A former president of a seminary in Europe will resign his Florida church amid allegations he misappropriated approximately $184,000 in church contributions to the seminary and falsified receipts to cover up his actions.
A church administrator announced in the morning worship service April 30 that Altus Newell has offered his resignation after nearly 10 years as pastor of Deermeadows Baptist Church in Jasonville, Fla., and that deacons were “working with him on closure.”
Newell is the former pastor of First Baptist, Opelika, and Dawson Memorial Baptist, Homewood.
The announcement alluded only indirectly to strife and conflict in the 2,100-member church during the last two years.
But church leaders say Newell was told to resign after admitting he misled the church about the use of funds intended for the seminary and falsified receipts for the contributions.
Newell told Associated Baptist Press his resignation is primarily for health reasons and questions about the contributions are “in the process of being resolved.”
According to church leaders, the $184,000 was contributed to the church for use by the International Baptist Theological Seminary (IBTS) in Prague, the Czech Republic, between 1992 and 1999.
Documents provided to deacons and available to church members account for about half the money. The documents allege Newell authorized payments totaling $90,520 from the church to a Swiss bank account in 1993, 1995, 1997, 1998 and 1999. The funds were contributed by an unnamed donor and Newell himself to a designated church account for East Europe Evangelism.
Church officials said Newell claimed the money was being used by IBTS for evangelism. Newell produced a letter and receipts, purportedly signed by seminary officials, to acknowledge the gifts. A 1994 letter to Newell, supposedly from the seminary’s then-president John David Hopper, confirmed gifts from the church “to our East Europe Evangelism Program.”
But IBTS rector Keith Jones told Associated Baptist Press that no one currently at the school has ever heard of an “East Europe Evangelism Program,” that the account number cited on the receipts does not belong to the seminary and that the receipts are inauthentic.
Seminary records reveal only one donation from Deermeadows Baptist Church — $150 in 1992 — Jones said in an e-mail response to a reporter’s questions. He said the seminary does keep its endowment fund at Union Bank of Switzerland — the school was formerly located in Ruschlikon, Switzerland — but the account number cited on Newell’s receipts is not on a list of seminary accounts.
Jones said Newell, who was the seminary’s president during the mid-1980s, apparently has had no contact with officers at the school in at least five years. The documents purporting to acknowledge receipt of the funds did not come from the seminary, Jones said.
Newell said in an interview that questions about the handling of the funds are “in process of being resolved.” (ABP)
Share with others: