NEWSPAPER CHALLENGES REVIVAL’S CLAIMS

Following four months of investigative work, the Pensacola News Journal revealed an excess of questionable issues and practices by the leadership of the Brownsville Assembly of God church. Last November, the Florida newspaper reported its findings in a five-day series of “special reports” in nearly three dozen articles.

Beginning in June 1995, the leadership of the Pensacola church has claimed an unplanned, last-days revival and outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Since that time, more than 2 million people have attended the revival services and it is claimed that more than 120,000 people have made decisions for Christ. The newspaper contends, however, that the revival is not the result of an extemporaneous move of God, but was carefully planned and orchestrated by the church’s leadership.

The News Journal further showed that claims by the church’s staff were fabricated and falsified to enhance the revival’s reputation, an allegation leveled by apologetic ministries such as PFO. Also documented were embellishments by the church’s evangelist, Stephen Hill, as to his own personal conversion to the Christian faith as detailed in his biographical volume, Stone Cold Heart.

The newspaper traced the by-products of the enormous money trail generated by the revival through its donations and sale of books, audio and video tapes, and other revival materials. Each of the key leaders of the revival has independent ministries established apart from the church that acquire hundreds of thousands of dollars from resource and literature sales.

The paper also showed the considerable effect the pecuniary windfall has had for the church’s pastor, John Kilpatrick. Despite Kilpatrick’s claim that, “I have always strived to set an example by not living above the means of my people,” it was documented that the pastor is currently building a $340,000 luxury home across the Alabama state line and his ministry recently purchased a $310,000 motor coach in which to chauffeur him around. Also, Hill’s ministry has spent nearly $900,000 on property and buildings, including a home for the evangelist in Alabama.

Other fiscal discrepancies also plagued the church as its claimed expenditures on missions failed to add up. Hill told the newspaper that his ministry had given over $600,000 to foreign and domestic mission work. The paper showed his ministry’s IRS return reported only $102,212 outgoing donations for mission work. Only 2.2% of the church’s $6.6 million budget is devoted to assist missions, the paper said. Brownsville’s Associate Pastor Carey Robertson told the News Journal, “If you wonder where the money is going, then don’t give it. ... once it becomes a gift, it is ours to use. It is nobody’s business how we use it.”

The paper also describes how its city’s Social Services have been overburdened primarily because of the influx of needy people coming into the area unrealistically thinking the church would miraculously change their circumstances and because of the church’s lack of response to social concerns.

The church’s leadership responded by taking a near two-page advertisement in the paper the Sunday following the series of articles. The church’s Web site also posted the response. The ad charged that newspaper reporters had fabricated stories and twisted facts, not the church and that statements, such as the one attributed to Robertson, were lifted from its context.

Yet, despite the church’s attempt to state the “facts” and deny the newspaper’s charges, its efforts were, at best, evasive. World magazine “tried to obtain from the church more information that would refute the press accusations, but without success.” The Christian magazine was told that “Church officials have declared there will be no further statements to the press beyond what appears on the Web site.” The weekly periodical spotlighted the newspaper’s accusations in its Dec. 20, 1997, issue.

—MKG

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