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WHEN YOUR CHILDREN PAY THE PRICE

How one pastor's family withstood the trauma of sexual abuse in the church.

For Kevin and Janene Martin, this Sunday dinner at the home of a church family seemed like any other. Ministering in rural Nebraska, they were accustomed to such after-church hospitality. When Jeff, the family's athletic fourteen-year-old, offered to play with the Martin's two children-Jonathan, 2, and Cynthia, 3-they gladly accepted.

While the adults got acquainted, the two pre-schoolers bounded off with Jeff, who promised to track down some old toys kept in his room.

An hour later, when dinner was about to be served, Janene excused herself to find Jonathan and Cynthia. Opening the upstairs door unannounced, Janene found Jeff zipping up his pants with Cynthia and Jonathan standing on either side of him. Janene recoiled. No, you didn't see that, she told herself. How can you think such a perverted thing?

Looking down and without saying anything, Jeff quickly slipped past Janene, who was left standing alone with her two children, stunned and speechless. In a fog Janene returned to the dining ...

April
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