ATLANTA (GA)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
May 22, 2024
By Julie Roys
The former CEO of Orange, a leading Christian youth curriculum, has accused Orange founder Reggie Joiner of clergy sexual abuse in an email to two board members.
Former CEO Kristen Ivy writes she and Joiner did not have an “inappropriate relationship,” as initially reported in a statement by Orange announcing Joiner’s and Ivy’s resignations last month. Instead, in an email obtained by The Roys Report (TRR), Ivy labels Joiner’s actions “clergy sexual abuse.” And she adds, “I’m not the only one.”
Ivy sent the email to Orange Board Chairman Joel Manby and Board Member Jennifer Barnes on April 23—the opening day of the Orange Conference 2024. In her email to Manby and Barnes, Ivy admits that she initially labeled what had happened between her and Joiner as an “inappropriate relationship” and explains why.
“During the time of my original interview, I was prepared to protect Reggie at all cost because I was laboring under years of the belief that protecting Reggie was the only way to protect Orange,” Ivy writes. She also states that she “was still living within the mental frameworks I had been coerced to believe which led me to request an inappropriate level of responsibility for this situation.”
But she adds, “In the past week, I have had time (for the first time ever) to seek professional counsel, experts in abuse, and listen to the stories of other survivors. I now realize I am experiencing a high level activated trauma—not just from the past weeks but also compounded trauma from many years of emotional and psychological abuse.”
Ivy adds that the “mischaracterization of what occurred . . . is likely to make it more difficult for other victims to safely share their story and receive the care and healing they deserve.
“I also realize that Orange can never truly be free of what has been lurking in the shadows if we continue to leave unnamed what has happened here. . . . The truth is that Reggie has repeatedly abused his power and used it to gain access to vulnerable, often very young women, slowly crossing boundaries, isolating them, and eventually coercing them into agreeing to the abuse. The very nature of these relationships is to confuse a victim into believing what is happening is consensual . . .”
TRR reached out to Joiner for comment about Ivy’s allegations, but he did not respond.
We also reached out to Ivy, but she declined to give any comment on the record.
Ivy notes in the email that when her relationship with Joiner was sexualized, Joiner was Orange CEO, and she was a “director.” Ivy adds that both her salary and the salary of her husband—Matt Ivey, who also worked for Orange—were at risk if she “spoke openly.”
Kristen Ivy also notes that she is 20 years younger than Joiner. And she writes, “Reggie frequently told me that speaking about this with a counselor, friend, family member, or anyone else would risk ‘the security of the company’, (sic) ‘the employment of my friends,’ and would ‘devastate’ people I cared most about.”
Ivy then labels what happened between her and Joiner “clergy sexual abuse”—something that is a crime in the District of Columbia and 13 states, but not in Georgia, where Ivy and Joiner live.
And she asks for the Orange Board to “publicly amend their statement, launch a credentialled investigation (independent, trauma-informed and forensic) and begin to make a safe path for others to come forward.”
Orange Doesn’t Mention Alleged Abuse at Conference
In her April 23 email to Manby and Barnes, Ivy notes “there is evidence I’m not the only one.” And, for the sake of other potential victims, she asks the board to correct the narrative about her involvement with Joiner at the conference.
Specifically, Ivy asks the board to say “something along the lines of ‘In the process of further inquiries since our original statement, an alarming set of factors has emerged that indicates a need for a broader and more thorough investigation. By the nature of Reggie’s position and influence, we feel responsible to recognize the potential for harmful power dynamics and that perhaps there are others who need a safe place to disclose.’”
Ivy ends her letter, “(B)ut I REQUEST that whatever statement you make tonight at the conference opening closes the door of misunderstanding and mischaracterization that ‘inappropriate relationship’ implies. . . . I do feel that this positioning will better allow anyone who has been impacted to be able to find words that will help them better understand their own story.”
TRR reached out to Manby and Barnes, asking for a recording of the statement Orange made at its conference. Barnes responded, “That recording is not publicly available.”
However, TRR obtained video of the conference opening through another source.
In his opening remarks at the conference, Manby did not use the term “inappropriate relationship,” but he did nothing to change Orange’s previous characterization of what happened between Joiner and Ivy.
“A week ago, we sent out a letter to all of our Orange partners with the difficult news that our Founder Reggie Joiner and our CEO Kristen Ivy are no longer on staff here at Orange,” Manby told conference-goers. “And I want to say something very clearly that everyone in this organization, and the board of directors, deplores any action that lacks integrity or breaks your trust.
“And we are committed to having channels of communication available to anyone affected. And we will continue to walk with those who have been hurt by this.”
Manby then pivoted to speaking about Orange’s mission and thanking conference-goers for their support. He then invited anyone in the audience who was an Orange contractor, blog writer, volunteer, curriculum subscriber, or leader practicing the “Orange strategy” to stand.
“This is Orange. We are Orange,” Manby stated as the audience applauded. “Orange has always been about more than one person.”
TRR reached out to Manby and Barnes about the request in Ivy’s email and the statement Manby made at the conference.
Barnes responded, “. . . Kristen Ivy’s email was not intended for public consumption. Our focus during our ongoing investigation is the support and protection of those who have come forward.”
“We honored (Ivy’s) request and did not say anything about the nature of the relationships at the conference,” Barnes wrote. She noted that Ivy had created the “verbiage, ‘inappropriate relationship,’” prior to the release of Orange’s first statement (on April 17). Barnes said that Ivy “was simply requesting that we refrain from using (“inappropriate relationship”) at the conference, which we honored.”
PR ‘game plan’
Manby’s comments at the Orange conference followed the script he instructed Orange employees to use at a staff meeting April 16.
TRR has obtained audio of that meeting in which Manby told the staff that Joiner had admitted to “past inappropriate relationships” and resigned. Manby also said Kristen had admitted to a “past inappropriate relationship with Reggie” and resigned.
Responding to a staff member’s question about communicating about the scandal to those outside Orange, Manby said that Orange had hired Jackson Spalding, “a world-class PR firm.”
“They’ve handled hundreds of crises like this,” Manby said. “And they have a whole game plan, which makes sure that part of it will be the messaging for that.”
Later in the meeting, Manby expounded on the plan.
“In the next 48 hours, we are trying to get it tight, where everybody has something—you all have messaging because you’re all going to be ambassadors,” he said.
“We’ll state what happened. And then we’ve got to pivot to the positive—that nothing has changed about Orange and its mission,” Manby added. “. . . So yes, we acknowledge the negative, but we’ve got to pivot to the positive.”
Manby added, “We’ll just go through everything. We’ll even practice—Q and A: when people ask you this, what should we say?”
A staff member named Beth expressed that it’s hard to be “cheery,” given what’s happened.
Manby responded, “I agree with that. But I will also say, from my experience, the reason we want to pull the Band-Aid quickly now is we have to recover. . . . So, I think we’ll be able to get into the messaging points. We admit the hard part, but we’ve got to pivot to a positive future.”
Third-party investigation?
At the same staff meeting, someone asked if Orange’s investigation into what happened is complete.
Manby replied, “We have investigated all the information. It took us about a week. . . . As of this time, it’s complete.”
However, later in the meeting, someone asked, “So is it more than just Reggie and Kristen?”
Manby reiterated that “Reggie admitted to inappropriate relationships, and it is past. So, we don’t know. As far as we’re concerned, that’s minimum. But . . . that’s all the information to go on.”
However, at a staff meeting May 14, of which TRR has obtained a recording, Orange Interim President Mike Clear announced that the board had voted on Monday (May 13) “to hire an independent, trauma-informed, forensic organization to carry out a further investigation.”
Clear said the board had interviewed three organizations “and one will likely be selected later this week.”
TRR spoke with several employees who said Orange had not yet announced a firm for the proposed investigation at the time of publishing.
TRR reached out to Manby and Barnes on Monday, asking them if Orange had hired a firm to investigate, and if so, what the name of the firm was.
Manby and Barnes did not respond to our request.
Joiner founded Orange in 2006, 11 years after co-founding North Pointe Community Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, with Andy Stanley. The Orange’s website states that it works with more than 10,000 ministry leaders in 40 countries to provide content and curriculum, encouraging influences from both church and family.
Julie Roys is a veteran investigative reporter and founder of The Roys Report. She also previously hosted a national talk show on the Moody Radio Network, called Up for Debate, and has worked as a TV reporter for a CBS affiliate. Her articles have appeared in numerous periodicals.