I got an email on Thursday from someone signing himself “John Doe,” asking me to “share the information” in the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod’s “FAQ” on their proposed sale of KFUO “Classic99″ to Gateway Creative Broadcasting, aka Joy FM.

It’s something I’ve been meaning to write about, because the answers to those “Frequently Asked Questions” deserve to be examined. It turns out that the FAQ Q&A (almost certainly the handiwork of board member-paid counsel-spokesman Kermit Brashear) is not entirely factual - and that the answers have to be read carefully for interpretation.

For example, the FAQ says that the sale is not “a sign the LCMS is struggling financially because of the country’s economic decline.” The Synod’s own financial documents indicate that income declined for the last several years - well before the present recession began - and treasurer Tom Kuchta told me in March that the monies from the sale were needed to fund other ministries.

Then there’s this one: “There have been allegations of secrecy regarding the decision to sell KFUO-FM. Was information about the decision to sell the station made public?” “The Synod’s board has been open about its intentions regarding the FM station. …” It’s been open with some others within the MoSyn, but most of the discussions about the sale of the station have been held in executive sessions - which is to say, privately.

The station was never advertised as being for sale; Sandi Brown of Joy FM has confirmed both in conversations and on the air that they’d been told to keep their negotiations confidential. A member of the Radio Arts Board says, “We were asked to almost the end to keep it confidential.”

A statement that’s definitely not factual, according to members of the Radio Arts Board, the “Friends” group that sought to buy KFUO-FM and keep it classical, is this one: “Did the KFUO Radio Arts Board make an offer to purchase the station and if so, why was this offer not accepted?”

Here’s the official response: “The LCMS met with and conversed with representatives of the KFUO Radio Arts Board on multiple occasions. The arts board expressed an interest in purchasing the station, but its most recent proposal was to buy KFUO-FM for $4.1 million, leaving the LCMS with minority ownership and bearing all operational costs. Clearly, this was not viable.”

That’s not quite how the leaders of the Arts Board recall it. Here’s what they say: “We worked with one of the most respected investment bankers and did talk about an alternative that left them with a minority position for a period of time… (The Arts Board) would buy it all within 3 to 5 years for $6 to 8 million. It was a starting point for negotiation and on a present day value was vastly better than their current deal. Their response was they had (an offer for) $18 million with the implication (that it was) fully funded.”

Instead of negotiating, Brashear acted, in effect, as an agent for both the MoSyn and Joy FM by pushing what he called a “win-win-win” deal, in which Joy FM would get the license for 99.1’s “big stick,” and the Arts Board would buy Joy FM’s two not-quite-paid-for outstate “rimshot” stations, an HD channel and “intellectual property,” for $5 million.

I don’t have time (and readers probably don’t have the patience) for a complete point-by-point read-through of the FAQ. Just one more: “Was the LCMS only interested in selling the station to another Christian broadcaster?” “No such limitation was ever imposed.”

Well, maybe, and maybe not. My sources have told me that the Board was afraid of the backlash within the LCMS if they sold KFUO to Bonneville International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Mormon corporate empire, and until recently a voracious buyer of radio stations. There are also those within the Synod who dislike the “Jews, atheists, Unitarians and Episcopalians” who have supported KFUO-FM over the years. To avoid any upset, they wanted to sell, quietly, to a “Christian” broadcaster.

It might be safest to keep Brashear’s modus operandus in mind when considering the FAQ and interpreting its contents. After all, Brashear insisted for months that “every member (of a group of 41 prominent LCMS leaders) got a copy of my response” to a well-written petition asking the board to reconsider its decision to sell. That “response” turned out to be to simply ignore the petition - which is no response at all.