Updates on Financial Situation

January 5, 2025 – Update

It is our goal to provide as much information as possible concerning the financial situation at Trinity Lutheran.  As I previously announced, our former financial administrator was terminated in mid-December.  We have hired a new financial administrator with significant accounting experience – who also has significant experience working with the Church Management Software we use for our booking.  He has been an incredible blessing.

This past Monday, the Bismarck Police Department did recover another 66 checks which had been written out to Trinity.  They also recovered some cash, probably under $100.  Those checks have been put into our accounting system and were deposited in the bank on Thursday, the cash remains in police custody.

We believe police have recovered most of the checks.  There are still some checks which have not been recovered and police do not know where else to look.  The recovery of all of the checks to date has meant that our finances have not been significantly impacted by the actions of our former financial administrator.   Some cash is missing – we are not certain how much – but it is our sense that it is more likely hundreds of dollars not thousands of dollars.  There were also some unauthorized charges made on two church credit cards.

We also discovered a significant number of unpaid bills.  We plan to pay all bills this coming week.

Again, we would ask that you take a look at your checkbook.  If you have any missing checks, please contact Pastor Mark as he is keeping a list for the police.

December 22, 2024 – Statement read to congregation by President Kyle Gebhardt

This week, Pastor Mark learned that our Financial Administrator had provided inaccurate information during the hiring process.  Pastor Mark promptly met with Trinity’s Executive Committee, and together we decided to terminate her employment.  On Thursday morning, Council President Kyle Gebhardt, Council Secretary Julie Leer, and Pastor Mark met with Ms. Kinsella to advise her employment was terminated.

On Friday afternoon, after consulting with our banker and staff from Trinity’s church management software and accounting company, we determined that approximately $38,000 (which was received in offering) had not been deposited in our bank.  The majority of that money was in the form of checks.

Late Friday afternoon, the police were informed of what we have found.

At this early stage, it looks like any check given to the church from the first of December thru December 15th is part of that unaccounted $38,000.  We are asking that, after worship, you stop at the table in the Narthex to pick-up a copy of your giving statement for early December from and Executive Committee member.  Late yesterday the police did recover some of the missing offering. It is now being held as evidence – we hope that it will be able to be deposited soon.

Because this is an active police investigation, we MUST be very careful about what we share at this point.  We do not want to make false accusations and do not want to do or say anything that would jeopardize the investigation.  As appropriate, we will update you. We have been able to secure a Financial Administrator – at least on a temporary basis.  Brent Winkelman, a retired accountant, has been working at Good Shepherd Lutheran in a similar capacity.  He knows the church management software very well.  Brent began working with us on Friday and has already begun to put things in order. We have significant work to do.

After worship if there are questions you have – Council members or Pastor Mark would be glad to gather them.  We will then share answers when legal officials tell us we can.