Preying from the Pulpit

Preying from the Pulpit was a mini-news series produced in May 1993 by WJBK of Detroit, Michigan for the 10:00 PM news."

Description

The news report aired a six-part series stemming from child sexual abuse allegations against deacon Mark Foeller and associate pastor Timothy Leonard, both Hyles-Anderson College graduates, of North Sharon Baptist Church near Ann Arbor." The San Diego Union-Tribune noted "the news report found seven U.S. churches - all with ties to Jack Hyles, it said - involved in sex scandals."

The TV station noted alleged child molestations at a church "appeared to be part of a pattern among 'churches that follow the teachings and philosophy' of Hyles, First Baptist and its related Hyles-Anderson College of Crown Point, Indiana"

Hyles pointed out what he felt was another example of poor journalism. He noted that his parishioners were saddened by his decision to stop hugging children after Sunday services -- a decision Hyles made after the report aired. He told a reporter, "this breaks my heart. Because we work with people that have been to the bottom. There are little boys and girls that come in here and they love me and I'm their father image. But those accused of child molesting are accused of much worse than hugging a child. On the Detroit channel they closed the Sunday night telecast with a video of Church With a Heart (a video produced by the church). They took from that a picture of me walking out the door. There's a man and his two little children, his little son and his little daughter, standing there after every service. And I reach down and hug his daughter and I hug his son. They're probably 3, 4 at the most. And I shake his hands and he says, 'I love you preacher.' Every Sunday. " [[1]]

Hyles complained about the tabloid style journalism in the report when he told a reporter: "The whole thing (the Detroit news report) was about sex, child molestation and they ended it with me hugging the little child."[[2]]

The news series "showed footage during its report of" Hyles "brandishing a rifle form the pulpit, along with "people with guns and walkie-talkies patrolling the outside of the church at times." [3]

Hyles responded to the report and explained why he had to increase the security by having his police-trained guards patrol outside of the church. Hyles stated the reason was because "of the opposition you folks stir up. We get bomb threats because of you people. Because of the press. We get bomb threats. My life is threatened because of what they read in the paper. You don't understand how serious it is. You don't understand what power you folks have..." Hyles explained how Hyles-Anderson's guards were trained by the local police to protect the security of the young people. [4]

Hyles also responded to the report that he had a gun in the pulpit and by explaining,

"I want to go back to that gun I brandished from the pulpit. Thirty-four years this August 30th I've been pastor of this church. I carried a gun to the pulpit one time. Because a gun that was given me by a friend, an old 1903 Springfield bolt-action rifle. It was an old one that was taken and reconditioned - shined up, polished - as a gift. It stays in a case. It's never been out of that case except to show people how pretty it is. I was preaching at pastor school - not on a Sunday, none of our bus kids were here. I wanted to show our churches our job is not just what we call in our circles gathering around the Bible. And so we studied the Bible, studied the Bible, studied the Bible, and call it gathering around the Bible. I say we ought not to only gather around the Bible, we ought to spread the Bible and get folks to know what the Bible teaches. I said, suppose somebody broke into my house at night and I went and got the gun and I put it down in the middle of the living room floor and said to my family, "Let's gather around the gun." I said that gun is not there to gather around., There's a guy out in the front trying to break into my house. Try to maybe rape my wife and children. Maybe try to kill us. I said that gun is not there to gather around and study. It's there to study and then to use. One time in 34 years and it wasn't on a Sunday morning it was Sunday night or Wednesday night. So now I carry guns to the pulpit? It's funny. Hilariously funny. And by the way, it's abominable."[5]

The "station also recapped a sermon in 1990 in which Hyles pretended to pour poison into a glass and asked an associate pastor, Johnny Colsten, to drink from it. Colsten said he would."[6] Furthermore, "The WJBK report said the sermon has the "ring of Jonestown to it - the mass suicide in Guyana in 1978 by followers of cult leader Jim Jones."[7] In fact "WJBK also reported that Hyles, though never claiming to be God, has convinced a lot of people he is the next best thing to Him."[8]

Hyles responded to the poison story by explaining that "the so-called poison sermon was said in jest and was taken out of context". Hyles also said the reports have maligned his church and he called them a "pack of lies." Hyles ridiculed the broadcast.[9]

Hyles responded to the reports claim that his church was cult-like by describing the accusations as "Dirty, filthy, stinking rotten lies." [10] Hyles went on to say:

In the first place, a cult pulls people away from their families. We tie our people to their families. All over America parents and Hyles-Anderson College students come to me weekly and say thank you. Our son, our daughter, they love us like they never loved us. They call us like they never called us. They write letters and say we love you mother. They're far better young people because of Hyles-Anderson College. A cult seeks to sever family ties. We don't seek to sever family ties.[11]

The report also described the links of "a deacon at First Baptist, A.V. Ballenger, [who] was found guilty of one count of child molestation dating from 1991." The Chicago Tribune, in a 1991 article, reported that Hyles was sued for $1 million by the parents of the girl molested by Ballenger. The paper reported the "lawsuit claims Hyles and the church had not fulfilled their obligation to ensure that children were protected from harm during Sunday school." Furthermore, "the suit...claims the minister told the child's parents that Ballenger 'just liked little girls,' and, 'You don't have a case.'" Ballenger and the church settled out of court and the parents of the girl refused to disclose the how much money they were paid in the settlement.[12] Ballenger was sentenced to five years in prison.[13]

Investigation

The Detriot news program was not the only one to study if there was a connection between deacon Ballenger at Hyles' church and the North Sharon pastors, who graduated from Hyles-Anderson College. The prosecuting attorney for Washtenaw County, Michigan went to the Ballenger trial "to watch, listen to testimony and observe similarities between this case and other cases involving a rural church Michigan." [14] Soon after on May 14, 1993 "the FBI was asked to look into allegations minors were taken from Michigan to Northwest Indiana by employees or officials of North Sharon Baptist Church near Ann Arbor for events sponsored by Hammond First Baptist Church.". The FBI concluded that there was insufficient evidence to probe allegations.

The NW Indiana Times reported on May 19, 2003, that Sgt. Charles Hedinger, a Hammond police detective, described the investigation into abuse at FBCH as "open-ended." Hyles met with the police and publicly encouraged them to investigate fully.

On May 24, 2003 chief of the Hammond police detectives, Capt. Bill Conner corrected his underlings previous comment a few days prior about the open-ended investigation when he stated, "there is no investigation of the First Baptist Church of Hammond or Jack Hyles".

The area newspapers also published a letter from Hyles, denying that he ever condoned harming a child.