HOUSTON (ABP) — 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.
Suspicions involve church starts in the lower Rio Grande Valley from 1996 to 2003. Critics allege some of the new churches reported never existed. They also believe some individuals profited by claiming to start multiple missions that did not exist.
“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 Executive Board chair Bob Fowler of Houston. Dillard was selected for the query by Fowler and other convention officers.
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, has 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, are members at South Main Baptist Church in Houston.
In 1996, the convention annual listed 92 churches and 38 missions in Rio Grande Valley Baptist Association. By 2003, the annual reported 105 churches and 240 missions in the association. Of those 240 missions, 151 listed as their sponsors six of the 10 churches that formed the Borderlands Baptist Association the following year. Listing as a mission in the convention annual does not necessarily mean a congregation received convention funding.
Should Dillard discover misapplied funds, she will 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.
-30-
— With additional reporting by Ken Camp of the Baptist Standard