Pastor Hit with Fiscal, Moral Questions

By Bob Smietana
The Tennessean
March 4, 2012

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120304/NEWS/303040064/Pastor-hit-with-fiscal-moral-questions

[Walter F. Roche and Brandon Gee contributed to this report.]

The Wednesday noon Bible study at Mt. Zion Baptist Church drew 400 worshippers this week, most of them women, almost all with a Bible in one hand and an offering envelope in the other.

They’re drawn by their beloved pastor, Bishop Joseph Walker III, whose prosperity gospel message combines Bible verses and motivational slogans.

In a few weeks, Walker will celebrate 20 years as pastor of Mt. Zion. When he arrived as a 24-year-old Vanderbilt University Divinity School graduate, the church had 175 members. Today, it claims 25,000 members and holds eight services a week in three locations.

He and his wife of two years, Dr. Stephaine Walker, a Vanderbilt neonatologist, have a new book out called Becoming a Couple of Destiny. He also doles out advice as the “Relationship Doctor” on the syndicated Rickey Smiley Morning Show, broadcast on 21 radio stations across the country.

But after two decades of unmitigated success, Walker is facing controversy on two fronts.

Four former parishioners have filed suit, claiming Walker and other church leaders sexually abused them.

Walker’s nonprofit organization, J W. Walker Ministries Inc., lost its federal tax exemption last month for failing to file tax returns for three years. The charity’s records also show Walker donating funds from the sale of tapes of his sermons to the charity, which then paid a private production company he owns without disclosing his involvement.

The church denies any wrongdoing on Walker’s part. Church spokesman John Van Mol said that not filing tax returns was a mistake the charity is trying to rectify, and he issued a statement saying the sexual exploitation lawsuit is an attempt to make money.

“It is truly sad that a church and its leaders can be attacked with such shocking and ugly charges when the apparent motive is to extract huge sums of money from the congregation and its leaders,” the statement read.

Valencia Batson, the lead plaintiff in the suit against Walker and the church, said she wishes she’d never stepped foot in Mt. Zion. “I lost 10 years of my life there,” Batson said.

She joined the church in 1998. At the time, she was newly divorced, had custody of her three children and was looking to rebuild her life.

Batson, who owns a real estate company, was a lifelong churchgoer who wasn’t content to sit in a pew. She wanted to take an active role in ministry. After meeting with Bishop Walker, she said she began to lead the church’s financial empowerment ministry, which taught parishioners financial and business skills.

That led to more meetings with Walker, where she said she told him of her struggles as a single mom.

Eventually, she said, the two had sex on repeated occasions, and she later was “passed around” to other church leaders for sex.

Batson’s lawsuit alleges “sexual exploitation in counseling, sexual battery, aggravated sexual battery and sexual harassment” and other misconduct by church leaders and asks for $5 million in damages. She said that shame over what she had done with Walker kept her from leaving.

“I say this, and it is so simple, but it is so hard for people to understand,” she said. “You don’t say anything. You don’t do that.”

The church would not comment on Batson’s specific allegations.

Batson said that she wants Walker and other church leaders to be accountable for their actions and start living by the Bible, as they’ve taught many others.

“The Bible says account for what you do,” she said. “Confess. And do better. Confess means acknowledging what you have done. There has been no one accountable for my tears. I don’t have 16,000 people saying, ‘Oh, we believe you.’ ”

Batson would not give specific times and places for the alleged misconduct by church leaders but said she has told her lawyer, Connie Allison, about them. Three other women are listed as Jane Does on the lawsuit, and Allison, Batson’s attorney, said she’s been contacted by others who want to join.

Financial issues

Neither Batson nor her attorney have flawless histories. Allison was censured by the Tennessee Bar Association in 2010 for revealing inappropriate information about a client.

Batson acknowledged that she has a $131,346.96 tax lien from the IRS. She also was sued in 2005 for not paying an employee $3,556.63 in wages and bonus money and lost in court.

Exodus Productions, a private company run by Walker, also has had financial issues. Records show state and federal tax liens have been filed against that company. While a $28,728 federal tax lien from 2006 was paid off in 2008, two additional federal tax liens totaling $13,678 were filed in 2009 and are still outstanding, as is a state tax lien for an unspecified amount.

Van Mol said that Exodus was shut down within the past two years and that the church assumed the company’s assets and liabilities.

Bishop Walker’s nonprofit, J W. Walker Ministries Inc., also has had financial issues. It operated for more than a decade and rarely filed tax returns while taking in millions in revenue.

The three years of tax returns filed by the charity show more than a third of the revenue was paid out in management fees.

In 2000, the charity took in $160,060 in revenue from donations and from sales of videos of Walker’s sermons. It paid $97,425 in management services to Exodus Productions.

Although Walker is listed on the board of his charity, he did not disclose that he also was owner of Exodus. Jerry White, whom a tax return identifies as Walker’s brother, is the chief financial officer of Mt. Zion and also handled the charity’s finances.

In 2006 and 2007, the two other years that Walker’s nonprofit filed tax returns, the charity took in a total of more $883,350 in revenue and paid a total of $313,233 in management fees. The returns do not disclose who received those management fees.

The 2006 tax return also shows that from 2002 to 2005, J W. Walker Ministries Inc. collected $2,526,131 in revenue. The nonprofit didn’t file any tax returns for those years.

The IRS eventually revoked the charity’s nonprofit status. But Mt. Zion still collects funds for the nonprofit, which has been renamed as the Drs. Joseph and Stephaine Walker Foundation. The charity is incorporated in Tennessee but has no federal tax exemption.

Van Mol, the church spokesman, acknowledged that the charity made a mistake in not filing the returns. He said that church leaders were busy with a building program in the early 2000s and later with the financial downturn in the late 2000s, and simply dropped the ball.

“It was a mistake, and they are taking steps to rectify it,” he said.

He said that White was working in filing the back returns and hoped to have them filed within a few weeks. The charity has been in contact with the IRS about its tax-exempt status.

He also acknowledged that Walker was paid by the charity for his efforts in preaching and the sales of his sermon tapes.

“He put the money and effort into the preaching, and he and others were paid a salary from those funds,” he said.

Last year, a close friend of Walker’s settled a lawsuit filed by church members who said they were sexually abused. Atlanta-area megachurch pastor Bishop Eddie Long of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church was best man at Walker’s wedding.

Four young men sued him for alleged sexual misconduct and settled in May 2011.

Anthea Butler, associate professor of religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, said that African-American churches, especially large ones, have difficult times dealing with allegations of sexual misconduct with clergy.

When white megachurch pastor the Rev. Ted Haggard, former head of the National Association of Evangelicals, was accused of sexual misconduct several years ago, he almost immediately stepped down. That rarely happens in African-American churches, she said.

“The pastor has almost absolute authority,” she said.

Butler said that it is not surprising that an accuser such as Batson would have stayed at the church and not reported any misconduct to police. The pastor is seen as having a direct line to God, she said.

Support for pastor

She said that single women who are devout in their faith can be especially at risk for abuse.

“They believe in Jesus Christ,” she said. “And they believe that pastor is Christ’s anointed representative on Earth.”

So far, Walker’s parishioners and his publisher are sticking by him. Several Mt. Zion members asked to comment on the case declined to give their names, while insisting the allegations against Walker are false.

Walker is so beloved that church members are being asked on Sundays to donate — or in church language, “sow a seed” — of $200 each for Walker’s anniversary along with their regular tithes. On Wednesday, ushers handed out offering envelopes to people as they walked in the door. Some held those up in the air in supplication while Walker prayed.

Nashville-based Abingdon Press published Walker’s latest book on marriage and three others, all on love and relationships.

Publisher Neil Alexander issued this statement: “All matters pertaining to assuring the highest ethical Christian practice are of utmost importance, and we are therefore monitoring developments in this matter very carefully. As of now, the courts have not ruled on the merits of the accusation. We will continue to monitor the resolution of the allegations and pray for all involved.”

Walter F. Roche and Brandon Gee contributed to this report. Contact Bob Smietana at 615-259-8228 or bsmietana@tennessean.com, or follow him on Twitter @bobsmietana.