GeekForce

Out in the SW fringe of StL County, down in the Meremac River Valley, there sprung up a church, and every big town has one like this, “Life Christian Center”. Now I want to make it clear that I’m a Christian, and very recently, I quite literally switched jobs and sliced my income in half to throw my talents toward furthering a company that furthers opportunity for the disadvantaged unemployed in one of America’s most brutally impoverished (not to mention violent) communities.

So..with my perspective out on the table (as in, so now you know where I’m coming from), let’s chat a bit about this ‘church’ that’s out toward increasingly affluent Fenton, Mo.

I just got back from casing the parking lot (as one turns off Gravois). I thought I’d report 315 or so parking places, but then I turned a corner and went to the SE side, and boy, we better up that total figure to 600 or so, give or take.

There’s a main ’sanctuary’ (what Catholics, Episcopalians, or Presbyterians would call it) that by the outside appears to be a substantial auditorium-size dwelling–I’ll report seating capacity when I get a chance to get in the first Sunday I’m in town. There’s also a “multi-purpose building” , and an attached school-like dwelling, with a very high-end playground that runs nowadays in the $60K-or-so range.

Forgive the lack of details of the physical buildings. It’s the stench that bothers me. Mind you, it’s 20-degrees outside with nasty NW gusts, so I’m not referring to our sense of smell.

Looking west, this is where things get convoluted to the point of physically illness. The head honcho ‘minister’ has a palacial crib, MASSIVE in size and in taste-less-ness. I’d put this nauseating ‘minister castle’, and I’m pretty sharp about construction costs and land values here, $1.5M without breathing hard. Even more reprehensible, though, is the ‘kid cribs’, mini castles for her (the minister’s) kids, that sprouted up like a rash disease within the shadow of her palace. Up and down the hill are apartment buildings–and this is NOT cheap property nor has it been since Chrysler planted it’s roots in Fenton in the late 1960’s–that she somehow procured over time.

Her kids aren’t old enough, nor are they bright enough, to remember Jim Baker and Jerry Fallwell go down in oily flames for taking fistfuls of yen out of collection plates and into their pockets. In the late 1920’s the great Al Capone beat every criminal rap the US Justice Department hurled at him…..

EXCEPT for tax invasion. Once they nailed him for it and slammed him not-too-gently behind bars, the criminal side’s district attorney’s office got busy, as did the State of Illinois’ Justice Department, all having unfettered access to the reams of evidence the IRS scooped up along the way.

Dr. Joyce Meyers, who, INCREDIBLY hasn’t gotten nailed yet, insists that her home, her kids home, and her net worth (my accountant buddy, who’s carefully watched this all in amazement for some years now) as in the $10-15M range, and I know my good buddy and former roommate well. He’s underestimating.

What the congregation (or rather, the ‘flock’) thinks about the absolutely inevitable IRS bust doesn’t mean a damn thing to the feds. You may as well be a corporal in the army ringing the White House to wake President Bush from a 3:00 am sound sleep. This chick is going down. You heard it here: Feb ‘07. The wheels are turning, and I’m coming to GET you!

..that was Jimi Hendrix– Jimi’s not altogether enthralled with Dr Meyers, and he, like I, wonder just what, specifically, her doctorate is in.

SO….I need to get some frustration and anger out, or at least harness the frustration and anger if it isn’t going to ever get out, and Dr. Meyers, multi-millionairess-up-to-now is EXACTLY the target that MAYBE is a big enough fish. I, and you, detest her for taking ‘non-profit’ exemption and, just as a family, putting well over a million dollars a year over the counter at a major parts/supply store here, and that’s only the tip of the iceberg of grotesque excesses.

My only shame is that it’s taken so long for anybody to be interested in dragging her down.

So. In conclusion, I’ll add: the church should pretty much stay as is with the Meyers gang behind bars. Non-denominational worship is the rage of today and of tomorrow, and, given the amazing proclivity of politics, power vying, and (sigh) overly compensated clergy (larger metro areas only) in the traditional denominational churches, it’s no wonder why the sheep flock to places like this. Future generation leaders at Life Christian, given the staggering impact of Meyer’s arrest, trial, and incarceration, will put their coins in the cup AND follow the path of those coins directly to the poor….

….perhaps to one or more of the five shelters in StL and N StL, and not to replacing gaudy mantles and cabinetry for the Meyers-brats’ houses.

Sort of like Saddam and his sons going down in flames, isn’t it? I can’t WAIT to go to church at Life Christian!!! You’ll be able to pick me out of the crowd. I’ll be the one not singing and not clapping or smiling.

I’m just going to observe, watch, learn, take notes, snap a photo now and then for oh, a few weeks or so…

…and I’ll post each and every “HATE MAIL” post I get out of this writing. I shall fear no evil…