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Splitting the kingdom: Pastors settle lawsuit over T.F.-based Calvary Satellite Network(Times-News (Twin Falls, ID) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Nov. 9--God's word booms out of Twin Falls like never before. Twin Falls Pastor Mike Kestler won control of the world's largest Christian radio network last week as part of a deal with the mother church of the Calvary Chapel Movement. But in the process, he and the movement's two key leaders in Santa Ana, Calif., agreed he would eject himself, his congregation and the radio station from bearing the Calvary Chapel Movement name. The sparring over Calvary Satellite Network, which played out over money and control in federal court, trampled the very scripture the network is meant to promote, said one congregant. "Scripturally, you're not supposed to take another brother to court," said Billy Bradford, a follower of Kestler's who lost his faith in his pastor and then returned to the flock. "In both his and their minds they were right." But Kestler, who three decades ago opened his Calvary ministry in Twin Falls, and his teacher Chuck Smith, the movement's founder, and Smith's son, Jeff Smith, rattled their congregations -- causing some members to get lost in between -- but have nevertheless held onto their massive followings. U.S. District Judge Lynn Winmill dismissed the lawsuit between the pastors on Nov. 3. Earlier this summer, another civil lawsuit filed against Kestler for allegations of sexual harassment, was settled and dismissed. That lawsuit, brought by Lori Ann Pollitt, was funded by Chuck Smith. And as the fissure already fades into the background for many relieved congregants, Smith's radio empire has ballooned to unparalleled international scope. Kestler took over the vast majority of the world's largest Christian radio network, estimated at a value of $250 million, calling the corporation the Christian Satellite Network. The company now controls 424 of the divided network's total 457 full power stations and translators, meaning Kestler's megaphone targets a market of 32 million potential listeners. Programming is headquartered next to the church at 3300 East and Falls Avenue, as it has been for nearly a decade. The office is abuzz with 28 full time employees, and more part-timers and volunteers. The settlement grants Kestler a total network with double the market size as those stations given to the Smiths. Kestler declined comment to the Times-News through his general manager. The Smiths did not return repeated phone calls this week. Kestler is also president and chairman of a company that runs "The Effect," a youth network that airs Christian hard rock to 44 translators. He has three Christian television channels in Idaho, including two in Twin Falls and one in Coeur d'Alene. A fourth channel was donated by the network's general manager. On the first Sunday since the settlement, Kestler's church continued to fill its 300-plus seating capacity as is usually the case. While the banner at the intersection has changed, the message has not, said Mike Stocklin, general manager of Christian Satellite Network. Kestler's flock of Christians agrees the name -- now called River Christian Fellowship -- changes nothing. But what troubles congregant Bradford is how his church, founded on a principle of unifying all Christians, turned brother-against-brother over their worldly ambitions. Bradford says watching the movement's leaders vie for control of the network was like watching the movie "Lord of the Rings" where a ring called "the precious" possesses men's hearts and turns close friends into enemies. "The radio network is the precious," Bradford said. "So you have to keep your eye on it." The non-membership congregation is quick to move on after the dispute, accepting it as yet another anecdote of man's fallibility. "Money can corrupt," Judy Helsley, who works part-time in Kestler's church, said flatly. As a rift started forming a couple years ago between the two churches, Helsley found herself on one side of the growing chasm while her brother remained a follower of the mother church. The division was unfortunate, never unbearable, she said. Kestler, a protégé of Chuck Smith in Santa Ana in the 1970s, pitched the religious radio concept as a way to tap a larger audience. The Santa Ana church provided the seed money. "Mike grew up in the Calvary Movement," Stocklin said. "He felt that God was leading him to be a minister." He came to Twin Falls and opened an FM radio station where the Radio Rondevoo building sits on Main Avenue. Bradford says the battle has left the flock more self reliant, less idealizing -- and idolizing -- its leaders. "The Bible tells us not to look to the teachers, but to look to Jesus," he said. "We tend to put men on pedestals. When we do that we set ourselves up for failure." Cass Friedman can be reached at 735-3241 or [email protected]. To see more of The Times-News, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.magicvalley.com Copyright (c) 2007, The Times-News, Twin Falls, Idaho Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |