Heiress accuses W. Palm church of exploiting her mental illness (tithed $1.8 million)

Palm Beach Post ^ | 04-01-07 | Jane Musgrave

[Sopater]

A little homework might have been a good idea before throwing your pearls...

• $1.09 million to First Baptist Church West Palm Beach.
"tithe is 10% ($180k), so she gave $910k in offerings.

• $750,000 to $810,000 to the Internal Revenue Service.
I can only assume that this couldn't be helped.

• $60,000 tothe Rev. Keith Thomas, former head pastor at First Baptist.
Always a bad idea to give the pastor money directly. Especially if you are the pastor.

An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money. -1 Timothy 3:2-3

• $25,000to the Rev. Tommy Weir, a former pastor at First Baptist.
See above

• $23,350 to one church family, including tuition at a Christian school.
God bless her.

• $20,000 to Evangelism Explosion, a Fort Lauderdale-based international ministry.
Evangelism Explosion International/ D. James Kennedy gets a good rating at MinistryWatch.com. Seems like a good place to donate money.

• $11,500 to buy Serving the World, an ultimately unsuccessful business that embroidered Bible verses on napkins and pillowcases.
Sounds like a bad business venture.

• $17,852 to Melech Yisrael, a Messianic Jewish group that believes Jesus is the messiah..
They're a local group on w. Palm Beach. Perhaps she is involved with them. God bless her for her generosity.

• $10,000 to Matthew 25 Ministries, an interfaith international relief organization..
Get's a 4-star rating from "Charity Navigator". Sounds like a good place to donate your money.

• $9,982 to Inspiration House, a Christian bookstore.
God bless her.

• $3,000 to another church member..
God bless her.

• $2,625 to Lakeside Baptist Church in Pahokee, which she briefly attended..
Probably above and beyond the call of duty.

In my opinion, the pastor was way out of line to take any money directly from her. If he simply allowed her to throw her money after all these various organizations, perhaps he wasn't her best frined in all of this and could have offered some serious caution, but certainly can't be held responsible for the way she donated her money. It would be interesting to see what kind of business interests these pastors, or this church might have in the local community since some of her offerings went to local businesses.

[Hildy]

How did you get that information?

[Labyrinthos]

Its in the side-bar to the article.

[Hildy]

Now, see, that makes NO sense...unless she went ahead and sold tax deferred stuff because a trust is set up to AVOID paying those kinds of taxes. Something isn't right.

[Domicile of Doom]

Sometimes balancing on a slippery slope is just what the doctor ordered. Keeps even the Churches honest.

[Sarcastic1]

Rabbi? I thought it said she's want to become a rabbit Silly me.;)

[jrg]

You are assuming this Pastor had any concern for the people of his flock to begin with....

I'm sure that there is a special place in hell for pastor's that fleece in the name of God.

[Hildy]

See, if she became a Rabbi first, she would have doubled her money by now! :)

[rawhide]

Lucinda Bennett, age 37

[ApplegateRanch]

The really unbelievable part is that the lay oversight people [Deacon Board?] is not allowed oversight.

The five ministers deposed in the case said the church had no policies prohibiting them from accepting personal gifts or requiring them to report the gifts to lay leaders.

Such policies are common among charities, according to national fund-raising experts. The dictum is simple: "You don't take anything," said Pamela Davidson, a tax lawyer and former president of the National Committee on Planned Giving.

The prohibition assures donors that fund-raisers won't exploit people for personal gain. Further, said Tom Cullinan, also a member of the National Committee on Planned Giving, accepting personal gifts from donors poses a conflict of interest because the money could have gone to the charity.

When asked about ethical concerns about accepting large donations, Thomas seemed nonplused.

"If it's given with sincerity, I don't have any reason to think that would be unethical," he said.

There is also avoiding that which merely gives the appearance of wrong or unethical behavior, especially on the part of leadership:

I Thessalonians 5:21-22 [KJV}

21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.

I'd love to see these pastors audited.

But, you know, she could always...get a job.

Looks like she has TWO jobs already:

She works selling odor control equipment to sewage treatment plants and credit card machines to business start-ups.