The church is an old auction barn near Princeton. The faithful, on this night, are more than 100 strong.

As the music swells, evangelist Leroy Jenkins, the self-proclaimed faith healer who has drawn them here, emerges from a side entrance and steps into the dazzling white light of the podium. Wearing a tailored black suit and a diamond cross pendant, he sings – his voice and hair styled like Elvis.
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After disappearing from the local religious scene almost as quickly as he stormed into the area two years ago, Mr. Jenkins has returned with a mission, he says, to expand his ministry. This month, he began holding nightly revivals and Sunday services inside the old barn, which he says will become the 3,000-seat church he first planned to build in 1999.

Back then, some locals were leery of Mr. Jenkins partly because of his faith-healer claims, which included removing cancerous growths and curing a variety of disabilities. Some were also uncomfortable with his past, which included a prison term in South Carolina for conspiring to burn the home of a state trooper and probation in Florida on charges of bilking the elderly.

Now, some say they're still not sure what kind of neighbor he'll be.
"With his gray background and unclear resume, I would like to encourage the public to proceed with caution," Princeton Mayor Kathy Davis said "If Reverend Jenkins wants to come to Princeton and establish a church and follow the minister's code of conduct ... then he'll be welcomed. If there's a hidden agenda and one that's unscrupulous, he will be discovered in a very short period of time."

Mr. Jenkins, who was sued this year by the family of a longtime follower and faces a separate legal dispute over the property near Princeton, said he was not surprised that the city hadn't been warm in welcoming him back.

"They've never wanted me here," Mr. Jenkins said. "When I first came, the City Council held a meeting ... telling people, 'Guess Who's coming to town. He's selling miracle water and telling people he'll heal them.' I never claimed I found a well of holy water. That was reported inaccurately."
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Today, his sermons are broadcast nationwide on satellite television and, next spring, a movie based on his life and ministry is scheduled for release under the title The Calling. The film's publicity material lists Faye Dunaway and Robert Wagner as cast members.
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This year, Mr. Jenkins made headlines in Ohio after marrying 77-year-old Eloise Thomas, a longtime member of his church there, nine days after the death of her husband of 51 years.

Her family filed a lawsuit accusing Mr. Jenkins of trying to gain control of $8.9 million the Thomases won in the Ohio Lottery in 1992. The marriage was annulled, and a judge ruled this summer that Ms. Thomas was incompetent to handle her affairs. An Ohio state senator was appointed as her guardian, and she was placed in a nursing home.

"He moved her to his home ... and he convinced her that her family was trying to take her money," said Josephine Foster, 56, Ms. Thomas' niece, who lives in Spartanburg, S.C. "My aunt is 77 years old. She's had a stroke. ... He didn't marry her for love."

During his Wednesday night revival near Princeton, Mr. Jenkins told those gathered that he was innocent of any wrongdoing, contending he was only trying to protect and care for Ms. Thomas.

"It hurt my heart what her family did to her. They knew I didn't want her money," Mr. Jenkins said. "Roy asked me to take care of his wife just before he died. When I married her, she was entitled to half of everything I owned. I would have been a fool not to know the media would be all over me for marrying Eloise. I had more wealth than she did. Now she's locked away in a nursing home like a prisoner."

Meanwhile, Mr. Jenkins also faces a lawsuit involving the property near Princeton, for which he says he paid $375,000.

Akif "Rick" Tayim, president of Sons of Abraham Ministries Inc. and a former follower of Mr. Jenkins, filed a lawsuit this month alleging that Mr. Jenkins reneged on a promise to sell him the 7-acre property for $400,000.

The lawsuit states that Mr. Tayim invested more than $200,000 in time, labor, and money converting the property for "religious and charitable purposes." According to the suit, Mr. Jenkins signed a contract agreeing to accept that investment as a down payment after The Leroy Jenkins Evangelistic Association Inc. decided to "abandon their attempts to turn the property into a new ministry and revival site."

Mr. Jenkins said he agreed to sell the property to Mr. Tayim, but he said the deal fell through after Mr. Tayim failed to secure financing.
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