 Banker applauded by Buffett warns of PCUSA eviction power By John H. Adams The Layman Online Monday, February 9, 2004 The man whom super-investor Warren Buffett has described as one of the nation's finest bankers has expressed his concern about the landlord-tenant relationship of the Presbyterian Church (USA) to its congregations.
Forlines was speaking on behalf of Parker T. Williamson, whose ministry with the Presbyterian Lay Committee was invalidated by the presbytery. Forlines compared the denomination's right to evict congregations with the presbytery's decision to "evict" Williamson's ministry with the Lay Committee. Forlines strongly opposes the denomination's use of its eviction powers to keep congregations in tow. It was a rare appearance at presbytery for Forlines, 85, whose bank has 18 offices in 14 North Carolina communities, including several in the geographic region of the Presbytery of Western North Carolina. Buffett has been a fan of Forlines and the Bank of Granite for years. In an analysis published in 1997 by Daily Financial Services Newspaper, Buffett applauded Forlines for assiduously avoiding acquisitions and other growth crazes and instead tending to the basics of cranking out stellar profits year after year. The performance, Buffett said, "dispels some of the conventional wisdom about banking – that only through consolidation can you become extremely efficient and that you need to be extremely large in order to prosper in today's environments." Forlines attended the Jan. 31 presbytery meeting as an elder-commissioner from First Presbyterian Church in Lenoir, N.C. He recalled his long-time friendship with Williamson, formerly the pastor of that congregation, and the last time he spoke on the presbytery floor. "From the moment he made a Presbyterian out of me, Parker has been my pastor and my friend," Forlines said. "He was at my wife's side on the day that she died, conducted her funeral, and dedicated a memorial to her at Duke University. He befriended and counseled my children. Each year, at our annual stockholders' meeting, he leads our board of directors, senior staff members and investors in prayer, reminding us all of the one to whom we are ultimately accountable." "Some years ago, in the 1970s, Parker and I represented Lenoir's First Presbyterian Church at a meeting of your predecessor, Concord Presbytery. The issue before us then was an amendment proposed by the General Assembly that our congregations sign over their property to the denomination. "Parker and I opposed the proposal. He argued on the basis of theology and church polity. I spoke as a banker, reminding our churches that this unwarranted transfer of title could have huge consequences. I argued that the amendment would establish a landlord/tenant relationship, in which churches occupy their sanctuaries at the pleasure of an absentee owner. "We won that debate. But, sadly, a majority of the presbyteries did not see what this presbytery so clearly understood. They signed away our property. From that moment on, General Assembly officials have been free to pursue policies that alienate our congregations, secure in the fact that property once owned by our congregations is in their hands. "Landlord and tenant: Every banker knows that in that relationship, the landlord has the power of eviction. And that brings us to the question of the day: Will this presbytery evict Parker Williamson from the ministry? "In the business world, there are laws that protect tenants from landlords. That's because in business, the law assumes an element called self-interest. (My minister calls this 'original sin.') But the ecclesiastical world can be very different from business. Here, the same flawed human beings, now wearing clerical robes, can begin closed-door meetings with prayer and then do things to their neighbors that no secular court would allow." Forlines asked, "On what grounds have ten members of the Committee on Ministry, meeting in secret, proposed to evict my friend from his ministry? Forced to justify what they have done, they tell us, after the fact, that they do not like what he writes. They do not charge him with falsehood, for they know his words are true. So they charge him with 'tone.'" He added, "Their second charge – which, as a banker, I understand to be their first charge – is money. They worry that tenants who read Parker's words might stop paying rent to the landlord. So how do they manage that cash flow problem? Muzzle a messenger who dares to remind sessions of their constitutional rights." Forlines said the presbytery's Committee on Ministry "has impugned my friend's ministry. I am ashamed of what it has done, and I urge the presbytery to correct it. Please don't make me regret the fact that years ago, at Parker's invitation, I became a member of the Presbyterian Church (USA)." Forlines' success in banking has been spotlighted by Buffett, CBS News, Forbes magazine, The Economist and other major media. He took over the bank in 1954 when its assets were $1.2 million. Assets at the end of the fourth quarter in 2003 were $971.4 million. On Dec. 11, the bank declared its 201st consecutive quarterly dividend. The Presbyterian Church (USA) has been headed in the opposite direction – having lost nearly 42 percent of its members since 1967. |
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