NEWS STORY: Tearful Lyons quits as head of National Baptist Convention

c. 1999 Religion News Service ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ The Rev. Henry J. Lyons, convicted on state racketeering charges including the misuse of money intended for burned churches, resigned Tuesday (March 16) as president of the National Baptist Convention, USA _ against the wishes of the majority of the denomination’s board.”I asked them to respectfully […]

c. 1999 Religion News Service

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. _ The Rev. Henry J. Lyons, convicted on state racketeering charges including the misuse of money intended for burned churches, resigned Tuesday (March 16) as president of the National Baptist Convention, USA _ against the wishes of the majority of the denomination’s board.”I asked them to respectfully allow me to make the decision I felt that as a man I needed to make,”Lyons said in brief, tearful remarks with his wife, Deborah, at his side.”I felt that I had to resign, I should resign and therefore, I did resign.” Lyons, 57, who was elected president of the predominantly black denomination in 1994, was convicted Feb. 27 of grand theft and racketeering by a Florida jury. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 31.

He was convicted of accepting more than $200,000 from the Anti-Defamation League to help burned black churches and not using most of it for that purpose. He returned much of the money to the ADL, at the group’s request. The money was then distributed to other burned churches.


Lyons also was convicted of swindling millions from corporations wanting to market products to members of one of the nation’s largest black denominations.”I’m just so sorry about all of this,”Lyons said outside his church, Bethel Metropolitan Baptist Church, in the early afternoon after the closed-door board meeting he had called.”I’m truly repentant about it. I hate that I’ve hurt so many people.” The Rev. E.V. Hill, one of Lyons’ ardent supporters and a board member from Los Angeles, responded by affirming Lyons.”Dr. Lyons, you have given the National Baptist Convention much more than you have ever caused it to be embarrassed,”Hill said.”We did not think that you were the messiah. We knew you were a man. We knew you were subject to error. We are with you. We forgave any error you have made. We are not Caesar, we are the church. The church has different standards than Caesar.” The board voted to accept Lyons’ resignation”with deep regret”and elected the Rev. Stewart C. Cureton of Greenville, S.C., the former vice president at-large of the NBCUSA, to serve as interim president. The denomination’s regular presidential election, which occurs every five years, will be held in September in Tampa.

Even as dozens of board members faced a horde of reporters to report on the closed meeting, there was disagreement about how to describe the session.

When the Rev. Roscoe Cooper, NBCUSA general secretary, tried to say the vote to continue to support Lyons as president was unanimous, he was shouted down by some Baptist leaders who disagreed with him. Cooper then said the affirmation was”voted by an overwhelming majority”of the board.

The Rev. Warren H. Stewart Sr., executive secretary of the NBCUSA’s Home Mission Board, released a statement saying that due to the state convictions, several board members believed Lyons should no longer be president and his removal was necessary to restore the credibility to the denomination.

Cureton, 68, said he accepted the role of interim president”with great humility”and asked for prayerful support of the church members.”We know our convention needs much healing,”said Cureton.”Therefore, I commit myself as an instrument in the hand of an omnipotent God to lead this convention in the healing process.” He urged increased financial support for the denomination from its members.”We pledge to be accountable for every dollar,”said Cureton.

He cited numerous examples of Lyons'”outstanding leadership,”including reducing the debt on the NBCUSA’s Nashville, Tenn., headquarters from $6 million to $2.9 million, increasing donations to black higher education institutions and creating a department within the denomination to encourage young pastors.

Others voiced opposition to the notion that Lyons could have continued as president.”I think that we need to bring some closure to this nightmare. I think that in a situation where there has been so little honor, the honorable thing to do was what he did _ resign,”said the Rev. Michael Williams, a board member and Houston, Texas pastor.”On a strictly personal level, Henry Lyons as our brother and friend, we love him and we support him. We’re Christians. We’re not the Pinellas County legal system. … And our responsibility is to forgive those who have erred and to love them unconditionally.” Lyons received a standing ovation when he appeared at the meeting, said the Rev. Charles Williams, a public relations director for the NBCUSA.


Several board members voiced pride in the fact that they did not throw Lyons out of his position, but that, rather, he made the decision himself.

But the mood of the times for the denomination seemed to be reflected in the signs around Lyons’ church. The outdoor sign read:”While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us,”a quote from the New Testament book of Romans. Inside the church, a bulletin board carried the words of a gospel song known in the African-American tradition:”Oh, Mary, don’t you weep. Oh, Martha don’t you mourn.”Even the Bible on a desk in the church office was open to Job, the Old Testament character severely tested by God.

Lyons also faces a federal trial, scheduled to start April 7, on 54 charges including conspiracy, fraud, tax evasion and extortion. He is expected to consider a plea agreement in federal court Wednesday that could reduce the 18 years in prison that a guilty conviction on those charges could bring.

Some of his critics have included other NBCUSA members who had been running against him in the upcoming presidential election.

Rev. Acen Phillips, a presidential candidate from Denver, Colo., called the decision to let Lyons resign a necessary one.”I think it was needed action that took place today because the convention was continuing to be stressed and divided and I think the tension that was there was splitting us apart and it was also stressing Dr. Lyons out,”said Phillips.

Hill, a prominent Los Angeles pastor endorsed by some board members to run for the presidency, said he has not decided whether he will do so.


But he said whether he chooses to run for president or not, he is sure the convention will still depend on Lyons.”Dr. Lyons will be … called upon and his counsel sought for years to come.” (OPTIONAL TRIM _ STORY MAY END HERE)

Some of Lyons’ supporters said they believed the decision by the all-white jury was a racist one. One group took an ad out in the St. Petersburg Times on Monday called an”open letter concerning Dr. Henry J. Lyons and the racist state of Florida.” Presented by the NBCUSA Commission on Justice and Polity, the statement read:”The guilty verdict of Dr. Lyons was a gross miscarriage of justice and it reflects the attitude of the State of Florida towards black people.” DEA END BANKS

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!