Membership Meeting
Notes
Transcript
17 “For nothing is hidden that will not become evident, nor anything secret that will not be known and come to light.
24 The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others, their sins follow after. 25 Likewise also, deeds that are good are quite evident, and those which are otherwise cannot be concealed.
6 Brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ we order you not to associate with any believer who doesn’t live a disciplined life and doesn’t follow the tradition you received from us.
Next, I want to establish the authority of the Church Board to act in the matter being discussed today.
ARTICLE VII. GOVERNMENT
Section 1. The Church Board
a. In General
The government of this assembly shall be vested in the church board, which shall consist of the pastor and at least three members, to the extent that such authority is not limited by district supervision as provided for under the bylaws of the District Council.
c. Duties of Church Board
(1) The church board shall act in the examination of application for membership and in the administration of discipline.
Section 5. Fiduciary Duties
The law imposes several fiduciary duties on officers, deacons, and trustees, including the duties of due care and diligence, loyalty, avoidance of self-dealing, expending designated contributions for the purposes specified, and not commingling personal and corporate funds.
Legal dictionary: A person or party that has an obligation to act in good faith, trust, honesty and best interests of another.
Are there any questions about the responsibility, duties and authority of the Church Board? Just on that subject.
Here is the situation and our response:
a. First of all, I was asked not tell the names of the people involved.
I don’t know how to do that.
Also, Ken Allen’s status is a matter of public record and has been posted in the NGN.
But, I ask that you do a hard thing — not treat the people mentioned any different than you did before. Treat them in a Christ-liker manner.
Paula indicated she wanted to attend the next ladies meeting.
I would further ask that any discussion be limited to those here today - please do not spread this in the community!
The situation:
In 2020 Ken and Paula Allen began to attend this church.
A few months after they did, Ken came to me and asked to speak to me privately.
We went into Classroom B where he told me that he was a registered sex offender.
That he had served 20 years in prison.
But that all that was under the Blood of Jesus.
That he was forgiven and he was serving Jesus.
I admit that in my up to that time, which was 34 years of ministry, I had never had anyone tell me they were a registered sex offender.
I didn’t know what to do.
I told him I would need to do research and figure out what we needed to do.
I researched through the AG, I called our insurance agent and spoke to Captain Mangefesta of the Union CO Sheriff’s office — Criminal Investigations Division which oversees the RSO in Union County.
The captain told me not to allow Ken to attend.
The AG written documents, and our insurance agent said we could respond in one of 3 ways:
Forbid RSO attendance
Ignore his declaration and do nothing
Create a policy and have the RSO sign a “Conditions of Attendance.” The AG gave a suggested document, but recommended getting an attorney to craft it for us.
At our next Board Meeting, July 29, 2020 I told the Board what Ken had told me and that I was doing research.
I told them that I had informed Sandra and Madeline (since they teach children), but otherwise I wanted to keep the information confidential to keep the Allens from being treated differently than anyone else.
We also tried to change the restroom children used during Children’s Church (nursery).
I began to formulate a RSO policy for the Board to consider.
It took too long on my part, but I gave the Board a policy to consider in January 2021.
We ironed out a few issues and adopted a policy which was approved in February 2021.
In March 2021 I went to Ken who received a copy of the policy and signed a “Conditions of Attendance.” Ken addressed the Board at the March 2021 Board Meeting speaking of his feelings about his situation.
The male Board members said they would keep an eye on Ken, and they did so to the best of their ability.
We also began installation of a video security system that needs more camera’s added.
I have wanted to get an unarmed security team in place, but have been unable to do so.
In May 2021 I told the Board that our insurance agent thought our policy was so good that he wanted to let other churches see it for a template. I told him that was fine.
Everything continued on until August of last year when we had our covid outbreak.
During that outbreak Paula told Donna Millage about Ken’s past.
So that when the Sunday before Thanksgiving of last year, Ken came over a laid his hand on Donna’s grandson’s shoulder and told him he had pretty hair, it greatly disturbed Donna. She and Bob came to me about what had happened.
Not sure about my legal duty to report, I spoke to Captain Mangefesta about the incident. I didn’t know for sure if I was required to do so. He told me I was right to report the incident and that he would allow me to call Ken first, but then he was going to call him and tell him to keep his ___ hands off of kids.
After speaking to the Captain, I spoke to Ken and Paula on speaker phone.
They were unhappy about how Donna responded.
I reminded Paula that she told Donna about Ken.
They said they would not come back to church.
Technically Ken did not break his conditions of attendance because it used to contain “unless an adult is present.”
I told Ken I was removing those words and to not speak to any children at all.
Donna thought they should both be removed from ministry (bass and greeter).
Then they decided to come back.
The next Sunday morning, December 5, right after he came in, Ken told me he was going to be a statue.
But, after service that morning, we had a fellowship where he went and asked a visiting little girl, in front of Board Member Michelle Collins, how old she was. This is Doris’ great-granddaughter Iyana (she was in service today with her daughter and son-in-law).
Then, on the last Sunday in January, we had a missionary and his family with us. I witnessed Ken talking with the 15 year-old daughter.
Since then I found out Ken has also talked with Elijah Huber.
After a long discussion with the Board it was decided that, since could not obey the Conditions for Attendance, for the sake of our children, for the sake of this Body (trying to keep it from being sued or just get bad publicity for having a noncompliant RSO, we voted to tell Ken he could no longer attend. Paula can come, but not Ken.
Ken was told this last Tuesday afternoon.
It grieves our heart to do this, but we feel we have no other choice.
Board member George Huber is former law enforcement, former correctional office and most formerly a court bailiff (Court security). He has seen and heard a lot. He also has a young son to be careful about.
I also spoke to my son because he has 2 daughters, feels called to children and youth ministry here, and because he has 13 years correctional officer experience.
George and mys son admit:
Apart from God, sex offenders will often re-offend.
As my son said, is considered a mental illness and treatment is difficult and not always effective.
The type of sexual offence also speaks to the issue. Ken’s situation was not a 21 year old with a 17 year old.
To conclude, I feel like we did everything we could without putting our children and youth at greater risk.
As I told Ken, we are also trying to protect him from accusations being made against him.
We have learned and will be tougher from the beginning.
Questions?