Dueling visions, gnawing suspicions

March 4 is Oscar night, and the “best actor” favorite is Gary Oldman for his portrayal of Winston Churchill, who famously spoke of fighting on the beaches and never surrendering. But in Pasadena, 18 miles northeast of the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, sits the campus of William Carey International University (WCIU) and Frontier Ventures (FV), two interlinked ministries that are not having their finest hour.

That 15-acre campus was once like Rivendell in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, according to international prayer leader David Bryant: a place for missionary research, mobilization, and training “where visions can be born, where fragile dreams can become reality, where battle plans can be laid … and faith renewed.” Former campus staffer Bob Coleman, in the 1970s a young CalTech graduate, recalls the energy there in those “very, very exciting” days as “an invisible revolution swept the missions world.”

But now, the overlapping WCIU and FV boards are seeking to sell the campus plus 5 more acres and up to 147 units of off-campus housing. Officially, ministry leaders say a central campus for missionaries is outmoded. Unofficially, they desire to leave behind years of property mismanagement and gain a pot of money for other evangelistic purposes.

FV/WCIU faces opposition from Save the Campus, a feisty group that represents missionaries and those who donated money 30 to 40 years ago to buy the campus. They say FV/WCIU should not surrender the campus. They have vowed to fight in the courts, on the internet, and maybe even on the beaches.

The Pasadena battle was largely local in 2017 and January 2018, but on Feb. 1 a nationally distributed press release announced FV/WCIU’s intent to sell, and implied that all is well. By then, WORLD over two months had interviewed dozens of people on both sides of the dispute, walked the acreage, and heard or read court documents about drug sales, employee abuse, whistleblowing, and more. Here’s a look at the story behind the public relations story—and why the rest of us should care.

IN THE HEART OF CAMPUS, surrounded by patches of grass, sits a raised platform of concrete and brownish-red tiles called “The Slab.” In 1975 the campus belonged to Pasadena College. On The Slab stood a prayer chapel with stained-glass windows where Swedish missionary Erik Stadell knelt and fasted for a week, praying that God would claim the campus for world missions.

That prayer tracked with the hopes of Ralph Winter, a former Presbyterian missionary who had worked with the indigenous Maya people of Latin America and become a missionary trainer at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena. In 1974, at the International Congress on World Evangelization in Lausanne, Switzerland, Winter had called for Protestants to emphasize evangelism among those who had never been exposed to Christianity—the “unreached people.”

Two years later the campus was available because Pasadena College had moved to a new oceanfront location and taken a new name: Point Loma College (now Point Loma Nazarene University). But dozens of purchase offers broke down for various reasons, and the last offer standing was from a mystic cult that erected a giant Buddha statue on campus grounds—but Pasadena alumnus Jim Dobson, hosting a hot new “Focus on the Family” radio show, told the college, “If you sell to a cult, I’ll tell everyone about it.”

So Winter was able to buy the property for $10 million, with little money down but hefty interest (8 to 12.5 percent) and a balloon payment of $8.5 million due in 1987, according to Roberta Winter’s I Will Do a New Thing. He dubbed his project the U.S. Center for World Mission (USCWM), but some soon called it the “Missions Pentagon,” with staff workers speaking 40 languages and bringing to bear experience in more than 70 countries.

USCWM two years before the 1987 deadline ran a “Last 1,000 Campaign,” where 8,000 contributions of $1,000 each would cement ownership of the campus plus the housing units around it: They were to provide regular rental income so USCWM would be self-sustaining and would not have to compete for funds with other mission agencies.

By then, Winter had proven the usefulness of having a center. Institutes of Muslim, Chinese, Buddhist, and Hindu studies taught missionaries how to approach those groups. International Films Inc. taught courses on filmmaking, the Fellowship of Artists for Cultural Evangelism taught about the use of native art as a bridge for evangelism, and an applied linguistics program showed how to teach English to speakers of other languages. William Carey International University, named after the pioneer missionary who started schools for poor children in India and opened up the first Christian theological university there, offered B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees.

Seeing all the activity there, Christians gave sacrificially. A young woman about to be married donated her wedding budget to the campus. Students who were working part time sent in $1,000. Missionaries gave their entire savings accounts. One man sold his valuable antique car, and a young woman sold her car. Young people gathered to make a joint pledge of $1,000. One elderly woman produced another $1,000 by inviting 13 people to her home and getting them all to pledge a piece.

By 1987 Ralph Winter had proven the usefulness of having a center. Institutes of Muslim, Chinese, Buddhist, and Hindu studies taught missionaries how to approach those groups.

FOR YEARS, the campus was a productive garden of innovation, with citrus and eucalyptus trees lining campus walkways on which missionaries and students strode. Then in 2009 Ralph Winter, whom Time in 2005 named one of America’s 25 most influential Christians, died after battling myeloma—and his vision is no longer welcome.

Now, most of the missions-related activity is gone. FV/WCIU (“Frontier Ventures” is the “rebranding” name for USCWM) derives revenue from renting buildings to several schools and churches and renting houses to people searching on Craigslist for vacancies. The tenants have brought new problems that tarnish the reputation of what was a great institution.

We’ve learned about drug and drinking problems. WCIU President Kevin Higgins acknowledged that FV/WCIU “evicted three housing tenants when it was discovered they were selling drugs.” He noted “two incidents on campus involving students who attend schools run by organizations on our campus.” (Out of respect for families who are struggling with the crisis, we and FV/WCIU are not going into specifics.)

We’ve learned about problems involving three charter or private schools—Orion, Celerity, and Excelsior—that rented classroom buildings. Orion was dissatisfied with the condition of its building and left. The Pasadena Fire Department, citing safety concerns, told Celerity it had to move. Excelsior still occupies parts of two buildings: Few of the students are Christians, and the school administration has stifled attempts by evangelicals to invite the students to movie nights and other outreach events.

We’ve learned that FV/WCIU currently faces at least three civil lawsuits from former and current employees alleging harassment, retaliation, overwork without overtime pay, and wrongful termination. The campus’s former human resources director, David Clancy, found FV/WCIU abusing employees, erring in employee benefits, assigning extra work hours without overtime pay, violating whistleblower policies, and not paying state income taxes.

Furthermore, Eduardo Rios, employed from 2007 to 2014 as an electrician, has filed suit concerning “internal wrongdoing, theft, and mismanagement” involving disregard of safety requirements, diversion of maintenance to side jobs at the expense of WCIU, threatened violence, and illegal termination. When WORLD gave President Higgins a list of charges by Clancy and Rios, he commented, “Yes. In each case we have sought to meet with staff and employees to solve these issues. We have made extensive changes in our entire HR department to prevent future problems. I have met personally with one of our WCIU staff, on several occasions, to hear her side of things.”

Eduardo Rios’ legal filing also states that a WCIU manager “required a monetary payment from a prospective applicant applying for a maintenance job. Failure to pay resulted in non-hire or repeated delays in hiring consideration.” Rios alleges “threatening acts to enforce compliance and to create fear within the ranks of the maintenance staff.” When Rios blew the whistle with assurances of confidentiality from WCIU higher-ups, he says the threat-wielding manager and others soon knew about his statements. WCIU fired Rios and retained the manager.

With the maintenance staff a mess, it’s no surprise that maintenance also suffered. According to former housing manager Silvia Rodriguez, who filed a lawsuit against WCIU, some homes have black mold in bathrooms and bathtubs. Some broken windows have remained in disrepair for years. Some heaters have stopped working and consistent plumbing issues have arisen. One single mom had a crack in her wall that caused water to leak in whenever it rained.

WCIU’s Mott Auditorium, which with a capacity of 4,000 is the largest auditorium in Pasadena, is closed most of the time, in part because its heavy doors are difficult to open from the inside. That would be dangerous in case of emergencies, but COO Kerry Jones says it would cost $100,000 to replace them.

We’ve talked with and read depositions from many other employees or tenants—Patty Tessandori, Lesley Baines, and John Cha are among them—who have alleged or spotlighted mismanagement, unfair evictions, and retaliation against complainers and whistleblowers.

FV/WCIU LEADERS and their critics agree the campus has become run-down. They disagree on why that has happened: FV/WCIU executives say the problems show a central campus is no longer useful and they should sell it. Some say the cost of living in Pasadena makes it hard for missionaries to live there. Save the Campus says the problem is not the property but mismanagement of it—and executives emphasizing good stewardship and open accountability could make it bloom once more.

“It’s almost like [FV/WCIU] deliberately wants to atrophy this campus to the point where they have to sell it,” said David Farrow, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel who in 2016 tried to bring the headquarters of the missionary organization Iris Global to the Pasadena campus. Farrow said FV/WCIU board members during meetings said the campus had $28 million in deferred maintenance. (Asked about that figure, FV/WCIU responded, “This type of detail will factor in to all discussions with potential buyers and is not being released publicly.”)

Critics say FV/WCIU could have hired a professional property management services company, but instead hired inexperienced people. Higgins, though, says, “No one is deliberately atrophying our campus. We have made a number of significant and routine improvements to properties over the years.” He and FV General Director Francis Patt both insist that the basic problem is not malfeasance but a mismatch of old FV/WCIU goals and new mission realities.

It’s not as if the organization is running out of money. The 990s that nonprofits must submit to the IRS show that each fiscal year from 2012 through 2016 WCIU’s revenue exceeded its expenses by several hundred thousand dollars. Net assets grew steadily throughout that period.

The headline on one of the organization’s press releases reads, “PURSUING A DECENTRALIZED MODEL OF MINISTRY.” It calls for “greater synergy and unity. … The last two decades have radically changed how the world works and collaborates. Real physical space continues to be an important part of our work, but our property needs have shifted from an attractional model with an identity linked to a central location to a vision of a network of communities around the world.”

That’s very abstract. Former employee Clancy, now a leader of Save the Campus, has concrete predictions and objections: “They will sell the campus (unless we can stop them through litigation) and this time around have $55 million dollars. When they sell the other 90 houses, they will earn another $45 million dollars. That will be $100 million dollars at their disposal to run their ministries. These ministries will mostly be research projects. … They are not guaranteeing that ministry will continue, they are guaranteeing that they will have an income.”

‘They will sell the campus (unless we can stop them through litigation). … They are not guaranteeing that ministry will continue, they are guaranteeing that they will have an income.’ —David Clancy

We asked WCIU President Kevin Higgins, “If you are able to sell the property, what are several examples of the specific missionary projects FV/WCIU would like to fund?” He responded, “A growing number and variety of collaboration hubs located globally. … A growing network of universities globally. … Multiple ‘mid-stream’ training locations globally.” That sounds amorphous, and critics of FV/WCIU see it as trading the bird-in-hand for birds in the bush that might never be born. Higgins did talk about developing “a new, innovative B.A. program” and upgrading the master’s degree program: “M.A. in 12 major languages of the world. More concentrations within our M.A. program, including reviving the Chinese Studies program.”

FV/WCIU has hired RK Real Estate, which is part of RK Capital Group. The company says, “We acquire existing income producing assets and enhance the value by strategically repositioning the asset through rebranding, select capital improvements, and a strong management effort.” Providence Christian College gave FV/WCIU a letter of intent to buy, but it expired in January without an agreement.

The campus is now zoned PS, “public and semi-public district,” which means colleges and churches are welcome on it, but corporate offices and condominiums are not. WORLD asked RK principal Keith Mathias, “Would zoning changes maximize the value of the land?” He responded, “Any attempt to put a value on the property based on a hypothetical zone change prior to any application with the city would not be accurate or meaningful.” FV/WCIU leaders and their public relations representative were unwilling to rule out selling the campus to commercial interests.

Save the Campus leaders are suspicious. They write that real estate developers “and the City of Pasadena itself are hungry for the increased revenue a sale like this could bring. … There is NO guarantee that if this Campus is sold that it will go to another Christian organization that will continue this vision.” Save the Campus fears a “new entity [with] a very Kingdom-sounding name like Covenant Community Condos, or Jesus Loves Me Apartments.”

TODAY, THE SLAB, empty of the prayer chapel where Erik Stadell once prayed for the campus, is a tranquil picnic area. Next to a blue picnic table is a wooden cross strapped to a tree stump—the remnant of a redwood tree that died because of poor health. Patty Tessandori of Save the Campus says the tree reflects the state of FV/WCIU: “We’ve neglected our roots.” But she looks around and still gets giddy about all the possibilities that could happen: “This campus could still be amazing.”

Ralph Winter founded the campus with the goal of using it to reach the remaining 17,000 people groups by the year 2000. Today in 2018, many have yet to hear the gospel. Bob Coleman, who helped Winter in the founding, says that’s why the campus is still necessary, and why FV/WCIU should restore it: “We still need a lot more mission projects. … We still need a platform to wave that flag.”

Given the suspicion among critics of the planned sale that the land will go to commercial interests, WORLD repeatedly asked FV/WCIU leaders if they would allay that concern. At the close of our research WORLD offered FV/WCIU leaders “one more opportunity to make a clear and unequivocal statement: ‘We will only sell the campus to an evangelical organization that pledges to use it for ministry purposes consistent with the vision that underlay its purchase 40 years ago.’” We asked for a “yes” or “no.”

In response, WCIU President Higgins listed three elements FV/WCIU would use in evaluating prospective buyers: “One is certainly the pricing, though that has never been the first or primary way we have triaged our choices. Second is to find a buyer that shares as closely as possible the values and purposes we have for ministry. And the third is to minimize the disruption” to any FV/WCIU personnel who would remain in Pasadena.

Listen to Marvin Olasky discuss this story on The World and Everything in It.