The San Tomas Baptist Church in dispute over sold land area
By Moryt Milo
Fifty five years after the San Tomas Baptist Church was founded by nine individuals, it has become embroiled in claims of trustee abuse that could permanently close the doors of this small house of worship.
A lawsuit filed in October 2001 by former church members--six months after 1.4 acres of church property, 860 Harriet Ave., were sold for $900,000 in cash and $100,000 paid in the form of land improvements--alleges that Pastor Roger Walter "Mike" Nichols, his sister Marion Nichols and church official Thomas Serpa, all church trustees, sold a church-owned parcel of land without consent from its members and used $85,000 of the proceeds for personal needs not benefiting the church.
The lawsuit, filed by former church members Eileen Dunn and her two daughters, Rhonda and Julie Dunn, claims that Pastor Nichols siphoned off $39,000 for a new car, $18,000 for housing, $300 per week for salary, $13,645 for family traveling expenses to a funeral in the Midwest, $9,500 as what court documents referred to as "love gifts" to Marion Nichols and $4,700 to Nichols' father.
"Nichols told me they were selling the land because they needed the money to fix up the church," Eileen Dunn said. "Then I saw a sold sign and the next time I saw him he was driving up in a brand-new SUV."
Although an infrequent church attendee during the last few years, Dunn said she was surprised that a portion of the church was being sold, and later became concerned about how the money was being spent. She sought advice from a friend, who suggested she contact the Christian law firm of Stanton & Porrazzo.
"Something wasn't right," she said. "He got all this money but the church wasn't being fixed up."
Last month, a Santa Clara County District judge froze the church's assets and now plans to appoint a nonpartisan receiver to oversee the church's finances. At press time the funds were still frozen, the pastor hadn't received any income and the church is struggling to find a way to pay its bills.
The Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office is also reviewing information provided by the Campbell Police Department (CPD) as to whether there was any intent by the trustees to defraud the church.
The case was delivered to the DA's office by the CPD without any recommendations.
"It is quite significant that the police provided no recommendations for prosecution," said the defendants' attorney, William Faulkner. "Usually a recommendation is made, with the police asking for a warrant or complaint to be issued."
According to the Santa Clara County supervising deputy district attorney for the economic crimes group, Mark Hames, they are reviewing the files but do not know when a decision will be reached.
Santa Clara County Assistant District Attorney Al Weger added, "I don't think [a decision] is imminent."
But while the criminal investigation is being reviewed, the civil lawsuit continues.
Dunn claims that when she and her daughters tried to attend church regularly last March, they were not allowed inside. The congregation claims that the Dunns and the 20 to 35 visitors who accompanied them to the church's services were disruptive.
"The only trouble we made was knocking on the door because we wanted to come in," she said. "So we started holding 20-minute prayer meetings on Sunday mornings outside the church. We'd sing a song, say a prayer and then go over to the First Baptist Church on Llewellyn Avenue for services."
In March 2001, Dunn claims, the church voted her out as a member and told her daughters they were also not considered members.
Dunn said, "I really don't know why that happened except they just didn't want to put up with me."
But current members said the door knocking and disruptive behavior during services was significant and warranted calling the CPD for help.
CPD Capt. Dave Dehaan confirmed that his officers were called to the church on the corner of Harriet and Elam avenues.
"During the months of March and April, we received seven calls about unwanted persons at the church," he said. "Our role was simply to keep the peace. There were no criminal violations."
Dunn, who joined the church in 1965, was the church clerk in 1993 and was responsible for recording the minutes for retired Pastor Michael Hollingshead. She was also a former church trustee.
In 1994, when Hollingshead retired, Nichols came to the church as its interim pastor. Current members said that Nichols agreed to become part of a church that throughout its history has struggled with finances and membership.
Its membership, which peaked at 40 in the early 1990s, dwindled down to 10 by the late1990s because most members were elderly and had passed away.
"Unfortunately the church doesn't have a good reputation because of prior [improprieties]," church member Jessica Pinkham said. "So Pastor Nichols came into a difficult situation."
But Pinkham and the current church members dispute Dunn's claims about defrauding the church, not making any improvements to the building and forming a secret agreement to sell the land.
Pinkham said that Dunn knew from past history that the church tried several times to sell the adjacent parcel of land--most recently in 1994, when Dunn was the church clerk and Hollingshead was negotiating to sell the land to an organization that wanted to build a 15-unit complex that would house the mentally disabled. The sale was denied by the city because neighbors voiced concerns about the proposed buyers.
"We didn't even know about her opposition to the current sale until she filed the lawsuit and we saw her in court," Pinkham said. "Eileen knew we were trying to sell the property and she was for it. This was not a secret."
Pinkham said that the congregation approved the sale and that when escrow closed, the congregation also approved the purchase of the car and a salary increase for the pastor.
"Every one of us signed a document after the lawsuit stating we wanted to buy the pastor a new car," she said. "We are a small church and we just sat there and said we wanted to give Mike a gift and we wanted it to be a surprise."
In hindsight, Pinkham said, they should have documented their actions but no one thought there would be a problem.
Nichols was driving around in an old 1976 van that was always breaking down, she said, and they wanted to reward him for all the work he had done inside the church.
Nichols and his father, Roger, had helped repaint the inside of the church and completely replace and refinish by hand more than 800 wooden panels on the church's ceiling when the entire roof blew off in a storm during the 1990s.
The church also purchased windows and fencing, which is stacked in the fellowship hall. But with the remaining $700,000 from the sale frozen, all remodeling was put on hold.
The congregation also agreed to increase Nichols' salary from $7,800 a year to $15,000 a year, and when the house he rented was sold, the church agreed to give him a housing allowance of $2,900 a month for rent in a new home. Prior to the sale of the church land, Nichols received no housing allowance.
"Mike has been the ordained pastor here since 1995 and has never asked for anything, " Pinkham said.
The congregation also acknowledges that when one of his family members died and Nichols was asked to preside over the services, church members willingly paid for the family's plane tickets.
Pinkham also explained that members paid out what their church terms "love gifts" to Marion Nichols because she was diagnosed with a cancerous tumor and couldn't work during her recovery.
"I don't know why the term 'love gift' is considered such a horrible word," Pinkham said. "It's a colloquialism in our church that means charitable contributions. Aren't we supposed to love and care for each other? Helping people is what we do."
Nichols' 19-year-old daughter, Jennifer Nichols, said, "Everything that is happening is ridiculous. It is all based on money and what they are accusing him of is obviously untrue."
She adds, "It's been very stressful on my family but the people at the church are helping us get through it."
Faulkner believes that the motives behind the lawsuit stem from a large church organization, the Central Coast Baptist Association, wanting to take over a small church that is barely afloat.
"The association is trying to get control of the church so it can control its property and money," he said. "In the early 1990s, there was a small congregation in San Martin and back then the association, which was called the Santa Clara Valley Baptist Association, pressured the minister and the congregation until they gave in and deeded the association the church."
Faulkner said that once the association took over, the church was shut down and the property was used to build apartments.
Court documents show that in 1994 treasurer Ron Stongfellow of the Santa Clara Valley Baptist Association called Pastor Nichols, while interim pastor, and said that San Tomas was a "dead church" and advised him to turn the deed over to the association, but Nichols refused.
"Our view is that the association is using the Dunns to press the lawsuit, because Eileen was the only one they could get to," Faulkner said.
Campbell, California
