This is a staff list for King Family Ministries in Danbury, NC
(aka Second Chance Ranch, Calvary Baptist Church)
(we are working to acquire the complete records for ALL years)
We advise current and/or former staff to report any abuses you may have witnessed while working at King Family Ministries. For information on your rights and how to take action, visit www.heal-online.org/blowthewhistle.htm. If you were fired or forced to resign because you opposed any illegal and/or unethical practices at King Family Ministries, you have the right to take action.
If you were harmed (family or survivor) by King Family Ministries, please contact [email protected] if you remember the long-term employees and from which years. This will help! Also, if you recognize any of these staff as having worked at another program, please send in any information about their past or present employment at other facilities and/or cults.
HEAL is currently investigating King Family Ministries.
|
Name |
Unit/Position |
Additional Information |
| Olen King (Olin King) | Director/Owner |
King has a history of abusing children and youth homes and programs.
From articles provided in full below: "Mr. King, 40 years old, was charged with kidnapping, unlawful neglect and conspiracy after a raid early Wednesday morning by 12 state and local law officers on the New Bethany Baptist Church Home for Boys in Walterboro. Mr. King and two other school employees also charged with kidnapping were freed on a total of $115,000 in bond Thursday.... ''Most of the boys were brainwashed, just like Hitler did with kids,'' said Ralph Murdaugh, the county prosecutor. Speaking of the school administrators, Mr. Murdaugh said that ''day after day they preached these doctrines'' of their brand of fundamentalist Christianity to the students. Mr. King and dozens of the boys justified the beatings by citing biblical quotations such as Proverbs 22:15, ''Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him.'' According to a logbook of beatings confiscated in the raid, they were administered for such infractions of the rules as laughing, failing to march properly and talking back to supervisors, Mr. Murdaugh said. Three Levels of Treatment The students described a three-tiered disciplinary system that they said had been in force at the school. They said boys with the least freedom had been ''on bondage'' and were marched out to the fields every morning linked by a rope. The boys called this the ''chain gang.''" Source: http://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/03/us/bible-is-cited-to-defend-beatings-at-church-school.html (This article is shown in its entirety below.) |
| Glena King | Co-Owner/Director | |
| Jeff Merrick | Pastor | Merrick in the pastor for Calvary Baptist Church in Knob Noster, MO. Calvary includes King Family Ministries on its website as a mission of its church. |
| Eileen Merrick | Pastor's Wife | |
| Douglas King | Son of Olen/Owner? | Doug and his wife Penny reportedly work for this program and may be running it due to Olen King's failing health. |
| Penny (Ford) King | Wife of Doug/Owner? | Penny is also the daughter of Mack Ford who abused children for decades at the New Bethany Home in LA. |
| (King Family Ministries, like many other programs in this industry, keeps a "tight lid" on any specific information regarding their staff, qualifications, and practices. Please contact us with the names of any staff of which you have firsthand knowledge or experience. Thank you for your help.) | ||
| This program does not include their program details or enrollment materials online nor do they make them readily available upon request. HEAL has reviewed a number of "faith-based" program contracts and recommend you review those and compare them to the agreement(s) provided by King. Please see: www.heal-online.org/abundant.htm and www.heal-online.org/abmcontract.htm. If the agreement is similar, please avoid this program. | ||
| This program is also associated with the Roloff programs, which are confirmedly abusive. We highly recommend you avoid this program. | ||
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| AROUND THE NATION; Lawyer Asserts School Kept Log of Beatings UPI Published: June 1, 1984 Print Reprints WALTERBORO, S.C., May 31— Accounts of hunger, isolation and beatings with plastic pipes and wooden sticks emerged today in the investigation of a fundamentalist boarding school whose operators have been charged with kidnapping and neglect. ''We found a log of beatings,'' said Solicitor Randolph Murdaugh Jr. ''The log book shows the names of children and the punishment they received, but it doesn't give dates.'' More than half of the 57 boys removed from the New Bethany Baptist Home for Boys were at a National Guard armory awaiting placement with foster parents after the closing of the school Wednesday and the arrest of three employees. Other students were returned to their parents. The authorities charged three people at the school with kidnapping and conspiracy. They were being held in jail. Source: http://www.nytimes.com/1984/06/01/us/around-the-nation-lawyer-asserts-school-kept-log-of-beatings.html | ||
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| King Family Ministries is operating a youth program under the umbrella of Calvary Baptist Church in Knob Noster, MO. The King's program is located in Danbury, NC. But, the headquarters of the affiliated church is in Missouri. | ||
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