c. 1997 Religion News Service

MOBILE, Ala. _ The Alabama State Missionary Baptist Convention, the largest black Baptist organization in the state and an affiliate of the beleaguered National Baptist Convention, USA, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Mobile.

The convention’s membership includes about 900 churches with a total of some 420,000 members, said the Rev. W.E. Pitts, a Tuscaloosa minister who is the convention’s executive secretary-treasurer.

Pitts blamed the bankruptcy filing on the financial decisions of past leaders of the convention, who were voted out of office in November 1995.

He also said the severe difficulties of 119-year-old Selma University, which the convention sponsors, have proved to be a major drain.”Every debt you see, every bill you see, was made by the previous administration,”Pitts said.”We have not borrowed any money.

Chapter 11 provides for debt reorganization, meaning the convention is seeking protection from its creditors so it can work with the court to organize a plan to pay its debts.

The initial filing, which is subject to change, reported debts of $762,970 against assets of $61,210.

The debt total does not include possible future judgments from lawsuits now pending against the convention _ including two suits brought by former convention leaders.

The debts have grown despite significant giving from member churches, the bankruptcy file shows.

The convention received $560,000 in contributions in 1996, and has taken in $538,111 to date this year. “The new administration is fighting for death and life to pay the previous administration’s bills, to save Selma University,” Pitts said.

Selma University, a private black college whose enrollment dipped to about 45 last year, reported debts of about $3.2 million, according to that school’s Chapter 11 filing in Mobile in May.”The purpose of this organization (the convention) is that we operate Selma University,” Pitts said.”We promote Christian mission, education and evangelism, but Selma University is the main thing.” The convention also sends money to Christian missions overseas, as well as to the National Baptist Convention, USA, with which the convention is affiliated.

The NBCUSA has been embroiled in controversy since reports have charged the Rev. Henry J. Lyons, its president, with questionable expenditures of church funds, including allegations he bought a home for himself and a woman who is not his wife.

Because of the problems concerning Lyons, Alabama convention president Julius R. Scruggs said at a July meeting he would not ask the convention’s member churches to make donations for the national convention’s annual meeting which begins Sept. 1 in Denver.”We need to salvage the integrity of our conventions,” Scruggs said at the meeting.

Lawsuits, including two filed by former convention leaders, have also proved damaging, Pitts said.

The Rev. Felix N. Nixon, the former convention president, sued the convention earlier this year, seeking more than $60,000 he claims to have lent the organization and Selma University. Melvin Hunter, another former convention officer, sued last year, claiming the convention owes him more than $500,000 from loans he made, Pitts said.

Pitts said he has been unable to locate any records showing Nixon or Hunter lent the convention money.

MJP END CURRAN