What I’ve Been Up To This Week – Church Wars Outside The Episcopal Church

Read all about it here, here, and here.

Maybe even check out the comments here from the local Alexandria community and members of Donahue Baptist Church d/b/a Donahue Family Church here.

My clients sent a letter out recently that the paper picked up, so this pretty much explains it, but there is even more to this, unfortunately:

October 14, 2007

Dear Donahue Family Church Members,

This letter is to inform you that we, the Elders of Donahue Family Church, acting in our capacity as Trustees pursuant to the Charter of Donahue Family Church, have voted unanimously to remove Keith Dickens as Pastor of Donahue Family Church.
After a period of rebellion and his failure to come under the authority of the Elders, it is our moral obligation to protect the church as we were elected to do. (Romans 13) The Elders are accountable not only to God, but also to the body of Christ, which they have been elected to protect. No Elder has ever stated that they are not accountable to the congregation as was stated by Keith Dickens from the pulpit on October 14, 2007. Legal counsel has advised us that the Elder Board does have the authority to remove the pastor as stated in the Donahue Family Church Charter.

For the past year, the Elders have been working with Keith to try to bring him to accountability. The Elders are responsible not only to God, but to the church body. Keith has repeatedly made purchases, changed staff, hired and fired, and given raises without Elder approval. When Keith was confronted by the Elders regarding these unauthorized pay raises, Keith stated, “It was in the budget that was approved.” Just before the firing of the coaches, who had been paid from DFC, not CCA, Keith gave some of the staff members a monetary raise. Keith swore to the Elders that there were “no co-mingling of funds” between CCA and DFC. There is documented proof that this is false. Those church members who went by to pick up minutes from the Elder meetings – beware. These minutes were never approved by the Elders, who have only just received these minutes this past week. There are obvious contradictions and deleted items, including Elder reprimands of the pastor that have not been included. Curtis Campbell was the recorder of these minutes. The Elders were not asked for their approval nor gave their approval for the private minutes of the Elder meetings to be dispersed to the congregation. This was done to undermine the authority of the Elder Board.

There are many other instances that the Elders have tried to handle in a Godly way according to scripture without airing the dirty laundry, but with all of the recent events, the truth must be told. The Elders had planned to address the congregation last Sunday, but was informed by the media team that Keith had instructed them to “cut the microphones” if any Elder approached the stage. The Elders wanted to answer your questions, but had no means to do so. We have been railroaded at every turn as we have tried to seek God’s will and make sure that the family had ALL of the information to fully understand what is happening.

Please read the following timeline of events that have transpired these past weeks.

On Monday October 1, 2007 the Elders met with Keith Dickens and a verbal, tape-recorded sabbatical agreement was reached.

On Tuesday, October 2, 2007 four Elders met with the staff to explain Keith’s sabbatical and to establish a better relationship with the staff during Keith’s absence. The Elders were verbally attacked by the staff for not taking a more public stand in backing Keith’s firing of the CCA coaches. Glenn Whatley and Mitch Attales took a Biblical stand saying what the staff was doing was wrong in disregarding the Elders’ authority. During this meeting, Curtis Campbell had a prepared document for the Elders to sign stating that the Elders would not terminate Keith Dickens for any reason or under any circumstance during the sabbatical.

On Wednesday, October 3, 2007 Keith called and admitted he had violated the sabbatical agreement, and he had met with the staff that morning. He then requested that the staff and Elders meet with him. The available Elders met for prayer in an effort to focus communication with the staff .

On Wednesday evenings’ Direct Connect meeting, the basics of the sabbatical was announced.

On Thursday, October 4, 2007 the Elders met to discuss Keith’s continued rebellion and disregard of the agreed sabbatical requirements.

On Friday, October 5, 2007 the Elders met to record in writing the sabbatical agreement that Keith needed to sign. We added as stipulation that his refusal to sign this agreement that had been verbally agreed to on Monday, October 1, or any violations of this agreement would require his immediate resignation.

On Saturday, October 6, 2007 the Elders met with Keith Dickens for him to sign the printed sabbatical agreement. He refused saying he had to study the agreement. We said we would sit with him until his study was complete. He refused to sign the agreement, so we offered him his resignation to sign, which he also refused to sign. The documents clearly stated that failure to sign indicated that he was resigning as Pastor of DFC.

On Saturday, October 6, 2007 the Elders called a special meeting with the church staff to inform them Keith was no longer Pastor of DFC. It was clearly evident that Keith had been in contact with the staff, and he attended the meeting. He was told by the Elders that he must leave, but he refused. The staff viscously attacked the Elders and their authority. Glenn Whatley quoted scripture to show the authority of the Elders. When Glenn asked Mike McVay to confirm that the order of the Elder’s authority was correct, he agreed with Glenn. A staff member then stated that, “this is not the way we do it at Donahue.” Keith then announced he was in charge and would preach Sundays and take his sabbatical during the week. He then fired Glenn Whatley and Mitch Attales for being disloyal to him. Their disloyalty was the fact they had spoken and met with the Elders and had refused to deny Biblical principles of Elder authority.

On Tuesday October 9, 2007 the Elders met to pray and to seek God’s will as how to inform the congregation of the recent events. As we tried to draft a letter to the church we could not find peace in our hearts. It became very evident that it was not God’s timing to inform the church.

On Wednesday, October 10, 2007 Karl Stocker received a call from Curtis Campbell that Keith and six of the staff would resign for a specific severance package. Karl Stocker requested that Curtis send an e-mail of their desires so the Elders could discuss it. The e-mail stated that Keith Dickens, Jackie Gilcrease, Janet Gilcrease, Jeremy Neal, Michelle Neal, Curtis Campbell and Dana Campbell would resign if we agreed to nine (9) months severance pay for each person.

On Wednesday afternoon Jackie Gilcrease informed Karl that the resignation package must be completed prior to Glenn Whatley’s meeting at LC that evening. Karl informed Jackie that Ben and Karl would go to LC and inform Glenn about the resignation offer. Glenn stated the resignation offer would not have any effect on his meeting.

On Thursday, October 11, 2007 the Elders met with an attorney. After reviewing the Donahue Baptist Church Charter that was obtained from Red River Bank and in the absence of any known by-laws the Elders were informed that they have authority over the operation of the church. It was also learned that the” Donahue Baptist Church Charter” was used by Curtis Campbell and Keith Dickens to receive financing from Red River Bank.

On Friday, October 12, 2007 the Elders met to Discuss Keith’s resignation or dismissal. It was decided that we should offer 60 days pay. This would be the final offer of financial assistance. If Keith refused the resignation package, then we would vote Saturday morning on his dismissal. We had our attorney to draw up the resignation and dismissal paper work.

Friday evening the Elders met with Keith and to present the resignation package. Keith refused to resign because we had not given him the 9 months severance pay he requested.

On Saturday, October 13, 2007 the Elders met and with a unanimous vote dismissed Keith as Pastor of Donahue Family Church. We also voted to offer his dismissal package, which had been increased to 90 days pay. We also attached an addendum to both actions alerting him of the additional 30 day’s pay, and that his children could continue to attend CCA at their current tuition-free status, and that there would not be any staff dismissals until each staff person and position was evaluated.

On Saturday, October 13, 2007 the Elders voted to reinstate Glenn Whatley as CCA Administrator. They also voted to reinstate Glenn Whatley and Mitch Attales to their former staff positions.

Dave Merchant agreed that he would serve Keith his resignation and dismissal letters, allowing Keith to choose. Keith refused to sign either and was dismissed by unanimous vote of the Elders of Donahue Family Church. Keith informed Dave that the only way he would leave would be to “have an officer of the law remove him.” The Elders decided it would not be in the best interest of the church to have that confrontation on Sunday worship at Donahue Family Church.

Please see the attached information citing specific factors leading to the dismissal of Keith Dickens as Pastor of Donahue Family Church.

In Christ’s Love,

Your Board of Elders

Ben Brown
Robert Fuller
Karl Stocker
Mike Scott
Danny Wilburn
David Merchant

Major factors leading to the dismissal of Keith Dickens as Pastor of Donahue Family Church:

- Keith Dickens has shown unwillingness to demonstrate any remorse or contrition for the actions listed below, in addition to, the dismissal of the CCA coaches.

- Failure to abide by the Elder/Pastor sabbatical agreement.

- Unauthorized purchase of ads in the Town Talk with statements from the Elders. On Thursday, September 27, 2007 in a 9 am staff meeting, Keith Dickens informed his staff that the Elders would be placing a full-page ad in the Town Talk. A staff member asked how much it would cost, and Keith Dickens replied, “It doesn’t matter how much it costs. It would be worth it.” The three-day ad cost approximately $5,000 of the church family’s money. The purchase of the ad in the Town Talk was unauthorized by the Elder Board. The Elder Board only approved a statement to be made to the Town Talk and did not approve an expenditure for a three-day ad.

- Elders were told by Keith Dickens and Curtis Campbell that there were no “co-mingling” of funds between DFC and CCA. However, documented proof has been obtained that salaries of some CCA coaches were paid out of DFC funds, not CCA funds.

- Unauthorized pay raise of $20,000 for Keith Dickens.

- Unauthorized pay raises to church staff.

- Undermined the authority of the Elder Board by making public the sabbatical letter. The sabbatical letter was a private letter between the Elder Board and the Pastor.

- Unauthorized distribution of Elder minutes to the congregation.

- All Elders were not notified prior to the firing of the coaches. Karl Stocker and Robert Fuller were notified by Curtis Campbell AFTER the coaches were dismissed, not before as Keith has stated on numerous occasions since the dismissal of the coaches. Elder Mike Scott was never notified of the firing of the CCA coaches by Keith Dickens or Curtis Campbell. Ben Brown was told by Keith Dickens that the coaches were being fired because of a “power play” with the coaches. Profanity was never mentioned to Ben Brown as a reason for the firing of the coaches.

- Keith entered into a $1,500 loan with the North Rapides Baptist Association without Elder approval.

- Dana Campbell has been allowed to sign DFC and CCA checks using Curtis Campbell’s name. Her name is not on the approved signatures for check signing.

- Keith Dickens entered into a $1,000,000 loan with an individual for the purpose of a down payment on the Cowboy Town property. This loan was never reviewed or approved by the Elder Board. Keith first stated to the Elders that someone had “given $1,000,000 toward the purchase of Cowboy Town.” He later stated that it was “a gift or possibly a loan that may not have to be paid back in two years.” The Elder Board has requested on numerous occasions to review this document, but to-date the Elder Board has not been given this information to review.

- Keith Dickens misled the church in representing that the purchase of Cowboy Town was either a lease-purchase or a sale & mortgage without recourse against the church. Our attorneys have reviewed this purchase, and noted that no “without recourse” language was present in the mortgage granted to the seller. On numerous occasions, Keith Dickens has stated that after the two (2) years “no interest no payment” stipulation that our church could walk away from the deal without any further obligations if the funds or financing were not available. Because the contract does not contain a “without recourse” clause, this means that the property does not revert back to Ken Moran after two (2) years if DFC does not have the financing or funds to pay-off the purchase price.

- Curtis Campbell signed for the purchase of Cowboy Town, which was witnessed by Keith Dickens and Aaron Slayter, prior to Elder Board authorization giving him permission to do so.

- Keith Dickens has used church facilities (including church internet resources) and supplies for his personal business, specifically Image Leadership, which jeopardizes the tax-exempt status for both the church and the congregation.

- Allowed falsified baptismal records to be submitted to the Louisiana Baptist Convention. All decisions, including professions of faith, were included in the report as baptisms.

- Keith has used the pulpit to promote his own political views and favored candidates.

- Keith misinformed the Elder Board as to the number of transactions regarding this church’s ministry, Cenla Christian Academy. The Elders were given written documentation showing that only 6 children at CCA were on scholarship. It has been verified that at least 16 children have been given scholarships. The Elders were not informed that his three (3) children were attending the school tuition-free, also.

- Keith has lessened or strained our church’s relations with fellow Louisiana Baptists, including lessening or eliminating our support of the Louisiana Baptist Convention, Louisiana College, and the North Rapides Baptist Association.