Pastor Steals WHOLE Church

(Post updated.)

I have heard of stealing sheep, but the whole church? This is ridiculous.

For nearly a decade, members of Ripon's [CA] First Congregational Church bared their souls to Pastor Randall Radic. But clearly it didn't work both ways. There were certain things he wasn't telling them.

That became obvious a year ago, when Radic pleaded guilty to betraying his flock and secretly selling the church and its rectory out from under them. He used the money to buy himself a brand-new black BMW and a laptop...

[...]

"This is a town with a lot of faith," said Navid Fardanesh, president of the Ripon Chamber of Commerce. "People had a lot of trust in him, and unfortunately he took advantage of the situation."

First, Radic faked documents giving him possession of the parsonage, and used the property to take out about $200,000 in personal loans, prosecutors said. Then he forged papers saying he had the power to sell the church, and sold it to a couple for $525,000.

I do not know what to find most extraordinary...this pastor's bravado; the naivety of the couple who bought the property; or the fact that the new pastor lives in a motor home. You can read the whole AP report here.

(HT: Ken Fields)

Pistol Packing Preacher Goes Down in Mayberry

Often when my creativity is at a standstill something likes this comes up to fill the void. You just cannot make this stuff up. According to a Friday, December 1st AP report, via The Christian Post, a North Carolina pastor brandished a gun as part of his sermon. What the membership of Victory Baptist Church did not know was that their pastor was convicted of drug trafficking and firearm possession in 1990.

MOUNT AIRY, N.C. (AP) - The pastor of a Mount Airy church accused of brandishing a gun as part of his sermon is free on bond after being charged with possession of a firearm by a felon.

Jerry Wayne "Dusty" Whitaker, 58, of Mount Airy, was convicted in Virginia in 1990 of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and possession of a firearm during drug trafficking.

Members of Whitaker's Victory Baptist Church say they had no knowledge of his criminal background. Whitaker told them he was a retired Virginia state police officer and a retired U.S. marshal who was injured in the line of duty, said Garry Scearce, trustee chairman at Victory Baptist.

Whitaker denies ever telling anyone he was a marshal, but said he worked as a police officer for six years in Montgomery County, Va.

[...]

Whitaker was arrested during church services Sunday. He was released Monday after posting a $20,000 bond.

The Street Prophets asked an appropriate question, "Do Baptists ever get tired of reading this kind of story about their pastors?"

Yes. We do. Or at least I do. Somehow the humor gets lost on me and I just don't laugh anymore.

Consider this story I posted a couple of days ago about another NC pastor using the church credit card to buy improprieties, as well as this one from a few months ago about a pastor using a church's credit card to pay personal bills. The rub there is he had resigned from that church over a year earlier.

It is too much the norm reading these kinds of stories in the news. Considering the preacher from Mt. Airy, it is wise and prudent that all search committees do a comprehensive background check on all prosepective pastors and staff; not to mention nursery and children's department workers (even the lay people). It is a sad commentary on our culture and religious environment that this is a necessity, but might I reiterate this sentence from the AP article: "Members of Whitaker's Victory Baptist Church say they had no knowledge of his criminal background." Can churches afford such oversight? The legal repercussions are too high.

Sincerely,
Tony

President Bush is a Liberal?

Or at least that's what a recent Baylor study says.

According to his [Paul Froese, assistant professor of sociology], released Oct. 25, 40 percent of evangelicals who support George W. Bush actually emerged as “liberal” on economic issues, specifically in beliefs about wealth distribution and economic justice.

I'm not sure I really know what that means...The study also revealed some other strange notions, especially in conservative circles. 76 percent of evangelicals believe the government should do more to protect the environment. This is one where conservatives have typically been on the wrong side. 74 percent of evangelicals believe it is “very important” to seek social and economic justice; yet again, there is no conservative voice where these issues are concerned.

This quote really caught my eye:

Conversely, some voters not classified as evangelicals revealed surprising opinions on some traditionally “liberal” causes. According to Baylor researchers, 61 percent of “nonevangelicals” think religious groups should be allowed to display religious symbols in public spaces. And a whopping 64 percent of nonevangelicals think the government should allow prayer in public schools.

Politicos nationwide would do well to take note of the twist in voter consciousness,Byron Johnson, co-director of the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion, said in the report, “Such findings should not go unnoticed by Republican officials,” he said.

The mid-term elections didn't really do the trick so maybe this study will. And this story is just plain tragic. Ridculously, the ABP ran this story with a link on the sidebar on their website; NC Pastor Spent Church Money on Viagra. The full story documents this pastor's reprehensible behavior and the ED issue is addressed in only a minor key: "Walker used his church's credit card to pay for erectile dysfunction medication..." Talk about integrity in journalism.

Twila Parris, A. W. Pink, & Ted Haggard

Present day conditions call loudly for a reprisal of the sovereignty of God. Does God rule or not? Is He as Twila Parris chimes, “in control?” Many blogs have become bogged down with the weight of prominent evangelical pastor Ted Haggard and his moral indiscretions. Unfortunately this is not uncommon. But with all the hay about personal responsibility and moral accountability, which are all important and should not at all be neglected, let us be reminded of the One that was not caught off guard by this.

“But who is regulating affairs on this earth today—God, or the devil? Attempt to take a serious and comprehensive view of the world. What a scene of confusion and chaos confronts us on every side! Sin is rampant; lawlessness abounds; evil men and sorcerers are waxing ‘worse and worse’ (2 Tim. 3:13). Today, everything appears to be out of joint. Thrones are creaking and tottering, ancient dynasties are being overturned, nations are in revolt, civilization is a demonstrated failure; half of Christendom was but recently locked together in a death grapple; and now that the titanic conflict is over, instead of the world having been made ‘safe for democracy,’ we have discovered that democracy is very unsafe for the world. Unrest, discontent, and lawlessness are rife everywhere, and none can say how soon another great war will be set in motion. Statesmen are perplexed and staggered. Men’s hearts are ‘failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth’ (Luke 21:26). Do these things look as though God had full control?”

It sounds as if A. W. Pink could have been reading our local papers, but this quote is from his book, The Sovereignty of God, pages 12-13, written in 1928. Of course the answer to Mr. Pink’s open-ended question at the conclusion of the quote is obvious.

Ms. Parris is correct in her assessment of the sovereignty of God; He is still able, He is still sufficient, He still observes, He still reigns, and He is still in control (even if the song smells a little like cheddar).

But the greater question is this; does God have full control over your life? Moral responsibility is one thing, but we must be reminded of the simple truth that God reigns over all His creation, with the exception of the heart that is not truly His.

They shall come with weeping, and with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble. Jeremiah 31:9

Sincerely,
Tony

Yet Another Pastor Falls

The 25 August 2006 issue of the Gazette Virginian contained yet more fodder for the world to disparage Christians, shame the name of the Lord Jesus, and mock Christian ministry. Bold letters on the front page noted a "Pastor Charged with Stealing from Church."

The article does specify that the pastor was a former native of the area, so fortunately he has done no damage to any existing ministry in our little corner of the world, but certainly disillusioned a few saints and compromised a few folks' trust. He was dismissed from the church he served in our area in 2004 for unknown reasons yet after dismissal, continued to use the church's account to pay personal bills until January 2006. If that does not raise an eyebrow as to the handling of the money bag at this church...

However, my heart breaks for this man because it very easily could have been me. Oswald Chambers said in the June 1st devotional in My Utmost for His Highest that “…there is no criminal who is half so bad in actuality as you know yourself to be in possibility.” Mr. Chambers concurs with the prophet Jeremiah in Jeremiah 17:9; “The heart is deceitful above all else and desperately wicked, who can know it?” I am not above this fallen pastor in any way because my heart has the same wicked tendencies. Perhaps he had lost hope, perhaps he did not know where the next dollar would come from, perhaps he lost faith that God could provide. Any number of things could have dissuaded this man from trusting God.

The fact of the matter is, I myself can be a closet atheist. I find myself failing to believe God's precious promises everyday. I find myself walking a narrow chalk line between faith and disbelief. I find myself fearful at times. This sinful world we live in can overwhelm a man if he is not careful and lead him trip-tropping down a pretty path of destruction. God can and will forgive Mr. Kelly. The state of Virginia will probably not be so lenient.

May those of us who love the Lord and love serving Him pray for this man and others like him who would throw their ministries, their reputations, and their families away for table scraps. May we also pray that Christian congregations learn to discern the hireling Jesus warned about and be bold enough to dismiss that man before he can bring shame upon himself, his family, Christian ministry, and most importantly, the name of our precious Savior.

Sincerely,
Tony