An Interview With Dr. Lum - Part 1

THIS IS PART 1 OF AN INTERVIEW BY CALVARY TODAY WITH DR LUM. THE FINAL PART 2 WILL BE PUBLISHED LATER.

CT: Firstly, we would like to congratulate you on your graduation with a Masters in Divinity. With your busy schedule as a full time doctor and your various responsibilities in ministry and as a deacon of the church, you have proven that nothing is impossible with God.

DL: Thank you. Yes, To God be the Glory.

CT: My first question – Did you resign voluntarily or were you asked to resign?

DL: I resigned voluntarily.

CT: Why did you resign?

DL: It was a difficult decision to make. There were 22 issues raised in my resignation letter. Over the last seven years, I’ve been struggling in my spirit as to whether to relinquish my position as a deacon, as I have been disturbed over these issues.

CT: What are these issues? Can you elaborate?

DL: Let’s just say issues which are contrary to what TTG stands for. I’m referring to truth, transparency and good governance.

CT: Any examples? Maybe we’ll ask you specific questions, easier for you. We have heard so much about Board of Deacons minutes being taken back by the Secretary after each meeting and none of the deacons are allowed to keep any of the minutes. Is that true?

DL; That is absolutely true. It’s something that I’ve voiced out to SP but without success. This has been the practice for years. I mean, who’s to say that the minutes won’t be tampered with? In fact, at one instance, the Secretary mentioned to the Board that the minutes appeared to have been altered and SP admitted that he had altered it. That’s an area I’m not comfortable with.

CT: Are the deacons allowed to freely express their opinions at the Board meetings?

DL: We can express our opinions, but at the end of the day, his views generally supercedes those of the Board. As you are aware, abstentions and objections are unrecorded in the minutes and may not be well received too.Perhaps, this may be the reason why many of the deacons decide to remain silent.

For example, when I raised the crucial question of " whether it would please our Lord for a freemason to build the Sanctuary of God ( CCC )," and handed each deacon a copy of the gods worshipped by freemasons and a copy of the Position Papers of the Assemblies of God, USA ( which calls freemasonry a " secret society " and advises church adherents worldwide not to be associated with it ), SP was furious and threatened to disallow me from distributing such material in future without his prior consent. None of the deacons spoke up on this issue, except former deacon Lawrence Mak. We both suggested to dismiss the freemason, with costs. However, SP refused and was adamant in engaging him to build the CCC. This was at the inception when no contract was drawn up yet.

CT: Do you think that there is transparency in all the board deliberations and decisions?

DL: No, I don't. For example, I was disappointed that vital information was withheld from our lawyer, Mr. KK Wong. Three days prior to the EGM, when I questioned the lawyer on the conflict of interests and the designated offerings, he replied before the BOD, the external forensic auditors, Sis. Petrina and SP that he was NOT furnished any information on the designated offerings. By then, he had already submitted his report to our secretary, Sis. Bernadette. I had told him before everyone else present that his report was therefore incomplete and invalid.

CT: Are all board meetings minuted?

DL: Yes, but I’m disappointed that abstentions and objections to certain proposals are not minuted, so it appears that the entire board is unanimous in those decisions.

CT: We heard that in recent times, there were occasions when you were not invited for board meetings or were ‘conveniently’ not informed of meetings. Is this true?

DL: Yes. Before the recent EGM, I was not notified and had been excluded from certain crucial
Board of Deacons meetings, e.g. the initial meeting with lawyer Mr KK Wong and meetings with Rev. Guynes.

CT: One of our church trustees who was on the Missions Committee for a number of years, said that he never knew of the transfer of funds of RM200k per year over several years. What are your thoughts on this?

DL: I’m not surprised.

CT: At the recent EGM, the members were told that the BOD had approved the transfer of a total of RM1.9M to CIM between 2002 and 2007. Were you aware of the BOD approval or that there were board resolutions approving the same?

DL: Honestly, I can’t remember if the Board had approved those transfers, the reason being that the deacons are not allowed to keep the minutes; so there’s no way we can refer to past minutes to check if it is true that the Board gave the approval. The minutes which are circulated to us, explanatory accounts data and our personal notes are taken back after meetings and are shredded without our knowledge. All approved minutes are signed only by the Secretary, to the exclusion of the other deacons.

Anyway, I find it difficult to comprehend the need to give CIM RM200,000 annually from the Missions Dept for SP’s travel expenditure when in actual fact, his past expenditure ranged between RM50K to RM80K. This transfer of funds should have been made known to the congregation and their approval sought, as the quantum is large. Evangelism in the 1st century Church was in the marketplace - out where the sinners are, and not in Christian conferences where almost everyone is a believer! It defeats the purpose of Missions funds.

CT: We heard some rumours that besides the church paying for Dr Guyne’s expenses to come here to chair the recent EGM, the church also gave him a big love gift, something like S$10,000. Is this true? Was it approved by the deacons?

DL: Yes, it’s true. SP made the decision on his own accord and then after 2 months, he requested the BOD to ratify this gift of US$10,000 to Rev Guynes. I was appalled by the fact that SP gave Rev Guynes this gift without prior approval or discussion with the BOD.

This amount, together with his other expenses (airfare, accommodation, etc.) and the external auditors’ fees of RM25,000, has drained the Church of more than RM80,000 for holding the EGM. Thank God for lawyer, K.K. Wong who offered his services probono.

The EGM was absolutely unnecessary and uncalled for, had SP taken heed of the advice given by our internal auditor, Lee Tuck Heng, to release the accounts of CIM and the extended ministries to the congregation members to view.

CT: So, did the Board ratify the payment?

DL: Yes, they did.

CT: SP has been preaching out of context and has used the pulpit to hit out at the TTG group in recent times. For example, during a 10.30am service at DH, he told members who think that he is preaching a prosperity gospel to go and jump into the lake. Didn’t the BOD advise him against this type of behaviour?

DL: I’m not sure about the other deacons but I have personally spoken to SP, as well as before the BOD, over the frequent caustic remarks made in sermons over the pulpit. These words are unbecoming of a servant-minister of God and serves only to inject anger, hatred, bitterness and division into the congregation. Unkind and malicious words have been spoken over the pulpit: “ungrateful; jump into the lake; you have an independant spirit; if you don’t give, you stink; are you a snake or a sheep?; go to another church; take another bus; the curse of leprosy followed; etc.”

The goal of preaching is to bring wholesome healing and Christ-likeness to a hurting Congregation and not to cause division in the Church. There must be certain ministerial ethics in the delivery of sermons. There is no place for faulty exegesis, loaded language and name calling, emotional manipulation,misrepresentation and partial truths.

CT: Our church website says that we have 10,000 members/worshipers. This is also highlighted in the newspapers recently. Isn’t the BOD aware of this misleading information that is being disseminated by the church? If so, why hasn't the board taken steps to rectify
the misinformation?

DL: Calvary Church does not have 10,000 worshipers. The official figure ( inclusive of outreach churches ) reported during the AGMs is between 2600-2700. For your information, this figure includes new born babies and toddlers too! Even if we were to include our previous independant outreach churches, both local and abroad, the conservative figure is less than 5,000. The BOD had queried SP on this matter but sadly, he denies that it is less than 10,000. The figure seems to have escalated from 8,000 to 10,000.

Misrepresentation by projecting an inflated figure is a serious offence. This matter should be referred to the Ethical Committee of the AG General Council.