Megachurch Leader to Face Sex Case Charges

The 80-year-old leader of a suburban Atlanta megachurch, Archbishop Earl Paulk, turned himself over to authorities Tuesday night to face a charge of lying under oath about his sexual affairs. A warrant for his arrest was issued Monday by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation following an investigation. Paulk, longtime pastor of the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit at Chapel Hill Harvester Church, made a deal with the Cobb County Sheriff’s Office to surrender within 48 hours, according to Nancy Bodiford, the executive assistant to Sheriff Neil Warren.

The felony perjury charge against Paulk stems from a lawsuit brought by Mona Brewer, a former church employee. The lawsuit alleges that Paulk manipulated Brewer into an affair from 1989 to 2003 by telling her it was her only path to salvation. In a 2006 deposition for the lawsuit, Paulk stated under oath that the only woman he had ever had sex with outside of his marriage was Brewer.

A court-ordered paternity test, revealed in October, found that Paulk is the biological father of his brother’s son, D.E. Paulk, who is now head pastor at the church. As part of Brewer’s lawsuit, eight women have given sworn depositions stating they were coerced into sexual relationships with Paulk. A judge ordered the paternity test at the request of the Cobb County district attorney’s office and the Bureau of Investigation.

Paulk and his brother, Don, have faced lawsuits from former members alleging they were coerced into sexual affairs. However, this is the first time criminal charges have been filed against Paulk. He has been in poor health for the past couple of years after battling cancer, which has limited his activity with the independent charismatic church he and his brother founded in 1960.

At its peak in the early 1990s, the Cathedral at Chapel Hill claimed about 10,000 members and 24 pastors, and was a media powerhouse. The church built a Bible college, two schools, a worldwide TV ministry, and a $12 million sanctuary in Decatur outside Atlanta. Church membership has since dropped to about 1,500, with 18 pastors, most of them volunteers. The Bible college and TV ministry have shuttered, a downturn largely attributed to complaints about the sexual scandals.

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