June 22, 2026 (Tehachapi, CA) Shepherd of the Hills’ “elders” keep two sets of financial records. One shows how donations are actually spent. The other is modified, hiding expenses and creating vague categories, before being shown to the congregation.
Attached to this post is the REAL 2021 financial record. They modify these numbers each year before presenting them to the congregation to “vote” on.
Here is what you need to know:
The photos in blue are Pages 1 and 2 of the 2021 unbalanced budget. This is a direct scan, including Bill De Silva’s handwriting, showing how the money is actually used before it gets changed.
Shepherd of the Hills hides Jeff Kaplan’s salary under two nested categories of “Other” within “Administrative Expenses.” They bury janitorial and other minor expenses here too, so even if they tell you the category, you cannot reverse-engineer his salary. The Elders did this because they felt “it’s nobody’s business” how much Jeff Kaplan makes.
But it IS people’s business when you are mismanaging funds, serving as an “elder” illegally, misrepresenting the financial situation, and asking to be bailed out year after year.
Jeff Kaplan’s $100,000+ annual salary is buried under “Other” inside “Administrative Expenses”, including his payroll and housing allowance. Of course, this does not include paid meals, mileage, or travel. Additionally, this $100,000+ salary does not include yearly reimbursements for Jeff Kaplan to pursue “continued education” for him to attend conferences and be paid for expensive social media and business courses which teach him how to build and run for-profit businesses and side ventures.
Look at the bottom of Page 2. It shows how they keep “love offerings” for when financial mismanagement reaches levels where they can no longer pay their bills.
This confirms what I posted recently: They use these every year, multiple times, to keep the mismanagement going indefinitely.
If the goal is to spend 70% of donations on a pastor’s salary and a building, that is their choice. But do not claim more money is needed “to reach more people for the Lord.” It is not. (1 Thess. 2:9)
More money is needed to prop up overpaid salaries, expensive reimbursements for unrelated business courses, and a building.
Reaching more people for the Lord does not cost more money. Financial mismanagement, fraud, waste, and abuse does.
Just be honest. Don’t lie, cheat, and steal from God’s people and try to invoke His name and His Word as a basis for doing so.
“Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out.” – Proverbs 10:9