Did you hear the one about the fundamentalist megachurch brought up on federal charges for bilking widows out of their nest eggs?
No, no. Not the recent one out of Hammond, Indiana. But that does sound familiar.
The other one. In Blue Springs, Missouri. With Carl Herbster’s megalomania ministry, Tri-City.
Mention the early 00s to a Kansas City fundamentalist, and you’ll get lots of sighs and sad head-shakes. You might even get some information. When I was a faculty member at Bob Jones University, the conversations about Tri-City would always end with this: “I don’t know who bailed out Tri-City. I always wondered if it was Bob Wood. . . . I think it’s Bob Wood. Who else has that kind of money?”
While he was still Bob Jones University’s “Christian School Specialist,” Carl Herbster became pastor at Tri-City Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri in November, 1983. He became pastor under two conditions -- the church would move out of Raytown to a more affluent suburb and the church would start a seminary. He was also president of American Association of Christian Schools and Missouri Association of Christian Schools and often a delegate to the National Republican Convention -- a real political player.
Herbster’s activism deserves its own lengthy discussion. But I digress. . . .
And as promised, Carl moved Tri-City to its current location on 115 acres in Blue Springs, and he started a church seminary er uh bank.
Church members deposited money so the church could pay down its debts and received interest in return. To the tune of $2.5 million.
How did the Church-Bank get all that money initially? According to church members Preston Smith and Dennis Hodges, "Herbster coerced widows in the church to make deposits ... and did not advise depositors of risks.”
The State of Missouri investigated in 2003 because Herbster wasn’t reporting everything, and somehow Herbster got the church $15 million in debt too. Part of that debt was a secret $1.6 million bail-out for Herbster’s American Association of Christian Schools. AACS had to get bailed out because of its poorly financed health insurance plan for Christian School teachers around the country.
And what was Herbster’s biggest worry throughout all this? That members had taken the problem “outside the church.” He told the Associated Press:
The world is a wicked place. As in politics and government, people try to defeat you.
Yes, the “world” is the problem. The “world” which is enforcing the laws made to help Christians do the right thing. You know, the "world” Paul tells us about in Romans 13.
But back to my BJU faculty friend’s initial pondering: “I don’t know who bailed out Tri-City. I always wondered if it was Bob Wood. . . . I think it’s Bob Wood. Who else has that kind of money?”
While all these state and eventually federal investigators were shining the light on Herbster’s nefarious financial deals -- you know, oversight -- one little set of brothers came in to help Herbster secretly escape responsibility. They bought up the property around the church from Herbster with their new front organization.
The Trinity Real Estate Development was born on August 23, 2003 and Poof! It “bought up” the land by borrowing money from now-imploded Prayer of Jabez bank Security Savings. And Herbster paid down some of the church’s debts and loaned $6 million back to Trinity so it had some working capital.
It’s complicated. You can read it all for yourself.
But it would be like you taking out a $1000 loan from a bank to give me the $1000. In return, I give you the title to my car, pay off part of my credit card bill of $250, and loan you back $750 so you have some ready cash to go buy your own car.
Whatever the hidden details are, the result is clear: what was once the congregation’s was practically given to a front organization run by Herbster allies for Herbster’s CYA efforts.
Who were those allies that bailed out Herbster? Not Bob Wood, my BJU friend.
The Cone Brothers. Robert especially. But also Ed Cone.
You know, Ed Cone. The new Bob Jones University Board Member.
