A violent confrontation between two married black televangelists — one of whom has a cyber-church based in the District — has shocked black and white Pentecostalists nationwide after the husband, Bishop Thomas W. Weeks III, reportedly beat up and choked his wife, Juanita Bynum, last month in an Atlanta parking lot.
“The black church cannot allow this present incidence involving Bishop Weeks to go unanswered nor unchallenged,” said the Rev. Anthony Evans, head of the District-based National Black Church Initiative, which claims 16,000 black- and Hispanic-affiliated churches.
“No matter who had the moral high ground in their discussion regarding their marriage, Bishop Weeks’ actions were morally wrong and reprehensible. … The black church will not in this and any other case justify Bishop Weeks’ or any other person’s action when it comes to spousal abuse. Too often, the church has remained silent, but not anymore.”
In an editorial published yesterday in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Bishop T.D. Jakes, the nationally known pastor of the Potter’s House Church in Dallas and mentor to Mrs. Bynum, said he was “concerned and saddened” by the incident.
“Perhaps this is a teaching opportunity to awaken us to the fact that thousands of women are beaten and many killed by someone who says they love them,” he wrote.
J. Lee Grady, editor of the Pentecostal-oriented Charisma magazine, referred to the incident in an editorial as “this painful drama.” The editorial was posted Thursday on the magazine’s Web site, www. charismamag.com.
“After all,” he added, “Christian leaders are not supposed to be linked to domestic violence, irreconcilable differences or gay sex scandals. Ideally they should be role models of integrity who live what they preach.”
The Aug. 21 confrontation, according to numerous Atlanta press accounts, occurred at about 4 a.m. in the parking lot of a hotel near Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The husband and wife, who had been separated for several months, met for dinner to iron out their differences.
Mrs. Bynum, 48, reportedly was attacked and choked by Bishop Weeks, 40, who stopped only after a hotel bellhop intervened. He was indicted Friday on felony assault charges and is scheduled to appear this Friday in Fulton County Superior Court.
The couple’s 2003 wedding was described in several magazines as a lavish affair costing more than $1 million, with an 80-member wedding party, 1,000 guests, a 12-piece orchestra and a 7.76-carat diamond ring.
The couple co-pastored a group of churches known as Global Destiny Ministries, which is said to have locations in Inglewood, Calif., London, Duluth, Ga., and in the District. However, the latter — listed at 601 50th St. NE — has only a toll-free number that connects to the ministries’ Georgia headquarters.
“He kind of came to prominence when he married her,” the Rev. Cheryl Sanders, senior pastor of Third Street Church of God in Northwest, said of Bishop Weeks. “That may have been at the root at the whole big problem between them.”
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