In 2016, Voice of the Martyrs was nearing 50 years of ministry to persecuted Christians worldwide, but behind closed doors, it was dealing with a controversy that was threatening to become public. And several former VOM staff said that Cole Richards, now VOM president, was focused on managing VOM’s image at the expense of orphans in Nigeria.

“Impression management was almost always part of the equation during crisis conversations with (Richards),” said Jason Peters, VOM’s former chief of connection.

Peters is one of 10 former VOM staff who spoke exclusively to The Roys Report (TRR), alleging Richards leads in a toxic way. In our last article, TRR reported whistleblowers’ concerns about Richards’ missions background, his rise to the presidency, and his treatment of employees who voice dissent. In this article, we detail instances in which whistleblowers say Richards put VOM’s public image above care for persecuted Christians.

TRR reached out to Richards for comment, and he provided written answers to several rounds of questions and agreed to a Zoom interview.

Richards is a pseudonym that the VOM president uses professionally, citing security reasons because of the work he does in countries hostile to Christianity.

’Optics’ in focus amid unhealthy conditions at orphanage

VOM was founded in 1967 by “Tortured for Christ” author and pastor Richard Wurmbrand. In 2017, VOM made headlines for its involvement in a Nigerian orphanage accused of mismanaging funds and providing abysmal care.

A separate organization, VOM-Nigeria, ran the orphanage, called the Stephen’s Center. But VOM funded the Stephen’s Center with millions of dollars most years, according to Nick Gray, former deputy regional director for South Asia. (VOM spokesperson Jon Wilke disputes these numbers. He says between 2006 and 2016, on average, VOM spent $226,175 annually, with a total of $2,487,922. Funding never exceeded $420,000 in any single year, Wilke says.)

Richards, then-vice president of VOM’s international ministry, knew of allegations of poor conditions at the orphanage for years, said Jason Peters, VOM’s former chief of connection.

Richards also confirmed this fact.

In two emailed statements to TRR, Richards said that in 2011, he and several other VOM leaders knew of “standard of care” problems and financial mismanagement. He said VOM started working with the Stephen’s Center manager to lower the number of students there.

Then, after Richards visited the Stephen’s Center in 2012, he said VOM funded many improvements including “more and better food for the students, better bedding for them to sleep on and improvements in the educational resources the children had access to.”

But two years later, Peters said, he went to Nigeria and witnessed “severe” overcrowding, unhealthy conditions, and lack of integrity among leaders at the Stephen’s Center. Peters said he reported the conditions to Richards. But in discussions with Peters, Richards focused on the “optics” of the situation rather than making changes to funding or the ministry there, Peters said.

“We knew it was not good work, but we worried about how to end VOM’s support in a way that would save face for the organization,” Peters said.

The same year, Merv Knight, a former board member, also emailed concerns about the orphanage to Richards.

“If those who support the orphanage were to see the bare naked truth of the conditions it would not surprise me if we faced strong criticism and a falling away of support,” Knight wrote. “If the brakes are not applied now, even though it will create some difficulties and some anguish, it will continue to rush along to what could be a greater disaster.”

In January 2016, American pastor Dan Horn visited Nigeria, saw the conditions, and documented abuses, which he then shared with VOM.

According to Horn’s website, VOM denied the abuses for a year and were “more interested in covering up what had gone on instead of resolving it.” So, in 2017, Horn published a video documenting the allegations.

Richards countered in his emailed statements to TRR, saying VOM did see some changes over the years.

“We worked hard—doing everything in our power—to improve the situation for the orphans served by our partner organization (VOCM Nigeria’s “Stephen’s Center”) for several years,” Richards wrote. “We had many successes in doing so, and hundreds of orphans were served well during those years. Our staff regularly visited the center to evaluate standards and help our partners implement improvements.”

In June 2016—five years after Richards said he first knew of poor living conditions—VOM stopped funding the orphanage, Richards claimed. He added that former VOM President Jim Dau announced the change at a gathering of the International Christian Association (ICA).

But the June 2016 timeline isn’t accurate, according to numerous former VOM employees who spoke with TRR.

Former regional director Joe Hill said that in late July 2016, VOM was still funding the Stephen’s Center, and he spoke with Richards at that time about whether to continue the funding.

Similarly, former regional director Sean Paton told TRR, “They’d been dragging their feet for a while and then pulled out in earnest when the Dan Horn stuff emerged, and then started doctoring and ‘back dating’ their withdrawal.”

(Hill and Paton are pseudonyms the two men use because they work in countries with high risk of persecution. TRR confirmed their identities with former VOM field leader Derrick Stewart.)

Jason Peters said he was at the October 2016 ICA conference when Dau told Isaac Newton, who was running the Stephen’s Center, that VOM was ending its funding. Richards said he was not at that meeting due to a medical emergency. Peters provided photos to TRR showing Newton at the conference.

“Isaac came to ICA general assembly in October and had no clue his project was done,” Peters said. “He was crying.”

Nick Gray, former deputy regional director for South Asia, said Richards pushed “talking points” that blamed the leadership in Nigeria, said VOM’s “hands were clean,” but in a way that showed no compassion for victims.

“Dan Horn was painted as the evil one, Isaac as the predator, and Cole as the savior,” Gray said. 

Both Peters and Paton said the only reason VOM cut off funding to the Stephen’s Center was because of public exposure in 2016-2017, due to Horn’s advocacy.

“What happened during those two-plus years when VOM knew there were serious issues?” Peters said. “Only God knows.”

TRR asked VOM for documentation of the efforts VOM made to investigate the abuses at the Stephen’s Center. We also asked for the results of an “outside child safety ministry to evaluate the methodology of VOM’s work in Nigeria and advise our staff in best practices,” which was mentioned in a 2017 VOM public statement.

Richards responded to the request by referring to his earlier comment that VOM made changes over the years but did not provide documentation.

 ‘Willing to lie’ to keep image ‘squeaky clean’

In 2019, Paton said he visited a safe house for vulnerable women in Kenya, run by VOM Finland, a separate organization. Paton noticed that a non-VOM missionary man with a rumored past frequently stayed there, and Paton grew concerned.

Right after Paton returned to the United States, he said a woman from a different mission organization alerted VOM of allegations of sexual misconduct by this same missionary. Paton said he asked Richards to tell VOM Finland leaders of the concerns during upcoming meetings Richards was attending. Paton said he never heard whether Richards had that conversation.

However, the following April, the woman warned VOM again, along with three other organizations, in an email that TRR obtained. A few days later, Richards emailed other VOM leaders to say this was the first he’d heard of the allegations and that he would launch an internal investigation, according to VOM’s protocol.

Six hours later, Richards crafted an email to the other ministries to say he concluded his investigation.

His conclusion was that the man had never been a VOM employee, contractor, partner, nor acted on VOM’s behalf, but that VOM had made donations to the man’s ministry.

Richards sent the email to VOM leaders first, including Paton, before sending it to anyone else. Richards wrote that VOM had only just heard of the allegation in April 2020, and had no prior knowledge from any victims.

Paton replied to Richards in an email that Richards had been informed of the allegations the previous year. Paton said he also told Richards that Paton had texted the woman bringing allegations in 2019, saying Paton had informed his leaders of the issue.

As a result, Paton said Richards didn’t send that email to the other ministries. Richards then suggested closing the Kenyan guest house, but relented when Paton said the action was too drastic and would harm vulnerable women.

Paton said the interactions showed that Richards’ instinct is to protect the ministry, rather than vulnerable populations. 

“It was just that posture of always thinking of myself first, always covering my own rear end, not thinking about persecuted peoples, and willing to lie knowingly to make sure that the image stayed squeaky clean,” Paton said, describing Richards’ communications.

Richards told TRR that VOM didn’t uncover any evidence that the man had harmed anyone, but that VOM “broke relationship” after learning he had failed to “follow standards we require of ministry partners.”

In our next article, we’ll report on Voice of the Martyrs employees who questioned a budget crisis and subsequently lost their jobs.

Correction: This article has been updated to add a spokesperson’s statement disputing a stated funding amount, and to accurately state that Richards did not attend a 2016 meeting.

Rebecca Hopkins is a journalist based in Colorado.