Leadership and board

After many years of secrecy, Ethnos360 has decided to post its leadership and board members on its website.

• Board members: Bob Meisel (Chairman), John Parker (Vice-Chairman), Mike Boze, Gary Gilley, Lon Knievel, Michael McKay, Steve Sanford, Larry Brown, and Dallon Anderson

• Executive leadership team: Steve Sanford (CEO), Larry Brown, Dallon Anderson (COO), Dan Falls, Keith Copley, and Brian Coombs

A few things about this new information stand out. One is the board members' "independence." It's impossible to get into the minutiae of why many of these board members that may meet the qualifications of independent by ECFA's standards are far from independent, but here are a few examples. Three of the board members are current Ethnos360 members. Of the remaining six listed, three are former Ethnos360/New Tribes Mission missionaries. Two of those three currently have family members in the organization, and the other one is the teacher of a class currently being offered for a fee by Ethnos360 Bible Institute and was listed as a Bible teacher in the 2023-2025 academic catalog. According to ECFA, a board member is independent if they "do not report to, or are not subordinate to, employees or staff members of the organization," which would seem to preclude a Bible teacher. Ministry Watch has taken away 15 points from Ethnos360's donor confidence score for lack of board independence, including the board chair not being considered independent.

Another thing that stands out is the shrinking size of their leadership team. There was a time when 8-12 members were required. Now the team has gone from 12 to 6. Only six men make decisions for the entire organization. Three of those men (two of whom are current board members in addition to the leadership team) were on the leadership team, and an additional one was head of child safety and/or a member of the leadership team, when the organization:

• Refused to hold Gary Earl accountable, failing to comply with their policy

• Allowed dozens of children to be harmed in PNG and moved the family responsible for the harm to another MK school, where they still serve (a different member of the current leadership team was a leader in PNG at the time and allegedly refused to investigate glaring red flags)

• Feigned an inability to ascertain the girl's age and then allowed the narrative to spread that John Crossett's abuse was an affair

• Facilitated a lawyer for Josh Weeks to avoid the criminal consequences of sexual abuse of a toddler

• Refused to put safeguards in place to prevent abuse, which led to a lawsuit

• Failed to respond sufficiently to an abuse disclosure, which led to an additional lawsuit

This information leads to many questions. Is the board independent? Does this leadership team deserve trust when all of this was allowed, not resolved, not repented of, and resulted in no leadership accountability under their watch? Is there a true accountability mechanism if these things were allowed to happen without response for 10+ years? How can they claim the organization has changed with these same leaders in place? Why has the leadership team gotten smaller and smaller, and yet four or five of the six members in place and therefore responsible for all of this and more remain? Does the board have a clear understanding of all that has transpired under these leaders? Are these leaders bringing all of the information to the board? Can the children of this organization be considered safe when the above children, numbered at nearly 50 or more, and countless others were harmed as a result of failures to protect and/or respond by current leadership under current policies?

What questions do you think need answers?