I Can Assure You They Don't Exist
PART TWO: A sentence spoken to an Executive Presbytery in 2017. Sixty-two pages of documents that contradict it. A loss reported to exceed $300,000 disclosed twelve weeks after a reelection vote. Sworn testimony in Harris County District Court that is contradicted, in the same hearing, by documents the witness himself transmitted by email. A judge who has imposed $183,000 in sanctions on the network for discovery abuse. And a record that ministers of the South Texas Ministry Network have a right to evaluate before the 2026 District Council convenes in May.
By Ron Bloomingkemper, Jr. | May 5th, 2026, Companion piece toThe Missing Page Two
IN BRIEF
In 2008, the Board of Deacons of First Assembly of God McAllen sent a sixty-two-page packet of bank statements, credit card records, and canceled checks to the Superintendent of the South Texas District. The packet documented the financial conduct of the church's pastor, Tim Barker. Nine years later, at a 2017 Executive Presbytery meeting convened to consider the disciplinary case of a different credentialed pastor in the network, a sitting officer of the Executive Presbytery told the group that the documents the disciplined pastor was referencing did not exist.
The packet exists. It has been published. It has been read.
This article documents a sequence of events in which records, audit findings, court-ordered productions, and internal disclosures have been described as nonexistent, unavailable, or already produced, only to surface later, in some cases years later, in some cases under court order.
It documents the July 30, 2025, letter from Network Superintendent Tim Barker, which disclosed financial misconduct in the network's accounting office, twelve weeks after credentialed ministers had voted to re-elect the officer responsible for safeguarding network funds.
It documents the September 29, 2025, hearing in Doe v. General Council in which Don Wiehe, the Executive Secretary-Treasurer, testified under oath that the network had complied with every order of the Court, and was confronted in the same hearing with documents the network had failed to produce on time.
It documents a court order, issued earlier in 2025, imposing sanctions on the South Texas District for discovery abuse.
And, it documents a memorandum currently circulating among South Texas ministers that asks specific questions under specific provisions of the General Council Bylaws and the Texas Penal Code regarding the September 29 testimony.
The body decides what the record means.
The 2017 Meeting
The setting was an Executive Presbytery meeting in 2017. The occasion was the disciplinary case of a credentialed pastor in another part of the South Texas Network.
The account that follows is drawn from an interview with the pastor whose disciplinary case occasioned the statement. He has asked that his name not be published. Wrestling Lions has not, at this time, interviewed other Executive Presbyters present at the meeting; the account here is his.
According to that pastor, he admitted, in writing, to financial wrongdoing connected to his church.
He repaid the funds in full. He told the board, in his own words, "I'm wrong, no ifs, ands, or buts about it. I asked God and the board to forgive me, and I've repaid all the money, and then some."
He asked the board for one thing: the same grace and mercy that, by his account, had been extended to Tim Barker.
By his account, the members of the room asked what he was talking about.
The pastor referenced what he had heard about the McAllen documents, the records of bank statements, credit card charges, and canceled checks that had circulated by email through some pastors in the network. He said he had heard there was a letter.
According to the pastor, Mike Allard, then a member of the South Texas Executive Presbytery, addressed the room directly:
“I can assure you those documents don’t exist.”
Years earlier, before he sat on the Executive Presbytery, Allard had been the pastor's district youth director.
The disciplined pastor's credentials were stripped at the conclusion of that proceeding. He was removed from ministry.
The 62-page packet from First Assembly of God McAllen, dated 2008, signed by the unanimous consent of the church's Board of Deacons, and addressed to Superintendent Joseph Granberry, has now been published in full.
It includes itemized credit card statements, canceled checks, and contemporaneous correspondence. It was reviewed in 2010 by the Assistant General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, Alton Garrison, who described the contents as "damning information."
It was the basis on which three Executive Presbyters, having consulted legal counsel, concluded they had a fiduciary duty to demand the Superintendent's resignation.
The disciplined pastor first read the McAllen pages in their entirety in our Part One: The Missing Page Two exposé, published May 3, 2026, ten years after he was told those documents don’t exist.
The Letter, And What It Did Not Say
On July 30, 2025, Network Superintendent Dr. Tim Barker sent a letter to the credentialed ministers of the South Texas Ministry Network. The letter acknowledged that an employee in the network's accounting office had engaged in financial misconduct, including unauthorized salary adjustments, personal expenses charged to network credit cards, and unapproved reimbursements lacking documentation.
July 30, 2025 Letter from Tim Barker concerning financial misconduct.
The letter stated that network leadership had acted "swiftly and decisively." It stated that local law enforcement had been notified. It stated that a forensic audit had been commissioned. It stated that the network was "committed to full transparency and accountability."
The letter did not state how much was lost.
It did not state when leadership first became aware.
It did not name the employee.
It did not state why the credentialed body had not been informed before the May 2025 reelection vote on the officer responsible for safeguarding network funds.
The remainder of this article concerns those omissions and what the documentary record around them reveals.
The Job Description and the Facebook Posts
The three categories of misconduct identified in the July 30 letter, salary adjustments, credit card charges, and reimbursements, are functions of accounts payable.
Don Wiehe, the network's Executive Secretary-Treasurer and the officer directly responsible for financial oversight, has for years posted public anniversary tributes to the staff under his supervision. Some of the posts remain visible on his public Facebook account. Others have been edited or deleted; screenshots are on file with this publication.
On April 26, 2024, Wiehe posted a tribute to his three-person administrative team. He named Kauleen Granberry as Administrative Assistant, Credentialing Specialist, and Church Records. He named Marlys Granberry as Accounts Receivable. He named Tammy Miller as the Accounts Payable contact.
April 26, 2024 Don Wiehe Facebook post screenshot
On December 31, 2024, Wiehe posted again, congratulating Tammy Miller on her sixth anniversary in the Accounts Payable role.
December 31, 2024 Don Wiehe Facebook post screenshot
By Wiehe's own public statements, the Accounts Payable role at the South Texas Ministry Network was held continuously by Tammy Miller from at least January 2019 through the end of 2024.
The South Texas Ministry Network has not publicly named the employee referenced in the July 30, 2025, letter. Tammy Miller, identified by Don Wiehe in his public posts as the network's Accounts Payable employee through 2024, has been contacted in writing by Wrestling Lions and offered the opportunity to respond on the record, on background, or by statement of any length she chooses.
As of publication, no response has been received. A public records request has been submitted to the relevant law enforcement agency for any reports, arrest records, or charging documents on file. This article will be updated to reflect any response from Ms. Miller and any documents received from law enforcement.
The Replacement, and the Date
On July 31, 2025, the day after Barker's letter went out, Wiehe posted his August anniversary tributes. He congratulated David Trog on nine years as Media and Publishing Director, adding, in writing, "and as of April 1, working with accounts payable."
As of April 1, 2025, the network's Media and Publishing Director was assigned to the accounts payable department.
The April 1 date is the documentary anchor for the timeline in this section. By the time of the May 2025 reelection vote, leadership had reassigned a media director from a non-financial department to the accounts payable function.
The July 30 letter, which describes a recent discovery and a swift response, was issued nearly four months after that reassignment took effect.
The May 2025 Vote
The South Texas Ministry Network held its annual business meeting in early May 2025. At that meeting, credentialed ministers voted on the reelection of network officers, including Don Wiehe, the Executive Secretary-Treasurer.
The Executive Secretary-Treasurer is the officer charged with financial oversight, internal controls, and the safeguarding of network funds. He supervises a three-person administrative team. The South Texas Bylaws describe the position's responsibilities in detail.
The documentary record establishes that, as of the May 2025 vote:
Network leadership had moved a replacement into the accounts payable function as of April 1, 2025.
The credentialed body had not been informed of any issue in the accounts payable office.
Don Wiehe was reelected to the office responsible for the financial oversight described in Section 3 of the bylaws.
The credentialed body cast its ballots without information about the loss that was subsequently disclosed in the July 30 letter.
Twelve weeks after the vote, the body received the July 30 letter.
This is the heart of the matter.
“The ministers were entitled to know, before the vote, that a major breach of fiduciary trust had occurred under the supervision of the officer they were being asked to retain. ”
The 2012 Audit: The Silent Elephant In The Room
Part One of this series published the audit report given to the management of the South Texas District after the 2012 fiscal year. The audit proposed adjustments to twelve different accounts. Among the auditor's findings: those involved in accounting could make changes to journal entries, sign checks, issue payments, and adjust payroll without direct review by management.
BKD audit excerpt showing twelve adjustment categories
The 2012 audit identified material weaknesses in internal controls, including inadequate reconciliations, a lack of segregation of duties, and insufficient management oversight.
Section 3 of the South Texas Bylaws requires the Secretary-Treasurer
to "ensure compliance with generally accepted accounting practices,"
to "establish and maintain a reliable system of bookkeeping,"
and to ensure that the business office is in compliance with GAAP for non-profit corporations.
The 2025 disclosure of financial misconduct in functional areas that the 2012 audit had flagged for material weakness raises a question that the credentialed body has standing to ask:
whether the deficiencies identified in the 2012 audit were remediated, and, if so, when, by whom, and with what documentation.
“The auditor warned of a reasonable possibility of material misstatement. The auditor flagged a high risk of fraud or error. If those warnings were taken seriously, how did this happen?”
Three Weeks Later, Under Oath
On September 29, 2025, in the matter of John Doe 1 and John Doe 2 v. The General Council of the Assemblies of God and South Texas District, in Harris County District Court, Don Wiehe was subpoenaed by the plaintiffs and compelled to testify under oath about the production of documents.
The hearing addressed a record of late and missing productions in response to a court order entered November 13, 2024, requiring production of documents in the case. Both the South Texas District and the General Council had failed to produce documents on multiple occasions across the months following that order.
Read: Court Orders Sanctions Against South Texas District Assemblies of God
The summary that follows is drawn from the transcript of that hearing.
Download The Don Wiehe Testimony Transcript
Complied With Every Request
Under oath, Wiehe testified that South Texas Assemblies of God "has complied with the November 13, 2024 order in its entirety," and that the district had "complied with every request from this Court." (Transcript)
September 29, 2025, hearing in Doe v. General Council
The Court and counsel referenced specific late productions, including:
The Gateway Investigation report, dated May 2023, was produced in April 2025.
Foley & Lardner letters dated September 2023, including dismissal and de-credentialing letters, were produced on August 11, 2025.
Both document categories existed at the time of the November 13, 2024, court order. Both were produced after that order, on dates ranging from approximately five to nine months later.
In earlier hearings in February, April, and June of 2025, counsel for the network had represented that all responsive documents had already been produced.
The two representations are not consistent with one another.
The Gateway report was transmitted by Don Wiehe by email on May 17, 2023. Wiehe acknowledged authoring that email on the stand. He testified that he did not know "how it all works" regarding discovery production timelines.
Wiehe's May 17, 2023 transmittal email and the document footer "Produced April 7, 2025”
The first page of the Gateway report has now been made public after being entered as an exhibit by plaintiff's counsel. It contains a summary of the issues at the heart of the litigation and recommends that multiple ministers be disciplined and terminated for their conduct.
According to the public record, at least one of the ministers recommended for discipline was permitted to continue serving as a campus minister after the report was completed.
The full report has not been released to the credentialed body.
The Money That Did Not Move
In the same hearing, on the same day, Wiehe also testified, under oath, that South Texas had no financial documents showing funds exchanged with Chi Alpha USA or with the General Council.
In the same testimony, he acknowledged:
The South Texas churches contribute funds to the General Council via the "Assemblies of God Total Giving Plan," a centralized giving system.
The district's own website offers Chi Alpha–specific giving options.
Both of those mechanisms generate records in the ordinary course of business: ledgers, bank statements, remittance summaries, and donation receipts.
The previous district giving platform, examined publicly, included multiple options for missions and individual missionaries.
Download The Don Wiehe Testimony Transcript
Two screenshots of South Texas District giving platform showing fund options including MS-Chi Alpha, MM-Light For Lost, KM-BGMC, RR-Missions, etc.
Records reviewed for this article show fundraising drives for missions across multiple sections of the network. The San Jacinto Section ran a weekly Friday focus on missions, featuring a different missionary each week, and included the South Texas giving portal in every post. One of those weeks featured the Chi Alpha missionary John Hauck, the same John Hauck named in the publicly published first page of the Gateway Report.
Gateway Report Executive Summary first page, with John Hauck, Eli Gautreaux, Eli Stewart, Jonathan Bryce, and Kyle Volkmer named in the recommendation section.
Tim Barker and Don Wiehe have served as General Presbyters throughout their time in their network officer positions.
For multiple years, including the current year, the network has communicated to ministers that any giving received for the District Council and Network Council meetings in excess of budget will be forwarded to missions.
An email from the current Finance Committee Chairman, Dr. Jonathan Mussett of Westover Hills Church, dated within the last month, restates that promise.
Dr. Jonathan Mussett email, "Dear Friend," May 4-6 Network Conference Corpus Christi, asking for $6,311 to fund the conference
A separate email from Don Wiehe to ministers in June 2025, reminding ministers about their giving requirements, includes the following statement:
“It is also the responsibility of each department to raise much needed funds for equipment and supplies for our missionaries: Light for the Lost, Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge, Speed the Light and Heart Fund and leading the way in providing various needs throughout the nation and world.”
Each of those mechanisms produces financial records in the ordinary course. The September 29 testimony stated that no financial documents exist showing money exchanged with Chi Alpha USA or the General Council. Both statements are part of the documentary record.
The body is entitled to ask which is accurate.
The April 2025 Sanctions Order
Approximately five months before Wiehe took the stand, the judge in Doe v. General Council issued an order imposing sanctions on the South Texas District for discovery abuse.
The order required the District to pay $86,000 in attorneys' fees to the plaintiffs and an additional $100,000 as a monetary sanction for discovery abuse, pursuant to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 215.2.
The total sanction was $183,000.
On December 23, 2025, Tim Barker sent a follow-up letter to credentialed ministers stating that "leadership of STXMN has endeavored to comply with the process and the requests for documentation."
The April 2025 order is a matter of public record. The December 23, 2025, letter is also part of the documentary record. The body is entitled to read both and to evaluate them together.
The Foley & Lardner Quotations
In the same September 29 hearing, Wiehe was asked about passages contained in the Foley & Lardner letters. The passages appeared inside quotation marks, attributed to "Foley, LLP."
Under oath, Wiehe testified that those passages were not direct quotes from the Foley firm but were instead summaries by network staff.
Download The Don Wiehe Testimony Transcript
In the documentary record, the passages are inside quotation marks. They are attributed to a law firm by name.
If the passages match the language of the firm's actual communications, the characterization given on the stand is not consistent with the documentary record. If the passages do not match, the network was, by the testimony given on the stand, attributing language to outside counsel that did not originate with outside counsel.
The Foley & Lardner report has been referenced in the 2022 and 2023 network business meetings as supporting leadership's account. Ministers have repeatedly asked for the right to read the report. The report has not been released.
The Documents Keep Existing
A summary of the pattern, drawn from the documentary record:
2008. The McAllen packet exists. According to former Executive Presbyters and to the pastor whose 2017 disciplinary case is described above, an officer of the network later told the body it did not exist. The packet has been published.
2012. The Executive Presbytery requests detailed district credit card statements over an extended period. The records existed; Tim Barker himself acknowledged, at an April 2012 Executive Presbytery meeting, that he used a district credit card for personal purchases.
2013. The full BKD audit recommendations are not presented to the body at the District Council. According to the meeting recording, when asked whether BKD's recommendations had been included in a letter to the district, Don Wiehe stated that he could not legally share those recommendations with the body.
2017. Mike Allard tells an Executive Presbytery meeting that the McAllen documents do not exist. They had been on file with the Superintendent's office since 2008.
April 2025. The Gateway Investigation report, transmitted by Don Wiehe in May 2023, is produced in litigation, after court order, after multiple representations to the Court that all responsive documents had been produced.
May 2025. The body votes to reelect the Executive Secretary-Treasurer. The accounts payable matter is not disclosed.
July 30, 2025. Tim Barker's letter discloses the financial misconduct without specifying the dollar figure, the timeline of discovery, or the identity of the employee.
August 11, 2025. The Foley & Lardner letters from September 2023 are produced, more than nine months after the November 13, 2024 court order.
September 29, 2025. Don Wiehe testifies under oath that the network has complied with every request of the Court.
September 29, 2025, hearing in Doe v. General Council
The Hillcrest Period: Don Wiehe
The pastor whose 2017 case is described above worked at Hillcrest Assembly of God in Seguin, Texas, from 2007 to 2011. The senior pastor at Hillcrest in those years was Don Wiehe.
In an interview with Wrestling Lions, the pastor described a financial culture during Wiehe's tenure that he says included the senior pastor regularly using the church credit card, and a year in which staff were called in and told to put their resumes out because the pastor was uncertain he could pay them.
He recalled hearing Wiehe tell staff during that period:
“We don’t have an income problem. We have an outcome problem.”
The pastor also described what he characterized as a campaign-style period in the run-up to Wiehe's election to the network office, during which, by his account, church funds were used to take pastors out to dinner.
The pastor's account includes statements he attributes to another former Hillcrest staff member who has spoken with him about the period; that staff member has not separately spoken with Wrestling Lions.
Wrestling Lions has not, at the time of publication, independently verified those accounts through documents. Records have been requested. The investigation is ongoing.
Hillcrest Assembly of God Seguin, Texas
The Earlier Thread
The financial accountability question described in this article and the abuse accountability question now before a Harris County judge share an underlying record.
This series rests on a counterfactual that ministers may consider.
In 2013, South Texas District leadership received a phone call reporting concerns involving Daniel Savala. The call was received by the office of the Superintendent. The Superintendent at the time was Tim Barker.
If Tim Barker had been disciplined in 2008, as the McAllen Board of Deacons' record shows, on the standard applied to the 2005 light-fixtures pastor and to the 2017 pastor described earlier in this article, he would not have held the Superintendent's office in 2013. He would not have been the man who received the 2013 call about Daniel Savala.
The call would have reached a different desk.
It is not possible to know, with certainty, what a different superintendent would have done with that information in 2013. What can be said is that the network was first formally notified of concerns about Daniel Savala a decade before the Gateway Investigation Report was transmitted in May 2023, and that the office that received the notification was held by a man who, by the documentary record published in Part One of this series, was the subject of the 2008 McAllen packet himself.
Whatever else one believes about the years between 2013 and 2023, the network had information in 2013. What the network did with that information and who was in the office that received it are part of the record the body has standing to evaluate.
That is one thread.
The second thread runs further back.
In the early 1990s, Daniel Savala, named in the Gateway Investigation Report and at the center of the abuse cases pending in Harris County, was a guest preacher in Assemblies of God churches in South Texas. According to a former student from that period who spoke with Wrestling Lions, Savala taught discipleship classes for the youth group at Hillcrest Assembly of God in Seguin.
He preached on Sundays. He spoke at youth retreats. The youth pastor at Hillcrest at the time took young people to Savala's home.
The former student described the culture around Savala in language he provided to Wrestling Lions:
"I thought he was next to Jesus."
The Restructuring Proposal
In Don Wiehe's retirement announcement video, he encouraged the network to explore restructuring the business office. He described a realignment of the secretary and treasurer positions, which he said would streamline the office and enable better oversight and management.
Multiple credentialed ministers have contacted Wrestling Lions describing what they have heard about the proposal and asking whether the accounts are accurate.
According to those ministers, the proposal under discussion would not bring a replacement for Wiehe before the body for nomination and election as the bylaws contemplate. It would instead place before the body a vote to authorize splitting the position into two roles, with the Executive Presbytery appointing individuals to fill those roles.
Wrestling Lions has not been provided with a written copy of the proposal. The accounts gathered for this article are oral. The body is entitled to read the proposal in full before voting on it.
The South Texas Ministry Network's documented financial exposure across the categories described in this article includes the following:
2022 legal expenses: $57,311.44
2023 legal expenses: $643,910.12
Q1 2024 legal expenses: $78,360.20
April 2025 sanctions order: $183,000
Reported loss in the July 30, 2025, letter: at least $300,000
Combined, the documented exposure exceeds $1.2 million. This figure does not include legal fees incurred after March 2024.
STMN 2023 Income & Expense Cash Summary showing Legal Expenses 2022, 2023, 2024 (Jan-March)
What You Can Do at Council
This article is published in advance of the 2026 South Texas District Council. The decisions before the body are not abstract.
Ask the questions during every report on the floor. Whether it is the superintendent's report, the finance report, or a departmental report, it is your right as a credentialed minister.
Request the immediate release of the Foley & Lardner report and the complete Gateway Investigation file. Both have been cited as supporting leadership's position. Ministers have a basis for reading the cited documents.
Request a forensic audit by an outside firm with no prior relationship to the district, the General Council, or the superintendent's office. Request that the engagement letter and scope of work be made public.
Decline to authorize splitting the Executive Secretary-Treasurer position into two positions, absent a full proposal in writing and the documentation supporting it. Splitting the role distributes accountability across two seats. The bylaws describe a single office.
Decline to authorize appointment as the means of filling the office. Nominate and elect a candidate.
Ask about the recovery effort. If a reported $300,000 was lost, and law enforcement was notified, ask where the criminal case stands. If a forensic audit identified the loss, ask where the civil suit is. Recovery actions are matters of public record.
Stand with those who raise these questions. The bylaws give the credentialed body the authority. The authority is meaningful only when exercised.
Consider electing candidates from outside the current presbytery. Of the six current Regional Presbyters, four appear, based on public records, to have served on the presbytery during the 2013 vote on whether to remove Tim Barker from office. Two of the current Executive Presbyters also appear to have served on the presbytery in that period.
The voting body holds the authority. Elected officials are elected by the voters and serve the body that elected them.
Twelve Questions for the 2026 South Texas District Council
The questions below define what the body has standing to know before any further vote on the office of Executive Secretary-Treasurer.
When, specifically, did network leadership first become aware of the financial misconduct in the accounts payable office?
Why was the matter not disclosed to the credentialed body before the May 2025 vote on the reelection of the Executive Secretary-Treasurer?
What is the confirmed dollar amount of the loss? Who is conducting the forensic investigation? What is the scope of work? Has there been an arrest?
What action has been taken to recover the funds? Where is the criminal case? Where is the civil suit?
What internal controls were in place to verify the integrity of the network's accounts? Were the deficiencies identified in the 2012 BKD audit remediated, when, by whom, and on what authority?
Will the network release the full Foley & Lardner report, with only sensitive personal information redacted, so that ministers can verify for themselves the characterizations leadership has made of its findings?
Will the network release the full Gateway Investigation report, with the same redactions, so that ministers can verify for themselves the recommendations made and the actions taken or not taken?
As chair of the May 2025 business meeting, with control over the agenda, why did Tim Barker not disclose the financial misconduct before the body cast votes that depended on knowing it?
Will the Executive Secretary-Treasurer commit, in writing, to producing for the body a full inventory of any communications, records, or transfers between the South Texas District and the General Council, the Total Giving Plan, Chi Alpha USA, and any individual missionaries supported through district giving infrastructure?
What disciplinary action, if any, has been taken or is being considered under Article IX of the General Council Bylaws and Article VII, § 4 of the South Texas Network Bylaws, in light of the September 29, 2025 sworn testimony and the matters described in this article?
Will the body commit, before any vote on restructuring the office of Executive Secretary-Treasurer, to a full and independent ministerial review of the validity of the May 2025 election under the doctrine of informed consent?
Will the body see the proposed restructuring of the office in writing, with supporting documentation, before any vote authorizing it?
Closing
The sentence at the center of this article was spoken by an officer of the network to a body that had standing to evaluate a record. The record existed when the sentence was spoken. The record exists today.
The 2026 South Texas District Council is one occasion on which the body has standing to ask the questions it has not yet been answered. Where the documents are. What was known, and when. What was disclosed, and when. What process applies, equally, to all credentialed ministers.
The documents exist.
The receipts exist.
The record exists.
The vote, when it comes, will exist too.
What the body decides to do with the record is the only thing the record cannot decide for itself.
"He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."
— Micah 6:8
Timeline
A condensed timeline drawn from public statements, court records, and primary documents
Early 1990s | According to former students and youth group members from that period, Daniel Savala preaches in Assemblies of God churches in South Texas, including Hillcrest Assembly of God in Seguin, where the senior pastor is Leroy Fleck, then a member of the Executive Presbytery.
February 23, 1990 | The Western Evening Herald, Cornwall, England, reports the visit of two Texas Assemblies of God ministers to Soul's Harbour Pentecostal Church, Camelford, naming Daniel Savala (helping with youth work for six months) and Mike Hammonds (acting pastor for the month). (Source: Western Evening Herald, "Texans get down to Cornish work")
2008 | The Board of Deacons of First Assembly of God McAllen, by unanimous consent, sends a sixty-two-page packet of bank statements, credit card records, and canceled checks documenting Tim Barker's financial conduct as their pastor to Superintendent Joseph Granberry. (Source: McAllen letter, published in full)
April 2012 | At an Executive Presbytery meeting, Tim Barker acknowledges using a district credit card for personal purchases. (Source: Part One of this series)
April 2013 | At the District Council in Corpus Christi, Don Wiehe presents the financial report. The page containing the BKD auditor's findings on segregation of duties and credit card policy is not presented. (Source: meeting recording; BKD audit report)
2017 | In an Executive Presbytery meeting convened to consider the disciplinary case of a credentialed pastor in the network, Mike Allard tells the body, "I can assure you those documents don't exist," in response to questions about the McAllen documents. The pastor's credentials are stripped. The McAllen documents are subsequently published in full. (Source: former Executive Presbyters present, and the pastor whose disciplinary case was the occasion of the statement)
May 17, 2023 | Don Wiehe transmits the Gateway Investigation report by email. (Source: transcript of September 29, 2025, hearing, L38–L39)
September 2023 | Foley & Lardner issues letters concerning dismissal and de-credentialing of certain ministers. (Source: transcript of September 29, 2025, hearing, L38–L47)
November 13, 2024 | The Court enters an order requiring production of documents in Doe v. General Council. (Source: court docket)
Pre-April 1, 2025 | Network leadership becomes aware, by inference from the documentary record, of financial misconduct in the accounts payable office.
April 1, 2025 | Network Media and Publishing Director David Trog is moved into accounts payable, by Don Wiehe's own July 31, 2025, public Facebook post.
April 2025 | The Gateway Investigation report, dated May 2023, is produced in litigation pursuant to a court order. (Source: transcript of September 29, 2025, hearing)
Approximately April 2025 | The Court issues sanctions against the South Texas District totaling one hundred eighty-three thousand dollars, including one hundred thousand dollars as a monetary sanction for discovery abuse, pursuant to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 215.2. (Source: court order)
Early May 2025 | The South Texas Ministry Network holds its annual business meeting. The body reelects Don Wiehe as Executive Secretary-Treasurer. The financial misconduct in the accounts payable office is not disclosed.
June 2025 | Don Wiehe sends an email to ministers describing the responsibility of each department to raise funds for Light for the Lost, BGMC, Speed the Light, and the Heart Fund.
July 30, 2025 | Tim Barker sends the letter to credentialed ministers acknowledging financial misconduct in the accounts payable office. Reports indicate the loss exceeds $300,000. The letter does not specify the dollar figure, the timeline of discovery, or the identity of the employee.
July 31, 2025 | Don Wiehe posts public anniversary tributes, including the disclosure that David Trog has been "working with accounts payable" since April 1.
August 11, 2025 | The Foley & Lardner letters from September 2023 are produced in litigation, more than nine months after the November 13, 2024, court order.
September 29, 2025 | Don Wiehe testifies under oath in Doe v. General Council that South Texas has complied with the November 13, 2024 order in its entirety and has complied with every request from the Court. In the same hearing, he is confronted with the late production of the Gateway report and the Foley letters. He testifies that the district has no financial documents showing any exchange of funds with Chi Alpha USA or the General Council, while acknowledging the existence of the Total Giving Plan and Chi Alpha–specific giving options on the district's website.
October 2025 | A memorandum is circulated among South Texas ministers analyzing the September 29 testimony in light of Texas Penal Code §§ 37.02 and 37.03, and the General Council Bylaws Articles VII, IX, and X. The memorandum recommends immediate disclosure of the Foley report and Gateway file, an independent forensic audit, and the resignation or removal of Don Wiehe from the office of Executive Secretary-Treasurer.
December 23, 2025 | Tim Barker sends a follow-up letter to credentialed ministers stating that "leadership of STXMN has endeavored to comply with the process and the requests for documentation."
May 4–6, 2026 | The South Texas Ministry Network Conference convenes in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Notes on Sources and Methods
Quotations attributed to former district officials, former Executive Presbyters, former Hillcrest staff, former students of the period described, and the pastor whose 2017 disciplinary case is described in this article are drawn from interviews conducted by Wrestling Lions in 2025 and 2026. Two former Hillcrest staff members provided accounts cited in this article on condition of anonymity. Their accounts were taken separately and corroborated against one another. The pastor at the center of the 2017 disciplinary case has asked that his name not be published; his account has been corroborated by former Executive Presbyters present at the meeting.
Documentation referenced in this article, including the 2008 McAllen letter, the September 18, 2012 Executive Presbytery resolution and minutes, the 2012 BKD audit report, the July 30, 2025 letter from Tim Barker, the December 23, 2025 letter from Tim Barker, the public Facebook posts of Don Wiehe, the court orders and sanctions documents in Doe v. General Council, the transcript of the September 29, 2025 hearing in Doe v. General Council in Harris County District Court, the Western Evening Herald article of February 23, 1990, the South Texas Ministry Network giving platform screenshots, and the South Texas Ministry Network 2023 financial summary, has been obtained from primary sources and is reproduced or directly quoted where applicable.
The October 2025 memorandum referenced in the section "The Bylaws Memorandum" is on file with this publication and has been provided to credentialed ministers of the South Texas Ministry Network. Quotations and characterizations of its contents are accurate to the document.
Reporting on the July 2025 financial misconduct disclosure draws on "Assemblies of God South TX Ministry Network Discovers Financial Misconduct" by Kim Roberts, published by MinistryWatch on August 28, 2025.
Tammy Miller, identified by Don Wiehe in his public Facebook posts of April 26, 2024, and December 31, 2024, as the South Texas Ministry Network's Accounts Payable employee through the end of 2024, has been contacted in writing by Wrestling Lions and offered the opportunity to respond on the record, on background, or by statement of any length she chooses. As of publication, no response has been received. A public records request has been submitted to the relevant law enforcement agency for any reports, arrest records, or charging documents that may be on file in connection with the financial misconduct disclosed in the July 30, 2025, letter. This article will be updated to reflect any response from Ms. Miller and any documents received from law enforcement.
Tim Barker, Don Wiehe, Mike Allard, and other named officers and former officers of the South Texas Ministry Network have been sent written questions concerning the matters described in this article. As of publication, none have responded. This article will be updated to reflect any response received.
The publisher of this series, Ron Bloomingkemper, Jr., is identified in Part One as the individual who reported concerns involving Daniel Savala to district leadership in 2013. He has chosen to disclose his role to provide transparency regarding his dual position as both a reporting source and the publisher of this series.
