NEWS STORY: Church leader’s trial returns spotlight to burned churches

c. 1999 Religion News Service UNDATED _ The Rev. Leo Nelson of Port Allen, La., says he’s”just overjoyed to be in the house of the Lord again.” After his New Mount Olive Baptist Church was burned to the ground in 1996, his congregation didn’t worship in its own sanctuary again until last June. Nelson is […]

c. 1999 Religion News Service

UNDATED _ The Rev. Leo Nelson of Port Allen, La., says he’s”just overjoyed to be in the house of the Lord again.” After his New Mount Olive Baptist Church was burned to the ground in 1996, his congregation didn’t worship in its own sanctuary again until last June.

Nelson is one of eight pastors whose churches received money more than a year ago from the Anti-Defamation League in its effort to help mostly black, Southern churches destroyed by a spate of arsons that received intense media scrutiny in 1995 and 1996.


But Nelson’s money came via a roundabout route.

A sum of more than $200,000 was given to the Rev. Henry J. Lyons, president of the National Baptist Convention, USA, by the ADL in November 1996 for distribution to churches in need.

But most of the money from the ADL/National Urban League’s”Rebuild the Churches Fund”was never distributed to burned churches by the leader of the predominantly black denomination.

In September 1997, after an inquiry from the ADL, Lyons returned $214,500 to the ADL, which, in turn, gave it to the Congress of National Black Churches for redistribution.

Now, Lyons, a pastor in St. Petersburg, Fla., is nearing the end of a state trial where he and an aide are charged with grand theft and racketeering. Among the charges: Prosecutors said Lyons, who promised the ADL the money would quickly go to”the wheels that are squeaking the loudest,”instead used the funds for house decorations, love interests and to pay off bills.

Myrna Shinbaum, a spokeswoman for the Anti-Defamation League, said different churches have received the money rather than the ones Lyons originally chose as recipients _ some of whose pastors were present when Lyons accepted a $225,000 check at a 1996 ceremony.”We found out at the trial that some of the people he brought to our meeting _ their churches had already been built,”said Shinbaum.

The returned money, which Lyons told the ADL in a letter would be used to help several churches in Alabama, now has gone to churches in other states.

Asked about how he felt about receiving the funds, Nelson responded diplomatically:”I’d rather stay neutral and say, `Thank God.'” While Nelson continues to pay off a loan that helped him rebuild his church, other churches among the eight that received the ADL’s money range from those yet to begin construction to those with just a few finishing touches to complete.


Calls to the Congress of National Black Churches about an update on the status of burned churches were not returned.

But Betsey Miller, who directs the National Council of Churches’ Church Rebuilding Project, said the range of conditions of the eight churches that received ADL money is emblematic of the overall national picture.”It’s really because arsons still continue,”said Miller.”It’s wider spread than normally understood. It’s not a Southern problem. It is not a racial problem. We have churches on our list in 33 states and of all denominations and backgrounds.” The church council and the black church congress have worked closely together, doing joint visits to the sites of the burnings, and coordinating funding and volunteer activities to get the churches rebuilt. Their initiatives also have included officials of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which has offered to guarantee private loans to help churches destroyed by arson get necessary financing.

According to the NCC’s Church Rebuilding Project, more than 300 churches have been contacted since the church council’s work began in the spring of 1996. Of those, 149 have been awarded grants now totaling about $6.5 million, Miller said. The other congregations did not qualify under the grant guidelines, which include a confirmation that there was a strong suspicion or official determination of arson.”It has to be the result of an act of hatred, religious or racial,”Miller said.

Of the 149 churches that received grants, 70 are completed, about 30 are in their finishing stages and about 50 others have broken ground to begin rebuilding, Miller said.

Sixty percent of the churches helped by the NCC project are predominantly black or racially mixed congregations, she said. The other 40 percent are predominantly white.

When the arsons were at their height, numerous congregations volunteered to travel cross-country to help churches rebuild. Now, Miller said, the emphasis by both the NCC and CNBC is to encourage local volunteers to be involved.”It’s the community that has been damaged by the fire,”said Miller.”It’s the community that helped burn it down. You’ve got to have the community invested in rebuilding.” The stories of rebuilding are tempered by the continuing reports of church fires.”The rate of burning has started to drop, but I’ve got a list of 15 since December,”said Miller.”I find it alarming and distressing.” The Rev. Terrance Mackey, former pastor of a Mount Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church in Greeleyville, S.C., voiced a similar sentiment.”Every time we get four or five up, there’s 10 or 15 burned,”said Mackey, now a pastor in Charleston, S.C., and the founder of the Charleston-based National Coalition for Burned Churches and Community Empowerment.”We have not stopped this problem in this country,”he said.”This is still a problem. I think the general public needs to know this is still happening out here.” Mackey’s former church was visited by President Clinton shortly before it held a 1996 rededication service after an arson the previous year. His was one of the eight churches aided by money from the ADL, which he said was used to help pay the church’s mortgage on its new sanctuary.


But these days, without the headlines, pastors are dealing with fewer donations to help them when the churches burn, Mackey said.”A lot of pastors are frustrated,”he added.”They are weary, but they are strong. We are constantly searching for alternative ways to get their churches up.” (OPTIONAL TRIM _ STORY MAY END HERE)

But as the fires continue, so do the offers of help and donations from individuals, corporations and foundations.”Every once in a while, I get a $5 check in the mail,”Miller said.”It’s just wonderful.” And the in-kind donations of sanctuary staples _ Bibles, communion sets and choir robes _ can often galvanize a church that may grow discouraged during the long rebuilding process.”When a communion set shows up and they can actually continue to worship, that’s important,”Miller said.

Like the Louisiana pastor, Bishop Edwin Nesbitt of St. Jude Holiness Church in St. Petersburg, Fla., is grateful for the $44,000 donation that eventually reached him from the ADL rather than resentful of Lyons. His church, burned in 1993, had its final dedication service for its new building in late January.”God provides,”he said.

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