Earl Paulk: Parishioner sues pastor, saying she was molested

A lifelong member of one of Atlanta's largest and best known churches, the Cathedral at Chapel Hill, filed suit this week charging founding pastor Bishop Earl Paulk with child molestation.

The charges are the most serious yet in a string of sexual misconduct allegations against Paulk and several other male members of his family that span decades.

Jessica Battle, daughter and granddaughter of prominent members of Paulk's staff, said in her suit that from the time she was 7 until she was about 11 years old, Paulk "engaged in a pattern of conduct . . . that included caressing her, fondling her sexual organs, performing oral sex on her and having sexual intercourse with her." She also charged that five years ago, when she was 17, Paulk had forcible intercourse with her.

Some of the acts occurred on church property or during church-sponsored events, according to the suit, filed Wednesday in DeKalb County State Court.

Battle's attorney could not be reached Friday for comment.

Battle, who was a principal dancer in the church's elaborate music and dance ministry, now lives in Jacksonville and attends college.

Paulk's church, also known as Chapel Hill Harvester and the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, referred calls to Los Angeles public relations professional David Brokaw, who released a statement Friday saying, "The bishop is widely known to teach and preach the life and resurrection of Christ and conducts his personal life in the same manner. The woman's mother and grandmother are in agreement with the bishop that the filing is totally without merit."
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The suit asks for unspecified compensation for physical and emotional injuries. It names Paulk and the church as defendants, and also includes five unidentified defendants who "authorized, condoned, participated in, or aided and abetted" Paulk's actions.

Paulk, 73, has a history of allegations of sexual misconduct going back to 1960, when he stepped down from the ministry of what was then Hemphill Church of God --- now Mount Paran Church of God. He later admitted having had an adulterous affair at the time.

He and his family moved to Arizona, but soon returned to Atlanta and founded the ministry that became the Cathedral at Chapel Hill.

The church today claims 15,000 members who meet in the $18.5 million, 7,700-seat neo-Gothic worship center called the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit on nearly 100 acres in south DeKalb County.
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Paulk also founded a Christian academy, a Bible institute for postsecondary study, programs for substance abusers and people with AIDS and an international television ministry. He has written more than a dozen books.

In 1982, Paulk was named a bishop in the International Communion of Charismatic Churches, a network of Pentecostal congregations that claim about 12 million members in several countries.
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From the beginning, the church was largely a Paulk family enterprise, at one time employing 14 relatives.

Many members left the congregation in the early 1990s when the church faced another sex scandal involving several married male members of the Paulk clan, including the bishop and his brother, the Rev. Don Paulk.

Six women who said they were sexually involved with clergy members of the Paulk family said the ministers justified the relationships because they were "special" or "kingdom" relationships between mature Christians, not bound by earthly interpretations of morality and marriage.

In late 1992 and 1993, the church's weekly offerings plummeted from about $170,000 to $70,000, and it laid off large numbers of staff.

But the church pulled in new members and Paulk remained at its helm.
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Paulk's career triumphs and personal difficulties
1952-1960: Earl Paulk is pastor of Hemphill Church of God, now Mount Paran Church of God.
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May 1992: The Rev. Don Paulk, senior pastor of the church and brother of Earl Paulk, confesses to sexual indiscretions. Earl Paulk says his brother will begin "restoration." Three weeks later, Don Paulk says, "I have risen and I am here to fight again." It also comes to light that the presbytery, or leadership board of the church, has been told of sexual impropriety involving the Rev. Duane Swilley, nephew of Earl and Don Paulk and the church's former youth minister.

June 1992: The church is suffering loss in members and income, and lays off 34 members of its 157-member staff. Top staff members who leave include Earl Paulk's daughter and son-in-law and the father of another son-in-law.
November 1992: Officials of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit/Chapel Hill Harvester Church file suit, charging seven former members and employees with libel and slander for spreading "untrue rumors of sexual misconduct, financial impropriety and other false and scurrilous charges" involving Earl Paulk and other staff members. One of the named defendants, Rebecca Moses, a teacher at a private academy operated by the church, counters with a charge that she was "manipulated into a sexual relationship" with Don Paulk, whom she had known as a teenager and called "Uncle Don."

December 1992: Attorneys for the church dismiss their lawsuit against the former members and employees. Five more women come forward to say they have had secret sexual relationships with married ministers in the Paulk family. One, a former ghostwriter and biographer for Earl Paulk, said she was sexually intimate with him for more than a year.
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A group of women, former members of the Decatur, GA, Chapel Hill Harvester Church-now called Cathedral of the Holy Spirit-publicly accused church founder Earl Paulk, Jr., and other leaders of sexual misconduct and of attempting to cover up a pattern of widespread immoral behavior. Tricia Weeks, 44, a former church spokeswoman and ghostwriter for several of Earl Paulk's books, said she was sexually involved with him from 1986 to 1988. She said that in spite of her Christian upbringing, she was convinced after working closely with Paulk that a sexual relationship with him would not threaten her salvation or her marriage vows. "I heard repeatedly-both privately and publicly as a doctrine woven into his preaching-that, on the contrary, such bonding relationships were used by God to bring confidence and power to one's spiritual calling. It is important for people to realize the powerful biblical justification that Mr. Paulk uses for his perverted thinking." Weeks and other women said they had been indoctrinated to believe that Christians who are spiritually mature can handle sex outside of marriage. This so-called "kingdom relationship" teaching, the women said, was an off-shoot of Paulk's focus on "Kingdom Now" theology. Rationale Paulk has written, "I lived years of my life in complete adherence to a rigid morality which was devoid of any expressions of compassion or tenderness. Only years later . . . did I begin to comprehend that God's desires in Christian relationships are demonstrated in the example of Jesus Christ . . . he was touchable and physically expressive. . . Jesus deliberately broke moral codes of his day to love and minister to certain people." (From "Women Charge Paulk With Abuse," by Nancy Justice, Charisma, Feb. 1993, 54-55)