Dave Pack Exposes the Duplicitous Actions of United Church of God Leaders As They Started Up UCG

After Dave Pack rebelled against Pasadena and WCG due tot eh doctrinal changes he decided to join forces with Rod Meredith.  What he describes below proves once again how duplicitous the leadership of the United Church of God was.  Not only did Kubik and others sit in church-owned housing, while still on WCG payroll as they planned UCG, they also manipulated the church in order to get as much money as they could before that left for UCG.  Pack's comments below also show what a total jerk Rod Meredith was in starting up Global Church of God.

It was March 7, 1993. For the first time since 1972, Mr. Pack was unemployed—only this time the family was also without a vehicle! The Packs could not afford and never had a second car. He also had no computer to communicate through email.

The Worldwide Church of God gave him only two weeks severance pay for his over two decades of service in the ministry, plus a few days of any unused vacation that all terminated ministers received by policy. The small severance was because the Packs had officially declared that they were going with another organization. This made them, also by policy, “opponents” of the WCG. Virtually all other ministers, most of whom that would leave would do so two years later, would receive one week of pay for every year that they were in the ministry—because they did not immediately declare their new allegiance. These waited until the larger check had cleared the bank. This was made possible by high-ranking sympathizers in Pasadena carefully coaching them step by step regarding exactly what (and what not) to do, and when.

Mr. Pack took a deep breath and resolved to move forward—regardless of giant obstacles ahead.

But what about a car? The Packs had insufficient money to buy one.

Since the Global Church of God had been in existence for just two months, there were only about 275 members worldwide. There were a handful of deacons and local church elders to help, but no full-time ministers had yet been hired into the field. Mr. Pack was the first. The fledgling organization had limited resources. The tithe-paying base was small. The headquarters could not afford to advance a down payment for a car.

Understanding the crucial juncture facing God’s people, Mr. Pack could not let days, let alone weeks, go by. There was work to do!

His very first action as a yet unpaid minister was to go obtain a $4,000 cash advance on a personal credit card. He then sent these funds to the Global Church Headquarters so they could purchase a car in the Church’s name with this money. The promise was that they would try to repay the principal amount when and as they could.

Thrilled to get back into the field and to visit brethren, Mr. Pack charged into this unique, new assignment with gusto.

“Someone was kind enough to loan us a car until we could get a new one. We were most grateful. It allowed us to run errands and buy groceries for about 10 days.

“We had faced obstacles in the past where the only path was that of faith. This decision was easy. But what choice did we have? We needed a car, and the Church could not afford to buy one. So I offered to act as an agent to purchase the vehicle on their behalf. There was a Ford dealer nearby and we got a brand new Aerostar exactly like the one that had just been driven from our garage.

“It would look better for Global if it had purchased the vehicle, rather than I having done so on my own behalf, or even on their behalf. The goal was to have other ministers be able to see that Global was a legitimate organization—that all manner of familiar procedure, activity and support was present. We were happy that no other Global ministers had to do as we did. I would certainly do it again.

“I would only learn later about how the many scores of ministers went with the new splinter in 1995 with a tremendous amount of money—sometimes tens of thousands of dollars—simply because they did not declare their affiliation until the larger ‘severance’ check had been cut for them.

“These men would wait in the back of the hall for one Sabbath, officially ‘undeclared’ in terms of organizational destination. Of course, everyone knew exactly where they were going in a couple of days, and could not understand why they were delaying the changeover. There were always salaries, cars and expense accounts waiting from the start for these faithless, hypocritical appeasers because large numbers of tithepayers followed them out the door to the same new organization.

“There was a very early surprise, however, in all of this. Instead of a thank-you for buying the car from my (borrowed) funds, the Global leader was disappointed that I had only brought an initial group of 38 people with me. It was absolutely stunning. I was not bringing enough human ‘booty’ right out of the gate to suit him.

Dave Pack: I was so good as a minister that it made other ministers jealous

What else could we expect from the most superfantabulous man who has ever existed in human history!

Jealousy Breeds Resentment

There was another reason the transformation of the Rochester and Syracuse congregations stood out: Many ministers in surrounding areas were not following correct doctrine and policy. This created a double standard with discerning brethren. Also, these areas were not being blessed in the same visible way.

While multiple, large activities regularly occurred in the Rochester area, the lack of such activities in the surrounding pastorates made a huge statement. Brethren from other pastorates often expressed how wonderful it was to see unity, organization and participation so evident. Since so many WCG ministers preferred to idly coast along and were slack in their ministerial responsibilities, resentment arose. Their comments would on occasion be reported back to Mr. Pack from Church Administration. (Remember, the apostasy demonstrated that two-thirds of all ministers readily gave up everything they had professed to believe, and did so easily and quickly, so a lack of zeal in such matters is not difficult to understand. And most of the rest of the ministry would later prove themselves to be lukewarm at best.)

Another critical element in transforming these congregations was the attention paid to the local youth programs. Previous programs had been overly tolerant of worldly influences when it came to appearance, music and conduct. Programs were purged of lowered standards that mirrored society in the late 1970s. Parents and teens were educated about God’s Way. Youth programs were built, which lessened the problems among young people.

But despite the positive results, a select few (locally and in neighboring pastorates) harbored the feeling that Mr. Pack was “the hard guy.”

Looking back, Mr. Pack recalled:

“When you draw a line in the sand, and the ministers around you do not, you stick out like a sore thumb. Some saw me as harsh compared to others. Never mind that I was tall, and from a high-profile family in the Church because I had married Mr. Armstrong’s secretary. I simply could not hide—nor did I seek to. Decisive leadership was necessary. Of course, I could never have imagined that merely administering standards the Bible taught and Mr. Armstrong adhered to could be so problematic and controversial.

“I was sent into these troubled areas time and again where many were ‘lying in wait.’ Tares were everywhere, waiting, ready to explode when true standards were re-introduced. And it seemed surrounding pastors always grew resentful. All of these factors made my ministry a tremendous challenge.

“Cleaning up programs and standards was interesting and rewarding as I saw the many positive effects on people’s lives, but it was also extremely difficult, and wearying, dealing with the constant politics of what later were understood to be, for the most part, a carnal-minded ministry that had grown up throughout the Church. Of course, this was later evidenced as true in the same large percentages among the lay members.

“I just could not always put together the great overall meaning of what I was observing—and enduring—at the time. None of us could know until later how right was Mr. Armstrong when he said, ‘90 percent of you do not get it.’ However, I was sure getting good training for all that would come.”

UCG: Why are Kubik and others in Cincinnati turning a blind eye to problems with the ministry

Like normal in may COG's, the membership see what is going on and yet the leadership are so set on their agenda's that they ignore the debacles they have created.  UCG has had to do a major amount of ordinations to replace the men who left with COGWA. It now looks like many of the men they have ordained are not qualified to be leading congregations.  The members know this, but Cincinnati does not. And UCG wonders why members are leaving.

Comment from another thread:

UCG has not wholesale changed doctrine, but those of us here who watched the rush to ordain men to replace all the elders who left know that it just isn't right. We have people serving as elders and pastoring congregations now who many UCG members know have no business doing those things. There are still good, solid people in UCG, but the effect of Victor Kubik's leadership has set this organization on a bad course that probably cannot never be reversed or fixed.