St. Andrew’s Chapel Faces Questions Over Financial Transparency

Members say church leaders won’t share budget details with them.

St. Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Florida, has been instructed by a local presbytery to share its financial and budget information with members.

St. Andrews Chapel (Photo via Facebook) / Insert of Suspended Senior Pastor Burk Parsons

The church has been in the news recently because Senior Pastor Burk Parsons, also a Ligonier Ministries teaching fellow, was indefinitely suspended from his duties as a teaching elder by a church judicial commission.

In May 2024, St. Andrew’s member Doug Risavy asked for expense details, including salaries, from the church’s 2024 budget, according to a decision by the Central Florida Presbytery, the regional denominational governing body of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA).

He was not the first to do so. In the fall of 2023, St. Andrew’s member Wil Thornhill told MinistryWatch he first asked the church treasurer and then an elder who is also the church administrator for specific budget information similar to what is available on an IRS Form 990.

Thornhill was concerned that the one-page summary document of the church’s $4.5-million budget given to members during the January congregational meeting was not sufficient for an informed approval vote.

Member Jacqueline Husebo made a similar request before the January 2024 budget meeting. She told MinistryWatch she and her late husband had previously known about occurrences in other settings where tithes had been misappropriated, so they wanted to ensure good accountability and stewardship practices by the church.

After her husband died, Husebo wanted to honor his wishes about practicing good stewardship of their resources. So she requested to see the budget before being asked to vote on it at the annual meeting.

Both Thornhill and Husebo were denied the requested financial information.

In June 2024, the elders responded to Risavy’s request, but they did not provide the requested financial details.

For several months, between June and October, Risavy and the church elders exchanged correspondence, but could not reach a resolution. So in October, Risavy followed the required procedure and filed a complaint with the church elders, according to the presbytery documents.

In response, the elders provided Risavy with a consolidated financial statement without the requested details.

Risavy then filed a complaint with the Central Florida Presbytery in November, and a commission was formed to investigate the complaint.

In April 2025, a commission appointed by the presbytery agreed with Risavy and instructed the elders of St. Andrew’s to provide him with the detailed budget information he had requested, including the salaries of pastors.

The decision was a bit complicated because St. Andrew’s started as an independent congregation, but joined the PCA in 2023 after its pastors had been appointed.

The presbytery commission determined that the PCA’s Book of Church Order required that the St. Andrew’s congregation approve the call of its teaching elders, including their salary packages.

In other words, when St. Andrew’s joined the PCA in 2023, it should have asked the congregation to approve the salary packages for its teaching elders.

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Additionally, the commission pointed out that St. Andrew’s Chapel bylaws and Florida law permit members to have access to financial records when requesting them for a proper purpose.

“Risavy’s active, financial supporting, covenant membership provides sufficient member interest,” the commission said.

St. Andrew’s appealed the commission’s interpretation of the BCO provisions. Meanwhile, Thornhill and Husebo again requested the church budget information.

In June, the commission reaffirmed its decision and emphasized the PCA’s high view of transparency.

“[N]o member of this Commission would deny a congregant in good standing in our own churches access to information such as Mr. Risavy requested,” the commission wrote. “Providing detailed budget information to the congregation upon request assures them that the Session is using their tithes wisely and potentially solicits the congregation’s suggestions for future budgets. It encourages the requestor and others to continue supporting the church.”

The commission then went on to instruct St. Andrew’s elders about the importance of transparency within the PCA.

“In Presbyterianism, transparency is central to its governance, which is built on a representative system of elders, called and elected by congregations…The PCA Book of Order mandates that church proceedings—such as session meetings or general assemblies—be conducted openly, with minutes recorded and accessible to members. Transparency reflects the Reformed theological belief that the church discerns God’s will collectively, requiring access to information for all involved.”

Thornhill, who has run two large companies, is concerned about the continued lack of transparency by St. Andrew’s Chapel leadership. He has also served as an elder, trustee, and deacon in other churches and finds St. Andrew’s to be the “least transparent church” he’s seen.

“It has been made clear to me that St. Andrew’s Chapel does not want anyone looking into the details of its financial information,” Thornhill told MinistryWatch. “This is the church of Jesus Christ, and there really is no reason for hiding the financial information.”

St. Andrew’s did not reply to a request for a statement about whether it intends to comply with the presbytery decision.

On July 20, St. Andrew’s is planning a congregational vote about whether to remain in the PCA. Thornhill is expecting that the congregation will probably “vote on emotions rather than information,” even though it’s a “big decision with ramifications that will last for years.”

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