2 Church Officials Resign

Foursquare's board of directors last week accepted the resignation of President Paul Risser, a minister with the Pentecostal church for more than 40 years and its top executive since 1998. Risser described his departure as "in the best interests of everyone," Foursquare spokesman Ron Williams said.

Treasurer Brent Morgan also resigned last week, the church said in a news release. Risser and Morgan could not be reached for comment.

Risser had drawn criticism from some Foursquare leaders for entrusting funds from a church foundation to Financial Advisory Consultants Inc. of Lake Forest and IPIC International Inc. of Ontario, Williams said.

Both firms recently were shut down by federal authorities, who described them as Ponzi schemes that paid big returns to certain early investors with money obtained from late-comers.

Foursquare was founded by early 20th century evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson, a fire-and-brimstone Pentecostal preacher who foreshadowed today's televangelists by using radio to broadcast her gospel.

McPherson preached around the nation before establishing a permanent base in 1918 in Los Angeles, where five years later she built the 5,300-seat Angelus Temple, a landmark that still stands just north of Echo Park Lake near downtown.

By the church's count, it has 3.6 million members who worship in nearly 30,000 churches and meeting places in 123 countries.

The $14 million in Foursquare losses represented nearly 6% of the $250 million the church received when it sold a Los Angeles radio station, KFSG-FM, to Spanish Broadcasting System in November 2000.

Williams said the church's executive office, headed by Risser, hoped the high returns promised by Financial Advisory Consultants and IPIC International would help continue an aggressive expansion campaign "to spread the kingdom of God."

"The idea was that this was a safe amount," Williams said.

Risser did not seek approval from Foursquare's board before making the investments, and church leaders were divided on whether he had the authority to do so, Williams said.

Investing donations from congregation members would clearly be out of line, he noted, but the rules for handling proceeds from the radio station sale were less clear.