[ Click here to go back to the main page ] October Update
13 October 2005

Greetings in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Again, I must apologize for the delay since I last communicated with you. Job and domicile no longer being an issue, access to a fully functional computer raised its ugly head. God willing, and you being interested, the updates and articles should appear more frequently. I hope every couple of weeks as a minimum.

I have two current events issues to share with you: 1) CBC’s current status, and 2) another executive resignation at AG Financial.

First, and this is second hand information, the last I heard, CBC was somewhere between 25 and 100 students short of its budget projection. At $14,000 per student in revenue, that’s as much as a $1,400,000 shortfall. On a roughly $10,000,000 budget, that’s a 14% hit. Having converted the budget to a surplus in the last two years, I know this would be devastating. CBC has already pared itself to the bone to get out of debt.

The primary reason for this shortfall is most certainly due to the dark prospect of a merger hanging over CBC’s head for over 18 months. The main driver behind a merger was our General Superintendent. I saw his dealings first hand--as did many CBC and Evangel employees—and he was nothing if not bent on making the merger fulfill his apparent dream of a grand university (the “Notre Dame of the Assemblies of God”).

Consequently, for those of you who are concerned about CBC either as alums or laymen who care deeply about a national, Bible-based training center for your ministers and missionaries, please take the time to voice your concerns. The e-mail addresses for the executive officers of our fellowship are listed on this web site. Please express your desire that the national office provide CBC with a one-time gift to alleviate the financial burden which they—the executive officers of our fellowship--caused. I would suggest you find out from CBC the exact shortfall (the office of the Registrar can provide this information), multiply this by $14,000 and ask the headquarters to those funds to CBC.

Second, I just heard this past week that the CEO at AG Financial resigned. Since one of my personal friends recently resigned from AGF in protest over apparent bad business practices, that makes two executive officer resignations (the top two?) in the last two years. If I had my retirement funds wrapped up at AGF, I’d want to have the books opened. And by someone other than the usual auditing firm. It is my humble opinion that the district leadership of our fellowship owes its under shepherds an investigation and an outbrief on the results. If the resignation of the top man happens to be related to just such an effort, then please follow through by informing your district pastors and resident missionaries of the outcome. With all the funds they have poured into AGF, they shouldn’t be the next national headline about a church retirement fund gone bad.

Your Humble Servant in Christ,

Brother Mike

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