New questions raised about Lyons's finances

Christian Century, Sept 24, 1997

Henry J. Lyons, the president of the National Baptist Convention, U.S.A., who already has been questioned about marital and financial irregularities, now has another allegation facing him. According to a newspaper account, Lyons did not distribute in the manner he said he did $225,000 donated last fall to help rebuild black churches destroyed by arson. Lyons, head of the nation's largest black denomination and a minister in St. Petersburg, Florida, received the funds from the National Urban League and the Anti-Defamation League.

Last November, Lyons received a check for $225,000 from the ADL/National Urban League's Rebuild the Churches Fund. Two weeks later he wrote a letter to an ADL official detailing how six churches received $35,000 each, for a total of $210,000, and said a seventh would receive the remaining $15,000. The ADL, which acted as bookkeeper for the joint fund, gave Lyons's denomination an additional $19,500 in February, bringing the total donation to $244,500. But according to the Tampa Tribune, six of the seven churches -- all of them members of Lyons's denomination -- received a fraction of the money or nothing at all. The Tribune reported that the six churches received a total of $55,000, leaving a balance of $189,500.

Jesse Montgomery, pastor of Sunlight Baptist Church near Talladega, Alabama, said his church received $25,000 from the NBCUSA in June and was scheduled to receive the remaining $15,000. But Rising Star Baptist Church in Greensboro, Alabama, one of the churches slated to receive $35,000, received no money from the denomination, said Mary Hodge, who oversees that church's rebuilding fund. "Dr. Lyons needs to check his books," Hodge said. "I'm very displeased because honesty is very high on my list." Abraham Foxman, the ADL's national director, commented that Lyons "represented to us in his letter that he had already done something it appears he has not. That is very troubling."

According to Myrna Shinbaum, a spokeswoman for the ADL, the organization first became concerned about Lyons's disbursement of the donation after media accounts questioned it. "We had no reason to believe that the monies weren't being directed to where he said they would be directed," she said. "We didn't think ... there was a need to micromanage that until the media found otherwise." Asked about future relations with Lyons's denomination, Shinbaum said, "We wouldn't close the door completely but under Rev. Lyons's leadership, I'm not sure that at this point we would be doing business with them."

Grady C. Irvin Jr., a lawyer for Lyons, denied there was any wrongdoing and laid blame for the incident on the media. "You have indicated there is a discrepancy. There is no discrepancy," Irvin said. "We owe no explanation to the media and will not facilitate the second assault by the media to discredit [Lyons]. We simply aren't going to waste our time."

However, Irvin addressed a letter dated September 12 to ADL officials in which he confirmed that $189,500 had been delivered to his office in Tampa, Florida. "As you know, in comparison to the millions of dollars received by other organizations, the NBC received a de minimis (but yet important) sum of $244,500," Irvin wrote. "Of this amount $189,500 has now been delivered to my office and placed into escrow; the balance has long since been in the possession of needy churches. In light of the concerns expressed by Mr. Foxman, Dr. Lyons thought it appropriate this money be removed from possession of the NBC or any of its officers."

Irvin concluded by expressing hope that the reputations of the organizations involved would remain intact. "Dr. Lyons, as well as the NBC, are saddened by the fact that a story appearing in a local newspaper has left the inference that the money is unavailable and may be being used for a personal purpose," Irvin wrote. "Dr. Lyons trusts that the fine work of the ADL, as well as the NBC, will not be overshadowed by this unfortunate misunderstanding."

In the most recent development the ADL announced that on September 16 the organization received a $214,500 check from the NBC "representing monies never disbursed by the National Baptist Convention from the ADL/National Urban League Rebuild the Churches Fund." The statement also noted that according to Lyons's attorney, "only $30,000 of the $244,500 given to the NBC for disbursement to burned African-American churches reached those in need."

In a letter dated September 16, Irvin said the denomination made total disbursements of "no less than $55,000" to the rebuilding effort. "It is my understanding that of this $55,000 amount, $30,000 has been posted as an ADL contribution through NBC, while the remaining $25,000 of the amount has been posted as an NBC contribution," Irvin wrote. "Therefore, NBC is returning to ADL the difference between $244,500 and $30,000 ADL-posted contribution through NBC, or $214,500."

Shinbaum said Lyons's denomination has reported different disbursement figures since it received the first donation from the joint fund last November. Asked about getting more money returned than the $189,500 the ADL originally expected, Shinbaum replied: "That's fine because it means we now have this money to go to churches in need."