January 27, 2013 12:00pm by David Farrar

A schism in Destiny?

Tony Wall at SST reports:

Some of Destiny Church’s most senior members have defected, upset at Bishop Brian Tamaki’s calls to hand over money for his “City of God” in South Auckland.

The Sunday Star-Times has learned that Tamaki’s obsession with building the new facility in Druces Rd, Manukau, has caused a schism in the church, with some of his staunchest followers deserting him.

Janine Cardno, the church’s media spokeswoman for many years, left last year, along with Paul and Michelle Hubble, who had been with Tamaki since 1990. …

Tamaki has called on church members to contribute $1000 each to help renovate the warehouse that will house church facilities, including a school.

The departure of Cardno is seen as particularly significant. She and her late husband, Neil, moved from Rotorua to help establish Destiny in Auckland in the 1990s, and Neil, a former TVNZ employee, pioneered Destiny television.

The church helped Janine through her grief after Neil died in a road accident in 2005. She was the public mouthpiece for Tamaki, defending him against criticisms over his lavish lifestyle. She declined to comment on her reasons for leaving.

The Hubbles also declined to comment, but a close friend said they had become disillusioned with Tamaki’s vision for the “City of God”, as it seemed he was putting buildings ahead of people.

“There was an announcement made that they wanted everybody to raise $1000. They weren’t happy about that, because they could see families in the church that would struggle to raise that amount of money.

“They personally knew of couples who were thinking, ‘We can’t raise the money, what can we sell?’ You shouldn’t have to do that. At what point do flash buildings become more important than actually looking after those people?”

In a New Year’s Eve sermon, Nelson’s Destiny Church pastor Martin Daly said: “I love reading the Destiny Church Facebook page [and families] going without Christmas presents ‘cos they’re saving up for their $1000 grand slam offering for the promised land that’s gonna bless the people of South Auckland.”