Pastor Defrauds Church

I get no pleasure from writing this post, as it deals with many of the issues I warn church leaders and faithful Christians against on a regular basis. My hope is that it will serve as a warning to church members, their ministry leaders and their boards, about what can and will happen when oversight is lax and a church board is nothing more than a rubber stamp for a forceful, if charismatic, pastor.

I won't try to break down, in this post, all the legal issues that are presented in this scenario. Not that I wasn't tempted to, as it reads like a veritable law school testing hypothetical. But it would be boring legal chatter and miss the whole point. Suffice it to say that this man did many bad things and no one seemed to be keeping an eye out… not just on him, but also on the church itself.

To me, it seems that in literally stealing ALL the church property out from under the unsuspecting congregation in tiny Ripon, CA, "Pastor" Randall Radic always intended to hurt people. Why else would he parade down main street to flaunt his "spoils"–the shiny new BMW he bought with the dirty money? Why would he do it in the first place?

It didn't seem that he was in a tight financial spot. He got to live in a parsonage (church-owned home that is provided to a pastor to live in), for which he was able to deduct the fair-market rental value from his ordinary income. Thus, if he was paid, for example, $75,000 annually as pastor of "Unsuspecting Church," and the fair-market rental value of the parsonage was $2,000 per month, his reported ordinary income would be no more than $51,000. Of course, when you take into consideration the numerous other deductions allowed under the IRS rules, such as maintenance expenses, utilities, furniture, etc,… the deductions from ordinary income could have brought his taxable income down to $30,000 or less, each year. Have you calculated lately the taxes on $30,000?

Now, I don't really know… but I wonder if anyone has even attempted an audit to see what kind of other money may have been embezzled along the way. I wouldn't doubt that it happened regularly, or that the congregation would rather keep it quiet.

It also seems that he did not have the stresses of family, like many good pastors do. There's no indication here that he was married or had children. In fact, his entire behavior is that of a man who doesn't have to look into the eyes of a young boy or girl and say, "Let me teach you to be honorable." Or perhaps, "Follow me as I follow Christ." Perhaps not all pastors with families with do that either, but when a family is involved, it's less likely that your pastor will sell the house out from under them as well.

Also, unlike another situation that most Americans are by now familiar with, there's no indication he was a closet homosexual, or drug addict, or both. But if he were, it would not have been known by a group of people who didn't seem to see anything wrong with hiring a younger single man to be pastor over a congregation of senior citizens.  Or was he hired? Is it possible that the church had never really established any structure of legal and/or religious authority? There is a suggestion that the church board was duped in this situation. But we don't really know if he was not perhaps, an all-powerful pastor with a rubber stamp board and no spiritual group to whom he was accountable.

Let me also address the church culture where members tend to claim their ministers as "favorite sons." That's part of what leads disciples to care little about setting up oversight procedures. That's part of what allows them to have unquestioned, if misplaced, trust. A minister is not someone who should be coddled and winked at by a bunch of older ladies, and looked upon by senior men to remind them of their younger days. The ministry is much more than a "job," or "profession." It's the role that God has ordained, through which He intends the flock to be cared for. Treating pastors like our grandchildren, or "that handsome young buck that preaches to us on Sundays," does the ministry a great disservice.

There are so many others things one can say about the shameful displays of selfishness and heartlessness by Radic, not just in selling the parsonage and church building, but also in how he rubbed it in the collective face of the congregation after the fact. The point is that churches all over this nation should take this as a warning. The enemy is not only lurking in the outskirts, he's also lurking within. The enemy is not merely a red, horned monster. Unfortunately, sometimes, the enemy is "us."

Because of this truth, the time is now to do everything within your power to protect your church, not just for yourselves, or the generation that follows, but for the good name of Christ. You mark my words, this evil man's exploits will one day soon be made into a Hollywood story. Are you not yet aware of how Hollywood likes to distort the image of Christianity and defame the name of Christ?

Don't give them the opportunity. Don't give the evil one a foothold. Stop the foolishness of slobbering all over charismatic single pastors and hold them, as well as all ministry personnel, the the standard of the bible. What other standard are you faithful to? Let someone help you learn how to protect your church. That's what I always preach.

You can find the article this post relates to at: www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17120210/