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Trevor Blake: 258 Phantom Churches [LINK-ZUM]

Sam Hodges, Pastor sues Baptist General Convention of Texas: The Baptist General Convention of Texas has been sued for libel and slander by a pastor involved in starting churches in the Rio Grande Valley. The Rev. Otto Arango claims he was defamed by the Dallas-based BGCT as it dealt with allegations of "phantom churches" and misspent money in a scandal that came to be known in Baptist circles as "Valleygate."

An independent investigation commissioned by the BGCT noted that Dr. Arango and two other pastors sponsored a reported 258 new churches, which together received more than $1.3 million in BGCT funds. But many of those new churches failed, others were mere "extension units" of existing churches, and some never existed at all, the investigators found in a report sharply critical of the BGCT for lax oversight.

Vicki Brown, Former Texas church planter files libel suit against BGCT, others: Arango's legal action stems from allegations that he and two other church planters, Aaron de la Torre and Armando Vera, misused BGCT church-start funds. The trio claimed 258 churches had been started in Texas between 1999 and 2005 through a training system Arango had devised. The system was based on the house-church approach.

Questions about Arango's reportedly lavish lifestyle and suspicions about the use of some funds prompted BGCT officials to ask an independent counsel, Diane Dillard of Brownsville, to investigate. [...] Investigators [...] noted that 98 percent of the congregations they claimed to have planted via the program either no longer existed or existed only on paper.

[Articles continue at links. I suggest that if religious groups were held to the same standards as secular groups when it comes to tax-exempt status, improprieties such as this might be easier to control. Secular groups must demonstrate that they relieve the State of providing a needed service to get their tax-exempt status. Money is tracked, and when it is mis-spent the culprit can be identified. Religious groups merely need to say they are religious groups to get tax-exempt status. No service need be rendered. A religious group can offer emergency shelter to war refugees or they can buy lavish mansions for themselves and either way they remain tax-exempt. Why more corporations don't become religions I do not know. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: christianity

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