by Abram Kim

It is not often that my worlds as a sports fan and a Children’s Ministry coordinator intersect. However, with the recent news that a former assistant football coach at Penn State (Jerry Sandusky) allegedly abused young boys on their campus, these two worlds collided in a surprising and horrific way.

This scandalous story has no relevance to sports except that it happened in a sports context (a major university’s football program). But not just any sports program. It happened at one of the most well-known and storied programs in the entire nation. This is why my sports fan side is so vested. This also happened to kids. Though I am not a parent yet, I work with the kids at our church regularly and are often around young children. I have been entrusted by the church to oversee our Sunday School hour and several summer VBS’s. This is why my Children’s Ministry side is so vested in this story.

Any time news like this hits the papers (though now, more aptly, the web) it is tragic and sad, and our hearts go out to the victims and their families. But there are at least two additional factors that make this particular story more relevant to the average sports fan as well as to the Children’s Ministry worker. The first is that this all happened under the eye of legendary Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno. He is known to be a man of integrity and character. He has built his football program and, by influence the entire campus, on this kind of character, doing things the right way. Penn State is synonymous with Joe Paterno. Every college football fan definitely knows “Joe Pa,” and so would most sports enthusiasts. Because of this familiarity, many people across the country seem to have a vested interest in this story, including me. And to think that this horrific abuse occurred during Paterno’s tenure at Penn State has forever tarnished his legendary coaching career.

Secondly, part of the tragedy of this story is why the abuse was allowed to continue for the last 13 years without any apparent criminal or civil charges. Over that span, there seems to be over a dozen boys that were allegedly abused by Sandusky, most of whom have not come forward to testify until recently. Part of the anger and outrage people feel are related to this extended length of time when apparently nothing was done to put Sandusky in prison. These allegations were brought to the district attorney and to coaches and school officials over this span of time, but it had never been reported to the police until this past month. In 2002, Paterno and other top school officials were notified of these allegations of Sandusky by Mike McQueary, a grad assistant at the time and current coach on the Penn State football team, who witnessed Sandusky in the showers molesting a young boy. Journalists and former Penn State players reported seeing Sandusky on the Penn State campus the following year after this incident was reported to top school officials, though not to the police.

Why do these two particular factors grab my attention? The main reason is that this news hits home, in the sense that if this can happen there, it can happen here. It’s easy to think that this could never happen at our church or that people would essentially turn a blind eye to such abuse, especially for such an extended period of time. But the fact remains that churches are very much a hunting ground for sexual predators because of the grace and trust we extend to everyone (more on this topic later in the article). Paterno built his legacy around honor and integrity and character, but now his legacy is forever tarnished with his sin of omission for almost 10 years.

Part of the pain and anger we feel when we hear this story is that, if it can happen at a place like this, under the watch of someone like Paterno, can this really happen where we are? Can this happen at LBCSD? The simple answer is yes. Why? Because we are all sinners, depraved and wicked to the core. The potential for this perversity is innate in all of us, save the grace of God. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). There is none righteous, not even one (Romans 3:10, Proverbs 20:9; cf. Jeremiah 17:9).

There is one more aspect of who I am that played the deciding factor in how I interacted with this news, me as a Christian. As I heard and read more news about this story, I felt disgusted, angry, shocked, disappointed, and horrified. But the more I dwelt on these particular emotions, I realized that these are the kinds of emotions I should feel towards all my sins. When news like this emerges, they are ways God uses to remind us of the ugliness of sin. This is the kind of ugliness that Christ died for. My sins aren’t some quaint, not-too-bad, not-too-terrible blips on God’s radar that needed a little clean-up by Christ’s blood. Every white lie, every little gossip, every thought of payback or manipulation to get my way. Each one is as ugly as the Penn State scandal to God, for He is perfectly holy and cannot look upon evil (Habakkuk 1:13).

I was reminded of Jesus’ explanation as to what our response should be when we hear of terrible local news (Luke 13:1-5). Jesus said our response needs to be to repent, else we perish like them. This ought to be the Christian response to 9-11, or Katrina, or other natural disasters. All of us deserve such destruction, and these incidents remind us of the need for a Savior. I am not trying to take the analogy too far to suggest that sinners (including children) deserve abuse like what happened at Penn State, but I do think that this ought to again remind us of the need for a Savior. The disgust and anger I felt and still feel over what happened to these young boys is the kind of disgust I need to have towards my own sins, for that is how God sees my sins. Events like this ought to remind the church of the ugliness of sin and the great price Christ paid to atone for this kind of wickedness.

So where does this leave our Children’s Ministry? My last thought above, I think, ought to be the starting point. We must start with the gospel of Jesus Christ that is able to save us from the uttermost (Hebrews 7:25), even from the kind of scandalous sins revealed at Penn State. Our accountability as a ministry is first and foremost to God. In other words, all of our Children’s Ministry workers must be a regenerate, true believer and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are justified by grace through faith. We also have the Holy Spirit indwelling us, empowering us to live righteous lives and to put off the old man, with its perversities like the ones witnessed at Penn State.

As a genuine Christian, we are also accountable to the local church where we hold our membership, so that is the next level of accountability. God has designed the church to carry out His mission on earth, including raising the next generation to know and fear the Lord. The elders of the church watch over the members of the church and do their best to ensure that the conduct of all her members, including Children’s Ministry workers, align with the teachings of Scripture and are in accordance with being a Christian who has put off the old man and has put on the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:16-24). The elders have appointed helpers like myself to maintain a close eye on all the staff involved in our ministries. I, of course, take this charge very seriously. This is why I take this news so seriously.

The safety of our children are of utmost importance to the Children’s Ministry at Lighthouse. We have specific policies and guidelines in place to protect the children and to help remind all the staff to remain above reproach. But we must be steadfast and diligent in our efforts and not be complacent, lest incidents like the Penn State scandal creep into our church. To better improve our due diligence in matters of our children’s safety, all our Children’s Ministry staff must have a background check performed at a minimum of every 2 years. In addition, we have been notified by Elder Mike Chon to report any suspicious activity to him and the ministry coordinators immediately. If there is any concern of abuse (physical and/or sexual), the staff must report it to Mike and the police. Every adult can now be found culpable if not reported to the proper authorities, including the police, on matters as serious as this. We as a Children’s Ministry will make every effort to protect our kids to the best of our abilities.

At the end of the day, will any of the children at our church be abused, regardless of the measures we place to protect them? Statistically, and considering the makeup of our church, probably not likely. But when news like this Penn State scandal breaks, all statistics and likelihoods are thrown out the window. The gravity of the issue rises to the forefronts of all our minds. Guards must be enhanced and measures must be evaluated to make sure all of us are doing our due diligence to protect the safety of each child God has entrusted to us, as parents, as the Children’s Ministry, and as the local church.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding this topic, please feel free to talk with Mike Chon or myself at church.