Saturday, August 16, 1997
Organizational funds may have been used to
purchase house
(RNS) At least $90,000 from the accounts of the National Baptist
Convention, USA, was used in the purchase of an exclusive waterfront
home by the denomination's president and a woman who is not his
wife.
The Rev. Henry J. Lyons has denied using any church funds for
the $700,000 house. His wife, Deborah, was charged with setting
fires in the house on July 6, after learning her husband owned
it with Bernice Edwards, the church's former public relations
director of corporate affairs.
Sheriff's deputies said Deborah Lyons told them she suspected
her husband was having an affair with Edwards, but she has since
denied saying that.
In a related matter, a group of ministers in Philadelphia held
a meeting Friday to consider whether to seek changes in the structure
of the denomination that would limit Lyons' authority over its
accounts. They also were considering asking him to resign.
"I think we're indebted to the wife," said the Rev.
David Weeks, president of the Philadelphia Baptist Ministers Conference.
"If she hadn't set the fire, all this would not be coming
out."
Officials of the National Baptist Convention, USA - the nation's
largest black denomination - said Lyons does not have permission
to spend the church's money on his own real estate dealings, the
Associated Press reported.
"That is a no-no," said the Rev. Fred Crouther, chairman
of the group's finance and budget committee.
In a July 11 press conference at his Bethel Metropolitan Baptist
Church in St. Petersburg, Lyons said, "There has never been
any money taken from this church or from the National Baptist
Convention to secure the loan on the house."
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Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps. Publications
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