Steve Lumbley
Boyd Miller
Chuck Swanson
Phil Naessens
Rod France
Guest Post
Andrew Clarkson
Roddy Clyde was arrested this week on a charge of embezzling church funds to the tune of over $500,000 as Rod France earlier reported on SPM Library. Did you know that Pastor Clyde also received the Church Health Award in 2005 from Rick Warren? It can be found on his pastors.com at Warren’s Ministry Toolbox, or at least until he takes it down. Of course, to be fair, Warren was not aware of Pastor Clyde’s activities at the time but it can well be assumed given the large sum of money involved that his embezzlement was taking place even in 2005.
Clyde pastored the Fellowship of Forest Creek Church in Round Rock, Texas. He once stated that “Creativity is a tool for outreach. Seeker sensitive church leaders need to recognize creativity as a precious gift from God”. It took awhile for his church leadership to comprehend the lengths to which his “creativity” had expanded.
One of his members said, “Maybe he wasn’t practicing everything he preached but his message was good”. What a total lack of discernment that member possesses. Perhaps Warren should close the lid on his ministry toolbox as no minister of God should be applauded for what they do for Him. He gets the praise, not the pastor! Ministry awards cannot be found within the pages of the Word of God. “By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words” 2 Peter 2:3.
Seeker sensitive churches create their own disasters because their focus is on man instead of on God.
Filed under: Rick Warren, Roddy Clyde
I believe that it is in times like this that the TRUE spirit of Christ may be seen with in its members. Roddy Clyde is seeking to restore to the Fellowship every penny that he took from them. He has a very broken spirit and has not asked anyone to forgive him, for he feels he does not deserve forgiveness. This man has taken the first steps in a long road of forgiveness…”let ye without sin cast the first stone.” John 8:7…”leave room for God’s wrath” Romans 12:19…Thank God for the Blood of Jesus….without it…We ALL would receive what we deserve…
Several reliable sources also claim that Mr. Clyde has not been exactly faithful to his wife, Pam either. With the total of missing funds approaching nearly $2 million over (at least) the past 7 yrs. His spirit may be broken - but it sounds like it was because he was finally caught.
I know Roddy very well after many years at the church. He is a marketing major and has used his knowledge to grow the church in an area filled with a population boom.
As far as Christ, and forgiveness, and everything else, his actions are all bogus becasue the only reason he is acting this way is because Roddy got caught. That is the only reason he has been seen as humble. It is not like he made a mistake in judgement, it is the fact that he got up, week after week, before many people as if what he was doing was justified. People give out of the goodness of their heart…..to people in need and to help others, not for a preacher to enjoy himself while we are all out at the job working very hard and sacrificing.
He was always a very arrogant person. I can see him sitting on his horse riding the land like some big shot. It was always about him…..always. And if you did not agree with or challanged him, as in my case, you were asked to leave the church.
It is ironic because he asked my family to leave after calling us in the office over a comment I made about “numbers” and counting members all the time. Not a horrible comment, but just an observation I made. I just said there was too much empahsis on attendence numbers, that was all. Anyway, I wonder how many “numbers” of years he will get.
I too know Roddy very well. I agree with previous member that it was always about him. I just wonder how many people he’s going to have to call to his office before his followers wake up and see this pattern. It’s been going on for many many years and still there are people lined up ready to forgive and drink the kool-aid. The reason he has not asked for forgiveness is because he thinks he’s deserving of whatever he does. He’s not sorry that he did it. He’s just sorry he got caught.
I had a one on one conversation where he told me flat out…”I can do anything I want to because that’s my thing”. Well then isn’t he special. Why doesn’t that apply to everyone else as well? Because he is very arrogant and self-righteous.
I remember one particular Easter when we had a musical and he was Jesus and was crucified on the cross. Don’t be fooled. It was no mistake that out of all the men in the church he played the part of Jesus.
It was less than two weeks before he was arrested that I was talking to my boss about him and said that I didn’t know when or how but someday all this was going to catch up with him. What do you know, it finally did. I’d like to see him try to talk his way out of this jam with his smooth tongue. (Come into my parlor said the spider to the fly.)
Surely he won’t be able to but I wouldn’t put it past him to try.
His trial is in August. I pray that he comes to some form of true contrition, but truly, I don’t see it. I would have left the church anyway, before this happened, because his message got farher and farther from the word of God. The Easter message was “Home Depot”. I think Roddy is a narcissist and truly think the world owes him. I am surprised I “drank the kool ade” as long as I did (although I always worried about his extreme arrogance. I still pray that he will truly repent. IF not, prison may be what he needs.
I have known Roddy from a distance for 10 years or more and I too saw signs of pride and arrogance and prayed that God would help me to see if it was my own issues that was causing him to appear that way…but if not, I asked God to help him to see his need for Christ and to allow God to control him and his staff. I have spent countless hours with Roddy since Aug 07 and I believe him to be a man broken by his sin (being “caught” or not has no place in the heart of true believers when (taking on the Job of God) and deciding if his repentance is real or not.
If we as followers of Christ would just allow people caught up in sin to come to repentance and understand that it does not have to fit our mold before it is authentic but, instead it must fit the mold God has set for each of us. Forgive the man and allow God to deal with him…Take heed lest you fall or He has to deal with your unforgiveness …Life is soooo much easier when you forgive and let God determine if someone is showing Godly sorrow or only worldly sorrow…Peace in Jesus…
Repentance is not enough as there must also be a period away from the ministry. It is easy to say, “I’m sorry” but ministry must also have consequences to sin. As a pastor does Roddy now have a good testimony to those who are outside (1 Timothy 3:7)? Yes, it must fit the mold of God so check out the qualifications for a pastor by Bible standards.