Land Deal or donor fraud

Retraction and Correction: A reader brought the following to our attention just hours before publishing this update.

Earlier we had reported that Grace Community Church in Fulton did not have externally audited financial statements.  From some irrelevant time in the past through at least 2016, annual external audits were commonplace at Grace Community Church in Fulton.  According to the source that brought this to our attention, this auditor clearly recognized Mrs. Amrita Mackin’s prowess in accounting.  As such they attempted multiple time to hire Mrs. Mackin away from Grace Community Church in Fulton.  The foregoing is reflected in the revision below.  The retractions are deleted and correction are underlined.

Before specifics about “Land Deal or Donor Fraud” are presented, it is imperative and urgent to address a calamitous and two unfortunate misunderstanding of the Accounting and Finance department at Grace Community Church in Fulton, MD.  These are misinterpretations of which we recently became aware and which we specifically strove to avoid.

A footnote intentionally placed in an earlier edition of our Open Letter to Stakeholders read, “Any assertions about finances are not to be construed as implicating those in accounting or finance related departments.  I [Brian Campbell] personally know the Senior Director of Accounting and Finance and their family.  I would be shocked to the greatest degree of my life to learn that this Director is in any way responsible for any of these allegations.” (Emphasis added.)

We are as ardent in our support of those individuals as ever.  To the best of our knowledge, they are not, nor have they ever been the cause of any problem.  We foresaw this possible unfavourable misunderstanding and attempted to contact Mrs. Mackin a year ago to let her know our position.  Our assessment has not budged, but there is accumulating evidence (in addition to the retraction above) that it was always accurate.

Once that footnote was added, the reason for its insertion was intentionally privately presented to what we believed was a close friend of Mrs. Mackin: “Accountants are frequently unjustifiably blamed.”  Another what we believed to be a close friend was told “Amita is the best person in the that position right now.”  We not only strove to avoid Mrs. Makin being suspected of anything, we expressed perhaps God’s providence in putting her in that position.  We specifically communicated that our comments might be relayed to her.

Now that we are aware of the extent of any misinterpretation, we feel that it is our responsibility to immediately and fully clarify.

No Senior Director of Accounting and Finance has control over independent auditing of financial statements, none, anywhere, unless it is specifically given to them.  A Senior Director having that sole authority is extremely rare.  If they do, it is nothing more than a placation;  it can always be removed.   Neither does a Senior Director decide what information is available for examination, to anyone, unless it is specifically given to them. Having that sole discretion is also rare and can be capriciously removed.  We unfortunately assumed that this was common knowledge.   If audits have not been commonplace since 2016, I am confident that Mrs. Mackin would have lobbied for them, strongly.  Mrs. Mackin may have been similarly pleading for greater transparency even before being promoted to her current position. Lastly, some of us not only personally know Mrs. Mackin, but also know her well.  Any of us would be shocked to know that she has made or tolerated anyone in her department making false financial representations, intentional or otherwise.

We never had, nor have, any doubts that under Mrs. Mackin’s direction financial statements have been fashioned with anything less than the highest integrity.  In four short months since Grace Anatomy (“GA™”) falsely reported the lack of independently audited financials at least though 2016 and the lack of transparency, Grace Community Church in Fulton became a member of the Evangelical Council of Financial Accountability (“ECFA”).  This is no small feat.

For a church with almost nine million dollars in annual donations from their members, there are a number of very stringent requirements for ECFA membership.  An independent external audit of financial statements has to be performed by a CPA.  The financial statements must be constructed according to General Accepted Account Principles  and Generally Accepted Auditing Standards must be used by the auditor.  (Do not let the word “generally” fool you (“Generally I want you home by midnight, and this time is no different”);  these are rigorous standards issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board [not your run of the mill organization replete with muckety-mucks].  Some of us are CPAs, we proudly know of these punctilious standards).

What we are saying is that becoming a ECFA member is a high bar, a very high bar. Normally, churches annually receiving close to nine million dollars of their members’ money do not clear that bar in four short months if their finances are not already in impeccable order.  We unabashedly hold Mrs. Mackin responsible for that.

We never had any concerns about the authenticity of the financial statements of Grace Community Church in Fulton, primarily if not solely because Mrs. Mackin is responsible for that. Therefore we are not surprised in the least at membership so expediently granted by the ECFA.  After Pastor Mitchel Lee consented to apply for membership in the ECFA, I can envision Mrs. Mackin muttering under her breath, “It is about time”.  Stellar acccountants do not fear audits of any kind.

However, we continue to have concerns about access to those documents. Financial statements can be ethically fashioned, yet pastors and elders can still intentionally mislead stakeholders about financial matters, principally because financial documents are essentially “sealed”.  Members cannot confirm or refute any financial representations about their almost nine million dollars of annual sacrifice.

One reader chides, “but didn’t you write ‘If you aren’t part of the solution, then you are part of the problem’? Then isn’t Amita part of the problem?”

Who is to say Mrs. Mackin is not part of the solution; who is to say what Mrs. Mackin and her department have been doing behind the scenes for years?  Who is to say under what kind of pressure Mrs. Mackin and her department have been that might impede resolution.  If any of us were in that department, job security would be our first concern.

What is the point of independently audited financial statements if they are only available to a select few.  We believe there is benefit to the those sacrificially giving millions of dollars to have at least some access to financial statements.  With Mrs. Mackin at the helm and our confidence in her integrity, if we had to chose between audited statements or transparency, we would unanimously and unequivocally choose the later; why would ask for flawless financials that already exist.  If Mrs. Makin is telling the truth the to the auditors, but the elders are not telling the truth to the stakeholders, that serves nobody.  Not presenting to stakeholders the truth much less the whole truth about anything is of absolutely no benefit except to those benefitting from concealment.

Do not misunderstand.   We would bet Mrs. Mackin is thrilled that her unassailable financials were (through at least 2016 and currently) audited.  It is something both warranted and deserved.  But Mrs. Mackin does not now, nor will she ever have sole authority over audits or transparency. Those decisions will remain in the hands of the elders. 

Two examples may help:

Recently a stakeholder confronted GA™, “Why start with a website?!”  “Well, uh, because, uh, because we didn’t.”  This person was (and many others are) unaware that the website’s publication was figuratively “step 30” in a slow incremental progression that politely started fully twenty-seven months earlier[1].  A lot had been done behind the scenes to obviate the need for our website in the intervening months, but to no avail.  Similarly, who is to say what Mrs. Mackin and her department have been doing and what conversations have been had behind the scenes?

Secondly, if the innumerable reports of the level of  toxicity in the environment at Grace are even marginally true, Mrs. Mackin and her department may be operating under duress.

One[2] of the events that triggered our concern about Grace Community Church in Fulton happened a number of years ago.  Riley (not their real name) was tasked to lead a group conversation that rotated among staff members.  Within ten minutes, by all accounts, Pastor Mitchel Lee spontaneously verbally struck and verbally assaulted Riley in such a way that we cringe to recollect.  His tirade would make non-Christians avert their eyes.  In fact it made some of us literally sob when we first heard of it.  Attendees describe Pastor Mitchel Lee not to have only embarrassed, but to have also  “publicly shamed”, even “emasculated” this individual.

Pastor Mitchel Lee might once again say, “It was yet another misunderstanding.”  He merely told Riley that he neither liked what Riley was doing nor how he was leading and told them to stop.  Then Pastor Mitchel Lee stepped in and pinch hit for Riley for the rest of the group discussion.

For the balance of the meeting, none of the attendees did anything, including a pastor that had been at Grace Community Church in Fulton continuously for decades before Pastor Mitchel Lee arrived.  What had begun as a pleasant dialogue between Riley and attendees from that point became a monologue, a sermon if you will, with no participantion.  We collectively know all the attendees; none are cowards.  One attendee had previously rescued a friend in front of whom was an assailant brandishing a firearm, only to have the gunman turn the weapon on them.  I know not a single one of these individuals to be anything but brave.  So why the instant inaction by everyone in attendance?

If a parent looks in on their sleeping infant and discovers a venomous snake coiled up next to them, they immediately know what needs to be done.  The child is acting like a child and the viper is acting like a viper and both are likely to continue to act as such: the infant may awaken or move and the serpent may strike.  The parent may be surprised to see the venomous snake in the crib, but they are not surprised at its behaviour.  The parent may be terrified, but will hopefully act quickly to distract the snake if necessary while the other parent calls 911 and grabs a rake and a pillowcase, some snake shot (and noice cancelling headphones for at least the child), a mongoose if available or even just a broom.

But when anything happens in a way deeply harrowing, unexpected and blatantly inconsistent few know what to do, most freeze and depending on exactly how harrowing, some may even soil themselves.  When any pastor succeeding Pastor Mark Norman and the standard he set for personal interaction behaves the way Pastor Mitchel Lee did, people are rightfully dumbfounded, slack jawed, scared stiff, frozen.  Any of those participants would know what to do now, after the fact.  In the midst of “flight, fight, freeze” triad, freeze often prevails in this type of situation.  This type of abuse and loss of control by Pastor Mitchel Lee is not an isolated event.  It has happened numerous times.  Ridicule of Riley (public and private) continued up to and during their exit interview.  This type of toxic humiliation ultimately led to many other staff members’ resignations.

Many participants consoled Riley only afterwards.  Do you blame them?  If yes, accordingly blame Director Mackin AND everyone else (many elders, pastors and staff members) who also know of the donor fraud and everyone who know of the abuse.

We have no reason to think that Director Mackin had anything to do with donor fraud nor that she is doing nothing behind the scenes to address the misrepresentations made by elders.  

Please continue to let us know if you have any other questions, concerns or comments.

Footnotes

[1] We are in the process of constructing an exhaustive chronology of all that has been done to address allegations of the past six years.  This will include interactions (both verbal and written) with Senior Pastor Mitchel Lee; Elders Guy Bunyard, Chris Wolf, Paul Watson and Moses Alade; Pastor Seth Rumsey; and numerous other former or current elders, pastors, directors and staff members.  A week before the website went live we offered all the elders an opportunity to look at the content.  None acquiesced, all but one did not even respond.  Sources tell us that later that week, the staff was alerted about an unforeseen website, about which elders knew nothing, it was “coming out of the blue”.  Elders not only knew of this possibility more than 27 months prior but were apprised of it’s progression all along the way.

[2] When some hear this account, their initial response is not to express empathy for Riley, but to immediately defend Pastor Mitchel Lee, perhaps telegraphing their strong allegiance: “Did anyone go to Pastor Mitchel Lee privately afterwards?”  This subtly but effectively shifts the focus from the abuser’s actions to the victim’s response.  It is similar to becoming aware of a rape and immediately asking “Well, what was she wearing”, or after severe physical child beating “What was the last thing they said or did?”  Erick Sundquist, LCSW-C, CEO of Safe Harbor Christian Counseling once gave a seminar at Grace Community Church in Fulton and recounted how he was mediating a dispute brought between a staff member and a pastor. The pastor’s initial response was “Why did you not mention this before?”  Erick’s response was brilliant and swift, “This is ‘before’.  It is before tomorrow, before next week and before next month” squarely putting the focus back on the issue and off of the staff member.