Packing In Those Canadian Tithe Dollars


Just what is David Pack's RCG doing in Canada?

David C. Pack, former Worldwide Church of God minister, affectionately known by many as the 'Packatollah', founded and operates a new kind of triple-tithe Worldwide Church of God based on cloning the old one- his very own Restored Church of God (RCG) knockoff brand from the Radio Church of God 'original'.

After parting ways with Rod Meredith, Pack incorporated his own RCG in Ohio on June 15, 1999. RCG headquarters is now located in leased office space at One Park Center Drive, Suite 209 in Wadsworth, OH. Pack appointed an initial board of three members consisting of himself as president, along with William P. Ambrose and John B. Holcomb as directors.

Pack then incorporated the RCG in Canada on December 23, 1999 with an initial address of 1006 East-West Line RR#2, Niagara-On-The-Lake Ontario, Canada. Besides himself, Pack appointed two others to serve for his Canadian board of directors.

Just how has Pack been doing since then? Financially, that is. The Canada Revenue Agency provided us with a peek inside the financial back office of RCG's Canadian church operation. Ambassador Reports has reviewed the last five years of financial reporting RCG has sent to the Canadian government, compiling a convenient summary of it for the first time on the Internet exclusively for Ambassador Reports readers to review. Here is the page link for viewing it (click on the following): RCG Canadian Financial Data, 2000-2005

As you can tell from the income section of the above website link, tithes and donations have increased in Canada from $76,976 (beginning in 2000) to $189,246 for fiscal year 2005. That makes for a grand total catch of $836,392 through 2005 in tithes and donations. It more than likely by now has exceeded past the million dollar mark on the RCG Canada donation 'thermometer'. Of course, the Ambassador Reports financial summary here represents just one Canadian slice of the total RCG donation 'pie'. It does not cover any tithes and contributions to RCG originating from inside the United States, which would be materially significant in amount by comparison.

What does the RCG say what is done with tithes and offerings donated in Canada?

"The Church prints, publishes and distributes materials regarding the church's beliefs and practises [sic] to various locations worldwide. In order to send materials to locations outside of Canada, the church employs the services of the Restored Church of God (Ohio), on behalf of the church, prints, publishes and distributes the church's materials." Source: 2000 CRA report (emphasis mine).

The 2005 RCG report mentions Canadians do get the service of one local ordained elder in Canada to serve the spiritual needs of Canadians who is "without remunerations", that is, serving without any pay.

The RCG also claims in the 2005 report that 85 cents out of a dollar donated goes to religious publishing and broadcasting, and about 15 cents out of a dollar goes to the support of local congregations.

RCG Canada, with only minimal assets listed on its balance sheet, is taking on the characteristic of a shell corporation. In compiling this financial summary, it appears the majority of the Canadian money donated is moved out of Canada and spent as the Restored Church of God packs those Canadian tithe dollars into its Wadsworth, Ohio coffers.

What does the RCG say about why it collects a third tithe? In an article on tithing, it states "Notice the phrases “the third year” and “the year of tithing.” The third year refers to the third and the sixth year in a seven-year cycle. The seventh year in this cycle is called “the year of release.” Every third year of seven during a Christian’s life, he is to pay an additional third tithe. This is called the year of tithing because this is the maximum number of tithes a person is commanded to pay."

For exactly what intended purpose does the RCG give for collecting this third tithe? It says further in the tithing article:

"Third tithe is used to support the needy within the Church—those unable to support themselves. This is a special tithe, in that it is God’s “insurance plan” for those less fortunate. This can be a child who has lost his father, a woman who has lost her husband or any person who has temporarily lost a primary source of income."

Helping those are less fortunate in life by collecting a mandatory third tithe might possibly be an admirable pursuit for the charitable purposes of a church. However, there is absolutely no evidence in these financial reports sent to the Canadian government of third tithe being set aside in a restricted fund or actually being kept in a separate bank account for the specific intended charitable purpose of helping the less fortunate. This is the way it legally should be held in trust to prevent mixing, or commingling of third tithe with general funds collected for other intended purposes, say for erecting a headquarters building or building an unaccredited school of liberal arts and theology. So for what is the third tithe money being collected actually being spent for by the RCG anyway? Jet travels to Petra, maybe?

Any legitimate church, which demands payments of: a 10% first tithe, excess second tithe, an extreme third tithe from donors in addition to first tithe, special offerings, a tithe of the second tithe, and firstfruits should to be asked to account for how every penny of third tithe was actually spent. Donors are being placed in the highly uncomfortable position of not knowing if it is actually being used for the specifically intended charitable purpose of helping widows, orphans, and the destitute as promised, or for less than honorable reasons.

Link: RCG Canadian Financial Data, 2000-2005

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

This David Pack character is constantly hounding his followers for more tithes more offerings more and more money. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for shedding some light about this control freak's so-called church (really a cult) my nephew got ensnared into. He has got to read this with his own eyes to believe it.

What a waste!

Gavin said...

Great piece of investigative journalism.

Anonymous said...

Eye opening. I left RCG and tried to get the information from RCG to no avail. By the way RCG Tithes etc. on Gross. Congregation in Canada consists of mainly retirees who do need assistance. From RCG you have to be kidding.

Anonymous said...

Director John B Holcomb Can anyone tell me where John Holcomb is from? Would it be near Gibsonburg, Ohio? (NW OHIO)

Stan said...

John Holcomb gave his last known address as Gibsonburg, Ohio when Pack appointed him to the initial Restored COG board of directors.

Director William Ambrose - Wadsworth, Ohio.

Pastor Pack also is currently living in Wadsworth.

For further information, you may want to try contacting the Restored Church of God. Hope this answers your question.


Stan

Anonymous said...

wow, thanks Stan. I was wondering how many "close friends of yesteryear in ohio" could have that name. Wow....wooooow...I can't imagine it....

John is one of the most humble and nicest men I have ever met. We were very good friends at one time long ago when I was in my 20's

wow..I'm stunned.

Anonymous said...

PS Actually I was his pastor (sounds possesive doesn't it) It explain why he never got back to me in an attempted email.

Dennis Diehl

Stan said...

Dennis,

As you no doubt realize, Joe Tkach Jr. is currently requiring pastors to send in a 10% tithe on their paychecks, as official WCG financial policy.

In view of this, it would be interesting to know how personal tithing was usually done by the ministry in the WCG during your years there, in particular, how the ministry were expected to send as instructed a (triple?) tithe in on their headquarters paychecks.


Stan

Anonymous said...

Dennis:

I'll be as accurate as I can remember. We all first tithed off the top and gross not net. That was an unending arguement as I recall for everyone.

HQ "saved" our second tithe for us, giving us some in the spring and the rest in the fall. It was considered our income and we paid taxes on that which did not pertain to actual church service etc. It showed up as income on the W-2 We were always asked to return any unused, yeah right, portions, but I remember doing so at times.

We did not third tithe and I personally from the start did not ask anyone to third tithe if they simply could not. My upbringing made it difficult to ask others to do that which was not something I was asked to do. I gave a boatload, and I mean a boatload of 3'T back to members over the years personally.

I paid 100 a month for the fleet car plus personal, non church gas.

My first paycheck in '72 was $320 for two weeks and I ended making about 34,000 in 98. I bought and lost my shirt on three homes because of getting moved around.

On more than one occasion, generous parents saved my posterior. I had about 35 relatives in WCG strewn across ministerial, deacon and member categories, all of whom have gone on now to other things...good for them :)

I felt I made a very average wage for all the hassle, two and three churches over tens of thousands of miles all the time. I never had just one. I was not in the loop ether so avoided a lot of insider stuff. I only speak for me and know that depending on who one was, a salary could be adjusted , "though in my house it was not so..." as David once said...

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the Canada Revenue Agency information.

It's also easy to look up UCG, LCG and PCG in their database. Some interesting facts:

In 2005, LCG had one Canadian employee earning between $80,000 and $120,000, one earning between $40,000 and $80,000, and four earning less than $40,000. Income for the year was $1,346,597.

UCG had 5 Canadian employees earning between $40,000 and $80,000, with none earning more than $80,000 or less than $40,000. Income for the year was reported as $1,111,666.

PCG had 3 Canadian employees earning between $40,000 and $80,000, with none earning more than $80,000 or less than $40,000. PCG reported the largest income of the three, $1,422,510.

See for yourself at

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/ebci/haip/srch/sec/SrchLogin-e?login=true&searchType=Registered

Anonymous said...

I believe W. Ambrose is no longer with RCG. Unusual, but his son is now working for Pack. The Board of Directors consist of only YES men. Can anyone share the figures for RCG Ohio -- where do their funds go? Pack is now going to sell all his (???) books. Going around with his son and a display showing of course Pack and spaces for a number of booklets. Can anyone confirm this?

Stan said...

Anonymous,

Mr. Ambrose assisted with the incorporation and served on the initial board of directors of the Ohio RCG. Dave Pack trusted him enough to give him this initial responsibility with his fledgling organization.

It would not at all be surprising that he is no longer serving with the RCG, for whatever valid reason, given the musical chairs played at the COGs with the ins and outs.

Anonymous said...

Stan
WOuld you believe that his son Jeff is actually working for Pack. He likes the young men who don't know too much and they can be trained HIS way.