Lancaster County chief services officer takes abuse for Trinity Theol. Sem. degree

[dhfr]

A question of credentials (http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/18056)

The degree in question is from Trinity Theological Seminary (http://www.trinitysem.edu) of Newburgh, Indiana.

[Dennis Ruhl]

It's a candidate for accreditation with the North Cental Association. Being a candidate means it has had the once-over and normally a subsequent review would lead to accreditation. It is a real school.

Again I think the criticism is more about mail-order degrees as being somehow deficient. Also I don't believe his PhD would have been in "philosophy of church management" but instead in "church management." I assume that the philosophy part comes from an ignorant assumption that a PhD has something to do with philosophy.

[Greystead]

I don't see where in the article that Trinity Theol. Sem. is mentioned. Where did this information come from?

Anyway, assuming that Dennis is correct, I find the allegation that Trinity is "bogus" quite interesting to say the least. Their web site claims that their qualifications are endorsed by Canterbury Christ Church University College. Have a look at that site. http://www.canterbury.ac.uk/

This is a real UK University College, with a Royal Charter and the ability to grant UK degrees. The first Chancellor is the Archbishop of Canterbury. Not the most obvious candidate to be involved with a diploma mill!

[dhfr]

There are several news articles on this story, and some of them identify the institution as Trinity Theological Seminary of Newburgh. For example, do a Google News search on Gary Heinke (http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ned=us&q=%22Gary+Heinke%22).

[Greystead]

Thanks for the information.

[dhfr]

A New Era investigation uncovers major inaccuracies in Heinke resume (http://local.lancasteronline.com/4/18164)

[Redlyne Racer]

From poster "NonaYabiznis" in response to the previous article:


10-29-2005

..." Lancaster County commissioners have made a gentlemen's agreement to disclose to each other any relationships they have with prospective employees, commissioner Dick Shellenberger said Wednesday.

The unwritten policy was prompted by the hiring last month of the county's first chief services officer, Gary D. Heinke.

Heinke, a former corporate and U.S. Navy chaplain, used to work with Shellenberger.

From 1997 to 2001, Heinke lived in the county and worked as regional executive director of Marketplace Ministries Inc., a Dallas- based nonprofit organization.

In that capacity, Heinke placed chaplain teams with several area businesses, including Kreider Farms Restaurant of Manheim, which Shellenberger managed at the time.

"He's an acquaintance," Shellenberger said. "I like to think all of my acquaintances are my friends."

Shellenberger did not disclose his relationship with Heinke until the county personnel office, in conjuction with the commissioners, had selected Heinke as one of four finalists for the job. The county received at least 100 resumes for the post.

Shellenberger said he waited to tell the other commissioners about his relationship with Heinke because he didn't want to influence the hiring process.

"I could have influenced it pro or con, but I wanted to make it a neutral playing field," Shellenberger said.

The county's administrative policy does not require commissioners to disclose relationships with prospective employees, other than relatives. Now, at least unofficially, commissioners will disclose all relationships."


Gosh, a minister telling lies. We don't see that every day anyplace, do we?

[Dennis Ruhl]

Gosh, a minister telling lies. We don't see that every day anyplace, do we?

Naw - never seen nothin like that.:cool:

[dhfr]

I think the "New Era" is a little naive in calling its findings "major inaccuracies."

These kinds of exaggerations (e.g. calling oneself "Assistant Superintendent" rather than the accurate "assistant to the Superintendent") are par for the course today.

Not that I condone them!

[Redlyne Racer]

I think the "New Era" is a little naive in calling its findings "major inaccuracies."

These kinds of exaggerations (e.g. calling oneself "Assistant Superintendent" rather than the accurate "assistant to the Superintendent") are par for the course today.

Not that I condone them!

That is true, up to a point. If all he did was make himself "Assistant Superintendent" when he reallly was just an unofficial "assistant to the Superintendent" I doubt anyone would have blinked.

But when, for example, he calls himself "city council president" of Arden Hills, and (a) no one with that name ever served on the city council, (b) the mayor never heard of him, and (c) the city has no "president" of council position, then he's got a problem. Not only is it a lie, but it's a dumb lie, since the truth is so easily verified.

This guy apparently "exaggerated" just about every significant aspect of his background.

Clearly he got his $97,000 a year job because he was pals with one of the county commissioners. The "exaggerations" probably occurred at the suggestion of or with the cooperation of one or more of the commissioners. And nobody would have cared if he had done his job more or less correctly and hadn't "bungled" the sale of a county nursing home to a private operator.

Apparently it was "Former Lancaster City Mayor" Arthur Morris who first got wise to Heinke's problems, not the newspaper.

So, yes, many people do it and neither of us condones it, but I don't assign any naivete to the newspaper for reporting it under these circumstances.

The underlying issue that I think concerns us both would be a situation where a paper was digging for trash on the guy and decided to pick on his legit but unaccredited or non-traditional degrees. But I don't think that's really what was happening here. This guy had lots of things wrong with him. The fundamental issues are cronyism and incompetence, not trash picking.

I would take issue with the paper's implication that the guy's apparently legit DL degree from what now is an RA-candidate college ought to be dismissed as some sort of suspect "unaccredited online" doctorate. Ironically that seems to be one of the few legit things about the guy. But I think they were more concerned with the pattern that it exhibited, his representation of the "church administration" degree as one for "administration." In that sense no different than what he did with his unquestionably legit and prestigious Duke or UMinn degrees.

[A-N]

I agree with Redlyne. In my opinion, the switching around of his title from "Assistant to the Superintendent" to "Assistant Superintendent", while not an ethical thing to do, is minor in comparison to the other things that he wrongfully claimed.
Again, what Redlyne said, the paper piled it on, lumping his unaccredited legitimate and respectable Trinity Theological Seminary degree in the muddle.