By Libby Cluett
lcluett@mineralwellsindex.com

Cavalry Baptist Church Pastor David Montoya perhaps is welcoming a recently filed defamation lawsuit.

For several years he has alleged that a group of Rio Grande Valley pastors took Baptist General Convention of Texas funds – estimated over $1.3 million – to start churches which no longer exist – some never did.

The local pastor, also a martial arts sensei, shares his thoughts and findings on an Internet blog spiritualsamurai.com. Over the past year or two, he has blogged about the topic of alleged corruption and misappropriation of BGCT funds in a region where he was once a pastor.

On Thursday, the “Spiritual Samurai” announced to readers of his blog that earlier last week, Otto Arango of McAllen, Texas, filed a libel suit in Hildalgo County court against Montoya, Calvary Baptist Church of Mineral Wells, Palo Pinto Baptist Association, the Dallas-based BGCT – the state’s largest Baptist organization – the BGCT’s publication, the “Baptist Standard,” and other individuals and churches.

A year ago the Index had a conversation with Montoya who seemed then to have opened a veritable Pandora’s box within the Texas Baptist community by helping expose what he named “Valley Gate.”

After hearing about corruption in Rio Grande Valley churches, Montoya made it his mission to blog about the topic and draw attention to the alleged misappropriation of BGCT funds by church planters in the southern region of the state and to pressure the BGCT to take action.

The floodgates opened for Montoya when this student of ancient philosophy used technology and started sharing his purported discoveries on the Internet. He credited the blog for unleashing the stories of “Valley Gate.”

According to an Associated Baptist Press article, questions about Arango’s reportedly lavish lifestyle and suspicions about the use of some funds prompted BGCT officials to ask an independent counsel, Diane Dillard, of Brownsville, to investigate. Her team included Brownsville attorney and former prosecutor Michael Rodriguez, certified public accountant and fraud examiner Carlos Barrera and investigator Gregorio Castillo.

The ABP further stated that Arango, founder of the now-defunct Piper Institute of Church Planting, Aaron de la Torre and Armando Vera were implicated in 2006 for misappropriating BGCT funds to start (or plant) new Hispanic churches in the Valley.

A BGCT “Baptist Standard” article, dated May 25, 2007, informed readers that the independent investigators uncovered evidence that 98 percent of the 258 new churches reported by three church planters in the Rio Grande Valley no longer existed. According to the BGCT article some of the churches never existed except on paper.

However, the BGCT article states that church planters received more than $1.3 million from the BGCT between 1999 and 2005 to develop the 258 new Valley churches. Additionally, it states that the investigative team faulted the BGCT executive board staff for “poor oversight, uneven management, failure to abide by internal guidelines and misplaced trust.”

According to an article in Friday’s Dallas Morning News, Arango claims he was defamed by the BGCT “as it dealt with allegations of ‘phantom churches’ and misspent money in [the] scandal.”

On Monday, Montoya wrote, “ ... as the spiritual samurai, I have been sued. Yes! At last, God does hear prayers. What was secret shall now be revealed. Texas Baptists, I will keep you informed every step of the way!”

Montoya told the Index last year that when he served as pastor in Donna, Texas, he developed a reputation with Hispanic parishioners who live in a region of the U.S. that he said often runs by oligarchy – power by the elite few.

“They understood I would stand up for Hispanics,” he said.

Which he said was why, in 2000, Donna Police Chief Rene Lascano brought to Montoya’s attention his discovery that Arango was allegedly stealing money from the Baptist General Convention of Texas and that churches under pastor Arango’s jurisdiction did not exist.

Montoya credited Lascano for following up on rumors with good police work.

Despite the investigation findings, the BGCT announced last year that they would not pursue a civil litigation to recover funds, calling it “neither practical nor would it represent good stewardship of churches’ resources.”

However, the organization informed the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brownsville and have had conversations with the FBI, according to the Baptist Standard.

The ABP reports that Arango’s lawsuit alleges the “defendants made ‘false and malicious statements’ about him, and that they have harmed his ‘reputation, credibility and integrity.’”

In the meantime, the spiritual samurai – who could not be reached by phone or at church Friday afternoon – states, “Now the glaring lights of a public courtroom will bring to light struggles within our Baptist family. From a distance it is hard to know what or whom to believe. Was Otto Arango a victim or victimized? It appears a court will make this judgment.”