digg this
save to del.icio.us
Technorati
Tweet this story
Disgraced Rev. Henry Lyons, former leader of the National Baptist Convention (NBC), America’s largest black Baptist church group, saw his troubles begin in July 1997 with arson at a home he owned with a woman other than his wife. His then wife set the house ablaze.
A year after that fateful fire and a series of reports by the St. Petersburg Times, federal prosecutors indicted the St. Petersburg pastor, accusing him of fraud, extortion, money laundering, conspiracy and tax evasion. He insisted he was innocent.
Specifically charges included spending church money on expensive jewelry, a Mercedes-Benz and a $700,000 home, diverting money intended for the restoration of Southern churches damaged by arson to other church expenses and swindling more than $4 million from companies that wanted to market life insurance, credit cards and cemetery plots to his convention members.
A jury convicted Lyons of the state charges and one day after resigning his NBC post Lyons pled guilty to five federal charges.
His scandal dealt a devastating blow to the denomination. NBC is one of the largest religious organizations among African Americans and the second largest Baptist denomination in the world, after the Southern Baptist Convention.
Today, 10 years after he was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in state prison for racketeering and grand theft, Lyons sets his eyes on leading the denomination once again insisting he’s a changed man.
"I have suffered God's rod of correction," Lyons told First Baptist Institutional Church in Lakeland, Fla., after he was released on probation in November 2003. "I stand here today to tell you I truly, truly repented of my sins."
More recently, in an interview with the Tennessean Lyons said, "It cost me my life. The shame of it — I don't believe it will ever go away. There's nothing I can do about it."
“We all, at one time in our lives, have fallen short of the Glory of God,” he adds in a statement to supporters. “My re-election to the Presidency will witness to the world just what a mighty and loving God we serve. It will be the foundation of understanding true forgiveness from Christ Jesus who is faithful to forgive all of our sins.”
Lyons divorced his wife and remarried. He currently serves as pastor of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Tampa, Fla., and lost a bid to become president of the convention's Florida chapter in 2007.
Lyons is running against one other candidate, the Rev. Julius R. Scruggs, pastor of First Missionary Baptist Church, in Huntsville, Ala., who also serves as vice president at large for the convention. The election takes place in September, 2009.
A year after that fateful fire and a series of reports by the St. Petersburg Times, federal prosecutors indicted the St. Petersburg pastor, accusing him of fraud, extortion, money laundering, conspiracy and tax evasion. He insisted he was innocent.
Specifically charges included spending church money on expensive jewelry, a Mercedes-Benz and a $700,000 home, diverting money intended for the restoration of Southern churches damaged by arson to other church expenses and swindling more than $4 million from companies that wanted to market life insurance, credit cards and cemetery plots to his convention members. A jury convicted Lyons of the state charges and one day after resigning his NBC post Lyons pled guilty to five federal charges.
His scandal dealt a devastating blow to the denomination. NBC is one of the largest religious organizations among African Americans and the second largest Baptist denomination in the world, after the Southern Baptist Convention.
Today, 10 years after he was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in state prison for racketeering and grand theft, Lyons sets his eyes on leading the denomination once again insisting he’s a changed man.
"I have suffered God's rod of correction," Lyons told First Baptist Institutional Church in Lakeland, Fla., after he was released on probation in November 2003. "I stand here today to tell you I truly, truly repented of my sins."
More recently, in an interview with the Tennessean Lyons said, "It cost me my life. The shame of it — I don't believe it will ever go away. There's nothing I can do about it."
“We all, at one time in our lives, have fallen short of the Glory of God,” he adds in a statement to supporters. “My re-election to the Presidency will witness to the world just what a mighty and loving God we serve. It will be the foundation of understanding true forgiveness from Christ Jesus who is faithful to forgive all of our sins.”
Lyons divorced his wife and remarried. He currently serves as pastor of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Tampa, Fla., and lost a bid to become president of the convention's Florida chapter in 2007.
Lyons is running against one other candidate, the Rev. Julius R. Scruggs, pastor of First Missionary Baptist Church, in Huntsville, Ala., who also serves as vice president at large for the convention. The election takes place in September, 2009.
Tags
