Christian News Today

Ephesians 5:11 & Mark 4:22

Rev. Karl Strader Senior Pastor

Carpenters Home Church, Lakeland, Florida

ROY ALDRICH WHO WAS MURDERED BY THE

STRADERS IS REJOICING
THAT THE DEN OF THIEVES CARPENTER'S
HOME CHURCH IS NO MORE!
Roy Aldrich, a retired school teacher, who was robbed of a
$100,000 by Dan and Karl Strader, knew that Pastor Karl
Strader was an enemy of good men.

THE ENEMY

http://wp.me/p2M7AJ-1Ru
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33762241

A Vanishing Mega Church in North

Lakeland
By Gary White
THE LEDGER
Published: Saturday, March 7, 2015 at 11:00 p.m.

DAVID MILLS | THE LEDGER (2008) MICHAEL WILSON

| THE LEDGER
IN 2008, Without Walls Central Church was still
drawing crowds to its sanctuary for Sunday
services. The interior of the sanctuary now sits
empty, waiting to be demolished based on the plans
of the new owners, Cook Development in Daytona
Beach. The company has plans to raze the building
and convert the Evangel Christian School site into
an assisted-living facility.
LAKELAND | If things had gone differently, a
massive celebration would have taken place last
month at Carpenter's Home Church.
In this alternate history, the congregation would
have gathered to commemorate 30 years since the
opening service was held at the North Lakeland
sanctuary Feb. 10, 1985.
Instead, the hulking, octagonal structure, a building
whose construction anticipated the national rise of
megachurches, will soon crumble without
ceremony.
"It really feels like a dear old friend is going to die,"
said Faith Turnage Hallock, a Lakeland resident who
attended Carpenter's Home Church and its affiliated
Evangel Christian School. "I was literally in tears

when I found out. I know it's a building, but what

people don't understand is to those of us who grew
up there and love it, it was more than just a
building; it was part of our life."
It has been a decade since Polk County's largest
church sanctuary was known as Carpenter's Home
Church. The structure had been home to Without
Walls Central Church from 2005 until its services
fizzled out in 2011.
But for many in Polk County, the sanctuary still
represents Carpenter's Home, the church that
inhabited the building for two decades.
Hallock met her husband of 18 years when both
were youths attending the church. Other former
members talked of getting married or being
baptized or seeing children or grandchildren
baptized in the church.
Hallock, 41, created a Facebook page, "I Used To Be
A CHC Kid!" in 2009. She has posted links to news
articles about Without Walls, culminating in a
report that the property had been sold to Cook
Development in Daytona Beach, which plans to raze
the church building and convert a 1920s-era
structure formerly home to Evangel Christian
School into an assisted-living facility.
"Heartbreaking," one woman wrote in a typical
comment reacting to that news. Amid the sorrow,
though, Hallock and others say the imminent
destruction has spurred them to share happy
memories of Carpenter's Home Church.
"It stamped our life forever," said Lou Frye, who
attended the church with his family from 1985 to

2003, commuting from Brandon in the early years

before moving closer. "Although we were already
born again, when we got there it was almost like we
got born again, again."
Carpenter's Home Church arose from First Assembly
of God, a Lakeland church founded in 1921 that for
decades occupied a stone building near the
intersection of Lemon Street and Lake Parker
Avenue. In 1964, the Pentecostal church moved to
a sanctuary at Main Street and Rose Street,
currently the site of Family Worship Center, and a
decade later built an 1,850-seat sanctuary next to
it.
By the early 1980s, the church had more than
4,000 members and was drawing overflow
attendance for five Sunday services. The church
leadership, including the pastor, Karl Strader, who
had headed the church since 1966, sought a way to
expand.
They purchased about 475 acres near Lake Gibson,
stretching west to U.S. 98 and south nearly to
Interstate 4, property that included a recently
closed retirement home for the United Brotherhood
of Carpenters and Joiners of America.
NATION'S LARGEST
The church sold all but 125 acres to developers and
began construction in late 1982 on a 155,000square-foot sanctuary that would hold about 10,000
people, with a main floor holding about 6,000 seats
and the rest in a sweeping balcony. The $12 million
project created what was then the nation's largest
sanctuary holding weekly services, said Joe Perez,
the church's longtime executive director.

Photos from the first service show a white-robed

choir of more than 200 filling six rows behind the
vast stage, with a contemporary band arranged in
front of them. The balcony wasn't yet completed,
Perez said, and an estimated 7,000 people jammed
into the main seating area, with some standing in
the aisles.
Frye, 73, said he and his wife, Marleen, were drawn
to the new church from hearing broadcasts on
WCIE, a radio station based at First Assembly of God
and then at Carpenter's Home. They began making
the 45-minute drive from south Brandon each
Sunday with their two children.
"We came in the side door and walked into the
sanctuary and were blown away," Frye recalled.
"There were 7,000 people, probably, with their
hands in the air worshipping God. It just blew us
away. We both said to each other, 'I think we're
home.' So it was a powerful time for us."
Ron Sage, who worked on the church's 12-man
security crew, recalls vehicles filling the paved
parking area and the athletic fields across the
street. He said the church had to enlist Lakeland
police officers to help direct traffic at the two
connecting roads, U.S. 98 and North Florida
Avenue.
The church carved off part of its property for a
retirement community, the Estates at Carpenters,
which opened in 1986, Perez said. Carpenter's
Home established a separate nonprofit corporation
to operate the Estates, which has since been
expanded in several phases.

An attached two-story complex larger than the

church's previous sanctuary contained a lobby with
a water fountain, a sprawling staircase, a wedding
chapel, the radio station, other offices and a
bookstore.
The former carpenters' union building was
renovated as the new location for Evangel Christian
School, and the church converted a nearby water
tower into a seven-story "prayer tower" with a glass
exterior elevator.
Laurel Frye Connell of Lakeland recalled that
congregants filled out prayer requests on cards that
would be posted at the top. The church had
counselors stationed in the tower 24 hours a day to
field prayer requests by phone, many coming from
the audience for the church's radio and TV
broadcasts.
The developers say they plan to raze the tower
along with the sanctuary.
FAMOUS GUESTS
In its first years, Carpenter's Home drew some of
the country's best-known evangelical pastors,
among them Rex Humbard, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim
and Tammy Faye Bakker and Oral Roberts.
Carpenter's Home reportedly collected offerings of
$4.8 million in 1988 and had a combined budget of
$50 million for the church, retirement home and
school.
Julie Bulloch was born into Lakeland's First
Assembly of God and migrated with her parents to
Carpenter's Home. She and her husband, Rusty
Bulloch, were scheduled to be the first couple

married in the new church, but a construction

delay meant they instead were the last couple
married at First Assembly.
The Bullochs, the subject of a TV program focused
on them raising more than 20 young adults at their
North Lakeland ranch, led youth programs at
Carpenter's Home for about 15 years.
"We had kids from all walks of life maybe a gang
member and a rocker and a cowboy and they all
got along," said Julie Bulloch, 53. "That church
affected so many people that it's been hard to find
something to replace it. The youth group was so
awesome, we hear from kids all the time, 'I never
found another youth group like that.' "
Lawrence and Fay Groover said they moved from
Miami to Lakeland in 1988 in large part because
they had seen Strader on Christian TV broadcasts
and felt drawn to Carpenter's Home Church. The
couple, now 82 and 77, respectively, pulled into
the parking lot of the vacant sanctuary on a recent
morning to take a few final photos of the church
they attended for about seven years.
The couple recalled attending revival sessions
headed by T.D. Jakes, leader of a Dallas
megachurch, and evangelist Rodney HowardBrowne, who led an extended revival in 1993. The
Groovers said their daughter was married at
Carpenter's Home and their grandchildren were
baptized there.
The couple, who now attend Harvest Assembly of
God, said they remain friends with many former
congregants at Carpenter's Home.

"It's like watching your whole hometown

destroyed," Lawrence Groover said of the imminent
demolition.
Aaron Giddens said his family would drive from
Haines City to attend services at Carpenter's Home
when he was a boy. Giddens, 24, recalled how
enormous the lobby seemed to him at the time.
"I would climb the first set (of stairs) when I was
young and just look up, and I remember getting
dizzy at how high the roof was and almost falling
over."
He said his family usually stopped in the bookstore
after church, and it was there he acquired two
paintings he still displays in his home: an image of a
lion wearing a crown of thorns and another of Jesus
ministering to a woman.
PROBLEMS ARISE
Within a few years of opening, Carpenter's Home
would soon attract negative publicity, and the
church was a source of tragic news before it even
opened. A 19-year-old church member helping to
install sound equipment in the sanctuary fell to his
death in January 1985.
The construction, headed by Roe Messner, also
resulted in significant flaws that had a lasting
impact, according to Jack Hall, who said he hosted
meetings of the church's board at his condominium
in Haines City. Hall, who has been a self-appointed
caretaker of the property in recent years, said a
poorly designed drainage system resulted in leaks
that began shortly after construction was
completed and were never fully rectified.

Hall said the stained glass windows in the sanctuary

were installed with the wrong exterior panes
clear glass, rather than glazed, leading to
significant fading of the colors.
Inside the sanctuary, divisions soon arose. In 1989,
the regional leadership of the Assemblies of God
denomination placed Strader on an 18-month
probation for "errors in judgment, teaching,
practice and personal relationships." News reports
said some members objected to charismatic
elements in services, such as spontaneous dancing,
singing and an emphasis on prophecy.
The conflict led to a church vote in 1989 on
whether to retain Strader as senior pastor. Though
he prevailed by a 854-582 vote, his longtime
executive assistant resigned and a significant
portion of the membership soon left to form a new
congregation that eventually became Victory
Church, now one of Polk County's largest
congregations.
Carpenter's Home reportedly had a peak
attendance of less than 3,000 after the split.
Though that didn't nearly fill the sanctuary, the
church remained vital, former members say.
Hallock recalls mass picnics held on the church
grounds, and the highlight for her and other youth
was zipping down a water slide stretching from the
prayer tower down toward Lake Gibson.
Hallock said the church also had a thriving drama
program that for years produced an elaborate
Christmas musical, "The Gospel According to
Scrooge." Hallock, who also attended Evangel
Christian School, said she met her husband, Chris

Hallock, when they both appeared in a "Scrooge"

production as teenagers in the early 1990s.
Carpenter's Home also became a primary venue for
concerts by Christian musicians from the mid-'80s
into the early 2000s. It drew the most prominent
Christian performers of the era, among them Amy
Grant, Vince Gill, Michael W. Smith, Sandi Patty,
Carman, DC Talk, Kirk Franklin and Newsboys.
Bulloch, who oversaw catering at those concerts for
17 years, notes the church also produced its own
successful musicians, including Stephen Christian,
lead singer for the band Anberlin, and Nathan
Walters of Plus One.
But it has been years since a major concert took
place in the sanctuary. On a recent morning, as the
new owners met with a demolition crew, a door to
the sanctuary was propped open with a blue plastic
tub containing stacks of old reel-to-reel audio
recordings bearing the label "Carpenter's Home
Church." The collection, apparently destined for
the trash, included a Carman concert taped March
27, 1988.
Though Carpenter's Home Church is gone, it begat
other congregations. Strader's son, Stephen
Strader, who had been an associate pastor at
Carpenter's Home, founded Ignited Church in North
Lakeland in 2005. Karl Strader's son-in-law, the late
Shane Simmons, became lead pastor at Auburndale
Life Church, which was acquired from Without
Walls International in the 2005 transaction.
Bulloch said her family now attends a small church
in Polk City headed by Walter Lawlor, another
pastor with ties to Carpenter's Home.

"There's so many churches that have Carpenter's

Home to thank," Bulloch said.
Karl Strader, 85, now lives in the Estates at
Carpenters, within view of the church he founded
and led for two decades. In an emailed statement,
Strader said the retirement community is part of
the enduring legacy of Carpenter's Home Church.
"I like to remind people that a church is not really a
church building, it's the people who really make up
the church," Strader wrote. "On the surface, a
building can have a lot of beautiful memories, but
it's the people who committed their lives to Christ;
and now the people of Carpenter's Home Church
are engaging in close to 12 different churches in
town, and in safety."
Reflecting on the split of the church, which he said
The Ledger "covered so generously," Strader
suggested he knows how it feels to be part of a
couple enduring a divorce.
"I learned, especially, how to forgive everybody,"
he wrote. "I was brought closer to God through it
all!"
http://www.theledger.com/article/2015150309405
WATCH THE VIDEO Without Walls Lakeland
Abandoned by Paula White
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuX0gJ8dOu0&feature=channel&list=UL
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3T0bCh9ZQM&feature=channel&list=UL

IDIOTS ALL OF THEM. WHAT IS REQUIRED IS

REPENTANCE NOT PRAYER!

Karl Strader's son, Steve Strader with and his Ignited church,
built with stolen money when Senior Pastor Karl Strader stole
the First Assembly of God of Lakeland, Florida and incorporated
it into Carpenter's Home Church, prayed over the HUGE Gospel
Miracle Tent. Services start this week on the former Carpenters
Home Church property Lakeland.
The Straders and their different churches have also been
praying for over 15 years for Dan Strader, the thief, who is
serving a 45 year jail sentence to be released from jail! Of

course all their prayers go unheard because God doesn't

hear the prayers of wicked ones.
What is required from the deceived Straders is not prayer but
repentance for being criminals, liars and deceiver which they
have been reluctant to do!

Pastor Karl Strader Is History

One thing can be said for Assembly of God Pastor Karl
Strader of Lakeland -- he just refuses to go away quietly.
A year after giving up the most visible symbol of his onetime religious conglomerate -- the monumental
Carpenter's Home Church sanctuary -- Strader is now 76
and fighting prostate cancer. And after experiencing the
loss of a once-thriving ministry and seeing one of his sons
serve years in jail, his theology now embraces a concept
not much talked about in his Pentecostal tradition suffering.

One thing can be said for the Rev. Karl Strader -- he just
refuses to go away quietly.
Yet he still preaches twice on Sundays and has plans for
new ventures, launching a satellite preaching ministry
and an Internet "congregation."
"I feel very fulfilled . . . because I've turned the baton
over to younger men. I don't have to deal with the nuts
and bolts of pastoring," Strader said recently in an
interview.
Like a Shakespearean king or a biblical patriarch, Strader
has divided the dwindling Carpenter's Home Church into
two congregations and given them to his son and son-inlaw. Stephen Strader is remodeling a former Scotty's
hardware store as a home for Ignited Church on the north
side of Lakeland, and Shane Simmons has taken over the
Auburndale Life Church.
Technically, Carpenter's Home still exists as a "multisite"
church in the two locations, with Strader as an overseer
or bishop. Auburndale Life Church operates under the
nonprofit charter held by Carpenter's Home, although
Ignited Church now has a separate legal identity. But
there is no longer a single congregation that bears the
name so long identified with Strader. He preaches at a
Sunday morning service in Auburndale and on Sunday
afternoon at Ignited Church.
Relaxing in his home not far from the sanctuary he built,
Strader said he has no regrets about selling the building
to Without Walls Central Church because it had become
such a burden. Saturday, July 15, 2006 by The Ledger
O LORD my God, if I have done this: if there is iniquity in
my hands, if I have repaid evil to him who was at peace
with me, or have plundered my enemy without cause, let
the enemy pursue me and overtake me; yes, let him
trample my life to the earth, and lay my honor in the dust.
Selah (Psalms 7:3-5)
Roy Aldrich, a retired school teacher, who was robbed of
a 100,000 by Dan and Karl Strader, knew that Karl
Strader was an enemy of good men. In January, 1995 in

regard to Pastor Karl Strader Sunday sermon on

Enemies Roy Aldrich made the following remarks:
I would like to join the ranks of those who Karl Straders
counts as his enemies. by the following statements:
1) I am the enemy of lying and deception which hurts
and robs people.
2) I am the enemy of those who practice cruelty in the
administration of any corporation, especially churches.
3) I am the enemy of any minister who allows the use
of his pulpit for personal vendettas.
4) I am the enemy of any minister who uses his pulpit
for soliciting public and personal sympathy over
controversial matters involving his family.
5) I am the enemy of every minister in the world whose
sense of right and wrong is based on nepotism and
favoritism.
6) I am the enemy of the policy of Karl Strader who
raised $52,000.00 for Dans defense fund and
$58,000.00 for repairing a roof and not one dime for his
sons elderly and devastated victims.
7) I am the enemy of the disrespect represented in the
Strader attitude towards the State Attorney and Judge
Robert Doyel, a true servant of God.
8) I am the enemy of the policies of secret salaries
which conceal huge benefits flowing from trusting church
members to their leaders- salaries which provide
sumptuous life styles, while at the same time, these same
leaders are firing and traumatizing the little people
under their care like Cindy Deaton, Patricia Aldrich, Jack
and Betty Collins.
9) I am the enemy of huge personal gain to Karl Strader
and Joe Perez derived from their secret management fees
from the CHC Life Center Retirement Estates.
10) I am the enemy of the thinking that some claimed
anointing or supposed special privilege with God gives
anyone the right to turn a Christian church into their own
personal cash-cow.
11) I am the enemy of the thinking expressed in the
attached sermon outline which implies that the welfare of
CHC is determined by any one man or family. We are
supposed to worship Christ, and not the Straders.
12)
I am the enemy of any minister who uses his
oratorical ability to rally church audiences into
cheerleading and other emotional excess as a device to
shore up a crumbling personal empire.

13) I am an enemy of any organization that suggests

opposing the leaders lifestyle and words is opposing
God.
Believe it or not Pastor Karl Strader actually preached on
Psalms chapter seven and made it his prayer one Sunday
morning. He actually mouthed the foolish words and
asked God to do the same to him if he did evil to others.
Well, God heard and answered Karls prayer and his
honor was laid in the dust. And now Assembly of God
Pastor Karl Strader is history!
The Assembly of God denomination unlike other
denominations is not a democratic organization. It is an
old boys club made up of pastors to support pastors. Its
hierarchy including superintendents are appointed by
pastors and not by members. Ministers instead of a
church member preside over board meetings unlike in
other more democratically operated Protestant churches.
Many of its churches are owned by pastors rather than by
members. In America its a very small religious, arrogant
and hypocritical denomination which produced the three
Musketeers: Jim Bakker (1987), Jimmy Swaggart (1988),
and Karl Strader (1989). Together, these so called men of
God have robbed, raped and even murdered the
defenseless elderly people in their communities and
affected many lives across America.
The money that flows through the Assembly of God
denomination, as well as other denominations in America
and is not openly accounted for, is in the hundreds of
millions of dollars per year, and offers religious
politicians and unscrupulous scoundrels a gold mine or
cash cow as Roy Aldrich called it. Some of the things
that go on in AG (Assembly of God) CHC (Carpenters
Home Church) and Baptist Christians make the soap
operas on television appear mild in comparison.
More money is embezzled from the church each year
($16 billion) than is given to foreign missions ($15
billion) reported the newly published second edition of
the World Christian Encyclopedia. The exhaustive survey
of global Christianity contains some good news. It notes
that Christianity has become the most extensive and
universal religion in history, with some 2 billion
adherentsone in three of the worlds populationat the
start of the new millennium.

CLEMENCY BID DENIED

Daniel Strader To Stay In Prison
Son of religious leader is serving a 45-year sentence for stealing $3
million from investors.
Published Friday, June 16, 2006
By Jason Geary
The Ledger
BARTOW -- A bid for clemency by Daniel Strader, a former insurance
agent and son of a prominent Lakeland religious leader who is in
prison for stealing more than $3 million from investors, has been
denied.
Strader, 48, has been searching for mercy since his 1995 conviction
on 238 criminal charges.
He is serving a 45-year prison sentence with a scheduled release
date in 2033.
In December, Karl Strader, the founder of the Carpenter's Home
Church in Lakeland and father of Daniel Strader, and other
supporters made their plea to aides to the state Clemency Board.
They suggested Daniel Strader should be released from prison to
begin repaying his victims.
But the State Attorney's Office in Bartow received a letter Tuesday
from the Office of Executive Clemency in Tallahassee with news that
Strader's request to waive the clemency rules to allow his case to
proceed had been denied.
Gov. Jeb Bush and the Cabinet members, who serve as the Clemency
Board, denied Strader's request on Feb. 6.
"It has been the position of this office all along that his case wasn't
appropriate for clemency," said Chip Thullbery, administrative
assistant state attorney. "We believe the board made the correct
decision."
Calls to the Governor's Office did not glean any further detail about
why the board came up with its decision.
"There is not an in-depth explanation for decisions written in the
files for the clemency hearings," said Russell Schweiss, a spokesman
with the Governor's Office.
"The individual cases are decided by the board based upon the
recommendations of the clemency office in addition to testimony

and also records that are provided to the governor and Cabinet
members."
Strader may not apply for another waiver for at least three years
from the date the waiver was denied, according to the rules of
executive clemency.
Jason Geary can be reached at 863-533-9079.

Rolling the Dice With the Jury

Let's be clear: Daniel Strader, the son of a prominent preacher,
could have been out of jail years ago if he'd taken the option given to
him in 1995: Confess to his financial scam and be sentenced to serve
14 years in prison (which would have been cut in half for good
behavior) for bilking 60 investors, mostly elderly, out of more than
$3 million. Many were members of a church at which his father, the
Rev. Karl Strader, was pastor.
He agreed -- and then renounced his guilt, rejected the plea, and
tried to convince a jury to let him go.
It is a decision that he and his family have much reason to come to
regret.
After five weeks in court, the jury spent a mere three hours
convicting him of 238 out of 240 counts of fraud. One juror told The
Ledger he was let go on those two counts because the jury "gave him
the benefit of the doubt because he had paid back their money."
Circuit Judge Bob Doyel imposed a 45-year sentence saying, "The
court can have no confidence in the word of a man who is unwilling
to admit his wrongdoing. The first step toward rehabilitation is an
admission of guilt, so it seems unlikely Mr. Strader will ever be
rehabilitated."
Now Strader's family wants Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and the state
Cabinet to let Strader out of jail.
A Major Abuse of Trust
Before the governor and Cabinet members vote to give Strader a full
hearing on reducing his 45-year sentence, they owe it to Strader's
victims and the cause of justice generally to familiarize themselves
with how badly Strader abused the trust placed in him.
Just after he agreed to plead guilty in exchange for a 14-year
sentence, Dan Strader stood in the pulpit of his father's church while
about 2,000 people listened.

"So what did I do wrong?" Strader, then 36, asked the congregation as
a way to explain away his guilty plea. "I didn't follow through with
the intricate details of every business transaction to ensure the
integrity of every investment I represented."
There you have it: Sloppy bookkeeping, that's all it was. Evidently,
Strader convinced himself it was exactly that. So he withdrew his
plea and went to trial.
What happened to the sloppy bookkeeping defense? "The way he
answered (questions on the stand) just sort of indicated his guilt,"
Linda Detwiler, a jury member from St. Cloud (jurors were bused in
from neighboring counties because of the notoriety of the case), told
The Ledger shortly after the jury delivered its verdict.
If there had been accurate bookkeeping, it would have been
embarrassing. During the trial, the former manager of a checkcashing company said Strader frequently cashed checks there in
1992 and 1993 -- so frequently that he ran up $30,000 in fees in one
month. She also testified that he had given her $5,000 in tips. Other
testimony showed he was going there because officials at three
banks had closed his accounts because of bad checks.
After conviction, Strader tried to claim his defense lawyer wasn't
competent. That may have worked if the defense lawyer had been a
novice. But Jack Edmund was representing Strader. Before his death
in 2002, Edmund was considered one of the best criminal defense
lawyers in the state, and he advised Strader to stick to his plea
bargain.
At a hearing last week in Tallahassee, family members told aides to
Cabinet members how badly they want him out of prison. "I'm
hurting. My wife is hurting," said the Rev. Strader.
There are trust accounts set up more than five years ago that
potentially could be used to repay victims. But supporters also said a
bank account related to the fund currently has only $110 in it -- the
minimum needed to keep it open.
It's nothing compared with millions of dollars needed for restitution.
If people are serious about wanting Strader out of jail, there should
be serious money in it to make restitution for his crimes.
And then there was the $500,000 mortgage on development
property. Daniel Strader's supporters said it could be an asset used to
pay victims. They claimed the mortgage's validity was being
questioned in an ongoing lawsuit.

But Lakeland lawyer Mark Miller, whose clients sued Strader's

companies over that mortgage, told The Ledger last week that
there's no dispute about it: "I have a final judgment from the court
invalidating that mortgage," Miller said.
`Earned Every Day'
State Attorney Jerry Hill, whose office prosecuted Strader, attended
the hearing. He told the aides that Strader "earned every day" he
served -- and will serve. For some, said Hill, there is no restitution
because the victims have died. Many couldn't afford their losses, and
Hill said he thought some had suffered premature deaths as a "direct
result of the deceit and harm" Strader's dealings caused.
A Web site attempting to raise support for Strader's early release
notes that one of Strader's business associates, Gary Pernice,
received probation for his part in the scam. (He was also required to
spend one weekend a month for 15 years in the Polk County Jail, and
ordered to pay 28 percent of any earnings toward restitution.)
The site notes Stephen Smith of Winter Haven, another scam artist
convicted in the late 1980s, served only four years of a 15-year
sentence. And Alice Faye Redd, who also separated investors from
their money, only served 18 months of a 15-year sentence.
But here's the difference: Pernice, Smith and Redd all confessed to
their crimes and settled for plea bargains. Pernice pleaded no
contest to the charges. Smith pleaded guilty to charges involving oil
and gas explorations. Redd, charged with selling bogus investments
in a clinic where her husband worked, pleaded no contest and was
sentenced. (She was granted a "conditional medical release" in 1998
because she had terminal cancer. She died in 2002 at age 65.)
Strader rolled the dice and went to the jury -- perhaps believing they
would trust him just as much as the people who had given him
money.
Members of the jury didn't buy any of Strader's excuses.
Neither should the Clemency Board.
(Published Wednesday, December 21, 2005 The Ledger)

Clemency for Strader? Don't Buy It

By Thomas Roe Oldt

Supporters of imprisoned Polk con artist Daniel Strader say the 45year sentence he received is too harsh and ought to be undone by a
grant of clemency.
But State Attorney Jerry Hill feels so strongly the other way that last
week he journeyed to Tallahassee for a pre-clemency hearing to
argue against an early release.
Strader, who is the son of Carpenter's Home church founder the Rev.
Karl Strader, was convicted in 1995 of swindling investors, many of
whom were elderly and lost their life savings.
Among his petitioners was Strader's father, who asked the state
clemency officials to release his son, saying he would be better able
to repay his victims if not incarcerated. The imprisoned man's 16year-old daughter also testified, saying she and her brother missed
their father and wanted him home.
One can sympathize with the family tragedy the younger Strader
selfishly created when he elected to steal his millions, but his
family's anguish should not become a compelling reason to release
him.
Strader and his supporters can talk all they want, but not everyone
who lost their money to Strader is able to be heard. Some of the
victims can't speak for themselves because they are dead, having
expired in Strader-induced poverty.
Hill is their advocate. On Friday, he talked to The Ledger about why
Strader should serve out his sentence and about the damage Strader
caused his victims and society.
Though the clemency hearing focused on Strader's family, "what got
us here," said Hill, "are 172 pages of charges, $3.5 million, 63
victims, 250 separate counts and a guilty verdict on each count.
"It's not as if this was a petty, poorly thought-out, one-time scam,"
Hill said. "Among the things you have to remember is that Danny
Strader didn't make cold calls. He went to people in the church, to
old friends he sold insurance to. He picked on people he knew and
who trusted him. Instead of using a gun, he used trust, a smile and
the confidence people had in him.
"He didn't just take a watch and a wallet," he said. "He took the trust
and security from these folks, who generally were older and more
vulnerable. . . . This involved people who were already close to the
line financially. These were people who needed every dollar every
month."

As with other clemency hearings he's attended, Hill said, he

"expected to hear how he's been a counselor, a teacher, started
some religious classes. There was none of that. What he's in fact
done in 10 years in prison is file grievances against a judge, file
appeals in every court he can find, petition the U.S. Supreme Court
and complain to the Bar about every attorney involved in the case,
including his own.
"His whole life is so self-centered that it has nothing to do with
anything other than getting Danny out of jail," Hill said.
As for the effect on his family, "if the love of a family or the harm
done to a child are grounds for releasing a felon, then we can pretty
much empty the jails tomorrow," Hill said. "He created victims in his
own family. That's unfortunate, but no excuse for releasing him."
Like most con artists, Strader arrogantly believed himself to be not
just above the law but superior to most of the people he
encountered in the legal system, including his own counsel.
What else could explain his decision to renounce, on the eve of his
trial, a guilty plea that would have given him a 14-year sentence.
Instead, convinced he could game the system as surely as he conned
his victims out of their money, he went before a jury.
"He complains about the sentence he got," notes prosecutor Wayne
Durden, "but he had his chance and gave it up."
This is a good thing for society, Durden said.
"Everybody's talking about sexual predators. Strader's a financial
predator," Durden said. "Even if he were released, there would be
significant restrictions on his financial capacity, so I don't know how
he would pay back anybody. My concern is that others would be
victimized if he were released."
Among the victims Durden remembers are "an elderly couple he hit
up on Christmas Eve for tens of thousands of dollars. Strader would
tell his victims anything he thought they wanted to hear in order to
part them with their money. He had no scruples about what he had
to do or say to get it."
Circuit Judge Robert Doyel, who presided over Strader's trial and
sentenced him, noted in his sentencing report that Strader "is
unwilling to acknowledge the simple truth that it was criminal for
him to lie to people to get their money and then use the money for
his own purposes. He evidently believes that he is above the law and
that it is perfectly acceptable for him to defraud people as long as he
intends eventually to pay them back."

To this day Strader has not acknowledged that "simple truth," which
Doyel pointed out to the Clemency Administration in a Sept. 9 letter.
Clemency, says Hill, "is nothing more than an act of grace or mercy.
Strader is entitled to exactly the same amount of clemency he
granted his victims -- none."
Thomas Roe Oldt is a Winter Haven-based columnist for The Ledger.
His opinion column appears on Sunday.
Published in The Ledger December 18, 2005

Carpenter's Home Church Sold to Without Walls

By Cary McMullen
Ledger Religion Editor
LAKELAND -- The 9,000-seat sanctuary of Carpenter's Home Church
sits empty on Sundays these days.
Worshipers walk past the massive building to gather in the
auditorium of Evangel Christian School next door.
Worship services are as lively as ever, but the worshipers easily fit in
the much-smaller school auditorium. The Carpenter's Home
congregation has been worshiping there for about two years, since
not long after a deal fell through for a Tampa megachurch, Without
Walls International, to purchase the sanctuary.
Now Carpenter's Home is one step closer to having the burden of the
idle sanctuary lifted from it, although the future of Evangel Christian
School and Day Care is uncertain beyond next year.
The Rev. Karl Strader, pastor of Carpenter's Home, told the
congregation Sunday that the church's board has unanimously
approved a contract that would sell the sanctuary to Without Walls.
Carpenter's Home would receive $8 million plus a 3,000-seat
sanctuary in Auburndale now used by Without Walls Central, a
satellite of the Tampa congregation. The Auburndale church has
been appraised at $5.7 million, Strader said.
"We have a contract with a deposit in escrow, but there are several
contingencies that must be met before closing, which must take
place within 60 days. We are not done yet," he said. He did not say
what the contingencies are.

As Strader outlined it, the deal calls for the Without Walls Central
and Carpenter's Home congregations to exchange places, although
there would be a transition period of one year during which
Carpenter's Home would continue to hold worship services in
Lakeland on Sundays and Wednesdays.
Without Walls Central would worship at the Lakeland sanctuary on
Thursdays.
Carpenter's Home would continue to own and operate Evangel for
one year, Strader said, but he implied that the school's future
beyond that is unclear. Referring to Evangel's principal, Mike Cooper,
and Without Walls Central's pastor, Scott Thomas, Strader said, "One
of the things we're hoping is that Brother Mike will get Pastor Scott
to take an interest in the school so it can continue on."
Strader said the deal would enable Carpenter's Home to be free of
debt and to use its resources for advertising and evangelistic
outreach.
"I can't tell you what this means to me. It's a new era for us. . . . We
haven't gotten behind on any bills, but we've been living on our
assets the last few years and you know you can't do that," he said.
Following the service, church member Randy Baatz, who lives near
the site of Without Walls Central in Auburndale, said he supported
the deal.
"I want whatever God wants. It would be good to be able to pay off
our debt," he said.
Without Walls International is an independent Pentecostal church
that draws as many as 20,000 worshipers each week. Its pastors,
Randy and Paula White, are flamboyant figures who have attracted
celebrities from across the country to their services, and Paula White
has a popular TV show on Christian cable channels.
The church has a wide-ranging set of ministries, from food and
clothing distribution to Spanish-language programs.
Without Walls was close to a deal to purchase the Carpenter's Home
sanctuary in 2003, and the Tampa church held regular services in the
sanctuary for several months, but the two churches could not agree
on a price. Without Walls subsequently purchased the Life and Praise
Temple in Auburndale and established the satellite church, Without
Walls Central, there. The church now has about 5,000 worshipers
each week.

The current deal between the churches was made public when the
Whites told the Tampa Tribune last week that a contract was in the
works. The report caught Carpenter's Home officials off-guard, and
they were cautious in their comments, because the church board had
not approved the contract and church members had not been
notified about the deal. A letter was hurriedly sent out to members,
and Strader said Sunday, "Randy and Paula got a little rambunctious.
They're excited about it."
Strader led the First Assembly of God of Lakeland to build the
sanctuary in 1985 at a cost of $12 million, renaming the church
Carpenter's Home. At the time the church had about 5,000
worshipers, a TV ministry and an FM radio station, but its fortunes
fell after an internal struggle in 1989 over Strader's leadership led
several hundred people to leave and form Victory Church. The 1995
conviction on fraud charges of Strader's son, Daniel, further hurt the
church.
About 500 people were present at two services Sunday.
In November, Carpenter's Home members approved a plan to put the
sanctuary on the market and create what Strader termed a "multichurch," essentially what Without Walls has done, with multiple
congregations under one name. Strader said Sunday the church had
received several offers for the sanctuary and compared the process
to the birth of an elephant.
"Elephants have a gestation period of 18 to 22 months, and if ever
there was an elephant, it's that sanctuary," he said.
Strader thanked the worshipers for their faithfulness.
"We hope to be in at least two new locations soon. We want to be
sure you go with us wherever we go. We want the best for you," he
said.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050613/NEWS/506130356
/1134

Strader Seeks Reduced Sentence

Family helps convicted swindler with Web site, e-mails to governor.
By Jason Geary The Ledger jason.geary@theledger.com
BARTOW -- Daniel Strader is turning to the Internet and Gov. Jeb
Bush for salvation, having exhausted his legal appeals.
Nine years ago, a judge sentenced Strader -- son of Karl Strader,

founder of one of Polk County's largest churches -- to 45 years in

prison for swindling elderly investors out of more than $3 million.
In March, a federal judge denied Strader's request for a writ of
habeas corpus -- effectively ending his chance of reducing or
overturning his sentence through the courts.
So his family began a letter-writing campaign, focused on persuading
Bush to reduce his sentence.
About a month ago, the family created a Web site to jumpstart what
it refers to as a "divine intervention." See
http://www.danielstrader.com/
The site includes essays from the 46year-old inmate about his
divorce and incarceration, updates on his appeals, pictures of
Strader with his son and daughter and a "Free Dan" graphic that
explains the clemency process and how to write a letter of support
to Bush.
"He needs to be with his family -especially his 16-year-old son who
has leukemia," said Karl Strader, the 75year-old patriarch of
Carpenter's Home Church in North Lakeland.
So far, Strader's cyberspace campaign has generated a relatively
lackluster response -- between 30 to 40 supportive letters, Karl
Strader said.
"These are people (like) presidents of Christian television
companies," he said. "They are really influential people who are
writing. They say Jeb Bush reads his e-mail, but I don't know."
The state's Office of Executive Clemency was created in 1975 to
assist convicted felons seeking pardons and help in restoring their
civil rights or to obtain relief from punishment. The governor and
members of the Cabinet serve as the Clemency Board.
Inmates make applications to the Florida Parole Commission, which
investigates the cases and makes recommendations.
In the past 24 years, the office has commuted 118 sentences,
according to state records. That means the sentences were nullified
or lessened.
"Post-conviction relief is a rarity," said Tim Weber, the St. Petersburg
lawyer who represented Strader on his last appeal. "In my
experience, the cases where you get relief are where you are able to
show the court clear innocence.

"Clemency is not always an easy route because it becomes political."

STRADER'S STORY
Strader's is not the story of a man with a vast fraudulent scheme but
one of a man who lied in a desperate attempt to save a failing
business, Weber said.
In his bid for clemency, Strader likely would argue that his trial
lawyer, the late Jack Edmund, provided an ineffective defense and
that he was given an unusually harsh punishment, Weber said.
The harshness of Strader's sentence already appears to be a central
element of his family's talking points and strategies.
Karl Strader described his son as a "political prisoner" who fell victim
to a media blitz in the early 1990s as eager prosecutors looked to
win praise for defending the elderly.
The danielstrader.com Web site contains a detailed chart comparing
other local highprofile fraud cases.
Daniel Strader's co-defendant, Georgia lawyer Gary Pernice, was
sentenced to spend one weekend a month in jail for 15 years and to
pay restitution.
Another white-collar criminal convicted about the same time as
Strader, Alice Faye Redd, received a 15-year prison sentence and
served 18 months for bilking $3.6 million out of people who thought
they were investing in Watson Clinic.
However, unlike those people, Strader rejected a plea bargain
offering a 14-year sentence. Instead, he went to trial and was
convicted on 238 charges -ranging from theft and conspiracy charges
to securities fraud and racketeering.
Another aspect separating Redd's case from Strader's is that Redd,
who died at age 65, received a "conditional medical release" in 1998
because of terminal spinal cancer.
WHAT INVESTIGATORS FOUND
Assistant State Attorney Wayne Durden spent more than a year with
three investigators working full-time to unravel the complex web of
deceit in the Strader case.
Durden said Strader claimed to have been investing money in
discount mortgages, annuities, mutual funds, short-term loans,
property development -- even hot air balloons.

Instead, he cashed investors' checks and returned some money to

victims as fraudulent interest or profit in what investigators
described as a classic pyramid scheme.
"The financial hardship that he (inflicted) on these victims in the
case is enormous," Durden said.
"To this day, there is no true indication of remorse or general
acknowledgment of criminal wrongdoing. . . . Society is better off
with Daniel Strader incarcerated."
Karl Strader contends his son was an honest businessman who
intended to repay everyone.
"There are about half a dozen people involved in the investment who
want vengeance and want him to rot in prison," he said. "They are
full of hate.
"He has apologized to everyone for making mistakes in business, but
he never intended to defraud anyone," he said.
THE VICTIMS' STORIES
At Strader's trial, victims testified to being "financially ruined" and
feeling "betrayed not only by the business community but also by the
Christian community in which Mr. Daniel Strader is held in such high
regard."
Nora M. Kuppinger, 81, who retired to Lake Wales from Chicago, was
one of 60 individuals and couples who testified against Daniel
Strader.
When she met Daniel Strader in 1979, Kuppinger said she thought he
was a good insurance agent and was impressed with his morals.
"You have faith in a man like that because he has a big religious
background," she said.
Kuppinger said Strader assured her she would not lose anything. She
handed over $100,000. Investigators calculate she lost about
$56,000 in the scheme.
"He took me into it," Kuppinger said. "I just felt he was so honest.
Here I am a bigcity girl from Chicago, and he got me."
For years, Kuppinger said she felt embarrassed and was grateful that
her husband, John, died years before the scandal broke.

"When he died, he thought that he'd taken good care of me," she
said.
Kuppinger said she has tried to forget Strader's lies but does not feel
he should be given clemency.
"In this case, it was absolutely pure greed, and I have no sympathy
for him at all for what he did," she said.
Some of Strader's victims said they do not believe they will ever see
their money again. At the time of Strader's 1995 sentencing, five of
his victims had already died.
Karl Strader said his son continues to maintain his innocence and
wants to get back home.
The family has managed to stay together -- calling on the telephone,
writing letters and making visits every couple of weeks to Avon Park
Correctional Facility, where Strader is incarcerated.
"We've kept close in touch, but it's like having four hurricanes in a
row -- it begins to wear on you," Karl Strader said.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041003/NEWS/410030380/1
004

Judge Denies Strader's Last-Chance Appeal Writ

By Jeff Scullin, The Ledger, March 27, 2004
BARTOW -- After nearly a decade, a federal court ruling this week all
but ended Daniel Strader's appeals of his 45-year prison sentence for
cheating elderly investors out of millions of dollars.
Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew denied Strader's
petition for a writ of habeas corpus, declining Strader's request to
review his claims that the state of Florida had violated his
constitutional rights in prosecuting him for fraud and other charges.
The judge denied Strader's petition with prejudice, barring him from
filing a similar petition.
Unless Bucklew or the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta
grants Strader what is known as a certificate of appealability -basically, permission to appeal -- Bucklew's decision means Strader is
out of legal challenges.
"An appeal is not automatic (because) the standard of review is fairly
strict," Assistant Attorney General Trish McCarthy, who handled

Strader's case, said Friday. "From our perspective, the case is at an

end."
Tim Weber, the St. Petersburg lawyer who represents Strader, said
he thought there were sufficient legal grounds on which to appeal
Bucklew's ruling. He said he plans to discuss an appeal with Strader
and his family next week.
If Strader decides not to appeal or the federal courts were to deny a
certificate of appealability, Bucklew's ruling would be the "end of the
line" of Strader's legal challenges, Weber said.
In 1995, Strader -- the son of Karl Strader, pastor of Carpenter's
Home Church in Lakeland -- was sentenced to 45 years in prison
after a jury convicted him of 238 counts of theft, conspiracy,
securities fraud and racketeering. He's been in prison since August of
1995 and is currently housed at Avon Park Correctional Institution.
As president of Interstate Financial Services, Strader, 45, organized a
Ponzi scheme that bilked 56 investors, most of whom were elderly,
out of $2.3 million.
Strader's subsequent appeals and motions for post-conviction relief
failed. Two years ago, Weber filed a petition for a writ of habeas
corpus with the U.S. District Court in Tampa, arguing that Strader's
due process rights had been violated.
The petition included allegations that prosecutors had withheld
evidence favorable to Strader's case and that Strader had received
ineffective legal representation because his lawyer, the late Jack
Edmund, had not adequately prepared for trial or investigated the
case.
But the heart of Strader's allegations was that prosecutors had
coached their star witness and his former business partner, Gary
Pernice, to change his testimony about promises they had made to
him about receiving a lenient sentence in exchange for his
cooperation.
Pernice, a former Atlanta lawyer, pleaded guilty in 1995 to felony
grand theft charges involving three of Strader's victims. He was
sentenced to spend one weekend a month in jail for the next 15
years and ordered to pay 28 percent of his income toward
restitution.
Weber said Bucklew never addressed the allegation that prosecutors
coached Pernice, which he called "the guts" of Strader's petition.

"We do not feel that the court even addressed the primary argument
that we made, which is a little disconcerting," he said.
Other than appealing Bucklew's ruling, Strader's remaining option for
lessening his sentence would be asking the governor for clemency.
Weber said he thought Strader would have a case for clemency based
on what he described as the inordinately lengthy sentence Strader
received.
Strader is scheduled to be released from prison in September 2024,
according to the Department of Corrections' Web site.
http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040327/NEWS/403270360
/1004

Carpenter's Home Church will be sold

The name Strader carries weight in charismatic circles. Strader, 72,
has been pastor of Carpenters Home for 35 years and has ministered
at various churches nationwide. A Pentecostal church under the
Assemblies of God denomination, Carpenters Home has owned radio
stations, hosted concerts and conferences featuring big names in
Christianity, such as evangelist Rodney Howard-Browne, gospel singer
CeCe Winans and Christian music artists Jars of Clay and Michael W.
Smith reported the St. Petersburg Times.
But the past 15 years have also carried controversy. Some Assemblies
of God leaders, including televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, have publicly
questioned Strader's theological teachings, according to the Lakeland
Ledger.
"We've been to hell and back," Strader said during a recent church
service. About 800 of Strader's members left to form their own
church in 1989, after a dispute over his leadership.
Then in 1994, Strader's son, Daniel, was arrested on fraud charges.
He was convicted the next year and is serving a 45-year sentence in
federal prison. A small number of fraud victims were members of the
church, causing further tension. Strader said he believed his son was
innocent and was treated unfairly by the system. But his son's
appeals have been denied. Strader asked members of Without Walls
to pray for his son's release, saying seven years behind bars was
enough for a "white collar crime."
At one time membership rolls swelled to about 5,000. Strader and a
jubilant congregation had the 10,000-seat auditorium built, believing
that in time it would be filled to capacity. Instead, attendance
dwindled.

Published the St. Petersburg Times August 12, 2002

LAKELAND -- The dreams of a Tampa megachurch to buy the massive
Carpenter's Home Church sanctuary in Lakeland have come to an
end.
Without Walls International Church, a 14,000-member Pentecostal
church, concluded a 10 month arrangement with Carpenter's Home
on May 31, ending its Saturday night worship services and closing off
negotiations to buy the 10,000-seat sanctuary.
Inability to agree on a price doomed the sale. Jennifer Mallan, an
associate pastor at Without Walls said Thursday the figures were
confidential but the two sides were "a couple of million dollars"
apart.
In February, negotiations reached a stalemate when the Tampa
church's offer of $10 million was rejected. The board of Carpenter's
Home set an asking price of $12.5 million.
At that time, it appeared Without Walls would have to end the
Saturday night worship services at Carpenter's Home it had started
last August. Carpenter's Home canceled a lease agreement between
the two, but then it appeared that negotiations revived, and Without
Walls continued to hold worship services until three weeks ago.
However, Shane Simmons, Karl Strader's son-in-law and an associate
pastor at Carpenter's Home who handled the church's negotiations,
said Thursday that Without Walls had made no new offers.
"We were never offered anything higher than the price we turned
down," he said.
Published the Ledger June 20, 2003
The problem with lying and thieving preachers in America is that
they all preach to others but never listen to others. They are after all
better than their sheep? Someone should tell preachers such as Karl
Strader, Benny Hinn and Randy White, who said I was demon
possessed and needed to get a life because I dont do what they did,
that robbing and raping the money and well being of the sheep under
their care is not just a "white collar crime." They should read their
own bible that they talk so much about and see what God said to Eli
and his raping and thieving sons:
Then a man of God came to Eli and said to him, "Thus says the LORD:
'Did I not clearly reveal Myself to the house of your father when they
were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house? 'Did I not choose him out of all the

tribes of Israel to be My priest, to offer upon My altar, to burn

incense, and to wear an ephod before Me? And did I not give to the
house of your father all the offerings of the children of Israel made
by fire? 'Why do you kick at My sacrifice and My offering which I have
commanded in My dwelling place, and honor your sons more than Me,
to make yourselves fat with the best of all the offerings of Israel My
people?' "Therefore the LORD God of Israel says: 'I said indeed that
your house and the house of your father would walk before Me
forever.' But now the LORD says: 'Far be it from Me; for those who
honor Me I will honor, and those who despise Me shall be lightly
esteemed. 1 Samuel 2:27-30
Carpenter's Home Finances
In our local news recently is a report that the Carpenter's Home
Church, under the leadership of Karl Strader, will be sold.
I wish The Ledger would investigate and publish the finances of this
deal. The Carpenter's Home Church started out as an Assembly of
God church before Karl Strader took control.
I have relatives who were members of that church since the 1940s,
and they helped pay for it.
I have visited often in the past and heard many of Rev. Strader's
sermons. I was puzzled why he often said in his sermons that anyone
who disagreed with him should not make a fuss, just walk out the
back door and leave.
His congregation has now dwindled down and he is left with a
multimilliondollar facility.
My relatives left after Rev. Strader became a more-autocratic
minister, there were questions about his family being given jobs at
the church and his son was convicted of defrauding church members
(mostly elderly ones) out of their life savings.
It seems to me part of the problem is that the Assembly of God
denomination allows ministers to preside over board meetings
instead of a church member, as in other more democratically
operated Protestant churches.
Nonetheless, it was good Assembly of God people who paid for that
Carpenter's Home Church property, and any benefits from the sale
should go to the Assembly of God denomination.
The question before the public is, will it?
TRAVIS EPSHIRE

Published The Ledger Saturday, August 31, 2002

Strader continues as president of the separate nonprofit

corporation that operates Carpenter's Home Estates
retirement facility.
(THIS IS WHERE HE STEALS MONEY FROM IN LEGAL
MANAGEMENT FEES!)
In conversation with Strader or his supporters, the word "integrity"
comes up frequently. He clearly wants to emphasize that, unlike
other famous Pentecostal preachers who fell from grace, such as Jim
Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart, his personal morality has never been
questioned. "I don't know a finer man in shoe leather than Karl
Strader," says Reggie Scarborough of Family Worship Center. "He's a
man of love who walked in love with people." CARY McMULLEN
Ledger Religion Editor

The Straders
Judge says nobody can trust Strader
(The Tampa Tribune August 10, 1995)
People speaking in his behalf, honorable people, believe in Mr.
Straders innocence. They too are victims who have been taken in by
what Straders says, rather than seeing what he is and what he has
done. Judge Doyle
Hes created as much damage and heartbreak and ruined as many
lives as any homicide case Ive every seen. State Attorney Jerry Hill

Clients complained to state about Strader

By William R. Levesque
LAKELAND- The Florida Department of Insurance received two
complaints in 1989 that Daniel Strader was misdirecting some of his
insurance clients money, documents obtained by the Ledger show.
One complaint came from Straders employer, the Bankers Life and
Casualty Co. which told the state it fired him after customers raised
concerns, documents show....
According to insurance investigators Dan Strader took funds from
clients to purchase a policy or annuity; but instead deposited the
money into an Interstate account. On May 21,1987, an 80 year old
Haines city woman, wrote the insurance department a letter stating
that she gave Strader $87,000 thinking that it would be invested in a
Chicago Insurance company.
But instead the money was deposited, without her consent, into an
account controlled by Straders companyInterstate Financial
Services, of which Daniel was vice-president. Strader was

investigated by Banking officials of the Florida Department of Banking

and finance, but the inquiry was closed because Strader repaid the
woman.

The Ledger, Lakeland Feb. 23,1994

Elderly Polk Investors left waiting for Money

By Williams R. Levesque
... Some people as Craddock and Riser, knew Strader well because he
was their insurance agent. Many investors knew him as the son of a
well known local pastor.
Strader 35, is the son of Karl Strader, Pastor of the Carpenters Home
Church in north Lakeland.
A 1979 telecommunication graduate of Oral Roberts University in
Tulsa, Okla. the younger Strader formed Interstate in 1985...
... But Strader now operates out of an office at 222 Carpenters WayThe Carpenters Crest condominium complex - and he no longer
occupies his former South Florida address. interstate is a general
Partner in Carpenters Crest Complex...
Daniel Strader, 36 was arrested on Friday May 20, 1994, at his
fathers beautiful home, on a lake, across the street from an 18 hole
golf course, for what the State of Florida alleged that Dan did. He
was the son of the Pastor and a devout Church member of
Carpenters Home Church. Also a former insurance investigator and a
self-made and self-proclaimed investor with a once-thriving
insurance practice.
The State Attorney office of Florida would give a picture of a
confident pitchman whose financial world was in shambles.
Interviews with investors by the media revealed that Strader offered
attractive double digit interest rates on their so-called investments
which turned out to be a sham.
The Investors solicited by Dan Strader were told many things about
where their money was being invested, from real estate to insurance
companies or stocks or bonds, but ended up instead in a company run
by Dan Strader, Interstate Financial Services or in his personal pocket
or bank account.
All the while, Dan Strader was telling others that he was paying the
interest with income from company owned properties. While it
mainly came in from other gullible investors who believed the
Pastors son and this so called man of god and graduate of Oral
Roberts University who prayed with and preyed on them, while he
talked about Christ and quoted Bible verses.
Investigators would later show that Dan Straders
properties he had purchased for investors with their
actually in Straders own name. Many of his so-called
victims, were his insurance clients or members of

five of the
funds, were
investors or
his fathers

church.
Dan and Pastor Karl Strader also told the parishioners of Carpenters
Home Church, Lakeland, Florida that Dan faced real threats and
dangers because of threats from his investors. Although, this was
never established as a fact, by the Straders or by the court.
Many people in and around Lakeland, Florida, especially preachers
and retired elderly, were really upset that they were conned out of
their lifes savings by the son of a prominent Assembly of God,
Pastor. Karl Strader who once told others that his original calling was
to serve God in Russia as a missionary, and started to learn the
Russian language in order to fulfill his calling. Too bad, Karl didnt go
to Russia, so many people would have been spared the pain and
agony of knowing and working with him!
Dan Strader said about the arrest and all the rumors that he was
innocent and it was all a misunderstanding. A theme that was
replayed by Dan and his family for the next two years.
On Sunday, May 22,1994, Pastor Karl Strader, 64, of Carpenter Home
Church in Lakeland, Florida, paraded his complete family including
in-laws in front of the congregation and told them that the media
and government were not hearing the full story of his sons plight.
This circus parade of the Straders was to repeat itself over the next
two years, because the Straders thought they were special in the
eyes of God and man. Little did they know what the community
around them, religious and business, really thought and said about
them. Words such as crooks, hypocrites, Pharisees, thieves, liars and
murderers and wanted nothing to do with them.
All along the Straders couldnt figure out why the ten thousand seat
church had only a fraction of the people, the turnover of members
and adherents was the highest of any church in the states, and
church was in financial trouble all the time.
Karl said, he was perplexed by the picture of his son portrayed by
the investigators and in the media reports. He also stated, that they
have pictured us as a part of the family we dont know, for his son is
a warm, loving, kind, very human person, a person who trusts God
and after 36 years was caught in a web drowning. Nothing was
farther from the truth, as Karl Straders spoken words were, as the
mountain of evidence and testimony of real elderly victims, would
later show.
One thing about the Straders was true, they knew how to use nice
oratorical words, other people and bring God into it. In their words
and deeds, it was always the fault of others, but never of the
Straders. They also acted and did things as though they were better
an others, and stayed aloof from everybody. Pastor Karl Strader was
hard to find after a church service. Even Joyce Strader, his wife, said
that the Pastor kept to himself and didnt say much to others.
In the circus parade, Pastor Karl Strader stated what was to be his

standard response for the next year about Dan Strader, All we ask
is a fair trial and opportunity for him to make restitution. His heart is
very tender towards God. He is seeking the Lord. There never has
been a time when he hasnt sought the Lord to my knowledge. Were
all looking for a supernatural deliverance, for God is a God of
miracles.
Well Dan received his fair trial, he was found guilty of seeking
illegally the riches of this world, supernatural deliverance never
came, Karls knowledge was of Dan was poor, and Dan never
confessed that he did something really wrong, and neither did the
Straders.
The fact remained that as a result of the Ponzi scheme operated by
Dan Strader and the Redds (also once members of Carpenters Home
church) in Polk County, Florida, some people lost their homes and
many other things including their lives.
A Ponzi scheme is where returns are paid to older investments by
using funds from newer investors. Many were not able to recover
financially, from the loss of their lifes savings being stolen by socalled Christians, who were also members of the Assembly of God
Churches.
Many of the real victims were retired elderly, who invested with Dan
Strader or the Redds because they were recommended as a good
Christian people. They trusted these Christians, as they came from a
prominent Assembly of God church, which was supposed to be the
home of the Carpenter, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Well for the record, the real Carpenter worked for a living, He
didnt collect money nor steal from others. He also blessed, healed
and delivered people and gave even His own life for them rather than
to put them in bondage.
Jesus Christ was literally innocent of all the accusations that the
religious leaders and the authorities of the day made against Him.
The Straders and Redds were guilty of their crimes, which included
robbing, stealing, lying, hurting and even causing people to die
prematurely.
Many of their victims, out of embarrassment, or because they were
Christians, didnt file any charges or complaints against them. Some
of the victims, especially in Carpenters Home church, even believed
that Dan Strader one day would return their money, because he gave
his word and the Strader name was a good name which could be
trusted.
Dan Strader, after his arrest on May 20, 1994, by investigators of the
Florida States Attorney office, stated that the only thing that he was
guilty of was stupidity and ignorance. Well, the Ledger also printed
an article by William R. Levesque, about Dan Straders home, which
he purchased in 1991.
Its an unbelievable story and showed more than just ignorance and

stupidity. Even though Dan defrauded around four million dollars

from others, on May 14, 1994, he owed $210,564.00 on a mortgage
on it, that had an original value on his home of $210,000, which was
in his wifes name, and owed back taxes on it from 1989 of
$20,400.00. Straders electricity had also been turned off 13 times
since 1995 for non-payment of bills through 1994. Concerning this
entire area, the bible is very clear.
But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those
of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an
unbeliever. (I Timothy 5:8)
This is something, that as a pastors son, he should have been aware
of. The state attorneys office stated that some cash derived from
expensive local check-cashing services, of investors checks, were
deposited in bank accounts of Dan Strader and his wife Melissa, and
they were used to pay the couples personal debts. Again Dan, as a
pastors son and graduate of Oral Roberts University, should have
known the bible, which stated:
Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working
with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him
who has need. (Ephesians 4:28)
It was also established in the courts by Debby, Dan Straders
secretary from 1989 to 1992, that Dan quoted the bible The wealth
of the wicked will be inherited by the righteous. Especially when he
talked about and mocked three of his investors and called them
alcoholics, a red neck and a truck driver. Other events would show
that the Straders knew how to quote Scripture verses but they didnt
know how to live by them. There is a difference that is evident to all!
Although, some people, including Senior Pastors of Assembly of God
churches, memorized chapters and even books of the Bible, they
definitely didnt put into practice the bible the way it was meant to
be. For many of them did not do anything about the injustices and
wrongs in their denomination. Again, there is a difference between
memorizing and doing the bible.
What was proven and established by the courts was that Dan stalked
and preyed on the trusting and defenseless elderly. The unfortunate
part is that the group of people, who were mostly hurt by the
criminal actions of Dan Strader and his competitor Alice Faye Redd,
were the elderly. It was a group that was defenseless and powerless
and an easy prey to those who were supposed to be trustworthy.
In the PTL Scandal, it was also the widows with their small monthly
incomes that became the target of Jim Bakker, in his search for easy
money. It was no coincidence that both Jim and Dan pleaded not
guilty and they both got a 45-year sentence.
However, it was a group that Jesus Himself would have been most
upset about, because Jesus saw what the widow and the Pharisee
gave to the house of God.

So He said, Truly I say to you that this poor widow has put in more
than all; for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings
for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she
had. (Luke 21:3-4)
Jesus, also told us:
Beware of the scribes, who desire to go around in long robes, love
greetings in the marketplaces, the best seats in the synagogues, and
the best places at feasts, who devour widows houses, and for a
pretense make long prayers. These will receive greater
condemnation. (Luke 20:46-47)
Once upon a time, when the Straders had their abundance in
Carpenters Home Church, Pastor Karl Strader had bodyguards, who
were protecting him and other people who would park his limousine
for him, but the times have changed and so have the people.
At first, when Daniel Strader company was under investigation, he
told the Ledger he owed investors no more than $235,000.00 and
that some of that was not due immediately. Court records would
later reveal the amount he owed was closer to $1.5 million.
It was another one of those heavenly exaggerations, of religious
people as Stephen Strader has defined it or a lie to normal people
like you and I, that both Dan and his father, Karl, did over the years
when they talked about Dans company or Carpenters Home
Churchs finances. Ironically Dan Straders wife, Melissa said, my
husbands biggest crime is being the son of a preacher.
Daniel Strader, as per Judge Doyles remarks, conducted a Ponzi
scheme. To obtain funds for his scheme Mr. Strader utilized his
position as a trusted insurance agent for many of his victims, and a
position of trust as the son of a well-respected minister at one of Polk
countys largest and prominent churches.
The guise under which the defended obtained money from his victims
varied from victim to victim. To many of the victims, he lied that he
was investing their money by purchasing and reselling discounted
mortgages. There is no evidence that the defendant actually
purchased or sold discounted mortgages, said Judge Doyle.
Other schemes involved fraudulent representations, that the
defendant was investing his victims money in hot air balloons, in
C.D.s, or mutual funds, and property development. In the process,
Dan Strader gave some victims worthless mortgages. The evidence
also showed he was using investors money to make payments to
earlier investors, not where he told them he was investing their
money.
A similar technique was used by some in Carpenters Home Church to
keep it alive since the split of 1989. In other words, find new people
to replace the people that had left and deceive the new people in
contributing more. In addition, to sell any church asset and do
anything to stay alive at all costs.

As a result, in June 1995 WCIE the churches radio station built from
the donations of others was sold before the mid pint of the season for
5.1 million dollars to offset the churchs indebtedness over the last
seven years.
Something that Judge Doyle stated that Dan Strader was doing just
prior to his arrest trying to stay alive and ahead of the law. Rather
than investing any of his victims money the defendant stole their
money or returned it to them as fraudulent interest or profit. Most of
the Victims were unsuspecting and trusting elderly.
The Straders not only talked well but also wrote letters. I, as many
others, read a one page letter sent by Daniel Straders brother,
Stephen Strader and his sisters, Karla and Dawn which was also
reprinted in the Ledger. The letter solicited funds for Straders legal
defense. Investigators were charging him with 259 felony counts and
for scheming to defraud Central Floridas elderly residents. The
letter didnt talk about the real victims of Dans crimes but stated:
Dan is facing bankruptcy and life imprisonment because of mistakes
he made in his business. Because of these mistakes and the economy,
some of Dans business clients have suffered losses. While many of
these good people have been willing to give Dan the opportunity to
recovery financially, others have been unwilling or unable to give
Dan more time to make things right.
The system which holds Dans fate in its hands seems almost sinister
in its inclination, conscious or not to damage Dad and the church.
The press and some of Dans investors have not hesitated to drag out
Dad and the Church into the mire.
All we want for Danny is that he be treated fairly, and that he be
given the opportunity to set things right. He has been faithful to the
Church and to his small family [ whose electricity was cut off 14
times in one year because of non payment of bills by Dan ]. He loves
God and feels the call of God on his life. He is seeking the Lord now
more than ever in his 6 by 10 cell with only his Bible. Being human,
Danny has made mistakes, but he is sincere in his desire to make
things right. He wants all of his investors and business associates to
be made whole.
Our reasons for contacting you is to let you know about this trouble,
because we know that you will want to show your love and support to
our parents. We also want you to know how critical this situation is.
Dan has no money, and cannot afford to pay a qualified lawyer to
defend himself. Our parents cannot afford to handle the expenses of
Dannys defense by themselves.
Mary wrote a letter to the Editor titled Strader gutless, selfish
which was printed in February, 1995, in the Ledger, concerning
Daniels decision to withdraw his guilty plea. For Strader was accused
of soliciting investments in income producing properties and in his
company and instead the money was converted to cash and deposited
for his personal use and pleaded guilty. She stated:

A truly revolting and shameful display. The Reverend Strader should

be double ashamed - not only did he raise a criminal, he raised a
gutless selfish whiner.
Later, we were to learn that Dans parents, the Straders, lived in a
debt free $400,000 home on a lake next to a golf course drove two
luxury towncars and made a salary in the six figure bracket not
including special perks.
While other parents, who sold their homes and possessions to help
one of their daughters or sons in their time of trouble, the Straders
in their usual style asked others to contribute and made only small
token contributions themselves. For their other children protested
that dad was not to spend their inheritance in defending Dan.
If Dan was innocent as Pastor Karl Strader said many times, why
didnt Karl Strader, as a concerned parent sell any of his assets,
especially the luxury towncars to help him? This was something that
haunted me and spoke loudly to me that something was really wrong
in the pastors behavior and actions as a Christian.
Later, Pastors old time friend and associate of seventeen years
would tell me why. The other children complained that the Pastor
was spending their inheritance to help Dan Strader.
In response to the Straders letter soliciting funds for Dan Straders
defense fund, the Ledger ran an article on Saturday, May 28, 1994,
titled, Strader family requests prayers, donation. Saying in part:
Jim Bakkers one-time top aide in PTL ministry has set up a legaldefense fund for jailed businessman Daniel D. Strader, the
beleaguered son of a well-known local pastor.
Richard Dortch [ An Assembly of God Pastor] who pleaded guilty to
fraud and conspiracy in the PTL scandal served 16 months in federal
prison, has set up a trust fund to pay Straders legal fees.
Dortch helped sell $158 million in lifetime partnership to PTL
followers, but federal prosecutors later charge the ministry could
never meet those partnerships included-like three nights lodging at
PTL hotels in South Carolina.
Dortch also arranged a $265,000.00 payment to Jessica Hahn to keep
her from revealing a sexual liaison she had with Bakker at a St.
Petersburg Beach hotel.
An engineer who was on staff with CHC worked, out a plan for
Carpenters Home church in the summer of 1995, to fix the roof for
$24,000.00 and presented it to them. The Executives of CHC decided
they would raise $160,000.00 instead and do it differently. Why not?
This has always been the Strader way of doing things, using other
peoples money to do things.
A former staff member of CHC told me the story one day, of how a
poor and needy person came to Carpenters Home Church and was in
need of food and shelter. Joyce Strader, the wife of pastor Strader,

ordered CHC to immediately write a check for this lady for fifty or a
hundred dollars. While this act by Joyce was a very noble one, it
displayed a few things that were wrong with the Straders.

First, the check didnt come out of Joyces pocket but CHCs.

Second, Joyce commanded that a check be written and issued right

away even though she was not an executive or on the board of CHC.
(The Straders know how to get and use others peoples money for
noble causes, such as Dans defense fund, and put very little of their
own and do nothing for the victims.)
Court records showed that when Karl Strader told the media that he
was tapped out helping Dan, Karl stated to the judge Doyel that he
had given $5,000.00 to help Dans defense fund. This amount was
peanuts for a man who earns a salary in the six figures brackets and
lives on a beautiful home on Heatherpoint Drive, by a lake, in front
of a golf course, and owns two luxury towncars. Not many pastors in
America live like this or earn such a salary or have the luxury of
writing their own articles of Incorporation to give themselves what
ever they wanted.
Former staff members, who knew personal and intimate things about
Joyce and Karl Strader, told me that when the Dans teacher used to
tell the Straders that Dan was a doing something wrong, the Straders
scolded the teacher, not the boy. It seemed that the Straders way
of bringing up their kids was to refuse to see or accept that anything
was wrong with them, and deal with it.
This is what started the 1989 church split, not doctrines and not
finances, but that Steve Strader, the son of Karl, and Shane Simmons
the son in law, were abusing and using church properties to their
own advantage. Shane had the church truck for his use and home in
the evening and weekends when others didnt.
It was this that led Roy Aldrich, in January 1996, to write the
following strong and maybe true remarks to Karl Strader:
You may remember Abraham who was willing to sacrifice his son if
necessary but you have gone about sacrificing any-one who
questioned Dans lies, a total perversion of such magnitude that Dan,
obediently following your lead, has been judged very harshly, not
primarily by judge Doyel but by God.
You are the one who should be in that jail.
Since Abraham was willing to put truth and his Lord in preference
over his precious son, Jehovah gave his son back.
Since you put your son first in willful disregard of the truth and your
Lord, you have had Dan taken away. When the Father gave up His
precious Son Jesus for death, the example was established that
sacrificial love is mandated for people like you, not Mafia-style
terminations.
In other words, in Christianity God gave up his only Son Jesus, to

save the world; in Straderism, Karl gave up his sheep to save His son,
Dan.
Stephen Strader, whom I got to know quite well, an Associate pastor
and Evangelist at large for Carpenters Home Church, was a sincere,
idealistic, and helpful individual who honestly didnt or didnt want
to know what he, his father or brother were doing wrong. But
neither did the rest of the Straders!
As a matter of fact, to Stephen, his use of different facilities of
Carpenters Home church, such as a special salary, cellular
telephone, trips and stationery were alright as the church was now
the responsibility of the Straders. Others more qualified were let go
so that he could remain on the staff. The Straders now ran the
church, because everybody else was untrustworthy or was out to get
them.
Karl and Joyce Strader, also made references to this idea. They
would remind many times the audiences, even during the Sunday
morning services, about the night when they were betrayed, like
Jesus was by Judas, by their closest friends. It was etched in their
minds and expressed in their words from their heart.
In 1988 to 1989, Jim, an associate Pastor and second in command to
Karl Strader, a man of law and order, rebuked the leadership for
Stephen and Shanes, Karls son in law, misuse of church property.
This made Karl Strader become very angry and upset.
As a result, Karl went about doing everything to try to make Jim
leave including getting his choice false prophets to speak to Jim
about leaving. Karl Straders unmitigated anger and actions
concerning his expressed dislike of Jim resulted in the sixty-four
charges to be made by the board of Carpenters Home Church against
him. Which resulted in the split of the church in 1989.
One of the accusations made during this infamous Church meeting,
was that Shane, was driving the church truck in the evenings, while
others were not allowed. Another was Stephen was getting paid
overtime, while other were not.
The result of this church split was that over fifty percent of the
members including the most influential, educated and wealthy ones
left the church. Partiality and being a respecter of persons was
common among the Straders and other leadership in AG even though
the book of James says:
My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord
of glory, with partiality. For if there should come into your assembly
a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in
a poor man in filthy clothes, and you pay attention to the one
wearing the fine clothes and say to him, You sit here in a good
place, and say to the poor man, You stand there, or, Sit here at
my footstool, have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and
become judges with evil thoughts? (James 2:1-4)

It was a point that I was later to bring in writing to Pastor Karl Strader
and the other Associated Pastors. I wrote to them on September 18,
1995 the following:
I can not help but to write and say what is on my heart; even though
you and your pastoral staff have your hands full!
After much prayer and agony on the matter, the Lord gave me some
verses and key words about some of the things that seem to be going
on in Carpenters Home Church and why things have been delayed. I
would like to bring these key words found in James 3 to the
attention of the pastoral staff and elders for their prayer and action.
The key words are meekness of wisdom, self seeking,
confusion and without partiality and without hypocrisy.
Unfortunately, these words do not necessarily apply to one person
individually; but sometimes collectively to the body of Christ at
Carpenters Home Church. It is easier to handle something when we
can zero in on a few individuals, persons or a group and deal with
them.
In James 3:13, we read, Who is wise and understanding among you?
Let him show by good conduct that his works are done in the
meekness of wisdom.
14: But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do
not boast and lie against the truth. 15: This wisdom does not
descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.
16: For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil
thing are there.
17: But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable,
gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without
partiality and without hypocrisy. 18: Now the fruit of righteousness
is sown in peace by those who make peace.
Obviously, the Pastors of Carpenters Home Church didnt pay much
attention to my letter. For as Pastor Karl Strader stated to me Who
was I, and Why should he listen to me?
In their minds I was a stranger, a nobody, and as Karl stated to one of
the church counselors a very opinionated person. Definitely I was
not one for wearing gold rings and fine apparel. Worst of all I parked
my own car and it was not a Lincoln or a Cadillac, never mind a
Mercedes, as some of the pastors friends had. My car was an
ordinary Ford. But they made the bible come true:
For I proclaim the name of the LORD: ascribe greatness to our God.
He is the Rock, His work is perfect; for all His ways are justice, a God
of truth and without injustice; righteous and upright is He. They have
corrupted themselves; they are not His children, because of their
blemish: a perverse and crooked generation. (Deuteronomy 32:4-5)
It is amazing that many Assembly of God pastors, as Karl Strader and
Jim Bakker, claimed to speak and act on behalf of God. But

according to the Bible, we see that Gods ways and character are for
justice, truth, and righteousness. Something these Pastors did not
show by their attitudes and obvious actions.
Although we attended Carpenters Home Church for around 18
months, Sandy and I never got to know any of the Strader women;
except passing them by like ships in the night on the church grounds.
Mind you, Pastor son-in-law Shane Simmons, an associate pastor of
the church, was a nice guy and I talked to him a few times. Then I am
reminded by the Straders about what is wrong with con artists? They
always smile, speak softly, never get angry or show their emotions in
public. You never get to know the real person, just the image of what
they want you to see.
Well, I personally dislike superficiality and the shallowness of con
artists. I love the realness, and spunk of ordinary people. The facts
would later show the Straders for what they are and how they:

Ignored the plight of the elderly victims and raise tens of thousands
of dollars for Dan.
Ignored moral discrepancies in Dans multiple admission of lying and
guilt, and declare victory over their enemies, which never came.
Identified the forces of darkness as anyone who would question their
views and positions on matters, especially in regards to Dans crimes.
Ridiculed and lampooned Dans victims, by deriding them for
testifying against Dan.
Arrogantly refused to admit doing any significant wrong and say it
was the fault of others a conspiracy out to get them, because of who
they are, high profile Christians.
Repeatedly used the pulpit of Carpenters Home church to issue
misleading statements about Dan and others such as we are being
crucified by the press and using lies and deceptions.
Issued unbelievable hate and slander from a public pulpit, on three
investors or victims, who were embezzled by a con artist.
Used people and things in Carpenters Home Church for their own
hidden agendas. Jim, who was used by the Straders for his
considerable talent, and to do the punishing work of building
Carpenters Home Church, then threw him out like a gum wrapper.
Jim believed in checks and balances, and this was something that
Karl and Dan Strader didnt do or practice. Therefore, they hated Jim
for loving the truth, and sought a means, at all costs, even at the
price of splitting the church, to see him removed from his position.
Denied members and staff members access to elected deacons, and
used others on staff as Roy Aldrich had written to work them over
with a rubber hose for not submitting to their demands and
wishes.
Ensured that their salaries were confidential and their positions were
maintained at all costs, while others less fortunate and more talented
had to leave, even though they had given their best and expected a

degree of respect for their loyalty and hard work. It wasnt what you
did but who you know, and the same is true in churches today.

Weve Won!
When the jury came in with its verdict on July 11, 1995 and found
Daniel David Strader, the son of Senior Pastor Karl Strader of
Carpenters Home Church, guilty on 238 counts for robbing and
raping the sheep, the following Sunday, July 16, 1995 Pastor Karl
Strader told his congregation Weve won!
Well the Associated Press reported on November 15, 2001 that the
sheep lost:
"The North American Securities Administrators Association says there
were $500 million in losses from religious affinity scams in 1989, the
first year the organization made such a tally. That figure has been
eclipsed by two recent schemes -- the Baptist Foundation of Arizona
and Florida's Greater Ministries International -- which together have
cost 40,000 investors nearly $1.3 billion.
In the last three years alone, 27 states have taken action against
scams that used religious or spiritual beliefs to bilk more than 90,000
investors, the NASAA estimates."
Well Lyons, Strader, Hinn, Tilton, BFA and Greater Ministries have
been on CNTs hit list for a number of years? Check out
http://www.christiannews.0catch.com/hinn.htm
http://www.christiannews.0catch.com/tilton.htm
http://www.christiannews.0catch.com/rodney.htm
http://www.rickross.com/groups/lyons.html
http://www.rickross.com/groups/gmi.html
http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/extra/bfa/baptist.html
http://www.bfafraud.com/
http://headlines.yahoo.com/Full_Coverage/US/Henry_Lyons
http://www.davidicke.net/religiousfrauds/pentecostal/godfraud.html
http://www.christiannews.0catch.com/strader.htm
http://www.christiannews.0catch.com/news1.htm
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/9te/9te026.html
http://www.discernment.org/Charismania/drjoyce.htm
http://tampabayonline.net/reports/minister/homealt.htm
http://tampatrib.com/News/GreaterMinistries.htm

So in a way Christian News Today can say weve won! For we have
been successful in exposing wolves in sheeps clothing since AP is
now reporting about it and 27 states have taken action about it?
Therefore Watch, And Remember
"Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of
all men. "For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole

counsel of God. "Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the

flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to
shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
"For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in
among you, not sparing the flock. "Also from among yourselves men
will rise up, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples
after themselves. "Therefore watch, and remember that for three
years I did not cease to warn everyone night and day with tears.
"So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His
grace, which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance
among all those who are sanctified.
"I have coveted no one's silver or gold or apparel. "Yes, you
yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities,
and for those who were with me. "I have shown you in every way, by
laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember
the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give
than to receive.' " Acts 20:26-35

The Enemy
O LORD my God, if I have done this: if there is iniquity in my hands, if I have
repaid evil to him who was at peace with me, or have plundered my enemy
without cause, let the enemy pursue me and overtake me; yes, let him trample
my life to the earth, and lay my honor in the dust. Selah (Psalms 7:3-5)
Believe it or not Pastor Karl Strader actually preached on Psalms chapter
seven and made it his prayer one Sunday morning when we were there. He
actually mouthed the foolish words and asked God to do it to him if he did evil
to others. Well, God heard and answered His prayer and his honor was laid in the
dust by enemies, Roy and Walter.
Early 1989, Roy Aldrich wrote many letters both to Karl Strader and the
dissidents including brother Jim. It was very interesting to examine what Roy
saw and stated then and how he changed; once the shoe was on the other foot.
That is how most of us are when it doesnt touch us, we arent bothered about a
problem until it touches us directly. So Roy wrote a letter to his friend and
pastor Karl Strader that stated:
These are traditionalists whose warfare is not only against Pastor Strader but
also against the entire charismatic movement, and if they succeed here, there
could be an adverse ripple effect around the world because of the special nature
of this church.
We need to stand and fight, not to preserve our position, but to keep the faith
and the ministry going. The real casualty here will be worship and spiritual
warfare this is the target of the demon world and Satan.
Is it possible that we should abbreviate the Easter program or change its
complexion in order to preserve our energy for the continuing storm?

It has been my opinion all along that the enemy's strategy is a war of attrition,
not an attempted knockout punch, and that is why no charges have been filed.
A frontal attack against you would miserably fail.
If you, indeed, do call for a vote of confidence, then let some of us mail out a
letter to members which clearly delineates the issues as we see them. By naming
the ten or so prominent people against you, the dissidents would be drawn out in
the open where they are at a great disadvantage.
Putting this insurrection to an end is as simple as just clearly identifying bitter
people and enabling all to see their objectives.
This is what they fear the most, and they now need to be drawn from seclusion
without exception or else we may lose our battle by default.
Sincerely in Christ
Roy Aldrich
Roy Aldrich, like his friend Walter loved to write letters. On March 10, 1989 Roy
and his wife Patricia wrote a letter and sent 2,500 copies to members of CHC
and they distributed it themselves. The Letter stated:
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ:
As you probably already know, a very important vote concerning the status of
our beloved Pastor Strader will be taken on Monday evening, March 13th, at a
congregational meeting.
At that meeting there will be a vote of confidence for our pastor, and I am sure
you can see the importance of attending it to make sure that your will, as it is
submitted to God's will, is done.
No doubt you are familiar with the fact that there have been two previous
meetings in which our church situation was discussed; however, at this one a
crucial vote will be taken that will determine whether or not the vision Pastor
Strader has for our church will be continued.
It is a very serious matter for any individual or group of individuals to attempt to
terminate the ministry of a servant of God and, frankly, such an attempt may be
made Monday night by a dissident minority who consider that their opinions
should be placed above the facts as seen by a loyal majority, the staff, and the
pastor.
Strong written affirmations by Uncle Shelby, Rusty Nelson, and Kevin Doddy
indicate their 100% support for pastor, and other voices in support of the pastor
will be heard on Monday.
Only members will have the privilege of voting at this meeting. In all fairness it
should be pointed out that there will be an equal opportunity for all sides to
speak under the chairmanship of a district official. [Thomas E. Trask]
Your attendance at this meeting could be the greatest contribution you are going
to make in 1989 to this great church.
By responding to this call, we demonstrate our willingness to accept the
responsibility as well as the rewards of our having been selected by Jesus,
before the foundation of the world, for the privilege of being associated with

Pastor Strader in the great mission of getting the gospel out around the world.
Concerned, loving supporters of the Strader family.
Pastor Karl Strader also enjoyed to write letters of appreciation because on
March 27, 1989 on The Carpenters Home Church stationary he wrote:
Dear Roy and Pat:
Greetings in the Name of the Lord Jesus!
Only God knows how close the vote would have been had you folks not helped to
get "the letters" out to encourage people to come last Monday night.
You are to be commended.
God bless you for wanting to see things done fairly!
Sincerely Yours in Christ
Karl D. Strader, Pastor
A year later, Roys Aldrich friend and beloved Pastor, Karl Strader, wrote on
March 28, 1990 the following:
Dear Roy & Pat
Greetings in the Name of the Lord Jesus!
Thank you for your kind remarks and your input. I really appreciate the good
work that you have done and are doing, Pat. I really appreciate your sweet
spirit. You and Roy have been real friends.
Sincerely in Christ
Roy also wrote the following letter which in his usual style Roy distributed to
others
CHARGES AGAINST PASTOR STRADER
We have been told that no formal charges have been filed against our pastor, so
I would like to suggest that he is guilty of many things, perhaps too numerous to
mention, which include the following:
1. He should be charged with building the Carpenter's Home Church into one of
the finest churches in the world
2. He should be charged with loving all people, even his critics.
3. He should be charged with being an aggressive soul winner.
4. He should be charged with praying for the healing of bodies and spirits.
5. He should be charged with a vision for missionary efforts all around the
world.
6. He should be charged with memorizing Scripture and becoming a master
preacher.
7. He should be charged With spreading the Gospel around the world by radio
and television.
8. He should be charged with being a strong family man.

9. He should be charged with defending his wife.

10. He should be charged with deliverances made through Spiritual Warfare
Ministries.
11. He should be charged with supporting our Easter and Christmas programs.
12 He should be charged with teaching the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
13. He should be charged with praying in the Spirit everyday.
14. He should be charged with creating a good working atmosphere for the staff.
15. He should be charged with getting the finest guest speakers for Our church.
16. He should be charged with opposing the works of the devil.
17. He should be charged with asking forgiveness for his mistakes.
The above list of charges implies that Pastor Strader is guilty and should spent
the next ten years or so at hard labor working as the Gods placed leader of the
Carpenter's Home Church.
Sincerely in Christ,
Roy Aldrich
Later, Roy was to write one of his best letters which I consider a classic to Karl
Strader in January, 1995 in regard to his Sunday sermons on Enemies which
included the following remarks:
I would like to join the ranks of those who Karl Straders counts as his enemies.
by the following statements:
1)

I am the enemy of lying and deception which hurts and robs people.

2) I am the enemy of those who practice cruelty in the administration of any

corporation, especially churches.
3) I am the enemy of any minister who allows the use of his pulpit for personal
vendettas.
4) I am the enemy of any minister who uses his pulpit for soliciting public and
personal sympathy over controversial matters involving his family.
5) I am the enemy of every minister in the world whose sense of right and
wrong is based on nepotism and favoritism.
6) I am the enemy of the policy of Karl Strader who raised $52,000.00 for
Dans defense fund and $58,000.00 for repairing a roof and not one dime for his
sons elderly and devastated victims.
7) I am the enemy of the disrespect represented in the Strader attitude
towards the State Attorney and Judge Robert Doyel, a true servant of God.
8) I am the enemy of the policies of secret salaries which conceal huge
benefits flowing from trusting church members to their leaders- salaries which
provide sumptuous life styles, while at the same time, these same leaders are
firing and traumatizing the little people under their care like Cindy Deaton,
Patricia Aldrich, Jack and Betty Collins.

9) I am the enemy of huge personal gain to Karl Strader and Joe Perez derived
from their secret management fees from the CHC Life Center Retirement
Estates.
10) I am the enemy of the thinking that some claimed anointing or supposed
special privilege with God gives anyone the right to turn a Christian church into
their own personal cash-cow.
11) I am the enemy of the thinking expressed in the attached sermon outline
which implies that the welfare of CHC is determined by any one man or family.
We are supposed to worship Christ, and not the Straders.
12)
I am the enemy of any minister who uses his oratorical ability to rally
church audiences into cheerleading and other emotional excess as a device to
shore up a crumbling personal empire.
13) I am an enemy of any organization that suggests opposing the leaders
lifestyle and words is opposing God.

For the Rev. Karl Strader, 35 Years of Trial and Triumph

A Walk of Faith
Sunday, July 1, 2001
By CARY McMULLEN
Ledger Religion Editor
Standing on the platform in Carpenter's Home Church, the Rev. Karl Strader is a
striking figure in a fashionable suit with a three-button jacket. At 6 feet, 1 inch, he
has the square-jawed features of a movie idol from another era, although they are
somewhat dimmed with age, and his wavy hair is thinning now. He preaches from
the old King James Bible in an authoritative style far removed from the slangy,
modern talks that pass for sermons. "We've got to be real, genuine Christians so we
can be ready for the Lord to come. I don't care how many times you've been to the
altar. Let's be sure we've got Jesus in our hearts today. Today!" he exclaims.
April was a bittersweet month for Strader. On Easter Sunday, he marked his 35th
anniversary as pastor of Carpenter's Home Church. A week earlier, the latest
appeal by his convicted son, Daniel, was denied. In the twilight of his career, Karl
David Strader is a living alloy of tradition and progress, success and loss.
In one generation, he has seen his Pentecostal tradition grow in numbers and in
acceptance. And by most accounts, he has been an innovator, freely associating
with faith groups outside Pentecostalism and borrowing ideas from them. He built
an empire at Carpenter's Home in North Lakeland that has at times included a
10,000-seat sanctuary, a national TV audience, a private school and a retirement
home. But his innovations were not appreciated by everyone, and 11 years ago,
strife decimated Carpenter's Home. Today, the cavernous sanctuary is perhaps a
quarter full on Sundays, and the TV broadcasts have been cut way back.
Strader bears an even deeper wound. Those who know him say the scandal
surrounding his son's arrest and 1995 conviction on fraud charges have affected
him more deeply than any other setback. Yet at 72, Strader soldiers on, preaching
and laying hands on people who come forward in hopes of a healing touch. He says
he will remain as pastor of Carpenter's Home as long as his health is good. He tells
his congregation, "I'm past the age scripture tells me is given to us of three score
and 10. But God has given me a wonderful life of health and strength. I'm shooting
for 100."
TRADITION, INNOVATION
Strader, born in humble circumstances in Oklahoma of devout Methodist parents,
committed his life to God when he was 16. After graduating high school, he went to
study at fundamentalist Bob Jones University in Greenville, S.C. While there, he
began attending Pentecostal churches and eventually experienced the "gift of the
Holy Spirit" that Pentecostals believe includes making prophecies; healing the sick;
and "speaking in tongues," an ecstatic form of speech that is unintelligible to
humans but which believers say is understood by God Fundamentalists and
Pentecostals historically have segregated themselves from other faith traditions,
especially more liberal Protestants and Catholics, on the grounds those churches'
doctrines are in error. Years after he graduated, a photo of Strader with Catholics
and Episcopalians came to the attention of school officials. The president of the
school, Bob Jones Jr., sent Strader a letter asking him never to tell anyone he
studied there. Strader says the photo captured him interacting with people from
other traditions who had Pentecostal experiences, such as speaking in tongues,
part of a "charismatic" movement that swept through Catholic and mainline
Protestant churches in the 1970s and 1980s. "They're isolationists," he says of Bob
Jones officials. "I don't want to have fellowship with those who don't believe the
Bible is the word of God, but I do endorse the unity of believers," Strader says. It

would not be the last time Strader would get in trouble for consorting with other
traditions.
In his last year at Bob Jones, Strader met Joyce Wead, the recreation director at
Shriner's Hospital in Greenville. They shared an interest in poetry and theater and
became engaged. "Karl took a prize on a radio program called Down Memory Lane.
He would memorize poetry. And at Bob Jones, every Sunday afternoon they used
to have drama," Joyce Strader recalls They were married in a garden surrounded
by children in wheelchairs and on crutches. It would be the beginning of a
partnership in life and in ministry. Joyce Strader, 72, has played a part in many of
her husband's decisions and today has her own half-hour Sunday radio program,
"Heart to Heart," on the Carpenter's Home station, WTWB 1570 AM.
After graduating from Bob Jones University's seminary in 1954, Strader joined the
Assemblies of God and had a brief stint as a pastor in Indiana. He then spent six
years in Lakeland, first as dean of men at Southeastern College, an Assembliesrelated school, then as director of youth for the Assemblies' Peninsular-Florida
District office.
FRESH WIND BLOWING
The Straders went back to Indiana in 1960. Strader served churches in Gary and
South Bend, both heavily Catholic areas. They returned to Lakeland in 1966 for
Karl Strader to become pastor of First Assembly of God, a 325-member
congregation near downtown. Changes were afoot in the American religious scene.
The Jesus Movement would soon bring waves of young people and their
contemporary music into the church. "It was the year when the (charismatic)
outpouring on Catholics took place. That was probably the greatest impact on the
growth of the church," Strader says. Catholic and mainline charismatics were
rejected by their churches, which were bewildered and turned off by their
exuberance and the practice of speaking in tongues. Strader welcomed them with
open arms into his church, with its enthusiastic services. But the charismatics were
even too much for some traditional Pentecostals, who were used to more discreet
displays of singing or speaking in tongues.
"He has always walked to the beat of a different drummer. He's a very open man,"
says Frank Macchia, associate professor of theology at Vanguard University in Costa
Mesa, Calif., who taught at Southeastern College from 1992 to 1998. "At one of the
services I attended, he preached a sermon about holding the hand of God. At the
end, he had someone play The Beatles' 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand.' I'd never
experienced anything like that. He likes to grab people's attention, and I have to
confess, I never forgot that."
Such theatricality invites comparisons to one of Strader's heroes, fellow Oklahoman
Oral Roberts. As a young man, Strader heard Roberts preach and eventually sent
his sons, Stephen and Daniel, to school at Oral Roberts University. The school
awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1985, and today he sits on its board of
regents. But Strader is a more reserved preacher than Roberts. He prides himself
on sticking to the Bible, spends hours memorizing whole sections of it and quotes
liberally from passages in his sermons.
Strader eventually allowed other innovations, including the use of drums and
guitars in worship, far ahead of the current wave of contemporary music. And he
borrowed from a small branch of Pentecostals known as "Latter-reign" the use of
colorful banners and costumed dancers, reflecting the interest he and his wife
continued to have in the arts. "He could be considered a progressive Pentecostal,"
says the Rev. Reggie Scarborough, pastor of Family Worship Center in Lakeland,
who grew up attending First Assembly under Strader. "He broke with tradition, but
some traditions needed to be broken to come into what God is doing today."
EXPANSION, JIMMY SWAGGART, THE SPLIT
First Assembly expanded its facilities twice to keep up with growth, and Strader
decided the church should build a sanctuary that would hold twice the 5,000
people who were then attending. In the late 1970s, the church acquired the

retirement home and grounds of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners
north of the interstate, sold all but 125 acres and began construction on the
10,000-seat sanctuary that would be named simply Carpenter's Home Church. The
name, borrowed from the union, is a reference to Jesus, who was a carpenter. It
was completed in 1985, at a cost of $12.5 million. It was an ideal venue for TV, and
services from Carpenter's Home were at one time on the PTL and Trinity cable
networks, reaching several hundred stations nationwide.
But questions about Strader's theology persisted. Assemblies of God televangelist
Jimmy Swaggart filed charges against Strader with denominational offices, saying
he moved the church into false religious practices. In 1987, district officials
cleared him of the charges. At the peak of his success in 1989, resentments about
Strader's freewheeling style came to a head. Members of the board of deacons tried
to wrest control of the church from him. Opponents charged him with not following
Assemblies of God doctrines and with nepotism, pointing to two of Strader's
children -- Stephen Strader and Karla Dickson -- on the church's staff.
He was also accused of being dictatorial, which evokes laughter from Stephen
Strader, who serves as the church's senior associate pastor. "He has a strong
personality. He's not weak, but he is a meek, humble man. I'm always telling him,
'You need to take charge.' "
Strader refused to quit and survived a congregational vote, but the damage was
done. About 800 people left to form Victory Assembly of God not far away. Others
left to join other churches. Much of the leadership -- and much of the church's
financial support -- disappeared. Strader says he has no animosity, but Carpenter's
Home and Victory Assembly have few dealings with each other. The Rev. Terry
Raburn, superintendent of the Peninsular-Florida District of the Assemblies of God,
characterizes the relationship as "cordial in terms of Christian fellowship. That's
about all I would say." The Rev. Wayne Blackburn, pastor of Victory Assembly, did
not return calls requesting a comment for this story, although he has previously
said he knows of no difficulties between Strader and himself.
STRUGGLING BACK
Asked about the split now, Strader says it was simply a struggle for power, with
devastating effects. "It was like going through a divorce. You feel tremendous
rejection. You never get over it."
Stephen Strader says it was a vicious fight that got personal and forced the family
to turn to one another for support."It nearly destroyed us. My wife and I lost every
single friend we had outside the family. It was extremely isolating."
Strader's opponents filed new charges of false doctrine against him with the
Assemblies of God district office, and shortly after the split, district officials sent
Strader a letter notifying him he was being put on probation for 18 months. Strader
threatened to leave the denomination. District officials didn't forward the letter to
the church's national offices, so the probation was never put into effect. Although
he was not present then, Raburn says he is convinced looking over the records that
it was a misunderstanding. "It was a hasty action, taken in the midst of difficulties.
They realized the grounds were so shaky, they scrapped it, which it well should
have been." A second letter was sent to Strader within a few months retracting the
probation.
But Carpenter's Home continued to suffer from the results of the split. Costs were
cut, the church's radio station, WCIE-FM was sold. Christian concerts and
conferences kept the massive church afloat financially. Strader insists it has never
missed a monthly payment or a payroll. In 1993, a revival under evangelist Rodney
Howard-Browne produced a flurry of activity, and it appeared the church was on its
way back.
SON ARRESTED
Then, in 1994, the church was rocked when Strader's son, Daniel, was arrested on
charges he defrauded about 60 investors of more than $2 million. Daniel, 43, is the

second of Karl and Joyce Strader's four children. In a recent interview at Hardee
Correctional Institution 6 in Bowling Green, he stressed his father was always a
good example. "He had such a consistent life. We had traditional family dinners at
5:30 sharp. From my earliest years, he was not just my father but my pastor.
Today it's hard to even separate those roles," he says. After college and a stint in
the church broadcasting department, Daniel Strader worked as an insurance agent
and Amway dealer and set up an investment firm, Interstate Financial Services. He
says he never felt pressured to imitate his father's success. "I did feel I wanted to
honor him by becoming successful, but Dad was more concerned about motives and
integrity," he says. Daniel Strader was arrested in May 1994 on charges of fraud,
theft and racketeering after his securities business ran into trouble. Prosecutors
accused him of running a pyramid scheme, in which money from new investors is
used to pay off previous investors. The Strader family has maintained Daniel
Strader is guilty of incompetence and bad judgment but had no criminal intent to
get rich by defrauding others. "When he was a boy, he never would have taken a
nickel off the dresser," Karl Strader says.
Daniel Strader says he avoided using his family's name to gain clients and "less than
a dozen, about a half of 1 percent" of the clients were members of Carpenter's
Home. However, at his trial, several investors said they thought they could trust
him because of his family's reputation. Daniel Strader was convicted in 1995 of 238
counts of theft, securities fraud and racketeering. At a sentencing hearing, his
father came forward with an offer to repay the investors in hopes the sentence
would be reduced, but Judge Robert Doyel expressed skepticism about the plan
and sentenced Daniel Strader to 45 years in prison. Karl Strader says he is
convinced his fame motivated the State Attorney's Office to make a high-profile
case against his son, a sentiment echoed by Daniel. "Because of his prominence, it
may have caused the press and the prosecution to be overzealous. He took it as a
personal attack. He took it as any father would," Daniel Strader says. He has filed
several appeals for a new trial or a new sentence, all of which have been denied,
although another round of appeals is in the works.
PERSEVERING
Karl and Joyce Strader visit Daniel about once a week. "I've admired the way he's
handled all this," says Daniel. "When he's down, I tell him 'It'll be OK.' But it's much
more the reverse -- he's there for me. He feels strongly I'll be vindicated
eventually."
The stresses have had their effect on the Strader family, however. In May, Daniel
Strader was notified that his wife, Melissa, filed for divorce. "His home is all but
broken. It's horrible," says his father. "But there again, he's a better person. He's
been a model prisoner. When he gets out of there, he's going to be a very
productive person. He's got 26 years to serve, which means I'll be about 106," he
adds wryly. Strader says the experience with Daniel has given him a greater
empathy for prisoners. "All they want to do is put them in jail and throw away the
key. There's nothing to rehabilitate these people. There's no way a man in prison
can get justice unless he has money," he says.
Today, Carpenter's Home Church has 13 pastors on staff and averages 1,800 in
attendance on Sunday mornings, still large by any standard -- "in the top 5 percent
of churches," says Stephen Strader -- but it's a number that seems dwarfed in the
large sanctuary. The church still operates WTWB, a small AM radio station, and
Evangel Christian School. Strader continues as president of the separate nonprofit
corporation that operates Carpenter's Home Estates retirement facility. ( THIS IS
WHERE IS STEALS MONEY FROM IN MANAGEMENT FEES!)
In spite of the setbacks, Strader's legacy seems assured. And his family will carry on
his work. The Carpenter's Home board has decided if anything should happen to
Strader, the senior assistant pastor -- Stephen Strader, who is 45 -- would be
appointed to a one-year term and re-evaluated after that. But Karl Strader doesn't
sound like a man anticipating the end of his career. He runs through a list of the
church's programs and points to the missionaries and ministers the church has

produced. He says he is proud of the fact that the church counts as its members
people of all races and social stations.
In conversation with Strader or his supporters, the word "integrity" comes up
frequently. He clearly wants to emphasize that, unlike other famous Pentecostal
preachers who fell from grace, such as Jim Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart, his
personal morality has never been questioned. "I don't know a finer man in shoe
leather than Karl Strader," says Reggie Scarborough of Family Worship Center. "He's
a man of love who walked in love with people."
Asked if the events of the past 12 years have been discouraging, Karl Strader
replies: "Sure. But I was born during the Depression, in the Dust Bowl. The Lord has
prepared me for it. I will not allow bitterness to come into my heart. I'm committed
to my family and to the community. God is going to see us through this."

Cary Mcmullen can be reached at cary.mcmullen@theledger.com or

863-802-7509.

Laughing Ron Clark Went Down In Flames Crying

http://www.scribd.com/doc/35148050/
Signs, Wonders & Miracles
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33782544/
DAN STRADER IS NOT INNOCENT
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33762241
Benny Hinn Speaks Out Against the Florida Revival
http://www.christianresearchservice.com/BHinn39.htm
False Prophet Rick Joyner & Todd Bentleys Adulterous ReMarriage
http://moriel.org/MorielArchive/index.php/news/usa/false-prophet-rick-joyner-todd-bentleys-re-marriage

BENNY HINN IS A THIEF AND SCOUNDREL

http://tinyurl.com/2dtubzf http://tinyurl.com/5uphkkl
NOMINATE BENNY AND PAULA! THE BEST CHRISTIAN SOAP
OPERA OF 2010?
http://tinyurl.com/38gkbza
Christian protection racket http://tinyurl.com/28rwjkk
Strang goes strange company book branch sues Benny Hinn |
Bene Diction Blogs :
http://bit.ly/fucQu0 http://tl.gd/7ikj4f
Randy & Paula White Parasites Pimps & Prostitutes
http://www.scribd.com/doc/35148151
Rodney the Fleecer
http://tinyurl.com/343w372
Bob Jones and Friends are Dangerous

http://www.letusreason.org/Latrain52.htm
Todd Bentley is a savage wolf in sheep's clothing
http://tinyurl.com/32ljrbc http://tinyurl.com/24c4d7h
Todd Bentley, the Canadian criminally convicted homosexual
pedophile is alive
http://tinyurl.com/24c4d7h http://tinyurl.com/34cmz2p
Todd Bentley: Lakeland Liar interviewed on ABC Night line
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMAVPXPx6H8
Signs, Wonders & Miracles
http://www.scribd.com/doc/33782544/
TO STEPHEN STRADER
http://tinyurl.com/27cxz43