Posted on 02/03/2011 12:51:50 PM PST by topcat54
A bank has threatened to take possession of First Family Church in Overland Park if it doesn’t pay more than $14 million in mortgage and other costs.
A foreclosure petition filed in Johnson County District Court last week by Regions Bank asks that the property be foreclosed and if payment is not made that it be sold, with the proceeds applied to the debt.
The mega church, which was described at one time as one of the fastest-growing in the country, came under scrutiny in 2007 after The Kansas City Star reported that hundreds of members had left the church over concerns about financial accountability.
The Rev. Jerry Johnston, founder and senior pastor, did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
Lavish lifestyles at odds with pastor’s calls for the faithful to sacrifice.
Expensive trips. New homes. An elite credit card.
The lifestyle of the Rev. Jerry Johnston’s family has raised eyebrows among former members of First Family Church.
“Everything is extravagant,” said Melisa Gingrich, who left the church last year. “That’s the way the Johnstons live.”
Johnston and the church board will not reveal his compensation, nor how much he makes from his for-profit corporation that handles his books, videos and speaking engagements. (excerpt)
It happens to anyone and everyone who borrows money with the promise to repay, and then doesn't. Debt is slavery, and churches (if they're biblically literate) should know better than to sell themselves into slavery.
The rich rules over the poor,and the borrower is the slave of the lender.
-- Proverbs 22:7
Two points.
One, my favorite pastor is Johnny Hunt at First Baptist Church, Woodstock, Georgia. He says the only check he ever sees in the one written to him and he doesn’t see that one for very long because his wife takes it. Bottom line is he doesn’t want to be involved in church finances. Good for him.
Two, I have a feeling we’re going to see some schools go into foreclosure. A lot of new buildings were erected when property taxes were going through the roof. Now they’re way down.
Sorry to see that...don’t like to see any Christian Church close.
So what happens when a bank repos a church? It’s not like they can resell it. They’re just going to have the chore and the expense of keeping it secure, maintaining it, paying taxes on it, etc.
I’m so glad the administration of our church is very conservative with money.
I saw a church for sell in Houston about 6 years ago. Really a strange site.
Do church buildings become taxable if they are foreclosed?
They should have ask themselves who they serve God or mammon
Exactly. I’ve read up on all those so-called evangelists with their mega churches. They got some ‘splainin to do.
Property taxes, not income taxes.
And the ongoing security monitoring, heat, cooling, electricity, and general maintenance on a large building are substantial even if it’s unoccupied.
“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
Depends on the church. The "lavish lifestyle" claims are rather telling, though: "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
Perhaps the Christians who found themselves in this situation are better off for having been forced out of their building -- speaking from experience, I can say that that sort of experience tends to make you take stock of what's really important.
The building itself can be a tool for evangelizing -- so long as it remains only a tool, and not the focus of the church.
Mega church faces foreclosure over $14M in mortgage, other costs
They're not the first. I doubt sincerely they'll be the last.
Many years ago, when we first joined the CRCNA, there was an ongoing controversy about a CRC church that had issued bonds, built, left the denomination, then went into receviership. Money was owed to little old ladies and the like that had sunk their money into a denominational project, that couldn't be paid. Big mess. This would have been late '70s.
First Family Church. It's Southron Baptist, with an easily findable statement of belief. It doesn't look like something off-the-wall, doctrinally or organizationally.
They're also not hiding the financial issue:
As the Board of Elders informed FFC membership in March 2010, Regions Bank unexpectedly called the church's mortgage demanding full payment within 30 days; terms which were financially impossible for the Church to comply with. Regretfully, since that time despite our sincere and on-going efforts to work with Regions in finding a long term solution which insured our full repayment of all debt owed, on January 26, 2011, Regions filed a foreclosure notice against First Family Church in Johnson County, KS. Since its occurrence, your church leadership, pastors, elders, deacons, and ministry leaders have been praying and in a spirit of unity. We are confident to resolve this situation while all ministries and worship services continue as scheduled on our campus. This is happening to churches across the country according to the Wall Street Journal, 1/24/11 - another reality of our country's economic crisis.blah blah blah
Alice’s Restaurant time?
I don’t like hearing news about Christian places of worship having to close. I don’t know anything about this place’s theology, but this is sad
If this is a congregationalist church, wouldn’t the congregation approve the annual budget, including the staff salaries?
You would think. However this pastor had his family in all important posts so they naturally would be controlling the money.
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