It’s been quite a while since we’ve had an installment of The Epic. Things have not been peachy-happy or warm-and-fuzzy at Takoma Park during the 19+ months since the events described by the last chapter, but the more recent developments have been gradual, smoldering points of concern rather than dramatic, stand-alone-story events. That being the case, it’s been difficult to decide whether to mention the various items or not. Most of them didn’t seem to warrant mention on their own, but together they paint a picture of Pastor DeSilva’s leadership when left to his own devises, so we’ve decided to now present them together.
In the fall of 2010 the chairman of the accountability council moved his membership from Takoma Park to another congregation in the area. The accountability council failed to meet for about five months after his departure. When it did finally reconvene, Pastor DeSilva had assumed the chairmanship. Takoma Park maintains a standing nominating committee for the express purpose of filling midterm vacancies such as this one, but Pastor DeSilva chose instead to usurp what should have been an elected, lay position. In doing so he proved what we have maintained all along—that the accountability council was merely a pawn for the accomplishment of Pastor DeSilva’s purposes rather than an independent body that could or would hold him accountable. A new lay chairman for the accountability council was finally elected during the regular election process for the 2012-2013 officer cycle.
It has now been more than 28 months since the trial contract for the minister of music expired on December 31, 2009. The accountability council still has not approved a regular contract for him. This means that the only basis for his continued employment at Takoma Park is Pastor DeSilva’s say-so—yet another example of Pastor DeSilva wielding executive authority that doesn’t belong to him.
At the spring 2011 business meeting, Pastor DeSilva proposed a new policy that would require any church member not elected to the church board who wished to attend a church board meeting to apply for that privilege at least 24 hours in advance. Furthermore, a maximum of three non-board members would be allowed to attend any particular meeting. The measure passed. This effectively ensured that Pastor DeSilva could never be surprised by the presence of individuals he didn’t want knowing about what he was doing; should any unwelcome ears apply to attend, he would have plenty of time to remove from the agenda anything he didn’t want them to know about.
There was a Sabbath School class that Pastor DeSilva had disliked for some time, so he convinced the board of elders that the class should be ordered to disband. (The publicly stated reason for this was that the class routinely ran late, which meant that the room they used, which also served as a secondary mothers’ room, was not immediately available to the mothers.) Procedurally, the appropriate thing to do would have been to make his case to the Sabbath School Council, which is responsible for the formation and dissolution of classes. The most probable explanation we can think of for this procedural deviation is that he felt he would find a more sympathetic audience with the elders than with the Sabbath School Council, but the reasons for the deviation (or even the deviation itself) are less significant than the result of acting on this vendetta. For many members of the disbanded class, the fellowship and spiritual support of meeting in that group were the only things left to keep them at Takoma Park. With the class gone, they left as well.
Also in the spring of 2011 the steeple of the Takoma Park Church suffered wind damage. The insurance company estimated the repair cost as being in excess of $100,000, and wrote a check accordingly. The steeple was fixed for only $13,000. What has become of the remaining $90,000 is a point on which Pastor DeSilva and the finance committee chairman have been queried repeatedly. Each time the question has been asked it has produced a great deal of hemming and hawing from the two of them, but never the same final answer. Early on it was said to have been applied to the general church budget. Another time it was stated that it was being held in a special fund because the insurance company wanted it back. Then it was asserted that $25,000 of it had been applied to the debt from the air conditioning replacement back in the summer of 2008. Some were told that $50,000 had been applied to the air conditioning debt. Later questioning produced the story that the money was to be kept rather than returned, but that none of it had or would be applied to the air conditioning debt because that was a loan with very low interest. There is still no clear picture of what has been done with this windfall.
Meanwhile, the church’s offering income for 2011 was so far below budget that the budget proposed for 2012 featured some rather noticeable cutbacks, including the salaries of the three employees paid directly by the church: the clerk, the maintenance worker, and the minister of music. Department budgets were also cut back. This has only added fuel to the questions regarding the $90,000.
Despite the financial cutbacks, early in 2012 Pastor DeSilva managed to finally fund one of his pet dreams for the church: to make the services available on DVD. (Previously, they were available on CD only.) As part of this, two 50-inch flat screen monitors have been attached on the left and right sides of the front of the balcony “so that the choir can see what’s happening on the platform from the front.” (Takoma Park’s balcony has a U shape, which places the two ends very close to the platform.) Pastor DeSilva now spends most of his time while preaching looking at himself in these monitors. In order to make the church appear full for these recordings, the balcony has been closed to attendees and everyone is escorted to seats at the front of the main floor.
This brings our Epic up to the present moment. We are hoping that this is not the final end of the story; if it were it would be a very dismal one indeed. We will describe further developments as they occur, but we cannot know when that will be. We thank you for your attention and your consideration of our thoughts and experiences. It is our hope that their recounting has been and will be a benefit to you.
