evolution

Wichita (ex-)pastors Joe Wright and Terry Fox are shutting down their radio show Answering the Call, which aired on many Midwestern stations as well as the “Christian talk” channel on Sirius satellite radio.

It seems that the show cost $10,000 per month to keep on the air, and that they didn’t want to pass the plate any more. Fox and Wright will pay what they owe themselves:

“People seem to enjoy” the show, he said, “but for some reason, they don’t want to pay.”

After Sunday’s show, Wright said he and Fox reviewed the finances and found they were in the familiar place of being behind.

“I told Terry, ‘Let’s just pull the plug on it,’ ” Wright said.

The amount they owe is “not a lot,” Fox said, and they plan to cover it.

Well, boys, your Sirius audience is already paying for it.

I don’t think that’s all there is to it, however. Later in the piece comes this:

Earlier this month, Immanuel released a statement that said Fox had used money from a church fund to support the radio program, a factor that church leaders said led to his resignation. The church did not say how much money was used.

Fox acknowledged he used mission funds for the radio show but said he had the authority to do so as senior pastor. He also said other church leaders knew of it and did not question him about it or indicate it was a problem.

Earlier in the Foxmania, there was a lot of speculation and unconfirmed rumor flying around that there was extramarital sex involved in Fox’s departure from Kansas’s largest church — and one of the state’s biggest political venues, at least under Fox — but I ultimately came to believe that it was not the case. I suppose it yet may have been, but few things end relationships of all kinds faster than a good old misappropriation of funds. The apologists and attack dogs would have come out in force after any Jim Bakker-style tearful “I have sinned with another woman” speech. The money situation is the more plausible explanation for Fox’s sudden departure.