Roddy Clyde stands accused of embezzling a half million dollars from his Church. He used gods money to buy horses and horse property. Clyde has admitted his crime to police and wants to make things "right".
Former Round Rock Pastor Roddy Clyde had total access to his church's bank account and credit card, according to court documents made public Thursday. Horses were bought, according to investigators, with money from The Fellowship at Forest Creek Church. When church leaders say they found out money was missing, they called police.
Clyde was the pastor at The Fellowship at Forest Creek Church. His former church is taking aggressive steps to confront Clyde's crimes and heal itself. You will find no words of support for their former pastor, only a resolve to make sure it does not happen again.
Did I mention this took place in Texas? I think I said something about the water in my last post.
Did you know that the pastors who were alerted to the situation: Shannon Paz, Gerald Thurman and David Burleson - went outside the church to discuss their findings before even asking Roddy about it? That’s right, they waited until Roddy left town with his family, then held their “secret meeting” to discuss who they should tell next! They also weren’t taking very good care of this pastor. In this area, it will take $125,000 a year to replace him, yet he was only officially being paid $52,000. No wonder why he became disillusioned and felt unappreciated - he was! Why didn’t anyone take care of him so temptation wouldn’t have been as strong? In addition, Pastor Clyde asked to be given the chance to apologize to the congregants, and was denied that opportunity.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds to me like there have been a myriad of sins in this case. Shouldn’t we offer all involved the forgiveness, grace and mercy that Christ offers us? After all, isn’t that the whole reason he died on the cross?
Uh, no
DeleteAs a child in the congregation who was below poverty line and I had to mow lawns to afford back to school clothes because my parents were donating to the new building fund. Absolutely the hell not.
DeleteI am aware of a letter circulating regarding favor of Roddy Clyde. This letter disturbs me deeply because it was sent via email to many members of the Fellowship. The true victims of the crime being expected to rescue the perpetrator. There is something really sick about that.
ReplyDeleteI would like to present a differing opinion.
Roddy was arrogant and mean spirited. The way he treated those who served under him even before his fall was unconscionable.
What Roddy did to the church and those who trusted him is huge. Lives have been broken because of his actions. The impact of his crime is still being felt in waves throughout the people who followed him. Forgiveness and repentance in the abstract are nice concepts. But they don’t really account for the damage he has caused to the lives of others, whether they depended on his ministry for financial, professional or spiritual reasons. Stealing money to go on fancy vacations, buy land and horses has caused numerous others to needlessly suffer.
The letter circulating says that “sending him to prison would make his rehabilitation impossible“. This is a ridiculous statement. People who steal $700,000 normally get sent to prison as a consequence of their action. Roddy taught many times that being a Christian does not alleviate consequences of our bad choices. He called that accountability. The letter goes on to say that a prison sentence will immediately cause feelings of responsibility, regret and remorse to those who are a part of sending him there. This too is absurd! The others are not the reason he would be in prison, his own choices are.
For this, the state should impose a punishment that is relevant to the crime against humanity that he committed. If Roddy only gets a sentence of probation, it will send a very dangerous message to the citizens of Williamson County that if you commit a crime but are sorry enough, you can get away without serving time.
Please read “Worship of Mass Dysfunction”. This book details the events leading up to and the events following Pastor Roddy Clyde’s embezzlement and subsequent arrest. The book provides a harrowing account of how purpose driven concepts can cause harm. www.wmdthebook.com.
ReplyDeleteI just stumbled across this while doing research for another project. I served under Roddy while attending Seminar training that Roddy organized. It amazed me how everyone in the classes were against validation through God's word as a next step. I kept hearing lets see what Roddy has to say or I don't know but I bet Roddy does. It was all very cult like in general.
ReplyDeleteThere was a change in behavior, we did not feel the Holly Spirit was alive any more in the Church so we left - about a year latter he was arrested. There is no need to rehash the dysfunctional environment that was more competitive than spiritual internally. His sermons moved from bible based to worldly activities like being the perfect husband and the perfect father on how to raise a child with no scripture basis. By the way the information was good and I agree, but I was in Church to grow closer to God, good message just wrong platform.
It does beg the question if this matter had been brought before the Church could he have ever learned to operate in a spirit of humility or true repentance. There were a select few in the Church who believed he could do no wrong. They seem to keep posting how wrong the process was. This has nothing to do with Jesus and the cross, it is every man is accountable to his own actions - because of the cross they are forgiven through their own repentance.
It is how we grow and mature to live to know Christ who lives in us - through true repentance and forgiveness. Don't judge how others acted your responsibility is between you and God, ask him to lead you and follow the heart message he provides before judging the actions of others. Stop using your mind to override kingdom logic which only prevents you from being closer to God.