Summary: Judy Thomas of the Kansas
City Star has done a front-page blockbuster expose (3/11) of Pastor Jerry
Johnston and his First Family Church titled "Lax Financial Oversight Riles Some
Followers." Within a day of the article BOTT radio (link below) dropped
Johnston's show.
STIGALL DEFENDS CHURCH; PRODUCER EMPLOYED
BY FFC
People questioned why outspoken 710 KCMO Morning Show radio talker Chris Stigall almost totally ignored the
First Family Church story the day after it ran in the Kansas City Star.
However, Stigall then came out swinging the
next day and vigorously defended Johnston and his church. The main reason: Stigall's Morning Show Producer Andrew Yates
(and call screener) happens to be the Orchestra Director at First Family and a
paid employee of the
church.
Stigall attacked the Star and
Thomas, who he said was motivated to investigate First Family because she is a
member of a competitive church (Church of the Resurrection). He reported that
COR's Methodist Pastor Rev. Adam Hamilton lives in an even more expensive home than
Johnston, one that Stigall revealed was valued at $681,000.
On (3/14) Stigall lashed out at the
Kansas City Star and talk radio competitor KMBZ NewsRadio 980, both of whom
he said were not journalists and are simply slandering and attacking Johnston's
reputation. "If you listen to those people...they are involved in the
politics of personal destruction," said Stigall, adding, "I'm not hiding behind the moniker of 'NewsRadio.'"
READER COMMENTS: Are you
kidding me? What is the issue here? The writer's church/religious affiliation is
irrelevant. It is a red herring for the Johnson supporters.
First off, I fail to see these two churches, or any for that matter, as
competitors, especially when their theological viewpoints are so vastly
different.
Second, the article does not address the theological viewpoint of FFC, but
rather the finances of the church and the potential fiscal and practical
irresponsibility of the church leadership:
* FFC claimed to me a member of the ECFA, which it is not.
* FFC fails to reveal their finance statements with the stakeholders of the
church - the tithing membership.
* The church redirected capital funds to a project other for which it was
intended.
Lastly, the members (former and present) that expressed their concern number in
the tens to hundreds. Not a disgruntled few.
Shame on Mr. Stigall for failing to represent the facts. If he has doubt on the
content of the article - prove it wrong. But to throw accusations in hopes of
confusing the issue is unprofessional and amateurish.
Terry Tingle
Overland Park, KS
(3/20): My wife and I attended off
and on for a year and then became members for about a year from around 2004-2005
and after seeing the way services were handled and how often we were being asked
to come up with money for special events and purposes we left. Too much
theatrics it seemed always someone "special" or "well known" coming to visit. It
was like a production & the coming attractions come on if you will. Johnston I
will say is a polished orator no doubt about it in my opinion. But the $$
flowing in and around the place must be phenomenal.---SJ
Thomas began her journalism career as an
assignment reporter at the Wichita Eagle following graduation in 1988. She
joined the Kansas City Star in 1995 as a general assignment reporter on
the metro desk. In January 2000, her series on "AIDS in the Priesthood" was
published and she was promoted to the projects desk at the Star a few
months later.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/16877953.htm
Kansas City Star Editorial (3/13)
At First Family Church of Overland Park,
financial questions cloud the picture
Fiscal openness would enhance trust
The Rev. Jerry Johnston is senior pastor of First Family Church,
where some former members have expressed frustration with the church’s lack of
financial disclosure.
Unlike most charities and other nonprofits,
churches don’t have to file federal tax forms disclosing their missions, their
programs, or the salaries of their staff members.
But people across the religious spectrum agree that faith organizations should
follow good business practices. That includes paying bills on time and being
open and transparent about how assets are received and used.
First Family Church of Overland Park, which has one of the area’s largest
congregations, has been late on payments. Members don’t have access to a
detailed annual budget, audits of church finances or the salary of the pastor.
Those and other revelations, detailed Sunday in a package of stories in The
Kansas City Star, paint a troubling picture of the church.
A number of former members have voiced concerns about the lack of access to
information about church finances. At one point, the church’s four-member
building committee left the congregation because the pastor, Jerry Johnston,
refused to allow them to look at financial statements.
Other former members said they felt betrayed after they gave money for a
Christian academy, only to be told later that those plans had been put on hold
indefinitely.
The complaints are more than the mutterings of a disgruntled few. Former members
say hundreds of people have left First Family over the past decade because of
frustrated attempts to glean information about church finances.
Robert Ulrich, a Missouri Court of Appeals judge who is chairman of the church’s
board of trustees, insisted Monday that First Family follows stringent budget
guidelines and is audited annually. “That church has financial responsibility,”
he said.
It clearly lacks transparency, however. Even the audit that Ulrich cites is not
available to the congregation.
Johnston frequently urges members to give 10 percent of their incomes to the
church, and to commit even more for fundraising drives. It is financially
responsible on the part of members to seek a detailed accounting of how their
money is spent.
The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, an accreditation agency
for churches and faith groups, sets out seven standards to help ministries gain
public trust. Among them are ready disclosure of information, and truthfulness
in fundraising.
They are wise principles for churches to follow. To do otherwise opens the door
for suspicions that a ministry has acted in bad faith.
