Newspaper Article

Minister's Financial Base Is Eroding
By Arthur Howe (Pulitzer Prize winning journalist)
The News Journal 1/23/79

William Cantrell, Bank of Springfield senior vice president, claimed the bank has no remaining records of how much was paid by the congregation. Church members believe the bank received about half the amount.

No one is certain where the rest' of the money went. Nor is anyone sure local creditors ever received any of the $50,000.

As is the policy today in the First Baptist Church of Concordville, all financial records of the church were closely guarded by Drummond. Those who dared to object, Drummond castigated - often publicly - as "enemies of the church" and had them expelled.

With many in the church's congregation financially destitute, Drummond began talking of moving to southeastern Pennsylvania, an area where he said the "New Testament had lain fallow for 100 years." He also spoke of the vast potential for converting millions of people living within a 50-mile radius.

"He promised us we'd be living in paradise," recalls Mrs. Eibert Boeve, a former Springfield church member who along with her husband and five children was expelled in 1976 for questioning Drummond on finances.

"He said we'd all have plush places to live and make big money with our jobs. Our homes would be furnished with valuable antiques and it would be the most beautiful place on earth."

But first, Drummond devised an intricate scheme to deal with the church's Missouri creditors: According to deed records, he allowed the church and educational property to be repossessed by the Bank of Springfield, which held first mortgage rights on the property. Then, he set up a dummy corporation - entitled MMI Inc. after a member of the congregation, Monty Miller - to buy, the property back for $85,000 at a sheriff's auction.

Later, the church resold the property to another private buyer' for $150,000 -- almost twice the purchase price But almost 100 Springfield creditors, with debt totaling $312,368.07 were never paid, according to court documents.

Not even Drummond's private physician - though not listed among the creditors - received payment. Said Dr. Edward L. Crosthwait: "I performed two operations for him and he stuck me with a $400 bill."
Some creditors, left with bills of up to $37,000, were forced into bankruptcy. Jack Hallenbeck, who installed $9,000 worth of floor carpeting in the school, had to close the door on his business and move to Illinois.

It was not the first time Drummond's ambitious vision has led a congregation into financial peril. Before moving to Springfield, Mo., Drummond was pastor of the tiny (congregation: 24) Seaview Baptist Church in Pacifica, Calif., outside San Frnacisco. Seven months after Drummond arrived in 1970 the church went bankrupt.

"He built a building -- I think it was supposed to be a school -- and borrowed a bunch of money," said the Rev. Clifford Harris, a Baptist preacher in nearby San Jose. "But he never did pay a thing and they had to foreclose on the property."

Today, Drummond claims to his congregation that assets of the First Baptist Church of Concordville are about $5.5 million. Former church members say that most of the congregation are expected to donate about 60 percent of their income to the church, a total of almost $500,000 a year.

The destination of these funds is a well-kept secret, former members say. But Drummond, by all accounts, is living an extravagant life-style. He travels in a private plane and a sugar-white Lincoln Continental. His home is filled with antiques, Persian rugs, and objects of art, former church members say.

"Everything is first-class for Dr. Drummond." said Ronald Patterson, a former deacon in the church. "He always buys the best -- whatever he wants."

Yet a random check with local businesses has revealed that the church is in debt by at least $5,206 to four area building and electrical suppliers.

Said one creditor, Mrs. Henry Burger, of Burger's Plumbing and Heating supplies in Chester, Pa.: "The church owes us over $2,000. We've been calling and calling since last October, but we're just getting the brush off. We're too small to get stuck with a bill like this."

Al least 12 church families, who once lived in the Kynlyn apartments near Bellefonte, left last year without paying' $3,694 in rent. An employee at the complex stressed that the amount was only a portion of the total amount owed them.

"I know all sorts of other people must be owed money, too, because people keep calling us to ask where they [church members] can be reached," she said.

The church, however, has had little trouble keeping up with payments on its $490,000 mortgage, according to Joseph L. Monte, a trustee for the Sons of Italy which holds the mortgage. The sprawling, 25-acre complex on U.S. 1, two miles east of U.S. 202, which once housed the Delaware County Community College, was purchased in March 1976 with a $5,000 down payment, according to courthouse documents.

After Drummond took over the property, he instructed his parishioners to renovate the gymnasium, turning it into a sanctuary. The campus classrooms were transformed into dormitories for about 50 college-age students and classrooms for about 100 kindergarten through 12th grade students.

As in the past, Drummond has a lofty vision of expansion. He has talked repeatedly of building another chapel and has ordered a $200,000 organ for it. Several months ago members of his church approached the Concord township zoning-hearing board for permission to build 10 new townhouses on the property for faculty.

"They have done everything according to the law, as far as we're concerned," reports Frank Lafferty, chairman of the zoning hearing board.