Convicted pastor may have taken NCC for $100,000 ride
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, April 6, 2000
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The National Council of Churches, which raised millions of dollars to rebuild black churches allegedly destroyed by white “racists,” may have been taken for a $100,000 ride by the pastor of one of them.
The minister, the Rev. Jerry Upton of Inner City Church, pleaded guilty to cocaine trafficking and illegal gun ownership and was sentenced on March 28 to 10 years in federal prison.
Upton’s criminal case, his frequent purchases of bulk quantities of cocaine and his failure to account for some of the money raised to rebuild Inner City Church have raised suspicions in Knoxville about the cause of the church fire.
One high-level investigator, who asked that his name not be used until the investigation is complete, told The Presbyterian Layman that there was “no way white racists burned that church.”
Upton’s good friend, former Green Bay Packer Reggie White, in a letter to U.S. District Judge James Jarvis, accused federal prosecutors of leaving the impression that church members burned the church.
No effort to rebuild church
Despite receiving nearly $1 million in insurance proceeds and contributions, according to court documents, church leaders took no steps to rebuild the church.
The National Council of Churches said it sent $100,000 to the church – a $50,000 check on Aug. 5, 1996 and a $50,000 wire transfer on July 2, 1997. Upton told prosecutors the church received only $50,000 from the NCC.
Carol Fouke, a spokesperson for the NCC, told The Presbyterian Layman that the NCC made an on-site visit to the Knoxville church. “Our assessment showed that they (NCC investigators) saw a burned church with obvious signs of racial hatred.”
It was certainly intended to appear racially-motivated. At the time of the fire, investigators in Knoxville reported finding racial slurs on burned walls of the church and Molotov cocktails in the rubble.
Upton’s credibility unquestioned
No one from the NCC questioned the credibility of Upton, who drove a white Mercedes Benz and who was convicted on drug and gun charges in 1977. Upton portrayed himself as an inner city developer as well as a pastor.
No arrests have been made in the church burning. But First Assistant U.S. District Attorney Russ Dedrick told The Presbyterian Layman that he hopes the sentencing of Upton will prompt someone to come forward. A $105,000 reward has been posted for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the arsonists.
Beginning in 1997, the National Council of Churches raised $9.1 million in cash and $3.4 million in pledges of construction materials for a Burned Churches Fund to help black congegations whose buildings had been set afire. Since instituting that campaign, the NCC has maintained that Southern black congregations were targets of white racists.
The Clinton administration initially blamed most of the church fires on white racists, but a 1998 report by Clinton’s National Church Arson Task Force concluded otherwise.
Report refutes ‘racist’ claims
The Task Force said that of the 670 investigated incidents, fewer than half (225) involved African American churches, and of that number, only 163 were in the NCC’s target area, the Southern United States. Of that number, the task force found that fires resulted from many causes, including inadequate wiring and poor maintenance, and that there was scant evidence of arson. Subsequent studies have shown that among those church burnings that were verified as arson-related, one-third of those who were arrested were African-Americans.
The Wall Street Journal also questioned the NCC’s claims of a widespread racist attack on black churches. In an July 8, 1996, Journal article titled “A Church Arson Epidemic? It’s Smoke and Mirrors,” Michael Fumento wrote, “This supposed ‘epidemic of hatred’ is a myth, probably a deliberate hoax. There is not good evidence of any increase in black church burnings. There is, however, compelling evidence that a single activist group [the NCC] has taken the media and the nation on a wild ride.”
And in September 1996, the Institute on Religion and Democracy issued a report, citing studies by its staff, USA Today, The Associated Press, The New Yorker, The New Republic, and The Wall Street Journal, all of which “punched significant holes in the NCC’s theory about surging white racism assailing black churches on a major scale.”
NCC gives partial accounting
During its 50th anniversary meeting in Cleveland last November, the NCC gave a partial accounting of the money raised to rebuild burned churches.
The NCC report said cash contributions to the Burned Churches Fund totaled $9.1 million and that it awarded grants totaling $6.4 million. The report said the fund had a balance of $12,335 on Sept. 30, 1999. It did not explain what happened to the $2.5-million difference between the money raised and the value of the grants.
Another NCC report, bearing the name of Margaret J. Thomas, a Presbyterian Church (USA) synod executive who serves as treasurer of the NCC, said “a special audit was not required for the Burned Churches program.”
Grants for ‘justice’ programs
While the NCC’s fundraising for the Black Churches Fund clearly promoted rebuilding churches, the organization made grants both for construction and local “justice” programs.
The nonconstruction grants were administered by a committee chaired by Eleona Giddings Ivory, director of the Washington lobby of the PCUSA.
The PCUSA has been one of the NCC’s principal supporters, both in money and assignment of PCUSA-paid staff to perform NCC duties.
While more than one-third of the NCC’s members pay no dues, the PCUSA led all denominations in its contributions to the NCC with cash gifts of $2.1 million in 1999. Despite opposition running 9-1 against giving the NCC more money, the General Assembly Council voted in February to contribute an additional $400,000 to help the NCC bail out of its 1999 deficit. The Office of the General Assembly gave another $100,000 toward the bailout.
Fund a rare financial success
The Burned Churches Fund was one of the few financial successes for the NCC over the period of several years. The organization sustained annual deficits, which were erased by drawing down the capital of bequests and other long-term investments. But the NCC exceeded the limit on those draw-downs and in 1999 had a deficit of $3.9 million. The deficit would have been higher, but $330,000 was diverted from the Burned Churches Fund to the general budget.
The NCC was not the only organization that gave money to Inner City Church without seeing results. Jack Reese, former chancellor at the University of Tennesse, raised money from university employees. After Upton’s sentencing, Reese said he was disappointed that no steps were taken to rebuild the church. “I’m sorry it turned out so terribly,” he said.
White, the retired Green Bay Packer who has been listed as associate minister of the Inner City Church, raised money in Wisconsin and helped generate national attention for the plight of the Knoxville congregation.
The NCC also promoted its visit to Knoxville for its fundraising efforts.
“We’re just glad that the majority of the money we raised ended up building churches,” Fouke said.