A person who went to Auburn University with Newman said, memorably, If Jesus and Pete walked into a room, Im not sure who the kids would have worshiped. Pete Newman is the most thorough relationship builder with kids in Kanakuk history, Kanakuk chief executive officer Joe White once said. 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. Survivors says Newmans idea of bonding often involved invitations to participate in nude activities. There's no one to blamebut Pete and Kanakuk. But the counselors showered together, too.. The playbook rules were geared toward counselors, however, not senior leadership. But Green would never face charges. Newman was the camps rock star. Advocates aligned with No More Victims LLC, a group registered in North Carolina that sponsors a website devoted to publicizing reports of sex abuse allegations and documented crimes linked to the camp, have accused Kanakuk of harboring multiple abusers for decades. Fusch said Green packed and left abruptly after hearing Fusch tell his sister about the abuse. "We're going to try to renew our vows and do something different because of it. He is serving a 10-year sentence at a Jefferson City prison facility, Missouri Department of Corrections records show.). The newspaper also emailed Staples through a general inbox at First Baptist Church and tried to make contact with Staples though the church's Facebook inbox, as well as through an email account linked to Staples in a public records database, and through an email form on a listing of licensed professional counselors published by Psychology Today. Attached to the lawsuit filed by Logan is a sworn affidavit signed by a former supervisor at Kanakuk. The first time former Kanakuk camp director Pete Newman was reported for being nude with kids was in 1999 the same year he became a full-time employee at the Branson-based Christian athletic camp and a decade before he confessed to abusing multiple underage boys he met through Kanakuk and related ministries. 367, creates a cause of action for vulnerable I was trying to avoid him, Fusch said. This happened four or five times.. 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. Joe and his camp, Kanakuk, have been sued by Multiple former campers claiming that he and the In February 2010, Peter Newman pleaded guilty in Taney County to several counts of statutory sodomy and child enticement involving child abuse of a boy on Kanakuk property between approximately 2005 and 2008, court records said. "His logic was like, it's OK to masturbate," Hoffpauir explained. Texas father Joe Alarcon said he sent his son Ashton to Kanakuk after he heard White promoting the camp at a 1997 Promise Keepers rally. OK, talk to you later. They met at a Youth Life event in 1999, a decade before the prayer-request phone call. "Bonding" was just one of the justifications Dygert and Hoffpauir say that Newman offered for his abuse. 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. Fuschs parents met Green when they picked their son up from camp and were impressed. She's just, she's trying to figure it out. They ziplined naked.It was just a guy thing at Kanakuk to be naked all the time.It was just part of the culture. According to documents filed in related court cases, Newman was merely admonished on several occasions. 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 believe in salvation, we dontbelieve in punishment, Jesus forgives, and we are going to forgive the camper, Caroline said Chancey told her. Former Kanakuk camp counselor Peter Newman is already serving two life sentences, plus 30 years, at the Jefferson City Correctional Center. After White purchased Kanakuk Kamps from his father in 1976, he continued the tradition of communal bathing.. Excuse you! And I said some mean words, she said. He would bring me along to sporting events. But even after Newmans 2010 conviction, Kanakuk leaders esteem for Newman remained evident. Webfrom dust we come to dust we return quran. 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. More than 20,000 The documents concerning the BRANSON, Mo. Kamp took their own evaluation of the situation and essentially determined no foul play. With numerous detailed questions, the newspaper recently reached out by email to 14 members of Kanakuk's leadership team, including owner Joe White and his wife, Debbie-Jo White, and followed-up with a phone call to the camp's main switchboard. A flyer for the Ignite men's conference slated for Liberty University from March 17-18, 2017. I talked to Keith.". Carolineand one other girl gathered the courage to relay what happened. She said they reported it to their counselor, who arranged a meeting with camp director Keith Chancey. It only stopped, Hoffpauir said, when he and Madison began seriously dating. Kanakuk, Newman's former employer, is a Christian sports camp that's been in business since 1926. 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. Jones said Price left and she continued to watch the movie. The newspaper left a voicemail for Staples at First Baptist Church, of Branson, where Staples serves as family life pastor. At K-Kountry, counselors and campers all showered together in a facility with no separate stalls or partitions, said former director Will Cunningham. Mr. I feel like I can tell you anything. The new suit seeks$5 million in damages from Newman personally and isthe secondlawsuit against Newman to be filed in Christian County courts in the past three months. He was an instructor at Fuller and Denver seminaries and the U.S. Air Force Academy. Branson resident Evan Hoffpauir said that in 2009, former Christian sports camp counselor Peter Newman, now a convicted sexual predator,called himwith a prayer request. It was there, victims said, that Newman talked to boys about masturbation and encouraged them to use the hot tub jets for sexual stimulation. In 1990, Jones returned to Kanakuk at 13 and saw Price again. Ever since Pete Newmanpleaded guiltyto sexually abusing six boys,Kanakuk has touted itself as a leader in child safety, holding seminars across the nation. And they need to suffer the repercussions of that, to show and send a message that you cannot take this lightly. Both say they were sexually abused for years by former Kanakuk camp counselor Peter Newman. Newman used similar language in a September 2018 letter he sent from the Jefferson City Correctional Center, where he is serving multiple life sentences for sexually abusing boys he met through Kanakuk. Nothing happened to you?' Like independent house churches, they have no outside reality check if they go sour Kanakuk plays a key role in Branson, itself a homespun tourism hub andglobal bastion of American-style conservative Christianity. With all those people cheering, I got up the courage.. You're going to hear some stuff, and I just need prayers. He was sentenced to prison for two life sentences, with an additional 30 years. Long known as a charismatic director and ambassador for the camp, Newman's abuse of campers and others he met through Kanakuk-affiliated ministries often began with casual nudity and discussions about how to control sexual desires, progressing to mutual masturbation and sodomy. On June 9, 2010, Newman, then 34, pleaded guilty in Taney County court to eight charges of sexually abusing six children in connection with his role as a counselor Please consider subscribing to support vital local journalism. She accused the boy of lying in the eyes of the Lord.. WebNewman's guilty plea did not end the problems for Kanakuk officials. 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. After a few minutes we got out of the hot tub, and he took me home. ", He added that the children of Kanakuk managers had, and have, a major role in the community's social life: "They were popular. It might have been the first time he was abused; he can't remember. At maximum, it could destroy your ministry.. The fact that Newman regularly hosted boys in his hot tub was no secret, although his supervisors at the camp maintain they didnt know of the nudity or abuse. ", "She, it's horrible," he told the News-Leader. More:Former Kanakuk counselor Peter Newman named in new sex-abuse lawsuit. Youre growing up and becoming a teenager, hanging around boys. Hoffpauirsaid he was in seventh grade when he first encountered Newman. While his family's home is locatedless than a mile from Kanakuk, he and his siblings never attended. "And I had still been aware of what had gone on, but at that point, I still didn't know that I had been so successfully groomed in this entire process, thatI still didn't realize it was wrong. Shaffer said the camp reassigned Ringheim to maintenance after the complaint. When heentered the room, kids chanted his name, Fusch said. There are people who are suffering in silence, feeling completely alone, to the point of taking their own lives because they don't know how to cope, how to deal with it. He was imprisoned At minimum, this does not look good. 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. Others quickly became accustomed to it, providing fertile ground for a predator like Newman who used nudity and discussions about sexuality to groom his victims. They left all the time , Goodwin said. More:Survivors, ex-employees say unreported abuse at Kanakuk camps in Branson spans decades. 2023 www.news-leader.com. They were spurred by a growing public awareness of controversy linked to Kanakuk that began in early 2021. Like Hoffpauir, Dygert says he accompanied Newman on speaking engagement trips linked to Kanakuk. Hoffpauir said that just after the call ended,hetold his wife for the first time that Newman sexually abused him for five years. "That was really rough," he said. Few reporters knew about the camps size or importance. Newman had other suggestions that same night, Dygert said: Dunking a basketball naked from a gymnastics board, for example. Reporter Gregory Holman was born and raised in Branson, mostly living in Taney County until 2003. ", Dygert added that his mother thought "she was upfront with Pete and protective, and she thought that's why nothing had ever happened to me. While we are grateful that we were able to assist law enforcement in the prosecution and conviction of Pete Newman over a decade ago, we also know that victims pain often continues long after the perpetrator is imprisoned. After Newman's trial, civil lawsuit allegations emerged. In November 1994, Green spent Thanksgiving with them in Dallas. Ed Ringheim, a Kanakuk counselor in the 1990s who later volunteered with the Kanakuk-affiliated KLIFE program in Florida, was convicted in2012 of seven sex-related felonies involving underage boys. "Sadly, Pete Newman was a master of deception fooling family, friends, neighbors, and us as his former employer. On that first night of abuse, Dygert said Newman told him, "'This would be one of the best bonding things we could do.' And then the dominoes started to fall. Newman pleaded guilty last year in Taney County court to three counts of second-degree statutory sodomy, two counts of first-degree statutory sodomy and two counts of enticement of a child. A girl in my cabin and I came up with a plan to keep our swimsuits on and just get our hair wet., Dallas native Elizabeth Hunt Harris, who attended camp from 1994 until 2004, said she only went to K-Kountry once due to her discomfort after being watched in the shower. Newman was in his mid-20s. Joe White had a meeting about the Gold Bond parties and shut them down after it was documented in an incident report, Clark said. But there was a heavy concentration on what I did sexually.. He was a camp director at Kanakuk Kamps, one of the largest Christian And she looked at me (at the birthday dinner). | (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 This horrific pedophile who molested boys for years at Kamp Kanakuk, is Jones said she was laying down to watch the movie when Chuck Price sat next to her and began tickling her foot. And like, competitive. 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. (Last year, Newman was found liable for more than $5 million in damages in that case, Missouri court records show.) 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 next day, Fusch asked to have a friend spend the night so they could sleep in the living room. Newman called it a "circus tent," Dygert said. Hoffpauir said Kanakukis "so prominent in Branson. 1 priority. But when the summer session ended, she said it was clear her parents hadnt been told the details. ", In a statement on the camp's website, Kanakuk noted that "no charges for failure to report were ever filed against any Kanakuk staff" in connection with the Newman case and that "we were devastated by the deceptive practices of this individual, and continue to grieve with the victims and their families. Camp owner White responded that he and Kanakuk will not object to you sharing your story with those who can support your healing. But, he added, becausemost agreements involve insurance companies who may choose to defend their interests, you should keep the terms of your settlement confidential.. He also went onfather-son retreats with Newman. Hoffpauir said that leading up to his marriage, he'd asked himself, "Who's the most spiritual, influential person in my life? Kanakuk will forever grieve the victims of Pete Newman and their suffering and continue to pray for their healing and restoration. 25 Feb/23. 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