To Sharon Baptist Members Thank you to the ones who have made it clear that you don’t condone what has been happening in your church. We know from many calls and e-mails that we have lots of support on this matter as well as lots of questions. For those who need more info we tried to publish this response to Mr. LaBorgs statement but the Courier turned it down due to their liability concerns, we don’t have any of those concerns since
we are only offering the truth to any who is interested > Which is our 1st amendment right!
: Before my mother’s (“Gigi” who I miss, but am not worried about as she is not lost I know right where she is!) passing in August of 2002. A request was made for Ins. monies (made known to your leadership on her death bed) to be handled as so : 3 Things/ 3 Ways . Bills, Burial, Rock (monument), 3 Ways - Three sons. My mother always wanted a large amount to go back to the church for missions. That was something she believed in and supported and wanted to participate in had she lived long enough to do so. During this emotional time my brother stepped up and took over EVERYTHING this was not assigned to him and legally should have been my older brothers position, however at the time we were grateful for what we felt was genuine family helping family. Unfortunately my family overlooked this situation , because we never imagined what was really going on. We were contacted by Shacklefords with a bill for the remaining burial expenses and were shocked that it had been almost 2 months and this was not paid. We contacted them to find out why and that was when we were informed of more Ins. monies that were expected in that week...this was very odd as we weren’t told of other policies.
( Even though these policies were discussed between church members one in particular who helped set up the funeral arrangements withheld this info. from other family members by expressing the need for them to sign over other Ins. policies to cover burial expenses.) We contacted the Ins. Co and learned that the large amount would be mailed in 3 separate checks. So while trying to figure this new information out we decided to look into what else was going on or had NOT been taken care of. Within 3 days we learned of accounts being charged off due to non-pmt. Utilities that had not been turned off and one shut-off for non-pmt. I personally closed, cleared, caught-up and paid off my mom’s accounts in person at local businesses. 3Thing/3Ways how could something so simple get so mixed up ? Easy answer : Money was involved ! It will make even the best go bad. When we were informed of the checks arrival and proceeded to Shackelfords we were informed that the money had already picked up. We confronted my brother (Edward “Tater” Bizzell) and he was surprised to learn that we had discovered the truth about the checks. We tried to resolve the issue of dishonesty by allowing him a chance to follow through with our mother’s wishes as he promised he would do. Two months passed and nothing! He was questioned as to why had he not followed through 3Thing/3Ways? He simply said he hadn’t had time (2 months!) and that instead of 3ways he had decided that he would set up Trust Funds for all of the 6 grandchildren. We agreed on the Trust Funds for the children to resolve this matter and for the sake of keeping a family together. We never dreamed that he would also withhold monies from our mothers church to which he is also a member of, I mean how could you attend services knowing that you took money that belonged to the church? 3 months after that meeting had passed and still nothing...we contacted your leadership for help, Since we had attended church on more than one occasion throughout the years as guest of my mother we felt comfortable asking for help on this matter even though we were not members of Sharon Baptist we never felt that we would be overlooked by a man of God. We asked Mr. LaBorg as a family friend & my mother’s spiritual leader for any advice he could offer concerning this matter. We were told that everything was assumed to have been taken care of . That NO monies had been given to the church and this matter would be looked into, should this be the case that indeed my brother was not following through as he should, that church discipline would be involved in order for my brother to clear his name with the church. Since this was also a sin in the eyes of the church that he would have to go before the church and ask for forgiveness for his sins against the church , his family and our mother‘s memory according to Mr. LaBorg. We never mentioned or asked for church discipline to be involved. Actually we were kind of shocked that it was brought up since we were asking for guidance on this matter not for the church to step in. Mr. LaBorg said that because it was involving more than one church member that this was a serious problem and since it involved someone that had lots of influence over other members that it would hurt the church. He stated that this would not be allowed to continue! We did ask Mr. LaBorg to talk to my brother concerning this and ask him to please contact his family regarding this matter he said he would. A month passed we made contact again to see if he had any success in contacting my brother concerning this matter? Not yet we were told. We couldn’t imagine what was taking so long since they do see each other every week we assumed. After even more time had passed we had long since given up on any grandchild ever receiving any of their Grandmothers policies. We told Mr.LaBorg that we weren’t looking for money but for the truth! That all we asked for was for the TRUTH and all would be accepted, so that the division that was happening in our family could heal. We never asked the church for money. We never accepted any money from the church. We never asked for church discipline to be involved. We never tried to extort any monies from anyone or the church and are appalled that Mr. LaBorg would imply such! We proceeded to go back and forth with updates from Mr. LaBorg while still trying to just simply get the truth . Finally we were told that he could do no more but that a church members testimony had been injured . How do you injure your testimony if you are living a true life? How can the church leadership take a position to say that these members are doing wrong and yet stand beside them in church without restoration? Say one thing and do another is that not Hypocrites leading false lives? Mr. LaBorg also suggested that we take their own church members to court since we had legal grounds according to him. We reminded him that this was about deceit, truth and our family not about a legal money grabbing match or revenge. This is not a he said / she said debate. There are hard truthful facts here. If we were lying we could be sued.(on earth) Why would we subject ourselves to that? I don’t quote scriptures in this matter, because it’s confusing enough without them! We know from family experience that you can attend Sharon Baptist, show up on Sunday, do as you please the rest of the time, show your true self in public places, and yet still have the church by your side no matter what wrong you do or to who (even the church itself) and then even offer to pay for your debt when they say you’ve done wrong! Wow that’s a pretty outstanding practice for a church if I do say so myself. We know that the Burial was paid with Ins. policy monies (NOT the ones in question), Bills were paid by other sons (No use of Ins. money), Rock monument was paid after 1 month of family confrontations, and after the church offered to cover the expense not paid by church members that this involved (We refused to allow the church to pay for my mother‘s monument). No monies have been given to the church (which we were told by Mr.LaBorg that was stealing from the church!) and for the 3 Ways which turned into grandchildren... We can’t speak for their 3 children but as for the other 3 NO funds have been given or set aside for them. And most importantly... for the truth, the truth is just that...THE TRUTH! not something that I or my family considers to be an earthly trinket! While the truth still remains hidden amongst the deception of a few. We try not to have worries about them though, because we know their judgment day will come ! More so I know my Mama (Gigi) will have her say someday , as she did not raise us to be lying deceitful people who steal from churches and children!