Pastor Abuses Church Credit Card and Gets Away With It

Why does this guy still have a job?

The pastor of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles apologized to his congregants Sunday for any embarrassment caused by disclosures that he had used church credit cards for sizable personal expenses and had failed to pay federal taxes for several years.

Pastor John J. Hunter, 51, used church credit cards to pay for at least $122,000 in personal expenses, including family vacations, clothes, jewelry, bikes and auto supplies, the Times reported Sunday. He and church finance officials said he has signed an agreement to repay the money and instituted stricter accounting policies, such as spending guidelines and more frequent audits, to guard against future problems.

Hunter also told The Times that he is working with federal tax officials to repay back taxes, penalties and interest amassed over 17 years, which have resulted in federal tax liens of more than $309,000 against himself and his wife, Denise Brown Hunter. He explained that he had legally opted out of the Social Security system several years ago, as ministers are allowed to do, but that the IRS had no record of it and assessed the taxes.

On Sunday, before more than 6,000 congregants at three services, Hunter acknowledged that he had made mistakes and that it was "disconcerting and embarrassing" to see private church matters aired publicly. But he assured his flock that he had done nothing criminal and was working to resolve the problems, and that the church remained financially strong.

So, he says he's sorry, won't do it again, and may pay it back, and that's it? Show me any other business where an employee could essentially embezzle over $100,000 and still keep his job? And how many of us could skip paying income taxes for years and not end up in the pokey?

I was in a church once when it was revealed that the pastor had engaged in an affair five years earlier while pastoring another church in another state. The pastor lost his job that day. Even though the affair had long ago ended and he had long ago repented and was a well-loved pastor in his present assignment, church rules sent him packing. Period.

I'm not sure the church in L.A. is well served by keeping this guy on.