Foreclosure forces Faith Christian to close

LAKEWOOD RANCH — Last Sunday, while thousands of Christians filled dozens of East County churches to celebrate Easter, a Lakewood Ranch church sat unoccupied, its doors locked and parking lot empty.

Foreclosure proceedings forced Faith Christian Church to close its doors just days before Easter. The church had planned for Easter Sunday to be its final day, however, church officials said the church’s financial troubles prevented that from happening.

The church had been unable to make its mortgage payments since November 2011. Church officials tried to negotiate a new payment schedule with its lein-holder, Community Bank, but were unable to do so. Faith Christian received a foreclosure lawsuit from Community Bank in February.

Since then, Faith Christian had planned to use the remaining $36,000 in its account to pay other outstanding bills. But Community Bank on April 5 exercised its “right to offset” and applied that balance to the delinquent mortgage.

That money, church officials said, was slated to pay insurance and utilities through Easter Sunday. With those accounts delinquent, church officials decided to cancel the final Easter service.

“Overnight and without our knowledge or permission, Community Bank zeroed out our entire bank account and applied that money to our delinquent loan,” church elders Sam Jameson, Paul Palmer and Jeff Weatherhead wrote on the website. “We therefore cannot pay utilities, insurance, payroll or any other of our bills. In fact, our staff’s payroll for this past two weeks has bounced, and so they are not receiving their pay that is due them.

“We are heartbroken that it has come to this,” they wrote. “However, we feel the urgent thing to do now is provide as much as possible for our people (staff and missionaries). We are frustrated that a good deal of that money has now been arbitrarily applied to the delinquent loan without our knowledge.”

Financial problems at Faith Christian date back several years. At the end of 2010, the church employed a “bare bones” budget, eliminated the worship director position and instituted a 5% pay cut for all staffers. It also used $22,000 of its Capital Campaign fund to pay other bills in 2010.

However, with new churches planting roots in the East County, Faith Christian’s attendance numbers dwindled. In its most prosperous time about six years ago, the church averaged nearly 4,000 attendees. That number had declined to about 140 per Sunday in 2012, said the Rev. Tim Smith.

In the first five months of 2011, the church was falling short of its hard costs by about $200 per week, the elders said.

Beginning in May 2011, the church began exploring measures to keep the church open, including negotiating with Community Bank and seeking partnerships with other churches.

Faith Christian owes $1 million on the property.

Danny Beeson, a church member who served on its music team for eight years and led the team for the past four, said the closing is heartbreaking for its congregation.

“We have done all we can to negotiate with the banks, look for alternate financing or short-sale buyers, but nothing has worked,” he said. “At this point, all I guess I can ask is that you make aware to the public how crucial it is to support your place of worship and make reasonable decisions as leaders for your congregation.”

Smith said he has sent résumés to churches throughout the country to try to find his next home. He took over as Faith Christian’s pastor in 2010 and will cherish his time at the Lakewood Ranch church.

“I’ve only been year a little over two years but have grown to love many and to be loved by many," he said. "After all the church, is not a building (whether you can pay for it or not); it is people. Our folks will now disseminate into the community to help strengthen other parts of the kingdom.”

Faith Christian was started by Bradenton resident Pat Mooney in January 1996. After spending 10 months meeting at the Holiday Inn Riverfront in Bradenton, the church moved to property on 26th Avenue East then to Haile Middle School in 1998. The church broke ground on its Lakewood Ranch home in June 2000 and opened about a year later.

When open, the church was active in the East County community. For two years, it hosted a prom for residents with special needs.

Contact Michael Eng at [email protected].