Kathryn Joyce has written a long form report on the Donn Ketcham scandal for the New Republic. Her report includes details that were absent from the PII report, released about a year ago. Astonishingly, Wendell Kempton’s name is only mentioned once in the story. Kempton was president of ABWE at the time Ketcham left the mission.
The New Republic is a journal of opinion on the social and political Left. Those on the Right, however, are also noticing. Conservative evangelical blogger Tim Challies linked to the New Republic piece, calling it a “devastating article about abuse within ABWE.” Those who had hoped that the scandal would die down after the release of the PII report must be pretty disappointed.
I was present at the GARBC annual meeting when the National Representative announced that a beloved missionary leader had fallen and was stepping out of ministry. As I recall, the National Representative at that time served on the board of ABWE. He said nothing at all about Ketcham’s preying on children. To this day we don’t know how many Bangladeshi children Ketcham may have assaulted.
The scandal isn’t dying. It’s getting bigger.
