Linda Shelton's New Job

KHBA Celebrates 20 Years
He’s Alive Broadcasting

(KHBA), the 20-year-old
Christian television station in
Spokane, Wash., held a gala
dinner with a record turnout on
Nov. 11, 2012. Dan Matthews
and Linda Shelton hosted
the dinner, which kicked off
a two-evening Sharathon.

These events raised more than
$39,000 towards the station’s
yearly operating costs. Matthews
and Shelton also shared
confirming stories that KHBA
is on the move.

Thanks to a Catholic gentleman
in Kalispell, Mont., the
Hope TV signal from KHBA’s
channel 39.1 is heading to
Flathead County, Mont. With
a population of 90,000, this
valley holds a potential for
sharing hope in Jesus with
many new friends.

Making new contacts
throughout North America
is a new ingredient in the
mix for KHBA. The board
voted to ask Shelton to be the
development director for He’s
Alive Television. Shelton has
a background in broadcasting
and fundraising and says,
“I am excited to partner with
KHBA to help strengthen and
advance their ministry.”

Moving forward with a
production vehicle has begun.
A van was purchased and will
be equipped for regional remote
productions. The KHBA
production van will facilitate
A live feed where there is high-speed
Internet access. “We
estimate it will cost $25,000 to
$30,000 to put the equipment
together,” says Joe Stanfill, station
manager. “We are grateful
to our founder, Marlo Fralick,
for his financial assistance to
begin this project.”

KHBA unveiled exciting
new programming during
the Sharathon. These shows
include Travel With Spirit,
a travel show with a noticeable
Christian angle; Babbie’s
House, a music and talk show;
Mark Gungor, a show on
“love, marriage and stinking
thinking” that gives viewers
a frank, humorous marriage counseling
approach; Dare
to Love, about how to make
friends of Muslim neighbors
and be a positive witness; and
Friends and Neighbors, with
Christian women discussing
current issues, similar to The
View. Time slots for these
programs are available at
KHBATV.com.

The KHBA board is pursuing
ways to introduce Spokane’s
secular population to
Jesus. “We don’t need to travel
the world to find a mission
field,” says Stanfill. “We have
thousands of people throughout
Spokane who need to hear
and see a witness for Jesus.
This is what drives me and
our volunteers to sacrifice
time, money and energy.”

KHBA is the only local
Christian broadcaster in
Spokane bringing light to a
community the needs to know
Jesus. Viewers can watch at
UHF Channel 39 or via the
Internet at KHBATV.COM.

Kathy Marson, Upper Columbia
Conference communication
administrative assistant
J a n u a r y 2 0 1 3 • G L E A N E R 2

Praise the Lord! I hope Linda is able to use her talents to their fullest capacity in this new work.

We can pray that her former pastor where she was disfellowshipped near 3ABN and who is now working at Upper Columbia Conference does not get promoted to the presidential position there (Elder Folkenberg is leaving for Hong Kong the first of the year) and/or does not choose to interfere.

Linda has always been such an inspiration to me.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

Actually Linda requested that her membership be dropped because she already knew that she would not receive a fair treatment by the 3ABN church which was fully under the control of Danny Shelton. At the same time she was accepted as a member of another church on her profession of faith.

This doesn't seem to be in harmony with the Church Manual (p. 51).

The following link states that she is also on the air again:

http://khbatv.com/raysofhope.html

That is true, this was not the normal way of doing things. In this case the matter was discussed with church leaders who came to the conclusion that this was the only way this particular case could be handled because here Linda was being falsely accused of something she had not done without giving her a single opportunity to clear herself.

Just to conclude a long story, Linda was finally fully vindicated by the North American Division.

I guess I got some of the details wrong. The thing was that she went to the Springfield church, and the pastor interviewed by that church to be their new pastor promised not to interfere with Linda's participation there. In the end, that pastor was hired, and immediately afterward forbad Linda from participating up front in church or in any church position. This is the man Folkenberg recruited to the Upper Columbia Conference.

It is good to know that the NAD has vindicated her and that she is now apparently under the NAD more directly.

Blessings,

Green Cochoa.

That pastor came directly from 3ABN to Springfield. I met him both places. But he was not the pastor of the 3ABN church.

The CHURCH MANUAL serves to advise, It is not always followed.

E.G. A few weeks ago, church official who is well known called the person leading out in a congregation in another State and pled with that person not to disfellowshilp a member who was attending a church that this church official attended.

That congregation acted and disfellowshiped the person on Wednesday. On Saturday the local congregation voted the disfellowshiped person onto membership by Profession of Faith.

NOTE: According to the Chruch Manual, the person leading out in that other congregation did NOT have the authority to preside at a meeting held to disfellowship a member. But, he did.

It should be noted that I was deeply involved in the transfer of Linda'smembership. As had been said, she asked that her membership be dropped, which was what happened. Immediately she was voted into membership by Profession of Faith, in another SDA congregation. Church officials were well aware of this. They did not intervene to stop it. A President, whom I will not name, personally expressed appreciation to me for the role that I played in bringing this about.

I will say again: The CHURCH MANUAL serves to advise. It is not always followed.

But it should. There is no purpose in making rules that won't be followed. In my opinion she shouldn't have requested her removal from membership, and in case she was unduly removed, her reinstatement should have been done via the conference (p. 67), or even union conference, or division.

As I stated before her actions have now been vindicated by the Division.

And, you are entitled to your opinion.

However,it is not as simple as you would make it seem to be.

1) The process that you mention is a complex one. When it works, it provides for reinstatement, as you have said. It does not annul tha action of the congration that disfellowshilped the person. As a result ofthe actionthat Linda took, she can truthfull say that she was never disfellowshiped, which was important to her.

2) I remind you that the CHURCH MANUAL states that a person can be accepted on Profession of Faith, who has had their membership withdrawn (that is what Linda did) but ". . . who in reality has remained faithful to his/her Christian commitment."

It was the view of those who looked carefully at her case that she had not violated norms that would require that she bedisfellowshiped.

Therefore, she met, whether you agree or not, the standards of the CHURCH MANUAL to be accepted by Profession of Faith into the membership of the SDA Chruch.

This was a good resolution for all concerned. There is not real proces to overturn the decision of a local congregation to disfellwoshilp a member--only a process to reinstate. Linda was not disfellowshiped. She was not disciplined. There is no action by her former congregation to overturn.

As for Linda, she remains a recognized member.

I am a strong believer in following the Church Manual, but I can also accept the fact that there may need to be an exception in the way it is followed, such as in this instance.

Daryl, rules must have flexability. God considers the overall situation. The Bible is clear that God does not charge us with sin for issues that the Holy Spirit has NOT convicted us on. In our imperfect world, we need a way to correct injustice. Our corrections are often imperfect, but they are the best that we are able to do.

I mentioned earlier a situation where a member was disfellowslhiped on a Wednesday and voted into membership on Profession of Faith the following Sabbath. That situation was horiffic. For reasons of privacy I cannot publish the details. If I were to do so here, I am confident that people reading my post would contact me privately to ask if there was any way thay could help out.

Well, this is a time when things are going well. Individual members of the congregation that accepted this person into membership by Profession of Faith have responded to the need. Several members have personally each spent hundreds of dollars to provide very neded assistance. Ongoing attempts are being made to provide at no cost to the member assistance that is needed.

This is not being done for someone who has been associated with this congregation for a long period of time. This is being done for a person who has been associated with this congregation for a few weeks. This person showed up on our proverbabal doorsteps as a brand-new SDA who was doing everything in their power to resolve the situation that they were in.

Individual members of the congregation realized that this was not the time to discipline an imperfect, young, SDA; rather it was at time to heed the message of Christ in Matthew 25, beginning with verse 31. Those members continue to respond.

Rules must have flexability.

Sometimes rigid humans do the right thing and are flexable.

We must never forget the case where men came to Christ with the question:

- Our rules say that this women should be stoned.

Did Jesus tell them to follow the Church Manual issued by Moses? In stead he said he invited the faultless to cast the first stone. Is this doctrine of Christ incorporated in our way of thinking - or into our rules? Where is our faith and trust in Jesus Christ?

Sorry, in my language the same term would be applied to both situations and in the minds of the members here there would be no difference between the person being removed from membership by the church and the person asking to be removed. Also, we would interpret someone's request to be removed as an admission of guilt.

As a pastor, I would not see it as an admission of guilt.

Rather, I would see it as a broken relationship and I would want to know more about how and why the relationship was broken.

This would stem from two perspectives as a pastor:

1) My view that without assessing blame, a congregation, in its hummaness, may not be able to meet the spiritual needs of everyone.

2) Some congregations are simply spiritually toxic to some people.

One issue that concerns me is that of professional ethics. This comes in part from my professional training and in part from the fact that for years I have been a member of the Ethics Committee in the hospital where I work.

One of the fundamental ethical issues with which we deal is that of a "dual relationship." In considering that,a fundamental part of that issue is that the ethical relationship must look fair, in addition to aactually being fair. It is not required to pass a judgement that the issue was unfair. Rather it must have the appearance of being fair, in addition to actually being fair. In considedring this, norms are established as to what would constitute the appearance of unfairness. Fundamental to this is the basic issue of a "dual relationship."

In the issue of Linda Shelton and the congregation that held her membership, there was no way that it could have met the ethical requirements to determine whether or not she should be disciplined. The problelm of "dual relationships" was throughout that congregation and existed with the pastoral leadership of the congregation.

NOTE: I do not claim that the congregation and the pastors would have been unfair to Linda.

The transfer of her membership to another congregation on Profession of Faith took place under conditions where that transfer was considered by people who did not have a "Dual relationshilp."

"The transfer of her membership to another congregation" as you worded it, wasn't done in the normal sense of what is done in the case of a transfer of membership. When a transfer is properly done, the person actually holds membership temporariy in both churches solely for the reason that there isn't to be any interruption of that person's membership during the transfer process.

In the case of Linda Shelton, it seems that there was a segment of time when Linda wasn't a member in any church, resulting from her being removed at her request from one church before becoming a member by profession of faith in another church.

As it seems that Linda was being treated unfairly by the other church, and, as they probably wouldn't have transferred her membership, if it had been requested, there was no other choice to do what was done in this instance.

Yes, there was.

"When a person applies for membership on profession of faith and it is found that he/she still is a member of another congregation, no steps should be taken to receive that person into membership until the church holding the membership grants a letter of transfer. If, after the process of transfer is
followed (see p. 52), a church refuses to grant a letter of transfer and the member feels the letter has been unjustly denied, the member may appeal to the conference committee" (p. 51).

What she did wasn't the normal procedure, and that's why the division found it necessary to vindicate her.

Good point, Rosangela, except that I believe the president of that conference was on 3ABN's Board of Directors at that time, as well as one or more other members of 3ABN's Board of Directors, so it is possible that Linda Shelton also didn't think she would have received a fair hearing from them.

A unique situation here. Yes, the conference president was a member of the board of 3ABN at that time. It looks like that by the time she was vindicated that president was on the staff of NAD as an advisor to the president.

I wonder what prompted the NAD to vindicate her, and how does that affect Danny Shelton's responsibility in regards to that?

As far as I recall from the accounts I received, Linda was "summonend," including the air fare to come to see the president and a vice president of NAD where they tearfully heard her account, asked her forgiveness that the church had not given her support. Before leaving she was given a "Green card" which gave her free access to any official church function within NAD, including singing and preaching at events like camp meetings.

It seems evident they had done their own investigation of the events before this took place. A primary source told me personally that Danny Shelton never responded when he was summoned to take part in such an investigation by the NAD.

The whole affair was an unfortunate situation that shows how actively Satan is working to thwart the purposes of God.

While 3ABN aired commercials showing Danny and Linda to be a happy couple, Satan was dividing to conquer. While 3ABN had marriage counseling programs to uplift family values, its president blazed a trail apart from the path that the network was laying out as a better way.

When everything settled down the damage to 3ABN's credibility was done. Linda suffered shame in this he said she said debacle. The president remarried a younger woman. And the setting aside of the word of God for the ways of man set God's work back. Instead of finishing the work that was started with such promise, 3ABN may well have lost souls for the kingdom who were disgusted with this public demonstration of lovelessness by the people of the book who should have demonstrated a higher regard for the Father's children. It impacted me. When the Lord blessed me with the means to make a sizable contribution to His work (before I retired to a life of hand to mouth dependence on God), 3ABN was not among the top 100 possible recipients. Within a year of their divorce, I almost completely stopped watching the network and I prayed for a season that God would withhold contributions from 3ABN (not to close their work, but enough to get their attention). In the last 2-3 years I have not watched 3ABN even once.

How much better it would have been if they had separated for months or years ( without divorcing) until time had been allowed to heal the wounds and reconciliation in Christ had come about. That would have testified that even Christians have trouble in their relationships, but that the Lord can and does work to keep to together that which He has united.

But Satan was hell-bent on crashing Danny's influence upon the same rock that got Jim Baker and David. The particulars were crafted to test the character and tailor made for the specific individuals. The rest is history.

It is good to see that Linda is still serving the Lord. When Paul and Barnabas separated, instead of having one missionary team the Church had 2 teams (Paul and Silas - Barnabas and Mark). So in spite of Satan's attacks on the members, God's Church will be victorious.

Happy New Year, the year of our Lord 2013.

His Child

Given that Danny and Linda's divorce was final in June 2004, hopefully they will finish dividing up their marital property, finally. It really seems odd that it would take so long, or that Danny would try to hide his substantial book royalty and kickback income. Humanly speaking, it isn't odd, but from a spiritual standpoint it seems so odd to me.

But then again, it seems very odd that Danny would connive to obtain kickbacks. Royalties, okay, but kickbacks?

In my opinion at the time, she shouldn't have requested the removal of her membership, but there is another issue that complicates things. She was heading for a church trial for her alleged abandonment of her marriage and ministry, and therefore had a right to defend herself. But rascally Danny Shelton had gotten her to sign a contract with 3ABN that prohibited her from saying anything negative about her ex-husband Danny, so she couldn't defend herself.

Did Danny reimburse 3ABN for this personal benefit? Was its value reported on his IRS Form W-2? Perhaps such a benefit doesn't need to be reported, but it is substantial, and I would think Danny should reimburse 3ABN at least for part of whatever the legal expenses were that were charged by the attorney that drafted the contract.

At any rate, when Linda asked Danny what it would take for her to be released from that gag provision so she could defend herself, Danny told her she would need to return the $150,000 she had already received from 3ABN, and forfeit the $6,000 a month she was still receiving. See http://www.save-3abn.com/3abn-and-linda-shelton-separation-contract-trial.htm.

Wasn't that local church aware of Danny's and 3ABN's conditions?

In other words, wasn't that local church aware that Linda couldn't defend herself without giving up her only source of income?

From some of the documents and statements from board members at that time I heard and saw, Danny Shelton, as a typical psychopath, governed completely the thinking of the pastor and the board. Even for morning worship people were lead to believe that since Danny had received the vision from God to build that TV station he was a true prophet and spokesman for God. Therefore the people at the station were told at these morning worships to regard the words of Danny Shelton as if they were spoken by God himself, and must be obeyed without any questions asked.

Fictitious miracle stories were told in writing and speech to verify the divinity in everything that happened there. In the beginning I accepted what I saw there as truth, and tried to convey the message to others, regarding this as my job and responsibility.

Sounds like a Jones cult?

Didn't Baalim start out as a true prophet.

Didn't his love of money do him in?

If 3ABN has been on the air about 30-years, that is a long time for a man to serve the Lord without faltering. Even Abraham's faith did not hold out for 30-years, when he took Hagar to wife. But God put him back on track and he remained faithful for the next 75-years +/-. But God sure tested his metal before laying him to rest.

The Lord called Danny to do a work. And God will finish the work with or without Danny.

Danny is not the problem, the devil is.

The more important the work, the more Satan attacks the workers that are doing the work that God ordained. In a devilish effort to stop God's work at 3ABN, Satan took Linda off the air, destroyed Danny's credibility, and probably allowed some folks at 3ABN to have more influence than they would have had if things had been different.

I hope we are praying for them as much as we are critiquing their situation.

What about the one who betrayed Jesus?

What about the one who denied Jesus?

Let us beware

Let us also be aware.

And let us also be.

Or not.

This debate seems petty in view of all Linda has been through. This poor woman was being persecuted by everyone around her and she needed to get out of there.
If any one of you believes we should legalistically follow every letter of the church manual without exception, without humanity afforded, then you probably should take a look around and see that most likely every church and conference pays little attention to it unless it can serve someone's agenda. May I suggest you have this debate elsewhere and leave Linda out of it. She's been picked apart enough.

I understand Linda will be preaching at several conventions and meetings in the coming weeks. She is blessed by the Lord.

How is Linda doing at her not so new job now?

Bumping this for a reply from somebody who knows the answer to my question.