“Shipwreck”

At the close of my ministry at Sea Point Evangelical Congregational Church, in 2013, I was criminally charged, on the basis of affidavits of an attorney and his wife. The charges were quickly dismissed – the police making a desperate attempt (false statements, among other things) to distance themselves both from the affidavits and from the charges – alternatively urging me to take civil and criminal action (I didn't). It is all on record. To my distress, the same attorney then took charge of my parting payout from the Church – a major payout after nearly 20 years of ministry. He ordered me to communicate with no one but him: “You are kindly requested not to communicate with [the book-keeper] or any of the deacons ... you have no choice ...” I was now locked into communications with my accuser. I stated that this was “unwise at best”. My own attorneys complained that this was “uncomfortable”. I wrote: “I foresee that the settlement may suffer shipwreck.” The attorney then demanded, again and again, that I sign “full and final settlement” – which had never existed. Then he abandoned “full and final settlement”, to pay me a sum “entirely without prejudice ... without the signing of further agreements”. But as soon as the sum had been paid, he wrote that “payment is made in full and final settlement“. Then he vanished, never to be heard from again. My own attorneys posted a letter to the Church, stating that we had a big problem: a breach of contract “in various respects”. And so it remains today.