Just wanted to highlight some points from the excellent post by Boundary Rider about how much the former leadership in Toowoomba was drawing:
Some points to consider for the ACNC, extracted from the ACNC reporting for TCF: ---
• For the 5-year period 2014/15/16/17/18, the income trend covering Falk’s rise and fall shows $1.8M/$2M/$1.6M/$960K/$850K
• Tithe wages for that same periods for 3-4 ministry families (Falk/Baker/Smith/Perrin) show as $150K/$150/$200K/$210K/$160K. Bear in mind that this is base salary of between $40K---$50K per family, which then approximately doubles through the provision of cars, fuel, travel costs, housing and housing loans, superannuation offset etc as ancillary benefits which under normal tax requirements are considered as taxable income
• The EXEMPT Benefit figures (Falk’s slush fund for house renovations, overseas and other holidays, the wine cellars) for that same period are ...... $498K/$718K/$798K/$254K/$200K
• The likely conclusion which can be drawn for this pattern related to Falk’s rise and fall is that Falk could well have been paying himself with all the loans and offerings of the good folk at TCF to give himself that $700—800K salary he was so willing to brag about.
Just to let that sink in. Exempt Benefits over and above Annual Salaries per year!
2014 $498,000
2015 $718,000
2016 $788,000
2017 $254,000
2018 $200,000
I am truly stunned and flabbergasted by these amounts and words fail me how a church or religious organisation can justify anything close to this.
Just by way of comparison, a CEO of a major pentecostal church with a P-12 school attached receives a salary package of $150K per year approved by the board.
In fact I am nearly in tears just trying to comprehend what sort of mindset of a person is comfortable with receiving this remuneration and still being a "man of God" and leading the flock.
Don't get me wrong, I have no problem with CEO's of large successful public companies earning large salaries - they work for it and have a lot of responsibility to share holders. But Toowoomba Christian Fellowship is not in this league. I personally know a lot of people, poor, poor families who literally gave "the widows mite" to the Christian Fellowship in the unwritten implied contractual understanding that the money was being given to Gods Kingdom and to further the work in Gods Kingdom and follow the Great Commission.
This then brings into light those apocraphyl visions listed elsewhere on Streetcar that people have had about the Christian Fellowship leaders.
I would beg and implore from the bottom of my heart for every Christian Fellowship elder and leader, to please go and do some proper formal theological studies at a reputable reliable institution before you lead the flock and to ensure you know how to lead the flock in a Godly way. You need to do this because, if you keep going along the path you are following, listening to your own echo chamber and cutting yourself off from the rest of Christendom, then you don't know what you don't know. You will be leading the flock blindly, teaching gnosticism, thinking you are going along Gods path when in fact your spiritual compass is distorted and you are leading people into the wilderness away from Christ.
Sadly Vic Hall, the master puppeteer, still sits at the centre of his web pulling the strings. Vic Hall can not tell people he knew nothing about what was happening in Toowoomba, there are too many people who were in meetings and discussions with Vic Hall and he knew precisely what was happening.
Harking back 20 or more years, Vic Hall feigned the same ignorance and innocence when the whole Wattle Loans (pyramid scheme) was exposed. Vic claimed he knew nothing however former elders have stated they were in weekly elders meetings at BCF (with Vic present) where full financial reports were provided by Mackay and Allen stating how much money BCF and Vic Hall were receiving (from tithes, offerings etc) from people who were part of the scheme.
This is a pattern that keeps repeating itself under the misguided leadership of Vic Hall. It is allowed to flourish and grow because of the wrong theological teachings where men are said to be "messengers of god", "star messengers", virtual "popes" who are speaking God's direct word to the flock and are in fact gods themselves in a way, thus they are worshipped and never questioned or disagreed with.
Do not be deceived.