Goodwin v. United States

Brief overview of this case: Several times a year (Christmas, anniversaries, and Goodwin's birthday) the assistant pastor, Rev. Lee Ray, would speak to the church before a service when Goodwin was not present, telling the church that it was again time to give Goodwin and his wife what he called a "love offering." Supposedly, this was voluntary; but I can remember many times when Ray would speak to the church again a few weeks after, telling us that the "love offering" so far was not as much as last year's; in other words, telling us that we need to give more. The idea was that each year's "love offering" exceed last year's.

Apparently (I say "apparently" because I was no longer a member of GAC in 1994) Goodwin got audited by the IRS for the years 1987-1989. Goodwin was then assessed for taxes owed on the "love offerings" for those years. Lloyd Goodwin then brought action against the United States for a refund of that money.

This motion was denied on October 12, 1994. Now here is what's really interesting: In the court documents below, you will see that during a deposition Ray says, "I have never counted that money." Now my question is this: If he never counted the money, how did he know to tell us that the "love offering" was not as much as last year's, as he did so many times?

I heard him say it many times. But don't take my word for it: ask any former member of GAC. Or any current member, for that matter, assuming they don't lie about it.

Some of the court documents are below. I didn't put them all here, as it would take forever to load it on your screen.

Here are some exerpts from Lee Ray's deposition:

Page 12:



Exerpt from page 20:



Continued on page 21:



Gee, that's not the way I remember it. I guess Goodwin taught Ray well; see below a comment in Goodwin's own handwriting.



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