PTL Ministry Files Under Chapter 11

Bakker's 'Fiscal Sins' Blamed for Action

FORT MILL, S.C., JUNE 12 -- The beleaguered PTL ministry today filed for reorganization under federal bankruptcy laws -- a move officials blamed on the "fiscal sins" of its founder, defrocked televangelist Jim Bakker.

"From a business standpoint, I believe what went on here broke God's law -- and that those in charge had no regard for man's law," said Jerry Nims, the ministry's chief operating officer appointed by the Rev. Jerry Falwell. "The only opportunity to move forward for this organization was a Chapter 11 filing."

The move -- likened by PTL officials to similar actions taken in recent years by Texaco and Chrysler -- is expected to cause no immediate disruption to operations at the ministry's giant theme park, luxury hotel, cable TV network and syndicated gospel talk show on the outskirts of Charlotte, N.C.

(At a press conference tonight in Lynchburg, Va., Falwell said the PTL action was intended in part to buy time for a fight to keep Christian programs on cable television.

("Our problem is not raising money," Falwell said. "Our problem is we have 10 people asking for every dollar that comes in. We just need a little time to put our house in order.")

"For people who believe in PTL, it will be business as usual," said Norman Roy Grutman, PTL's general counsel, who likened the Bakker management of the ministry to a "Ponzi scheme." "PTL is not bankrupt . . . Its assets are enormous." He predicted the ministry would be out of reorganization within 12 months.

But ministry sources said today's action was triggered principally by a bitter dispute with Roe Messner, a Kansas-based construction magnate who claims a tab of nearly $15 million, mostly for work done on an unfinished high-rise adjacent to the luxury Heritage Grand Hotel.

Ministry sources said by filing for reorganization in Columbia, S.C., federal court, they hoped to force Messner to produce contracts and records of work PTL officials claim may not exist.

Messner, America's largest church builder and a close Bakker friend, was chosen by Bakker as sole contractor for his 2,300-acre Heritage USA complex, serving as chief architect, builder and supplier -- frequently without formal contracts or competitive bids, ministry officials said.

"They were working on a handshake agreement, with no bidding, incomplete and irregular records," said Nims.

But Messner's attorney, Donald Stubbs of Columbia, S.C., said today in a telephone interview that his client "can back up everything he has done." He said Messner did, in fact, have a formal contract for the Heritage Towers, which forms the bulk of his nearly $15 million claim.

However, in many instances, he said, rather than a contract, Messner reached oral agreements with Bakker or other PTL officials, then dispatched a letter to PTL documenting the understanding.