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Responses to Pastor Ben Young's Comments from the Pulpit on April 27, 2025

Statement from the Pulpit:

We are a very transparent church and there is an MLT/Board (“MLT”), comprised of pastors, lawyers, financial leaders.

Response:

  1. If the church is transparent, then why won’t they give the members a copy of the by laws?

  2. Why isn’t the MLT posted or published anywhere? Why can’t church members know  who is on the MLT?

  3. The reason is that the MLT is handpicked by the Senior Pastor and only he can nominate  someone for the MLT.

  4. They do not want you to know who is on the MLT. As of the last known makeup of the  MLT, all but one of the MLT members is either family to Pastor Ben Young or paid by the  church. Family members and employees are far from independent!

  5. Everyone should call 713-465-3408 and demand to know who is on the MLT!

Statement from the Pulpit:

The new by-laws put in place two years ago were designed biblically and legally, the trustees at the time voted unanimously and then they were voted on by  the church with a virtually unanimous decision.

Response:

  1. Then why are former trustees’ part of the lawsuit?! It is because they were deceived and not told that if they voted for the new by-laws that every member would lose their right to vote and there would never again be an independent board that is elected by the  membership.  

  2. Did you even hear about the vote in 2023? There were only ~200 of the 90,000+ members at the churchwide vote, because of the efforts to minimize the number of people that even knew it was happening.  

  3. Even those who did show up for the meeting were NOT given a copy of what they were voting on, and no one from the stage told them that they were voting to eliminate their own right to vote.  

  4. No one told them they were giving virtually unchecked power to the Senior Pastor, with no oversight by an independent board elected by the membership.  

  5. Nor were they told that they would never have the right to vote on whether the church or a campus could be sold or merged with another church, even if the transaction was done with a family member.  

  6. Finally, they were not told that whoever was the Senior Pastor would be allowed to select the next Senior Pastor, without a vote of the members, and that the revised by laws would last forever with no vote possible by the members.  

    1. All of this is clearly laid out in the by-laws, which is why everyone must read the by-laws themselves. Everyone should call 713-465-3408 and demand to see the by-laws.

Statement from the Pulpit:

Church has a major firm do an audit every year.

Response:

  1. A major audit firm audits the church every year and might identify acts of fraud but does  not oversee any activities of the Senior Pastor or the MLT. They do not set policy or compensation; they simply report the activities of the year.  

  2. The Finance committee, which is handpicked by the Senior Pastor, and is supposedly  there to provide accountability, is not ALLOWED to see the audit. Only the internal business department and MLT see the result. And both the business department and MLT  are controlled by either family members of Ben Young or employees of the church. 

Statement from the Pulpit:

There is also a finance committee, budget committee, and personnel committee, made  up of church members, that help with compensation and other issues.

Response:

  1. All members of these committees serve at the sole discretion of the Senior Pastor and can be removed from their roles at any time, for any reason, so they are nothing but figureheads to provide the illusion of accountability. 

  2. Since May of 2024, those who have questioned the ultimate power of Ben Young have been removed from their oversight role. 

    1. Examples of those that were removed were members of the finance committee, Vice-Chairman of the Deacons, and even a member of the MLT.  

    2. The Senior Pastor, through his control of the MLT, has nearly unchecked powers and can remove anyone that does not agree with him.  

    3. All of this is clearly laid out in the by-laws, which is why everyone must read the by-laws themselves. Everyone should call 713-465-3408 and demand to  see the by-laws.

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