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THE REV. CRAIG CORBIN, who is serving as interim director at Luther Park Bible Camp, was among the more than 150 people in attendance at a special meeting held to discuss the Toufars’ termination.
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"Train wreck" was the phrase most often used at a meeting on the controversial management transition at Luther Park Bible Camp in Chetek.
Sherm and Mary Toufar, longtime executive and program directors of the camp, respectively, were abruptly fired by the board of directors in July.
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Since then, the couple's supporters in the Luther Park Association have questioned the manner and validity of their dismissal in listening sessions, correspondence to the board and online communications.
More than 150 people-visitors, delegates, ministers and lay people-gathered Saturday to discuss the terminations at a special meeting at Grace Lutheran Church in Eau Claire.
The more than 130 Evangelical Lutheran Church of America congregations who own the camp were invited to send three delegates apiece. Thirty-nine visitors and 116 delegates attended.
Les Walck, minister at Colfax Lutheran Church, is a member of the ad hoc committee that called the meeting. Board members previously held listening sessions on the controversial terminations but declined to call a special meeting, Walck said.
Members of the board are Steve Kolden, Donny Moats, Brenda Thalacker, JoDeen Forsyth, Amanda Rasner, Bill Jensen, Dale Kringle, Eileen Christopherson and pastors Jim Page, John Ashland, Leila Haight and Michael Wollman.
Throughout the meeting, members of the board spoke individually, but all spoke for the board in all cases.
Walck was the first of a series of speakers, each given two minutes of talk time, to challenge the board's decision to prematurely terminate Sherm Toufar's contract and install as interim director the Rev. Craig Corbin, director of Luther Point Bible Camp in Grantsburg.
Walck acknowledged Luther Park's financial peril but pointed out the Toufars' increased success at garnering funding. He questioned whether finances were the only reason and sought an explanation for the terminations.
As has been the board's habit, non-financial reasons for removing the couple were not discussed. Feelings of mutual frustration-both those of attendees who couldn't hear about personnel issues and those of board members who couldn't discuss them-were acknowledged.
The Toufars were not guilty of any wrongdoing, they assured the group, and the decision to terminate them wasn't made lightly.
"We are not a group of troublemakers," responded Megan Walck, Les Walck's wife and writer of a letter requesting the special meeting. "What we did was not done lightly, either."
All speakers, including board members, agreed on the couple's devotion to the camp, but disagreement over the board's methods evoked an emotional response.
Strident commentary ranged from questioning the board's stewardship of the gift of the Toufars to predicting a loss of donations, alluding to board members' arrogance and, in one instance, accusing one member of trying to secure the Toufars' jobs for her husband and herself.
Although most speakers decried the board's actions, some supported a switch in management.
"Luther Park needs to move into the future," said Pastor Paul Oppedahl from Our Saviour's Lutheran Church in Chippewa Falls. "It was hard to see where the Toufars end and Luther Park begins. We knew it was going to be a train wreck. It is."
Money was frequently discussed. According to the board's September meeting minutes, the camp's year-to-date gross income was -$29,818.57, cash-on-hand was -$85,302.98 and total debt was -$558,322.44 as of Aug. 31.
Letters requesting contributions were sent to parishioners, but many hadn't been returned, and the need for increased gifting was emphasized.
Karen Neilsen, member of First Lutheran Church in Eau Claire, questioned where the $50,000 the church had given Luther Park in the past month had gone.
That money, and more, was needed to pay past-due bills, the board responded.
Following open debate, three resolutions were discussed. Two of the resolutions were passed unanimously by voice vote.
The first called for a committee to review the organization's constitution, bylaws, personnel policy and board job description, and the second committed to continued efforts to confront financial problems.
The only controversial resolution appealed to the board to reverse one or both of the terminations, or, if that was not done, offer Mary Toufar a severance package including a written apology from the board for the manner of their termination.
The resolution passed by a vote of 62 in favor, 54 opposed.
Because the meeting wasn't posted according to the organization's bylaws, all action taken was to be considered advisory to the board.
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©The Chetek Alert 2010
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