Posted: 5/26/06
Attorney hired to guide
church-starting fund investigation
By Ferrell Foster
Texas Baptist Communications
HOUSTON—The Baptist General Convention of Texas has engaged Brownsville attorney Diane Dillard to investigate alleged mishandling of church-starting funds in the Rio Grande Valley.
“The investigation will seek to determine if church-starting funds were misapplied in the Valley either in a significant number of isolated instances or as a part of a more coordinated process or scheme,” said BGCT Executive Board Chair Bob Fowler of Houston.
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To send information: Any information pertinent to the investigation should be sent directly to attorney Diane Dillard and not to BGCT officers, staff or directors. Well-organized written material and statements containing first-hand knowledge of events related to the matters being investigated should be mailed to Dillard at Box 323, 5460 Paredes Line #206, Brownsville 78526. Dillard has requested all contacts be in writing. Anonymous information is not encouraged but will be accepted and evaluated. Dillard has asked each person who provides information to include his or her name and address and phone number. She will honor any specific request that the source of any particular information be kept confidential. Written information from non English-speaking parties will be received and translated as a part of the investigation. |
Dillard was selected by Fowler and Executive Board Vice Chair Jim Nelson of Austin, along with the BGCT officers—President Michael Bell of Fort Worth, First Vice President Steve Vernon of Levelland and Second Vice President Dan Wooldridge of Georgetown.
Fowler characterized Dillard as a “widely respected business attorney, known throughout the state” for her service to the Texas legal profession and leadership in promoting the ethical standards of attorneys.
She is the former chair of the 7,000-member Real Estate, Probate and Trust Section of the State Bar of Texas, practiced law in Houston and now teaches business law at the University of Texas-Brownsville.
Dillard and her husband, U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen, have maintained their membership at South Main Baptist Church in Houston. Since relocating to the Valley, they have attended the Episcopal Church of the Advent in Brownsville.
Dillard is a graduate of Baylor University and Baylor Law School and is past president of the Baylor Alumni Association.
Suspicions surround the large number of cell-group missions reported as church-starts in the lower Rio Grande Valley from 1996 to 2003.
If Dillard discovers funds were misapplied, she has been asked to identify the time frame involved, the extent of the misapplication, how the misapplication occurred, who initiated the misapplication, what persons or organizations inappropriately received funds and who was aware of any misapplication, Fowler said.
“Those who believe that every dollar spent on church starts over a period of years will be specifically identified and accounted for are likely to be disappointed,” he said. “As an attorney who represents corporate clients exclusively, I know an investigation that extensive would be extraordinarily expensive.
“The Executive Board has a responsibility to be certain that what the convention spends in pursuing this matter reflects the board’s ongoing stewardship of the gifts that churches and individuals have entrusted to it. That very real budgetary constraint will be the only specific limitation placed on Ms. Dillard in conducting the investigation. But we are confident she’ll do a thorough job.”
Dillard is authorized to engage investigators and other support personnel as she deems appropriate. Consequently, she has indicated Michael Rodriguez—partner in the Brownsville law firm of Rodriguez & Nicholas—will work with her in conducting the investigation. Rodriquez is a former prosecutor in the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Dillard’s client in the investigation is the convention itself, not the Executive Board or the staff, Fowler said. She will report to Fowler and Nelson as representatives of the convention during the course of the investigation. The final report will be presented to the full Executive Board for any action, including any recommendation to the full convention, no later than the September board meeting.
“While we expect Ms. Dillard to report everything significant that she uncovers and can substantiate, matters outside of the Valley church-starting funds allegations will be beyond the scope of her investigation,” Fowler said.
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