I have been following this little drama with some interest, as I have friends that are former members of Jerry's flock. They left for a host of reasons, among them the financial transparency issues documented in the KC Star article.
Following the plethora of message board postings and blogs, there appears to be a large number of former members and staff that have left for a host of reasons other than financial transparency.
Since the Star articles, the leadership at FFC has chosen to remove most of their archived sermon videos, further restrict access to the church leadership and restrict access to the live web-streaming to registered individuals only. The weekend before Easter, they passed out a small booklet of 'financial disclosure' that was a very inept attempt to explain how things are managed at FFC. Still, if a member asks to see the budget, they are denied.
The most obvious solution for Jerry is to simply open the books to an honest and independent audit and make those results known to his congregation. He has chosen, instead, to 'circle the wagons', to use the words of a current FFC member.
I am not sure where all of this is heading. There have been suggestions of criminal investigations and the like. At this point, however, I think is it important that we keep the congregation at First Family in our prayers.
My desire would also be for FFC to just open the books. Whatever embarrassing missteps exist can be overcome and put behind them; it's not worth sacrificing an entire congregation for one person, no matter who they are. I also hope this episode encourages churches and ministers to rethink how they do business. Accountability for these celebrity preachers is a must or they'll do far more harm than good.
I'll post again if and when any news develops.
4 comments:
Being a poster who has spread information about FFC and Jerry, some of the facts which may have skipped Jim's mind (the poster who gave you a hard time, claiming false accusations where made from FFC), I offer this:
To again examine the core reasons of the issues regarding FFC and the accusations leveled at FFC, here they are:
1. Jerry, from the stage, said the building for the children would:
- Have Disney-like appeal
- open a school like rockhurst
- collected tuition for the school
- would cost, combined with the youth building 8.8M
FACT - the building is NOT dressed up as mentioned from the stage,
VERIFICATION - just go there.
FACT - the school was put off until the paper brought this to bear, the next project was the 5000 seat place. They have since, again, reversed direction. The school is nothing like what was promised. Only a couple of grades and only after the story was published in the KC Star.
VERIFICATION - just check out the website for FFC.
2. Jerry, from the stage, said the youth building would:
- be open 24x7
- have a gym for members
FACT - the building is not open 24x7
VERIFICATION - just go there after hours
FACT - the building does not have a gym
VERIFICATION - just go there during hours
3. Jerry collected money for a cornerstone with people's names to be put on them
(while I think it is a bad idea to elevate people, they paid for and should get what is promised)
FACT - this was never put up as promised and a shadow of what was supposed to be there was offered up AFTER the paper brought another broken promise to light.
VERIFICATION - just go there
4. Jerry repeatedly stated from the stage that the camp to the south was donated to the church, when, in fact,
FACT - donations from the church are being used to fund the mortgage on the land.
VERIFICATION - The statements from FFC in the article in the KC Star.
According to the laws of Kansas, statute 17-1769, subsection (h) and (i) specify:
(h) using donations for purposes other than those stated in solicitations;
(i) using donations for other than charitable purposes;
Religious organizations are included in the statutes for this section of law, but are nor required to register with the state (under 17-1762 section K) for their activities
Nothing said here is dependent upon my identity and, unless you believe in relative truth, the above is either the truth (and can be independently verified) or it isn't.
nonameffc
Thanks for the information, NoNameFFC; I know a lot of people are curious about what's transpired at FFC.
I hope these things get sorted out and rectified as soon as possible. There are a lot of folks who feel betrayed or let down or generally discouraged – which goes to my overall thesis that this kind of church government can be as damaging as it is effective. The highs don't justify the lows on this roller coaster.
As they say, power corrupts…
Here is a scary thought... what if these evangelists (Jerry include) do not believe they are doing anything wrong? Just doing what they believe God is asking of them?
I think these guys are almost certainly doing what they believe is God's will. It's just that they perceive God's will to include a lot of perks for them personally. I don't think that Johnston is insincere. But he may be sincerely mistaken.
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