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2 churches challenge
pastors over finances
The congregations question
how their money is being spent
Darlene Dunston, 50, has been a member of Apostolic Faith Church all her life. For most of that time, her faith in the Kalihi-based organization and its leaders has been unshaken.
Not anymore.
While she said she still embraces the underlying principles of the church's mission, Dunston questions how its leaders have been running the institution, best known for its prominent "Jesus Coming Soon" sign atop its main temple. The sign has been a landmark in Kalihi for more than 80 years.
"These are people who abuse other people and take advantage of our godly fear," Dunston said of the church leaders.
In recent months, Dunston and other Apostolic members say they've asked why the church has had no money to fix leaking roofs, install air conditioning and perform basic maintenance, yet it has had enough to purchase a new Cadillac for the chief pastor this year and to buy, gut and renovate a Kalihi home several years ago that is now used by one of his sons.
They say repeated requests to see the church's books have gone unanswered, drawing instead the wrath of the Rev. William Han Sr., chief pastor, his family and supporters, sometimes via tongue lashings from the pulpit.
Also unanswered is the dissidents' main question: How has the church spent the thousands of dollars donated by members over the years?
They say the church never has provided the congregation with an accounting of how that money has been used. Anyone who raises questions, the dissidents say, is demonized and ostracized.
Lack of accountability has been a central accusation in another church controversy in Hawaii, this one also involving a family overseeing the affairs of an independent, nondenominational institution.
Dissident members of the Way of Salvation Church in Kalihi have accused its leaders of financial mismanagement and keeping the congregation in the dark about how church money is spent. In a Star-Bulletin story in June, the dissidents likewise said they have been retaliated against for raising questions.
Both disputes have ended up in court, where church leaders have denied any wrongdoing. The cases are pending.
Apostolic Faith representatives, including its attorney and a member of the board of trustees, declined to comment on specific allegations raised in this story, citing the litigation.
That controversies like these have erupted at nondenominational churches, which are increasing in Hawaii, is not surprising to people familiar with such matters.
"Typically, the more independent you are, the less financial information you share," said Honolulu attorney Jim Wright, who has 15 years of experience representing clergy, churches and religious organizations in Hawaii. "There's just a whole culture of secrecy about churches and money."
At denominational churches, such as those in the Catholic and Methodist faiths, financial issues typically are handled by lay people, not ministers, based on strict rules established by the parent institution, according to national experts on church finances. But at many nondenominational ones, the organizations often are not as strictly structured, and at some -- especially the smaller ones -- the head pastor or associates control the money, the experts say.
When the spiritual and financial merge like that, conflicts can arise, partly because pastors generally are unprepared for handling such fiscal responsibilities, according to the experts.
John Knapp, president of the Georgia-based Southern Institute for Business and Professional Ethics, said research suggests that ethical issues related to money are much more common problems for churches than sexual misconduct and other issues that have grabbed headlines of late.
"Indeed, ethical issues involving money are a growing problem in the church, undermining congregational life and effective pastoral ministry," Knapp said in an e-mail to the Star-Bulletin. "It is likely that financial disputes cause more churches to split than theological disputes."
Knapp, co-author of a forthcoming book, "How Money Undermines Ministry: The Growing Ethical and Spiritual Challenge for Churches," said financial questions are taboo in many churches, and when they do arise, they are unwelcome.
At Apostolic Faith, which was founded in the 1920s and has branches in Hawaii and the Philippines, the questions not only have been unwelcome, they have divided the congregation, according to the dissidents. Relations in some cases have become so strained that family members or best friends no longer talk to each other. Dunston, whose father and half-brother are associate pastors at the church, say she is estranged from her family.
The controversy entered the legal arena earlier this year when Steve Crouch, one of the dissidents, filed court documents seeking a financial accounting and the ouster of the church's five-member board of trustees, which includes Han, who is in his 80s, his wife and a son. Crouch accused the trustees of mismanagement and violating the 1949 trust document created by Apostolic Faith's founder, Charles Lochbaum. The trustees are disputing Crouch's allegations.
Underscoring how the turmoil has pierced the sanctity of the church, Dunston called police to the Kalihi temple in April after she said one of the chief pastor's sons, William Han Jr., who also is an Apostolic pastor and a trustee, grabbed her arm and dragged her from the building following Palm Sunday services. At the time, she was talking in a raised voice to another trustee, according to Dunston. The police case is pending. Han Jr. could not be reached to comment.
"They have put fear into people that if you go against any of the trustees, your salvation is in jeopardy and you will surely go straight to hell," Dunston said.
Crouch said church leaders have even made an issue of his background -- he pled guilty several years ago to gambling and money-laundering charges. But his past, he said, is not relevant to the questions Apostolic Faith leaders should be answering today.
Dunston and Crouch have asked the Attorney General's Office to intervene in the court case. Because Apostolic Faith is a charitable trust, the AG's office has oversight authority, in much the same way it had oversight over what was formerly called Bishop Estate.
The AG's office sent a letter last week to the church's trustees, asking them to address the concerns raised with its office. An AG spokesman declined comment.
Carolyn Hayashi, attorney for the church, said the trustees are cooperating with the AG's inquiry.
The attorney general did intervene in the Way of Salvation case, prompting that church to elect a new board of directors. The state subsequently supported a request by the dissident group that a receiver be appointed to oversee the church, saying Way of Salvation has repeatedly failed to account for charitable funds. The receiver request is pending.
Way of Salvation has accused the AG's office of overstepping its authority and reaching erroneous conclusions.
To Antoinette Birano, 57, an Apostolic Faith member for more than 50 years and mother-in-law to Crouch, there's a straight-forward way to try to resolve the controversy and start the healing process within the church.
"Why all this grief and drama?" Birano asked. "Just show us the books. If you have nothing to hide, this shouldn't be a problem."
