DATE OF PUBLICATION: Dec. 2004
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The 2004 Lake Region Crisis
In 1993, we published on the largest single conference financial crisis in the history of our denomination, up to that time. Entitled, The Lake Region Crisis, that 92-page book provides historical and documentary information on an escalating financial crisis that extended nearly 15 years, from May 1978 to January 1993. (Copies of the book are still available for $7.00 + $2.50 p&h. The accompanying video and audio cassette, made in 1993, are now out of print.) At that time, President Charles Joseph permitted the financial loss to continue deepening instead of halting it. In addition to many other obligations, as of August 1993, $5,760,000 was owed to two banks. Unfortunately, a new crisis is now confronting the faithful believers in the Lake Region Conference (LRC). As you will read in the enclosed papers, printed by LRC laymen, this is the third LRC crisis which, it is charged, is caused by financial errors (or worse) on the part of its conference officers in the past 50 years: Elder Crow in the 1950s, Elder Joseph in the 1980s, and now Elder Norman K. Miles. Each time, appeals were made to the laymen of LRC to pay the cost of bringing the conference out of insolvency. But this time, the laymen are considering a startling new solution: to turn their entire conference of churches into an "independent ministry"! Whether or not that will be done cannot be known at this time. Here are seven pages of data, published by LRC laymen and widely circulated to church members in the conference. So many debts are listed, that you will have a hard time counting them all. With headquarters in Chicago, the LRC has 105 churches and 25,635 members in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, and the Minneapolis /St. Paul area in Minnesota. October 13, 2004 Dear Brothers and Sisters of Lake Region Conference, I don't know if you are fully aware of the sad financial state of our conference. If you are, then nothing that I present in this address will surprise or alarm you! If not, then this information is for you to consider making some important decisions. The Lake Region Conference can no longer provide health care benefits to its workers because of a large debt owed to the Lake Union Conference. It is my understanding that the Lake Region Conference owes the Lake Union an excess of 1.4 million dollars in unpaid tithe. By December if not paid, conference workers will no longer be provided any insurance benefits through the church system. That means they will not have medical, dental, vision, home, car, life or continue to insure any churches in Lake Region Conference. Why is this? Isn't the tithe being paid faithfully? If so, then why are those placed as stewards handling it so unfaithfully? Why is there a strong cry now by the ministers of Lake Region, for Dr. Miles to resign as the President? Why has the General Conference and Lake Union Conference stated that they will not loan any more funds to Lake Region nor back them financially for any reason until this debt is paid? Why has Lake Region been given until December to pay these monies or else? Or else what? What unfortunate financial business is looming over our heads as constituents? What are the ministers, who all stood up to vote Dr. Miles back into office during the last triennial session, doing about this financial disgrace. Is Lake Region Conference bankrupted? Why are we finding ourselves borrowing against CD's to make payroll for conference workers? How will payroll be met this month? Constituents, we need to consider holding another constituency meeting to call for a total change in leadership. We need to dissolve this bogus adhoc finance committee that lead us to believe that certain behaviors were going to change when in fact they never held any power or authority to change behavior. Only God can do that Those leaders who have proven themselves unworthy need to be replaced along with those who have held leadership positions and opted to stand on the side lines and fail to act. This statement includes the present executive committee that has allowed this to go on for so long. Don't misunderstand me, there may be a few who speak out against improprieties, but this committee as a whole has been weighed in the balances and found wanting. They must go as well. We need TOTAL CHANGE. We are definitely living in the last days. Our Sabbath School lessons clearly depict the kind of character that is needed in these last days in order to be ready for Christ's soon return. Daniel and the three Hebrew boys were will to STAND though the heavens fall. It's too bad that we can't see that in many of our pastors and leaders today. We had better learn to depend on God and God alone. As I reflect on how far and how fast we have gone down as a conference since the triennial session, I readily consider a concept presented to me some months ago. That concept being "INDEPENDENT MINISTRY". Laymen, we need to be about the Father's business of soul winning. We need to pool our tithe monies and support INDEPENDENT MINISTRIES since the conference can't be trusted to follow General Conference Policies and pattern themselves as proper examples. Please vote to hold a new constituency meeting to make right the wrongs that are taking place in order to put this conference back on its path of total soul winning. Our days for buying fancy homes, cars, paying tuition for other people's kids, taking fancy vacations need to go away. Every dime that is collected should be spent on soul winning. If those in leadership can't see the importance of this one aspect, then it is time for lay people to use the funds ourselves and go forward with the work. Sis White does remind us that the laypeople will finish the work. Let's get busy now. Thank you for your time, Ramona Minisee Highland Avenue SDA Church Notice that it was a lady who wrote the preceding letter to everyone in the conference. Leave it to the women in the church to get things accomplished! On the next page of this tract, you will find a bewildering array of debts owed by LRC: (1) LRC owes the Lake union a massive debt of over a million dollars. It is said to be "$1,255,000"; but if you add it up, it totals $2,115,000. (2) Then there is the yearly (yearly!) insurance payment by LRC to the General Conference insurance agency (Adventist Risk Management, Inc.). It totals $604,585. -Sixth-tenths of a million dollars is paid yearly by just one conference for insurance! (3) In addition, $1,548,925 must be paid yearly to Risk Management for various medical insurance coverage. The two types of insurance coverage totals $2,153,510-for just one smaller conference! The 25,635 members in LRC Is about 1/37th of the 963,042 members in the North American Division, So the total yearly insurance cost for the NAD is probably in the range of $80 million! The laymen of LRC are saying, "Let's forget all that and spend our money to do soul-winning!"(4) Lastly (although we are not told how much in retirement funds must be paid yearly), the total amount owed, including back payments, totaled $432,000 by October. At any rate, $2,600,000 must be paid by December 31, or all insurance coverage will stop.Where does the money normally come from to pay all this? DID YOU KNOW? THE DEBT LOAD FOR LAKE REGION Lake Region Conference owes Lake Union Conference for the following debt: $1,255,000.00 • $120,000.00 Ephesus SDA Church in Saginaw Michigan for a defaulted loan • $115,00.00—Chicago Bethlehem French for a defaulted loan (these are loans that Lake Region co-signed) • $650,000.00 borrowed from the Lake Union and they still owe the Lake Union 540,000. • $250,000.00 for Insurance CLAIMS when the treasurer of Inkster SDA Church stole the funds from the church. Lake Region received $786,000.00 from Adventist Risk Management for this incident. Has refused to pay the Union monies owed out of these funds. • $700,000.00 has been received from back tithe remittances yet Lake Region Conference has not forwarded these monies to the Union office. • $30,000.00 was charged to Lake Region by the General Conference Auditing Department for the many trips they had to make to Chicago to prepare the auditors report for the session due to their monkey games. $250,000.00 is owed for accounts receivables owed by outstanding loans made to LRC workers. LAKE REGION CONFERENCE YEARLY POLICY COST TO ADVENTIST RISK MANAGEMENT (GC Insurance carrier): $229,398.00 Property/Casualty-Church insurance $201,309.00 General Liability $101,618.00 Sexual Harassment Clause TOTAL YEARLY COST TO RISK MANAGEMENT TO FUNCTION AS A GENERAL CONFERENCE ENTITY IS $532,325.00 The Master Policy is as following: 30,000.00 Bonding ínsurance for church treasurers $30,000.00 Bonding insurance for all LRC officers $5,000.00 Boiler insurance on equipment of churches and campground $600.00 Aviation Insurance in case of air travel death of LRC officers. $6,660.00 Misc. Policy Lake Region Conference is behind on its retirement funds In order to continues to function as a SDA Conference, the following work expenses are needed to do business with Risk Management: $150,000.00 Health Insurance for conference workers $532,325 P & C (Property and Casualty) back policy payments $66,600.00 Master Policies $800,000.00 Medical Insurance. (Ministers are now being turned away for service when going to the doctor. The ministers should have stood up and not shown fear for their jobs during the last session. Perhaps this would not be now) $1,548,925.00 is owed yearly to Risk Management. As an organization they are required to hold the following policies: By December 31 LRC MUST---MUST--MUST give Risk Management and Lake Union $2,600,000.00. The Union FORCED Lake Region Conference to disclose this information. If not paid, the Lake Union AND Risk Management will no longer provide financial coverage for any Lake Region Conference daily operational processes. This is the reason for the video tapes now being played in the churches across the conference by Dr. Miles. The Executive Committee along with the Audit Committee should be held responsible for ALLOWING this to continue. they all need to be replaced with reliable, trustworthy, Christians who want to do God's work. It is quit evident the individuals now in place are not really interested in doing that. A new business session must be called immediately. We don't need the permission of the Executive Committee—there is only a need of 23 churches to vote to have a new business session. People, continue to hold your tithes—do not send your tithes to the conference. Find some Independent Ministry to support during this financial interlude. Ask God to show you where to put your money. We did this with Racine—Let's not continue to do this. It is past time when conference leaders can expect the poor, ignorant (as we are sometime referred to by the ministry) constituents to bail the conference out again. WE did this with Crow back in the 50's. We did this with Joseph in the 80's. Now Miles in the new millennium. No WAY! It's time to stop the madness.
WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR PAYING BACK THESE MONIES. DO NOT
LET DR. MILES MAKE YOU FEEL GUILTY. THIS WAS HIS MISMANAGEMENT
AND HIS MISTAKES. HE NEEDS TO PAY THIS MONEY BACK! HE AND ALL
THE REST OF THOSE INDIVIDUALS WHO FELT INDEPENDENT MINISTRIES! INDEPENDENT MINISTRIES! INDEPENDENT MINISTRIES! INDEPENDENT MINISTRIES! THIS SHOULD NOW BECOME OUR SLOGAN AS Town Hall Meeting Given by the layman of LRC November 7, 2004 (Sunday) 12 noon—3:00 p.m. (Michigan time) Niles Inn & Conference Center 930 S. 11th St, Niles Michigan Inn is across the street from Walgreen & Hunting Bank From Detroit; 1-94 exit at M-51 south into Niles to route 31/51 south to the Inn. From Chicago; 1-94 exit at Niles US-12 into Niles to route 31/51 north to the Inn. From Indy; IN: US-31 north bypass to US-12 Niles to route 31/51 north to the Inn. LRC administrators may seem like the giants of Cannon in the city of Jericho, but God used Joshua and a small group of faithful dedicated, & sincere people in a mighty way! Read the Book of Joshua, chapters 1-6. AGENDA Sharing Information! What Solutions do we have for Recovery! Questions & Answers! This is YOUR Lake Region Conference! Wisdom & Understanding comes from the Lord, Prov. 2:6-15
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