Few scandals have rocked American Christendom more violently than the fall of the PTL (Praise the Lord) ministry in the late 1980s, headed by Jim and Tammy Bakker. Based on the border of North and South Carolina in what was then the sprawling, opulent Heritage USA complex, this ministry—if so it may be called—was a fast-paced blend of leisure, luxury, and lax morals. So-called “prosperity theology” and emotion-driven Pentecostalism dominated the daily television programs, offering few guard rails of accountability for ministry leaders or staff. Fiscal extravagance supported by naïve, simple-minded donors kept the Bakkers’ empire afloat, with executives and chosen favorites attending the royal couple in a never-ending lifestyle of the rich and famous.
Cost overruns and spiraling debts made no difference as Jim Bakker dreamed of grander and still grander projects, including a “Crystal Palace” ministry center—never finished—that would have cost over $100 million and become “the world’s largest religious gathering place” [1]. Surrounded by fawning sycophants, the Bakkers felt invincible. One ministry loyalist assured them, as challenges started to break through the façade: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper” [2].
Then it all crashed.
Rumors of sexual misconduct at PTL were never far below the surface; Jim Bakker had long pursued homosexual liaisons with ministry executives and even visiting pastors. Despite Bakker’s denials, evidence of such behavior would eventually become overwhelming [3]. But when a local newspaper published documented proof of a sexual encounter between Bakker and a female church secretary from New York, coupled with large payments to keep her quiet, the Bakkers’ empire collapsed.
Donors and staff naturally felt betrayed, disgusted both by the sex scandals and the mounting evidence of financial irregularities and high living on the part of the Bakkers and their associates. One preacher who had frequently visited the PTL show reacted with utter contempt to the financial excesses, observing that “little old ladies and pensioners are eating cat food and buying secondhand clothes and shoes in order to have money to send to PTL, thinking it’s for God’s work” [4].
PTL had originally stood either for Praise the Lord or People That Love. After the Bakkers’ fall, it became “Pay the Lady” or “Pass the Loot”! [5].
Lessons in Accountability
Though more than thirty years old, the perverse record of this scandal remains relevant and instructive.
What I found perhaps most ironic during that time was that while the Christian world—not to mention the larger public—reeled in horror at the revelations from PTL, certain influential voices in the Adventist Church were urging that Pentecostalism, megachurches, and similar forces in American religion were places we should seek out so far as church growth methods and worship styles were concerned. In the latter part of 1988, while the Bakker scandal remained fresh in millions of minds, the following recommendations as to how to “reach” North America appeared in a prominent Adventist publication:
We need to establish large centers of influence.
By this we mean large churches with congregations of thousands that are able to make a profound impact on the community. . . . The Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex has Protestant churches with congregations of 5,000, 10,000, and 20,000. These churches make a big impression on the community. They often operate TV ministries large enough to affect the whole nation.
Could we establish such centers of influence? Not under the present system of financing. At present, a Seventh-day Adventist church finds it almost impossible to grow into a megachurch. The reason is that as the church grows, the conference reaps all the tithe increases, and the local church is left floundering to raise independent funds for continued evangelism and the increased local budget needs [6].
Aside from the blatant departure of such recommendations from Ellen White’s strong counsel against large churches and “Jerusalem centers” [7[, one finds it appalling that Seventh-day Adventists would publicly laud the virtues of megachurches and attendant mega-ministries when such forces were bringing global shame on the cause of Christ. One Adventist Conference official, who a few years later was forced to terminate a pastor who was pursuing precisely such a course as described above, spoke privately to me of the alluring congregationalism and “benevolent monarchy” model of administration so common in the “seeker-sensitive” churches to which so many of our people were then flocking for guidance.
The Willow Creek Community Church, to which so many Adventists were drawn during that same time in the hope of developing similar congregations, eventually collided with the same scandalous outcome as that which befell the Bakkers and PTL. In 2018 allegations of sexual misconduct on the part of senior pastor Bill Hybels and other leading church officials were disclosed by the Chicago Tribune, the New York Times, and Christianity Today [8], along with a payment by the church of $3.25 million to settle a lawsuit involving accusations of sexual abuse by a church volunteer [9]/ A six-month-long independent review of the allegations against Hybels, conducted by four evangelical leaders engaged for this purpose and completed in February of 2019, found Hybels’ accusers credible [10].
One of the biggest problems with megachurches and mega-ministries is the lack of accountability. Like the Bakkers, Bill Hybels, and others, leaders in such settings assume a larger-than-life profile, like billionaire business executives. Whatever they want is nearly always granted, with few at lower levels daring to press for answers or corrective measures when problems are encountered or foreseen. Many will recall the 2006 case of megachurch pastor Ted Haggard, who served for a time as president of the National Association of Evangelicals [11]. Caught in a homosexual scandal with a local male prostitute [12], and later confronted with similar allegations from a young male member of his own congregation [13], Haggard was forced to resign from both his church and the NAE leadership [14].
Conservative Christians may despise the mainstream media, but had it not been for diligent newspaper reporting and CNN, it is highly unlikely that the Bakkers, Hybels, or Haggard would have been held accountable by their respective ministries. The insular power and awestruck reverence attending leaders in such circles tends to weaken any sense of checks and balances so far as the conduct of such individuals is concerned. The church secretary with which Jim Bakker was immorally involved belonged to a religious community that often quoted the verse, “Touch not Mine anointed” (I Chron. 16:22) as a means of discouraging any challenge to ecclesiastical authority [15]. In the absence of outside media pressure, it is quite possible that knowledge of these scandals would have been kept under wraps and never seen the light of day.
Closer to Home
Megachurches and mega-ministries, at least on the scale of what we see in the mainstream evangelical world, do not exist in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Our centralized system of church government does not allow for the massive salaries so common in the above settings, nor for the mentality of self-containment and perceived invulnerability common in large independent churches. And while miscarriages of justice relative to financial and sexual misdeeds have at times marred the record in our own religious community, accountability structures in our denomination have, from all available evidences, tended to drastically reduce such incidents compared to what has surfaced elsewhere.
But Seventh-day Adventists still have work to do in this area. Even in our church, religious leaders—Conference-employed and self-supporting alike—have at times developed profiles and lofty stature that can make accountability difficult. I remember one prominent pastor and thought leader in the church who for years dominated camp meeting platforms and institutional weeks of prayer, despite his espousal of theology clearly at odds with Scripture and the writings of the Spirit of Prophecy. Time and again I have asked myself how this man’s departures from inspired teachings could have gone unnoticed for so long. But sadly, charisma and popularity can militate against accountability and turn such figures into untouchable icons.
Unfortunately, this can happen even in ministries of a theologically conservative bent, if leaders and supporters of such a ministry aren’t careful. Sometimes the messages borne by a ministry leader or lecturer can so enthrall listeners that in their view he can do no wrong. Such a mindset within the following of such a one leaves the vulnerable ripe for abuse, be it financial, sexual, or theological. The spirit of the noble Bereans (Acts 17:11) is set aside—a speaker’s statements are left untested by either the inspired writings or simple reality. And when evidence of error or wrongdoing comes to the fore, the enraptured constituents of such a presenter refuse to look at the facts, assuming naively that “such a good man couldn’t possibly teach falsehood or abuse the trust of contributors.”
Conclusion
We can’t let this happen. No one is too good, too knowledgeable, or too inspiring to be held accountable for theological or personal integrity. When concerns arise in such areas, inquirers and whistleblowers shouldn’t be shushed into silence or dismissed as “unchristian” because they expose shortcomings or ask troubling questions. No one in God’s work is too big to fall or fail. Regardless of popularity or station, all who stand as guardians of the Lord’s flock and who profess to teach the truth must submit themselves to measurement by the standards of the written Word (Isa. 8:20; Acts 17:11).
REFERENCES
1. Charles E. Shepard, Forgiven: The Rise and Fall of Jim Bakker and the PTL Ministry (New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 1989), p. 450.
2. Ibid, p. 451.
3. Ibid, p. 174.
4. Austin Miles, Don’t Call Me Brother: A Ringmaster’s Escape from the Pentecostal Church (Buffalo, NY: Prometheus Books, 1989), p. 273.
5. Larry Martz with Ginny Carroll, Ministry of Greed: The Inside Story of the Televangelists and Their Holy Wars (New York: Newsweek Books, 1988), p. 6.
6. John Carter and Warren Judd, “”Needed—A Strategy to Reach North America,” Adventist Review, Sept. 15, 1988, p. 15.
7. Ellen G. White, Testimonies, vol. 8, p. 82; Review and Herald, July 16, 1914.
8.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_Creek_Community_Church#Misconduct_allegations_and_resignations
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Haggard#Other_allegations
12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. Martz and Carroll, Ministry of Greed, p. 91.
Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan