(Michael Temchine/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST) - Pastor Joel Peebles, son of Apostle Betty Peebles, and his wife, Ylawnda, are joined onstage by his family in delivering the eulogy to Jericho CIty of Praise Apostle Betty Peebles at her funeral.
The Rev. Joel R. Peebles stood at the base of the pulpit after preaching his usual rousing sermon at the 11 a.m. service at Jericho City of Praise in Landover, and it was time for the tithers’ march.
As about 800 members paraded across the baby blue carpet to the front of the sanctuary to drop their weekly tithes and offerings into four baskets, Peebles’s nephew, Joshua, moved up an aisle. For months, the two men had been at odds over control of the ministry.
The pastor’s security team sensed trouble and quickly stepped in to block Joshua’s path. A shoving match followed, and security escorted Joshua out of the sanctuary, according to witnesses.
The confrontation July 3 was the culmination of tension that began after the October death of Joel Peebles’s mother, Betty, the founder and longtime pastor at the church, one of the nation’s largest megachurches, with at least 15,000 members and millions of dollars in assets. She put her son in charge of the congregation, but in dispute is whether she directed the church’s board of trustees to oversee the church’s valuable assets. Joshua Peebles, 28,who lived with his grandmother before her death, has sided with the board, furthering the tension.
The pushing and shoving underscores the escalating battle that has divided Jericho and split one of the county’s most prominent families, whose matriarch in 2004 was the only woman leading any of the country’s largest churches.
The church’s governing board went to court Friday to try to stop Joel Peebles, 41, Betty Peebles’s only surviving child, from handling the congregation’s money. But because the judge has not yet made a decision, there is concern about what might happen Sunday.
Both sides agree that the courts will ultimately decide control. On Friday afternoon, they filed dueling petitions in court. The dispute centers on control of the church, with Joel Peebles challenging the authority of the board and the board (with the support of Joshua Peebles, whose deceased father was Betty Peebles’s oldest son) claiming that Joel Peebles had been mishandling church funds.
The makeup of the board is unclear, but Joel Peebles’s challenge focuses on four members: longtime church administrator Denise Killen, facilities manager Clarence Jackson, chief financial officer Dorothy Williams and Clifford Boswell, whose role is not specified in court documents.
“This is an attempted hostile takeover of the ministry by four church employees,” said Timothy F. Maloney, the attorney representing Joel Peebles. “They were never lawfully elected and met in secret for 18 months. They have mismanaged the finances and voted salary increases for four of the directors, including one who admits performing no duties.”“
According to court records, Jackson makes more than $91,000 a year; Williams,$83,000; Killen, $70,000; and Boswell, $200 bi-weekly.
But the board’s petition requesting a temporary restraining order — the second such request since Betty Peebles’s death — paints a very different picture.
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