Round Rock pastor stole at least

Donald 'Roddy' Clyde turned himself in Wednesday; he's charged with felony theft.

A longtime Round Rock pastor was arrested after telling authorities he embezzled at least $500,000 from his church, according to court records.

Donald "Roddy" Clyde, 48, turned himself in to authorities Wednesday and was charged with felony theft of more than $200,000 from the Fellowship at Forest Creek Church. Clyde's bail was set at $400,000, and he could face 99 years in prison if convicted.

Clyde told police that he used the church's bank account and credit card to buy land, horses, vacations and other property, according to his arrest affidavit.

Lawrence Swicegood, a church spokesman, said a private investigation is under way to determine how long the church has been missing money and how much might have been taken.

Swicegood said a church accountant noticed some strange charges on the church credit card and bank account about three weeks ago. The church's leadership team then began to look at the receipts and charges, he said. Police interviewed Clyde about the charges Monday, and he stepped down that day.

"The church has always been about the people and not about one individual," Swicegood said of the 1,500-member congregation. "We are greatly saddened that our pastor had to resign, but we are pulling together to meet the needs of the community and the church."

Clyde's home in Round Rock's Forest Ridge subdivision is valued at about $350,000, according to the Williamson County appraisal district, and he also owns land in Taylor.

Glenn Hamilton, a church member, said the congregation's feelings about Clyde, who had been at the church since 1992, are divided.

"There are people that, despite what he's admitted to, don't want to go on without him, and then there are those that feel betrayed," Hamilton said.

An Austin fraud specialist said that Clyde could have stolen more than the $500,000 he reportedly admitted to taking.

"If he's saying $500,000, in my experience, I would look for a lot more because when perpetrators do estimate, it's always grossly underestimated," said Jim Ratley, president of Association of Certified Fraud Examiners.

Ken Silva writes:

Apart from the above alleged church "transition" you should also know that "Senior Teaching Pastor" Clyde also had been working with Church Transitions:

Roddy is a nation-wide transition coach and consultant and frequent conference speaker on topics of transition, leadership, lay ministry development and church planting.

CRN readers might also remember Roddy Clyde from the Wall Street Journal article by Suzanne Sataline concerning Rick Warren called Veneration Gap: A Popular Strategy for Church Growth Splits Congregants, reprinted here at Apprising Ministries where we were informed:

Some pastors learn how to make their churches purpose-driven through training workshops. Speakers at Church Transitions Inc., a Waxhaw, N.C., nonprofit that works closely with Mr. Warren’s church, stress that the transition will be rough. At a seminar outside of Austin, Texas, in April, the Revs. Roddy Clyde and Glen Sartain advised 80 audience members to trust very few people with their plans. "All the forces of hell are going to come at you when you wake up that church," said Mr. Sartain, who has taught the material at Mr. Warren’s Saddleback Church.

During a session titled "Dealing with Opposition," Mr. Clyde recommended that the pastor speak to critical members, then help them leave if they don’t stop objecting. Then when those congregants join a new church, Mr. Clyde instructed, pastors should call their new minister and suggest that the congregants be barred from any leadership role.

"There are moments when you’ve got to play hardball," said the Rev. Dan Southerland, Church Transitions’ president, in an interview. "You cannot transition a church…and placate every whiny Christian along the way."

The one redeeming thing about this story is that he turned himself in. But this kind of self-serving attitude is so prevalent in these churches that focus on 'self-fulfillment gospel' or "purpose driven" or other corruptions of the Gospel.