Word: bakkers
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...these people feel about their deposed leaders? There's little loyalty, but a lot of sympathy. The Tammy Faye Cosmetics Store employees watch the scandal on the local news in their store T.V. One clean-shaven tour guide told me the workers think Bakker cheated them. But, weary of controversy, they just want the ministry rejuvenated. Most pictures of Jim and Tammy were torn down and replaced by the paintings of the Crystal Palace...
...baby. Ever since Bakker was caught in an adultery scandal and gave Falwell custody of his empire, the two have been flailing away at each other. At stake, beyond whatever should be rendered to God, are the sprawling Heritage USA theme park, a large cable network, a daily TV show, two hotels, a shopping mall and other oddments based in Fort Mill, S.C. The empire is worth $170 million but has debts of $62 million. During his 204-day rule, Falwell managed to raise $23 million but failed to rally the 114,000 "Lifetime Partners." They had sent Bakker contributions...
...mollified by such offers as discounts on Heritage enterprises or stock in a new for-profit corporation that would develop real estate and begin selling ads on the TV network. The judge's ruling, said Falwell angrily, made it likely that "barring a miracle of God," the disgraced Bakker would return to run PTL within six months. In the febrile world of evangelistic TV fund raising, as in TV generally, the show cannot go on without a star like Bakker...
...ample reason to escape the PTL quagmire and pay closer heed to his troubled operations in Lynchburg, Va. Faced with a recent decline of $5.4 million in contributions to his own TV ministry, Falwell has just stopped purchasing time from 50 of the 340 stations that carry his show. Bakker and his wife Tammy Faye, basking in the resignation news at their mountaintop home near Gatlinburg, Tenn., said they were certainly willing to return if the creditors wished. Of course, Bakker could face a court hearing or two of his own, what with a federal grand jury and various investigators...
What if neither Falwell nor Bakker returns? Falwell's last action was to try to head off Bakker by turning control over to Bakker's Pentecostal denomination, the 2.1 million-member Assemblies of God, subject to Judge Reynolds' approval. An Assemblies spokesman was dumbfounded. The judge must now decide not only who should run the place but how to keep it alive. Falwell says PTL's cash-starved cable network may survive only three more weeks. The outgoing team has offered to assist in an orderly transition, assuming anything orderly is possible, when someone is found with the temerity...