Edinburg, Texas (ABP)—A former Hispanic church planter implicated in a 2006 Baptist General Convention of Texas scandal has filed a defamation lawsuit against the BGCT and several other Texas Baptist entities and individuals.

Otto Arango, founder of the now-defunct Piper Institute of Church Planting, was one of three pastors accused in 2006 of misappropriating funds the Texas convention provided for new Hispanic church starts.

In addition to the BGCT, the lawsuit names the Baptist Standard, the BGCT’s news journal, and several churches, associations and individuals.

Arango’s legal action stems from allegations that he and two other church planters, Aaron de la Torre and Armando Vera, misused BGCT church-start funds. The trio claimed 258 churches had been started in Texas between 1999 and 2005 through a training system Arango had devised. The system was based on the house-church approach.

Questions about Arango’s reportedly lavish lifestyle and suspicions about the use of some funds prompted BGCT officials to ask an independent counsel to investigate.

The investigative team reported that the BGCT had given more than $1.3 million for start-up funding for the program and monthly support for Arango, de la Torre and Vera. Investigators also noted that 98 percent of the congregations they claimed to have planted via the program either no longer existed or existed only on paper.

The team noted that the Piper Institute had delayed providing information requested of it and that de la Torre admitted to falsifying some documents.

Investigators also accused some BGCT staffers of poor oversight of funding, uneven management, failure to follow the convention’s guidelines and failure to investigate when staff became aware of possible problems.

In the lawsuit, Arango alleges that the defendants made “false and malicious statements” about him, and that they have harmed his “reputation, credibility and integrity.”

He claims that the statements were published in the Standard’s print edition and on its Web site “with malice and a lack of good faith.”

The statements, he contends, convinced others that he had “stolen funds, had improperly used church funds and had lied about the number of new Hispanic Baptist churches he had started.”

Arango’s lawsuit primarily points to the convention and the Standard. He did not list specific charges against the other defendants.

Arango is suing for lost earnings, including back pay and benefits, retirement benefits and lost future earning or diminished earning capacity. The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for past and future mental and physical pain and anguish.

He also asks for unspecified punitive damages, claiming that the defendants “acted with malice, actual malice and/or a specific intent to injure” him.

In a written statement, BGCT Executive Director Randel Everett expressed surprise and disappointment that Arango had turned to litigation. But, he added, “we believe this suit is totally without merit and that the BGCT has no liability in the matter.”

“The Standard denies the allegations and expects to be exonerated,” noted editor Marv Knox.

David Montoya, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Mineral Wells, Texas, who also is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, said he welcomes the opportunity to face Arango in a legal setting. “I will not settle with the man, period,” he declared. “I want to go to court.”

Montoya argued that the legal confrontation is the only way the “full story” will become available to all Texas Baptists. “It is the only way we are going to get the complete investigative report out,” he noted, calling the BGCT report released after the investigation “only the tip of the iceberg.”