Rev. Brad Braxton, New Riverside Church Pastor Lavish $600K Compensation Prompts Congregants' Lawsuit, Is this a Corporation or a Church?

I must be in the wrong line of work, because Rev. Brad Braxton, a new pastor at Manhattan's Riverside Church, has just hit paydirt -- manna from the people -- $600,000 annual compensation. According to the NY Daily News, that's twice what his predecessor James Forbes got after running the church for more than 18 years. But there's more. A group of church dissidents have claimed that the members were never told about the lavish package. They filed suit in Manhattan Supreme Court last week to stop Braxton's installation, revealing a growing divide among the church's 1,500 members. There is no reason why a pastor, especially in these tough economic times, should walk away with such a package, especially when the church stresses that tithing is important. Rev. Braxton isn't on Wall Street, he's on Main Street. This lavish pay package seems to be at serious odds with the church's long history of advocating social justice.

Braxton was selected in a vote of the congregation last fall and is to be officially installed Sunday. Church sources say it includes:

$250,000 in salary.
$11,500 monthly housing allowance.
Private school tuition for his child.
A full-time maid.
Entertainment, travel and "professional development" allowances.
Pension and life insurance benefits.
An equity allowance for Braxton to save up to buy a home.
On top of that, Braxton immediately hired a new second in command at more than $300,000 a year.

"Where's the social justice in this?" said Diana Solomon-Glover, a member of the church choir and one of the petitioners in the suit. "We have an economic crisis in the country, and none of the church staff are getting raises this year, but a few people at the top are getting these huge salaries?"

In a hearing Tuesday, Manhattan Supreme Court Judge Lewis Bart Stone denied the dissidents' request to delay Sunday's installation. The judge urged church leaders to provide the opposition a fair chance to be heard by the church membership. He adjourned the case until after a special meeting of the congregation scheduled for May 3. The two sides should find a way to achieve "some form of fellowship and reconciliation between members of the church," Stone said, to "prevent a split."

"They [the dissidents] don't want to accept that the majority has already spoken," said Sarah Conly, who backs Braxton. The vote last fall to appoint Braxton was overwhelming, his supporters say. "I don't know why they even brought this case into court," said Jean Schmidt, vice chair of the Church Council, one of the key officials who brought in Braxton. Source: NY Daily News

It seems that some of the congregation have a big problem with the way this pastor came by his pay package and this should not be the case. Doesn't the Bible speak against things being done in secrecy? Why isn't there more transparency about issues concerning the church's finances and the pastor's salary? The church isn't a corporation that is selling a product. It is there to win souls for Christ and help people in their spiritual journey, as well as to provide social services within the communities they serve. There is no way that a pastor should walk away with such a package, especially in light of the economic hardships we are facing as a country. No wonder Senator Chuck Grassley wants to know about some of these churches finances. The last thing this church needs is for their dirty laundry to be aired in public.