a Records in Newmans criminal court case document sexual abuse that took place in Kanakuk cabins, in the pool, in the showers, in the gym, on father-son retreats, in the homes of campersand on a mission trip to China. he recalled. In Junior High, I started doing things with my friends like streaking and skinny dipping. The Turner Report: Pete Newman from 2008: Kanakuk kounselors will just suck your kids right up to heaven The Turner Report This blog features observations from It also offers an all-ages family resort, along withday camps in eight states including Missouri, Illinois and Texas. At maximum, it could destroy your ministry.. Craig Heidemann, attorney for the plaintiffs, dubbed John Doe XII and John Doe XIII in court filings, declined to comment on the lawsuits during a brief interviewMonday. It wasnt right.. In his 1996 book Pure Excitement, White describes a conversation with a 15-year-old camper who confessed he frequently masturbated and lusted after girls. A camp staffer referred questionsto a general "communications" inbox. At least one Kanakuk counselor Paul Green was investigated by police years before Newman was caught. In the latest lawsuit, attorneys for John Doe XIIIargue that he began to be groomed by Newman for sexual abuse as early as 1999, when he was an underage camp attendee. It wasn't until years later that I learned that good man was a pedophile and the people needing the prayers were the countless victims I spent my summers with, not Pete.. In 2000, when Morgan was awaiting trial and White knew thathe had confessed to hiw wife that he had sodomizedan adolescent female relative, White gave him off-season housing at Kanakuk. Newman was "just a fun dude," Hoffpauir said:"He invited me to hang out with him. In 2018, Newman was found liable for $10 million in damages, but was later released from a garnishment.) The counselor was allowed to stay and to return the following summer, Horn said. The playbook rules were geared toward counselors, however, not senior leadership. It was the story of sexual predation at Kanakuk Kamps, one of the largest Christian camps in the United Statesthe summer camp of the Evangelical eliteand a superpredator named Pete Newman, a camp counselor who became a camp director who systematically abused boys by the dozens for more than a decade. The shame I experienced as a victim is something that I do not wish to bear on anyone. Logan Yandell, now 27, filed a lawsuit last week against Kanakuk Kamps alleging he was sexually abused from around 2005 to 2008 by former camp director Peter Newman. Dygert's family learned about the abuse around 2010, the year Newman was convicted and sentenced to life in state prison. It's two grand-plus to go to camp for two weeks. Filed April 8, the new lawsuit names only Newman. (Last year, Newman was found liable for more than $5 million in damages in that case, Missouri court records show.) He died in a car crashwhile apolice investigation was ongoing. I was pretty shy around boys when I was younger, so it felt uncomfortable for me., More:Kanakuk camper says she was told to apologize, denied call home after reporting abuse. In the book he says he left out the details but asked her to sit down and advise the camper on the teenagers masturbation and lust issues. Administrators response to the violation fell far short of the Kanakuk playbooks threat of instant dismissal, however. I stuffed it. Caroline said her experience at Kanakuk made it harder to trust. Supervisors told her they would alert her parents to the incident. Newman was charged with crimes involving six underage victims butadmitted during sentencing to having inappropriate activity with as many as 13 more campers, according to News-Leader coverage of the proceedings. '", They talked regularly for nine years, Hoffpauir said, from 2012 until September of 2021. In October 2003, after being confronted about being nude with campers, Newman signed a probationary contract. Former Kanakuk camp counselor Peter Newman is already serving two life sentences, plus 30 years, at the Jefferson City Correctional Center. More than a decade later, Ringheim volunteered with KLIFE in Orlando. But the counselors showered together, too.. I laid there then I sat up and said, Chuck! He froze.. Manybut not all come from wealthy Texas evangelical families. Kanakuk guidelines also said counselors should avoid any talk about anything related to sexual relationships, including boyfriend/girlfriend stories. But former campers say they could not escape these conversations because the camps emphasis on sexual purity insinuated sex into everyday camp life. Though campers were assured counselors were their summer family, some said the forced intimacy was unsettling. The executive director has assured me on several occasions since 2003 that he made Joe (White) aware of my report. After a few moments of silence, Fusch said, Green replied: It was an isolated situation and itll never happen again.. Nothing happened to you?' Kanakuk issues new statement on camp child sex abuse; survivor calls it 'disgusting', Survivors, ex-employees say unreported abuse at Kanakuk camps in Branson spans decades, Kanakuk camper says she was told to apologize, denied call home after reporting abuse, Kanakuk's statement provided in response to the News-Leader's questions, From the editor: How we reported stories about sex abuse at Kanakuk Kamps, Branson men, both 34, describe Kanakuk sex abuse, call for camp to be held accountable, Your California Privacy Rights / Privacy Policy. ", "It was just things that are not normal," Hoffpauir said. Dygert and Hoffpauir became friends in middle school, and both said that in the years since, each was often the only other confidant available. We figured out that system on our own., In addition to the communal showers, campers in past decades were required to stand nude, exposing their genitalia to counselors during regular physical inspections.. "We're getting ready to go to bed and I look over and all of a sudden, he's got an erection under the blanket," Dygert said. For more than a decade following these tragic events, Kanakuk has continued to work tirelessly to help ensure that this deeply deceptive and abusive behavior does not happen again. In November 1994, Green spent Thanksgiving with them in Dallas. Youre growing up and becoming a teenager, hanging around boys. Nobody really reacted, Jones said. Kanakuk Kamp CEO Joe White. No More Victims, whose organizers have not been made public, recently issued an open letter to Kanakuk and its owner, White. Two weeks after Leadership Weekend, I was informed that Pete would be continuing as my assistant director and that I was to play an enhanced mentoring role in Petes life., I suspected immediately that this decision had been handed down from Joe, and I felt incredibly minimized, used, and angry at being forced to work with a man who had broken serious policies, Cunningham said. OK, talk to you later. The abuseexperiencelastedfrom 1999 until roughly 2003, during the time that Newman was a counselor at Branson-based Kanakuk Kamps. I sure love being on your team!. At Grimes' trial, aKanakuk directordisclosed that Grimes had been fired from Kanakuk after an incident involving a young male camper. WebKanakuk actively concealed what they knew about the sexual abuse being perpetrated by Pete Newman and induced victims and survivors into settlements and NDAs, said Robert Thrasher, one of Yandells attorneys, in a news release. 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