The Churches Related Association (ARC), which is one of the largest church planting organizations in North America, is currently claiming payments from its member churches for fire insurance.
Greg Surratt, the former ARC church in Florida called NewSound Church, denied a report from ARC President stating that they were obligated to pay 2% of their tithes to ARC, during an interview with The Roys Report in October.
Surratt mentioned during the interview, “Moreover, if they are willing, they are urged to contribute towards the establishment of new churches. However, there are no legal restrictions whatsoever on this matter.” “After an ARC church is established, it becomes an independent church. There is no legal contract that requires ARC to receive 2% . . .”
Surratt further stated, “I can say that churches choose to give, you know, whatever they want to, towards church planting with ARC.”.
However, The Roys Report has acquired two agreements between ARC member churches and ARC, which suggest otherwise.
The Roys Report has confirmed the identities of the ministers and their congregations. Nevertheless, former or current pastors affiliated with ARC, who preferred to stay anonymous due to concerns about potential reprisals, shared both contracts – one dating back to 2013 and the other from 2019.
The church plant must pay 10% of its offerings and tithes as repayment for the loan until both state contracts are fulfilled. ARC gave each church an initial loan between $30,000 and $70,000 to launch, as stated in the contracts.
After the loan is repaid, the church requires a contract to be signed in 2013 that calls for the ARC to send a monthly amount of on-going income from tithes/offerings to the church’s future plants, in the form of a membership fee of 2% payments.
“I’m not able to go today,” I emailed Surratt, but he said he would respond in two hours. Earlier today, Surratt asked me to respond by the end of Tuesday, but we agreed to hold the story for a day. Surratt said he would love to respond, but due to his busy schedule, he asked us to hold the story for several days. The Roys Report reached out to Surratt to explain the apparent contradiction.
Consequences for default
If the church fails to repay its ARC loan, The Roys Report outlines significant repercussions for both ARC agreements. Moreover, it specifies that a portion of the church’s earnings must be allocated to ARC.
“The current resources of the Church are the primary entitlements that ARC possesses in case (redacted) is incapable of settling the remaining amount of their ARC investment,” declares the contract from 2019.
This Financial Agreement concerns the remaining amount of money that needs to be repaid, for which both the church planting pastor and the “sponsoring church” will share responsibility, once all remaining assets are used to balance the ARC fund, as mentioned in detail.
According to a sample ARC “sponsoring church” letter provided to The Roys Report, if the church plant is unable to reimburse this amount, the sponsoring church will be responsible for repaying the funds granted to the church plant. The letter explains that a sponsoring church functions as a co-signer on ARC’s loan to a church plant.
The 2019 contract restates that if ARC considers the Church Plant as a difficult situation, the Sponsoring Church is accountable for immediate repayment.
Church Metrics–an internet application provided by Life.Church, led by Craig Groeschel, where the agreement additionally mandates that the church submit “all monthly data, encompassing contributions, participation, and people saved”.
The responsibility for the church planting pastor is imposed by the 2013 agreement. Rather than the sponsoring church being the primary party accountable for repaying the loan in the event of church default, the 2013 contract is analogous.
“According to the contract, if the church has a debt of $10,000, the Pastor will reimburse ARC with $500 every month until the loan is fully paid. In the event that (redacted) Church is unable to fulfill its responsibilities as an institution, I, (redacted), commit to monthly repayments of the remaining loan balance to ARC, calculated at a 5% interest rate based on the initial amount, until the entire loan is settled.”
ARC pastors respond
The Roys Report first reported Surratt’s statements about church payments to ARC being voluntary in a podcast published last week about ARC.
The statement sparked immediate criticism from online former and current pastors of ARC.
In a Reddit community known as “r/AllaboutCOTH,” one clergyman using the username “Current_Product_8283” proclaimed, “I identify as an ARC planter.” (COTH represents Church of the Highlands, the primary megachurch of the ARC located in Birmingham, Alabama.)
If we don’t pay back our loan, the church will take it back from us, but it is not mandatory. Since we started planting, we have received maybe three calls from them. They were asking about our giving because it wasn’t sufficient. However, it is not mandatory. If we don’t pay back our loan, the church will take it back from us.
“According to Jeff Thompson, a former ARC pastor from Canada who was interviewed on The Roys Report podcast, he mentioned that when they went through the process, they were required to have a sponsoring church act as a guarantor for the loan. However, their home church declined to be the guarantor, as they had concerns about the transaction. As a result, they had to search for another church that would be willing to sponsor their loan.”
Another pastor in the Reddit group complained that he wanted to leave ARC because he morally couldn’t fail but still owes money to his church due to recent scandals involving pastors.
Jeremy Foster, a previous clergyman at an ARC megachurch in Houston, and Tavner Smith, whose Tennessee megachurch was formerly closely connected with ARC, have been implicated in the latest instances of moral misconduct among ARC pastors.
Other ARC pastors have reportedly surfaced online in a video from 2018, where Dino Rizzo, the Executive Director of ARC, is praised for his explanation and integrity, while also being described as a “coach” by Smith.
Rizzo encourages members of Smith’s church to contribute to ARC’s donations, despite Smith’s involvement in a sexual scandal. He affirms that ARC has successfully established 776 churches, thanks to the contributions and the “kindness of your pastors.” (Currently, the number stands at approximately 1,000 churches.)
Micahn Carter, previously associated with Church of the Highlands; Jason Delgado, formerly connected with Vibrant Church in Missouri; and Joshua Mauney from NewSound Church are additional ARC pastors involved in sexual scandals.
The executives of ARC or ARC are named in two lawsuits, which claim that they either covered up or negligently acted regarding the sexual abuse and harassment allegations.
As precise as feasible, the organization additionally claims that it is currently verifying all the details for our church establishments and church associates to ensure the accuracy of the map. According to a message published on the page, ARC is currently in the process of renovating our map. Since The Roys Report started reporting on ARC a few months ago, the church locator page at ARC has temporarily ceased to be available.
REDACTED Church Agreement with ARC – 2013
ARC-Financial-Agreement-2013.
REDACTED Church Agreement with ARC – 2019
ARC-Redacted-Financial-Agreement-2019-2Pages.
The agreement with churches of ARC, as mentioned in the blog, altered the previously mandatory 2% into a strictly voluntary contribution in the spring of 2021. Additionally, Geoff Surratt, Greg’s brother who clarifies that he holds no position with ARC, stated in the blog that ARC has never made any efforts to collect the 2% fee requested from member churches. This blog was published subsequent to the release of the article.