Without Walls pastor speaks out, says church not broke

Tampa, Fla. - A local pastor spent two hours making the case to his congregation. Pastor Randy White addressed members of Without Walls Evangelical Church about allegations that two of its properties are up for foreclosure.

"Today was like a shock," said Kaye Strong, who has been a four year member of the church.

"The bank has filed foreclosure proceedings on this property on the 4th and they said that on the 5th they were gonna file in Lakeland," said Pastor White.

However, he says there's no reason to foreclose on the properties because they've already sold the land in Lakeland and $1.4 million from that sale will go to the California-based bank within thirty days.

"This church has never been late in seven and a half years. In fact, we gave them more money than any client they had," he told the congregation.

He says the only reason the bank is filing foreclosure is that he refused to sign a modification agreement that gave all property, furnishings and intellectual rights to the bank.

"The board, of course, and the attorneys, five attorneys, all said do not sign the modification agreement," he explained.

In addition, the pastor announced that he has begun the groundwork to file a lawsuit against the Tamp Tribune.

"We probably lost thirty percent of our church because of those adverse stories," he said.

The Tampa Tribune had no comment.

The articles alleged that the pastor was inappropriately spending church dollars on personal expenses.

"God's blessed me and because he's been good to me, I was able to give this church since August almost $500,000. You know, even for someone who's wealthy, it takes a big hit on you," he said.

"The reason I'm hurting is that I have given everything I have to give," said Pastor White.

"I thought it was truthful and forthright and needed to be said," said Dale Elber, a five-year member of the church.

"I think the very fact that the Bishop is being open about it and has all the documentation is that we don't have anything to hide and we're not running and we're not scared, so I think they're leaving with the encouragement that, you know what, we got this," said Annette Delisie, who has attended the church for three years.

Pastor White said to the church, "If you think that I somehow have been at fault, I will stand before God one day and give an account. Maybe, maybe it's time to get some fresh blood."

Churchgoers yelled out, "Don't resign."

The pastor does not plan on resigning right now.

"I lost my daughter this year. It's been a very difficult year. We've had a lot of bad press this year. I almost feel like Job to be honest with ya, but the good thing is that the story about Job, at the very end, he got back twice as much," he said.

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