News: Churches and church events among pedophile targets

[RGR]

From: Assemblies of God News Service

Churches and church events among pedophile targets

May 31, 2006

Recently, Jason Noble from the Assemblies of God National Children's Ministries Agency, traveled to the state of Washington to conduct an event and speak at an AG church. Although the event was a success, Noble came back with an education that still leaves him shaking his head.

Through conversations with his brother-in-law, Nick Hawkins, children's pastor at Viewcrest Assembly of God in Mount Vernon (Washington) AG, and local police, Noble learned that pedophiles are actively targeting churches and church outreach events to gain access to children.

"The police had notified Viewcrest Assembly of God that pictures of their church and their Easter outreach were pictured on a known pedophile blog [internet discussion pages that approved people can post their thoughts on concerning the topic]," Noble says. "They had the street address of the church, the date of the event and pictures all posted online for other pedophiles to read, view and be aware of."

"Our church realizes today that we are ministering in a different climate than ever before," states Viewcrest AG senior Pastor Dennis Noble, Jason's father. "To protect our children we are going to have to take extreme measures. These measures may be uncomfortable and difficult, but the safety of our children has got to be our higher priority."

Jason Noble says that the police warned that it's difficult to know who is a pedophile, and that's why vigilance can never be left to chance.

"They [police] said that pedophiles are often people you'd think you'd love to have as volunteers," he says. "They're frequently young, athletic, energetic, fun - kid magnets. They also could be 'trusted' people held in high regard by the community."

The point being, Jason Noble explains, never risk a child's innocence to assumption - such as assuming you "know" someone, that an event is safe because it's a church event or that a pedophile wouldn't know about or attend your event. "This is a real wake-up call," he says.

Richard Hammar, the legal counsel for the General Council of the Assemblies of God, is widely viewed as the foremost expert on sexual abuse in churches. He advises churches take this very evident threat to children's safety seriously.

"I just concluded my research on church litigation that occurred in 2005," states Hammar. "The number one reason that churches were in court involved sexual molestation of a minor. This is not an issue that is going away. Sadly, my research demonstrates that no more than a third of the churches in this country are doing any screening of volunteer youth workers. Churches that continue to ignore this problem are exposing themselves, and the most vulnerable members of their congregation, to an unacceptable level of risk."

Some of the safety precautions recommended to Noble included: check-in/check-out procedures, clearly identified security personnel moving about the area, parent I.D. tags, surveillance cameras, and staff being aware of individuals who seem unattached to their own children or out of place at a children's event.

Jason Noble adds that Viewcrest Assembly was not the only site targeted by the pedophiles. Other churches, fairs, school plays, parks and festivals were just a few of the many other sites and events receiving pedophile reviews and evaluations concerning the access to children. There were also other cities that were being targeted by this Web site that basically represents a network of pedophiles.

"Although this is a definite warning to our Fellowship to exercise extreme care in regards to children's safety," Jason Noble says, "it's also a warning to parents that pedophiles regularly target children and family events - you cannot trust your child's safety to chance."

For professionally-developed resources on how to protect your church -- some of which Hammar has created himself -- see http://www.reducingtherisk.com/.

Author(s): Dan Van Veen

[tah]

Thank you Ronald for posting this..I hope all the parents here will read it...

and watch watch watch their children...

My kids and I were at the mall when little Adam Walsh was kidnapped all those years ago and it was very real to me there were evil people out to harm innocent kids...

there was a man who lived a block away from us arrested for molesting children not too long after that..

we cannot be too careful for their safety

Beware parents ...there is no doubt that the evil men have multiplied in the last 25 years..

Father I ask Your protection for the little ones and may plans of the evil ones be thwarted...

[Brandli5]

Watch your children!!!!

Never let them out of your sight, esp when you let them outside, or go with them to any fuction!!!

I hope parents will listen to this. I have three girls and I do not let them go anyplace without an adult.

I see children all the time here by themselves walking, or biking, and it scares me!!

Its a sad time a coming, but soon Church events will have to have personal ID and camered.

[mrcorey]

Please help me to understand one thing. If they know these blogs and websites are owned & operated by pedophile's, why can't they arrest them BEFORE they act?

And as Brandli5 says, it's not uncommon to see a young lovely girl walking down the street by herself. Where are her parents!!?? I would never let my daughter walk anywhere by herself.

Protect your children folks, it's a mean, scarey world out there!

in Him;

-c-

[Qun Mang]

Beware parents ...there is no doubt that the evil men have multiplied in the last 25 years..

Father I ask Your protection for the little ones and may plans of the evil ones be thwarted...

Amen to that. I do have to disagree with your prior statement however. I think it's more a matter of the Internet allowing communities of pedophiles to form, and so they become more bold with encouragement from other pedophiles. Before the Internet they had no choice but to hide their feelings and had a far less chance of acting on them. But I agree that at least the danger has multiplied, which is really what matters.

I think we need to seriously consider a death penalty for pedophiles.

Umm... where's the love here? Crimes against children are of course despicable, but a think a little perspective is in order.

Were you by chance a victim or do you personally know someone who was? God has some words that may help:

"Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you." Eph 4:31-32

Read, memorize, recite to yourself as necessary, even if it's several times a day. Forgiveness is not easy, but with God it's thankfully possible.

[Arthur Durnan]

Satan does indeed have some well-known church organizations to work with on this particular including, if one is not mistaken about its newly-elected pro-homosexual moderator as recently reported, the "Episcopalian" organization, yes? Far out of proportion to its numbers, the homosexual segment percentage-wise is deeply involved in pedophilia activity. So, again, why wouldn't homosexual pedophiles revel in "Episcopalianism"?

http://arthurdurnan.freeyellow.com

[wordsower]

tah,

Funny you should mention 25 years. We were just talking about this the other day. The difference in our generation and this one is the invention of the VCR, cableTV and the web, (about 25 yrs ago) it's porn that is destroying this generation it wasn't here so readily before these inventions and we have to do something about it, it's eating away the morality of this generation down to the videos and music kids listen to, it's all about sex, sodom and gomorrah. Sorry to sound so ancient but it's terrible and I'm praying for a way out.

Are there any petitions we can sign? Or something?

[53Christian]

Mat 18:6 But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.