Update
http://www.abpnews.com/1318.article
COLLEYVILLE, Texas (ABP) -- Frank Harber, pastor of First Baptist Church of Colleyville, Texas, resigned Aug. 18 amid allegations he benefited from an improper real estate deal...
...
Harber, the Colleyville pastor, recently bought a nearly one-acre lot in a gated community at well below market value, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. While lots in the ritzy neighborhood routinely sell for $200,000-plus, Harber paid just $25,000, according to public records.
The sale was shrouded by a series of questionable transactions that involved two other churches.
Developer John Fegan, a member of the Colleyville church, helped donate the land to the Trail to Heaven Cowboy Church, which is affiliated with First Baptist Church of Celina. Raymond Horne, pastor of the Celina church, said the donors told him the land was worth only $25,000 and that they had already arranged a buyer for the land.
That buyer, ultimately, was Harber.
Horne, although he declined to comment for this story, said in an Aug. 18 Star-Telegram story that he felt “taken advantage of.”
After the sale, Colleyville church member Tony Johann, who works in the same land development company as Fegan, signed the deed and helped begin construction of a 5,120-square-foot, million-dollar home for the Harber family, the Star-Telegram reported.
Donald Schmeltekopf, Baylor University’s director of its Center for Ministry Effectiveness and Educational Leadership, said Harber’s situation crossed definite ethical boundaries.
“At the ethical level, this is clearly a case of collusion,” he said. “In a situation like this, it sure does stink. And it is not the kind of thing that anybody should be doing from an ethical standpoint.”
...
Many church members have publicly supported the charismatic Harber, writing letters to the editor at the Star-Telegram and other local news outlets.
First Baptist member Teri Randall Brown, for instance, wrote that the scandal was caused by “bitter people digging up everything they can to destroy this very effective evangelistic pastor and his reputation.”
“How sad that buying a home, which should be a happy event for that family, has been turned into a gossip column news wave,” she wrote.
Deupree thinks otherwise. A member of the 2,753-member church since 1969, he and a group of about 50 people began questioning church policy and finances after being “stonewalled” when they requested information regarding a proposed church relocation and a building project on an unnamed 40-acre plot outside of Colleyville.
After the dissidents were rebuffed in their efforts to obtain member lists and construction budget plans, they consulted a lawyer about their right to the information. Later they were locked out of the church on a cold February morning, and Deupree was asked to resign as a Sunday school teacher. Then Deupree and three others received letters forbidding them to “set foot” on the church property, he said.
But Deupree's research into church records uncovered a June 6 property transfer involving First Baptist Church of Celina and Trail to Heaven Cowboy Church. For Deupree, that previously hidden transaction crossed an ethical boundary when it comes to pastoral benefits.
“If they had deeded it right to Frank Harber, I would have had no problem,” he said. But donations to non-profit entities like churches have specific Internal Revenue Service stipulations and requirements.
For Harber, as an individual, the transaction represents tax evasion, Deupree said.
