Drell’s Descants

From here:

Membership, money issues face Donahue
By Billy Gunn
bgunn@thetowntalk.com
(31 487-6378

Now that the storm has passed and their young, charismatic and headstrong pastor is gone for good, leaders and members of Donahue Family Church in Pineville are trying to mend emotional and spiritual wounds.

There are many uncertainties, such as Donahue’s financial health and who remains in the church — the income for which is provided through members’ tithing.

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What is certain is that the Rev. Keith Dickens, 38, will abide by the membership’s vote on Sunday that removed him as pastor by a tally of 237 to 219.
On Wednesday, Dickens agreed under oath in 9th Judicial District Court to accept the members’ decision and not to contest the vote.

Dickens, appearing humbled and talking softly outside Judge John Davidson’s courtroom, said he would not pull church members who supported him and start another church in Central Louisiana.

The elders
Dickens openly defied the church’s Board of Elders by refusing to step down after the board fired him in October.

Refusing an order from the elders is not in line with biblical teachings, said Glen Whatley, the former administrator for Donahue’s private school, Cenla Christian Academy.

God spoke to Dickens through the elders, and Dickens “rose up against that authority,” Whatley said.

“God wanted to bring correction to his (Dickens’) life. … That was my issue with Keith — he did not submit to that authority,” Whatley said.

The elders either have refused comment for news stories about Donahue or have been inaccessible by telephone.

But the dispute between the elders and Dickens became public only after he fired Cenla Christian Academy football coaches in September.

By the time of the coaches’ firings, Dickens and other church officials had obligated the church to a $4.85 million purchase of Cowboy Town that closed on June 27.

Along with the purchase, the church either borrowed or had donated from an anonymous family $1 million — $800,000 of which was put down as a down payment. Dickens said late last month that the remaining $200,000 is deposited in an undisclosed bank.

The purchase of Cowboy Town — through which church leaders hoped to draw more members from all directions — was in addition to the $1.25 million construction of the Family Life Center that started this past spring. Six elders put up personal financial guarantees for that project.

According to transcripts of a June 6 church leadership meeting on Cowboy Town, Dickens discussed the pending purchase from Ken Moran, who bought the facility in 2004 at a bankruptcy auction for $2.9 million and offered to owner-finance the facility.

At the meeting, Dickens lauded the deal’s advantages to the church and said no one in the church leadership spoke out against the plan.

“And so I’ve asked you, who were leaders, if you didn’t contact me, that I would assume that you’re 100 percent for it,” Dickens said.

Dickens placed faith in God and not financial study that Cowboy Town would work.

“I’m not worried about money, and I’m not worried about transitioning of the people” who would have to travel miles from Pineville to attend services, Dickens said.

Donahue last week was relieved of some of the Cowboy Town obligations. Bradley Drell, attorney for the elders, said the terms of the purchase were changed from a “with-recourse” buy to one that has a “non-recourse” clause. That means that if the church cannot pay the $4.05 million it will owe on July 1, 2009, the property will revert back to Moran without Donahue owing anything else.

Followers and foes
Efforts leading into Sunday’s vote by the pro-Dickens faction included crafting a defense of allegations made by the elders. The elders’ allegations were numerous, including that Dickens gave himself an unauthorized $20,000 raise.

Anti-Dickens church members, according to numerous interviews, waged a telephone campaign leading to the Sunday vote, which was close and included allegations that not all who wanted to were allowed inside the church.

One of many who wanted inside but was barred at the door was Marilynn Casida of Boyce, who backed Dickens and would follow him anywhere.

Casida said that although she attended the church for more than a year, she hadn’t completed a class to officially become a member, which was a requirement to vote.

She came to Donahue and Dickens at a low point in her life.

“I loved his style of preaching,” Casida said. “It’s very uplifting. It builds you up instead of tearing you down. Instead of telling you you’re going to hell, he tells you how to get to heaven.”

Glen Whatley
After he was fired as Cenla Christian Academy’s administrator, Whatley held services in a downtown Alexandria hotel, attended by 200 to 300 who had gone to Donahue.

Whatley said he has not counseled those members on whether to return to Donahue, explaining that it’s their decision.

The elders also have offered Whatley his former job at the academy, but he has not made a decision on that.

He also said he does not know if he’d accept pastorship duties at Donahue if asked. Today, he said, he’d say no. But next week?

“I am open to pastoring,” Whatley said. “It seems God is speaking to me week to week.”