While Les Ollila is calling on his ol’ cronies from Calvary Baptist in Roseville to fund his retirement, there’s one more Mr. Moneybags. A big one. One that funds the Herbsters too. BJU Executive Committee member, Ed Cone. You remember him, yes?

Yes, Ed Cone is the biggest contributor to Building Great Leaders which is primarily Les Ollila’s retirement fund. Over the years,

In 2019 he gave $50,000.

2018 $60,000.

2017 $50,000.

2016 $60,000.

2015 $50,000.

In 2015, their first year of operation, BGL reports that Les earned his salary for the following:

“Humility, stewardship, charity, honesty, obedience, wisdom, and service to leaders.”

What’s going on, BJU? 

You can click here for a larger picture of the above. 

On October 6, 2016, you announced to the employees via email that Larry Jackson had stepped down from the CEO position due to health problems, and John Lewis had stepped up. Why you were announcing this in the middle of the semester when you had known about this for awhile is strange enough, but no matter. WutBJU reported it minutes after you announced it to the employees. 

And WutBJU began watching for a public update from either Randy Page or the Leadership webpage. I captured the University Leadership page on October 11, as you see above -- five days since the announcement to the employees, and you had made no official changes at that point.

I mentioned this on twitter here and here.

Finally on October 24, you updated the list. I mentioned that on twitter too.  There’s Bernard with his new Vice-Chairmanship. Ed Cone is the finance man . . . of cour$e. And John Lewis is the new CEO. Just as you had announced. Neat and tidy.

But today I noticed you changed it back to (for the most part) the 10/11 version. What’s with that? I thought perhaps a web editor had messed up and reverted to an older file because of Associate Board Member Pastor Yearick’s death. But no, that’s not it because good ol’ Ed Cone is still safely in his new finance position . . . of cour$e. 

So you caught a goof for SACSCOC, didn’t ya? Now what could that be? Let me think. . . .

UPDATE:

Since tweeting and posting on these last minute changes starting two hours ago, Bob Jones University changed the University Leadership page again. 

You can see the documentation larger here.

No, Mr. Ed Cone is no longer the chairman of the finance committee. He’s still got the Executive Committee asterisk though, BJU. Are you going to change that too? 

So everything but that little tiny * is the same. 

Bob Jones University’s CEO Larry Jackson has stepped down and will be replaced by John Lewis. The ever-wealthy and ever-stealthy Ed Cone replaces John Yessa on the ever-powerful Executive Committee.

According to sources, Jackson’s retirement has been in the works for “a few months.” Why did they wait until an emergency meeting -- calling in all administrators to ignore family obligations for two all-day meetings -- in the middle of the semester? Why not announce at the beginning of the year?

Laying the Foundation for the Next Generation: A Biblical Call to Action

Oh wow! That sounds terrific! I’m in! Who’s doing this?

Wait. Who? Why Steve Pettit? 

At a Country Club? 

The Castle Pub? A Biblical Call to Action from the President of Bob Jones University at a pub? 

Oh. Okay. Well, if it’s just desserts. . . .

Enough with the elegant desserts already. We get it -- you’re not serving alcohol!! Sheesh.

Wait a second. 

Research reveals that eight in ten U.S. adults express “concern about the nation’s moral condition.” America’s moral environment is changing, but how do believers train the next generation to face these challenges? . . . as we discuss practical ways Christians can lay the foundation for the next generation.

Why is that in quotation marks when you don’t actually cite the source? It’s from Barna from last May. As survey questions go, they are pretty terrible.

Ken Ham’s blogging about it. Gene Veith too. And the Baptists. So it’s no surprise Steve Pettit would run with it too.

Who else is speaking? 

Sam Rohrer. Rohrer. . . . Who is that? I feel like I should know that name. Who IS that? 

Who?

Oh brother. . . . That guy. He really likes that pose. . . . Remind me more about his time at BJU.

Omega. Figures.

What’s the American Pastor’s Network? Oh look. . . . Keith Weibe’s on the Board of that too. 

Back to the elegant desserts at the pub. . . .

Wait. Wait, wait. Back up. What does Pettit mean “Fund Gospel Ministry”?

Provide financial resources and establish funding for the next wave of Kingdom ministry.

Oh, pray tell, Steve Pettit. . . . What could that be?

Nice. 

So you’re going up to a country club pub to eat alcohol-free “elegant desserts” with Tea Party politicians and rich Duggar-like manufacturers to scare people into donating money for the BJU Scholarship Fund.

This is what you were talking about with the Faculty on September 2nd, wasn’t it?

Last night “Dr.” Pettit laid out his vision and theme for the new academic year with the Bob Jones University employees. 

Remember -- he’s talking to employees who haven’t had a raise in nine years. Employees whose benefits keep getting cut. Employees who often can’t pay for groceries. 

And he explained that he bought a house this summer, “a few minutes away from campus.” 

Oh? Where? On White Oak? Off of Bradley? Near Edwards Road there?

Oh no. . . . No, no, no. Pettit bought a house in Montebello, where houses exceed half a million dollars. His house backs up to a musical Pirate too, where Texas Governors hang out when they are politicking. 

So much for that humble persona he cultivated at the beginning that endeared him to so many of the BJU employees. “He’s living back campus with the rest of us!” they gushed among themselves. Sigh. . . .

Did you hear the one about the fundamentalist megachurch brought up on federal charges for bilking widows out of their nest eggs?

No, no. Not the recent one out of Hammond, Indiana. But that does sound familiar.

The other one. In Blue Springs, Missouri. With Carl Herbster’s megalomania ministry, Tri-City.

Mention the early 00s to a Kansas City fundamentalist, and you’ll get lots of sighs and sad head-shakes. You might even get some information. When I was a faculty member at Bob Jones University, the conversations about Tri-City would always end with this: “I don’t know who bailed out Tri-City. I always wondered if it was Bob Wood. . . . I think it’s Bob Wood. Who else has that kind of money?”

Here’s what happened.

While he was still Bob Jones University’s “Christian School Specialist,” Carl Herbster became pastor at Tri-City Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri in November, 1983. He became pastor under two conditions -- the church would move out of Raytown to a more affluent suburb and the church would start a seminary. He was also president of American Association of Christian Schools and Missouri Association of Christian Schools and often a delegate to the National Republican Convention -- a real political player.

Herbster’s activism deserves its own lengthy discussion. But I digress. . . .

And as promised, Carl moved Tri-City to its current location on 115 acres in Blue Springs, and he started a church seminary er uh bank. 

Yes, a bank. 

Church members deposited money so the church could pay down its debts and received interest in return. To the tune of $2.5 million. 

How did the Church-Bank get all that money initially? According to church members Preston Smith and Dennis Hodges, "Herbster coerced widows in the church to make deposits ... and did not advise depositors of risks.”

The State of Missouri investigated in 2003 because Herbster wasn’t reporting everything, and somehow Herbster got the church $15 million in debt too. Part of that debt was a secret $1.6 million bail-out for Herbster’s American Association of Christian Schools. AACS had to get bailed out because of its poorly financed health insurance plan for Christian School teachers around the country.

And what was Herbster’s biggest worry throughout all this? That members had taken the problem “outside the church.” He told the Associated Press:

The world is a wicked place. As in politics and government, people try to defeat you. 

Yes, the “world” is the problem. The “world” which is enforcing the laws made to help Christians do the right thing. You know, the "world” Paul tells us about in Romans 13.

But back to my BJU faculty friend’s initial pondering: “I don’t know who bailed out Tri-City. I always wondered if it was Bob Wood. . . . I think it’s Bob Wood. Who else has that kind of money?”

Guess. Go ahead....

While all these state and eventually federal investigators were shining the light on Herbster’s nefarious financial deals -- you know, oversight -- one little set of brothers came in to help Herbster secretly escape responsibility. They bought up the property around the church from Herbster with their new front organization. 

The Trinity Real Estate Development was born on August 23, 2003 and Poof! It “bought up” the land by borrowing money from now-imploded Prayer of Jabez bank Security Savings. And Herbster paid down some of the church’s debts and loaned $6 million back to Trinity so it had some working capital.

It’s complicated. You can read it all for yourself. 

But it would be like you taking out a $1000 loan from a bank to give me the $1000. In return, I give you the title to my car, pay off part of my credit card bill of $250, and loan you back $750 so you have some ready cash to go buy your own car.

Seems legit.

Whatever the hidden details are, the result is clear: what was once the congregation’s was practically given to a front organization run by Herbster allies for Herbster’s CYA efforts.

Who were those allies that bailed out Herbster? Not Bob Wood, my BJU friend.

The Cone Brothers. Robert especially. But also Ed Cone.

The Saga of Ed Cone isn’t done yet. We just needed to take a break for Commencement festivities.

So here’s what we’ve got so far:

Ed Cone was sneakily “elected” to the Bob Jones University Board of Trustees without following the stated procedure in the school’s bylaws.

Ed Cone attended BJU for one year and has lived a very private Pennsylvania life, donating to “ministries.”

Ed and Robert Cone’s family business was GRACO, with its lunch-room chapels and corporate chaplains. 

GRACO, and Ed and Robert Cone alike, faced public scrutiny for its failure to accept responsibility for unsafe products. Instead they funded politicians who would work to gut product liability laws. Promote ‘biblical values” to the employees and aggressively fund corporate irresponsibility -- that was the Cone business model.

After selling off the problematic industry, the Cones jointly created a “front organization,” Triad Management, to continue supporting their politics. They convinced others to join -- most famously the Koch Brothers.

And Ed Cone gets a little peeved with people knowing how he contributed his vast wealth.