Claiming Divine Inspiration, N.C. Planners Forming Bank with Church

A vision from God has inspired the formation of a new bank in North Carolina, planners say.

The organizers of Trinity Bank, to be based in Monroe, have gotten permission from the state's banking commission to raise at least $7 million of start-up capital. The idea to form a bank, they say, came in a vision experienced by Jeff Faulkner, one of the start-up's organizers and the president of a local insurance company. Mr. Faulkner will be a director of the new bank.

"It was an idea God put in his heart," said Dennis O. Livingston, who will be president and chief executive officer.

Trinity, which Mr. Livingston said he hopes will be opened in early 1999, will have as many as three branches in Union County, a Charlotte suburban area where no bank is headquartered.

"We have lots of large banks, but we believe those banks don't look seriously at smaller loans," Mr. Livingston said. "Without a local bank, there are niches that are deprived funding in this county."

There will be competition, however. In April, another group of investors announced its intention to raise $6.5 million to fund American Community Bank and Trust, which would also be based in Monroe.

Mr. Livingston said he believes his bank's name, with its religious reference, will help establish it in the community.

"This is the Bible Belt; it seems there is a church on every corner," he said. "I think we have a great opportunity to appeal to those churchgoers."

Trinity will focus on lending to churches, borrowers ignored by many financial institutions. Banks shy away from church lending, said John N. Vaughan, president of Church Growth Today, a Bolivar, Mo., consulting firm. Foreclosure could mean terrible publicity and leave the bank in possession of a building that is tough to sell, he said.

"Banks can have success lending to churches, but they have to be careful," Mr. Vaughan said. "They have to take the time to understand the assembly they are lending to."

Mr. Livingston said his bank is willing to take the time. "We want it known that if a church has a stable history, we will do what we can to help them out," he said.

He insisted that a natural correlation exists between banking and religion. Trinity's motto, "In God We Trust," is borrowed from U.S. currency. "To be successful, we have to trust in God," he said. "We will build the bank on the same foundation on which the country was built."

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