Stephen Shives Conviction
Stephen Shives presents himself as a “regular guy,” and religious man, but he’s shown his true colors in South Carolina where he profited from parishioners of the church he founded and outright stole from a York County man.
Shives Breaks The Law
This story starts with what might seem a small thing: a man trying to start his truck to haul some firewood.
On a cold day in late January, he goes out to his 1963 International dump, turns the key. It doesn’t crank. So he investigates. He opens the hood and finds that someone had removed the distributor cap and wire harness. He inspects further. He finds a small note that had Stephen Shives contact information, explaining he had a breakdown and he promised to either replace or repay for the parts he stole.
Shives Breaks His Word
The man is put out, frustrated he can’t do the work he intended. Later, he calls Shives for the $400 for repair and parts, and suggests a reasonable timeframe of about a week to pay. Shives balks, and hangs up on the man. The man doesn’t hear from Shives and files charges.
Shives is found guilty of Larceny and sentenced to 30 days in York County Jail.
Shives Profits From His Parishioners
But there’s more to it than this theft. At this time, Shives is passing himself off as a pastor at a church he founded—first named Lighthouse Christian Ministries then Finish Line Christian Fellowship. He preached an abundance message, combining with the religious and financial topics.
He didn’t just mix money and faith together in his sermons. Shives lived in a house “owned” by the Church. He later accepted it as a “gift for a $1,” promptly pulled out $81,000 and another $25,000 in equity.
The day he was arrested, he suddenly closed down the church and sold his $1 for a $235,000 profit, in addition to earlier “loans”.
He would cover his sudden shuttering of the church and departure by citing “family health issues” and suggested that this was a part of a longer-term plan. One he didn’t share until the last day. As covered in the Lake Wiley Pilot, Shives was quoted:
“For 11 years, the congregation pastored by Stephen Shives in Lake Wylie has been building, growing and sharing faith. Now, the time has come to test it. This is may be an emotional time for all of us, but the decision was then reached earlier this year to disband the church.
Lake Wiley Pilot, 2/6/07
Shives Runs Away To Start Runaway Campers
Shives leaves town, and resettles in Florida where he opens a camper business. He likes to claim he started his business with a few hundred dollars and is debt free, skipping past the hundreds of thousands of dollars he grifted from his church.