For the better part of two decades, a hypercharismatic church in western North Carolina has been under fire for horribly abusive, outright cultish, and even criminal practices. Well, the bill is finally coming due. Four current members and one former member are facing charges for attempting to beat the gay out of one of their fellow members. The first trial, for the alleged ringleader, was derailed by juror misconduct, but they’re going to try again in July.
Word of Faith Fellowship in Spindale, halfway between Charlotte and Asheville, has faced nearly unabated criticism over the last two decades. The church first came to attention in 1995, when numerous complaints about kids being emotionally and physically abused prompted “Inside Edition” to take a look. Watch their report here.
Yes, that’s a young Bill O’Reilly as host, before he went wingnut.
That painfully loud, banshee-like screaming you hear is called “blasting.” It’s intended to drive out any demons that have possessed or oppressed someone. At this church, “blasting” sessions can go on for hours—even when the target is a child. The church’s founder and pastor, Jane Whaley, insists that kids actually join in on “blasting” people.
The complaints prompted the State Bureau of Investigation to take a closer look, but it ultimately decided there wasn’t enough evidence to prosecute. The complaints continued unabated, but didn’t go anywhere until this February, when 40 former members reached out to the Associated Press, mostly out of fear for the safety of the kids.
According to these former members, WOFF’s idea of “deliverance” includes beating, smacking, shaking, and choking people to drive out demons—even kids and babies. Reportedly, teachers at the church’s Christian school encourage kids to beat up classmates suspected of being possessed.
Few people have been willing to speak out, in part because Whaley rules this church with absolute authority. She decides whether you can marry or have children, and does not allow members to watch movies or television. Kids who want to go to college can only do so with Whaley’s permission, and only then if other members are attending that school. She even warns that if you speak out against the church, God will strike you dead where you stand.
Not surprisingly, few people have been willing to speak out. However, what is really shocking is that, according to several former members, some of the very people who should be stopping this abuse became criminals themselves by helping cover it up. The worst suspected offenders are Frank Webster and Chris Back, two prosecutors in a neighboring district who are also ordained ministers at WOFF. Webster is Whaley’s son-in-law.
According to the former members, Webster and Back took part in a number of strategy sessions to plan the sabotage of a 2015 child abuse investigation at the church school. At these sessions, members were told to lie to investigators. Also on hand was Lori Cornelius, a church member who was also a social worker in neighboring Cleveland County. Webster and Back also reportedly helped four members beat charges of assaulting a former member by holding a mock trial and coaching their testimony.
Soon after these allegations came to light, Webster and Back’s boss, District Attorney David Learner, asked the SBI to investigate. However, less than 48 hours after calling the state in, Learner forced Webster and Back to resign. Cornelius resigned as well soon afterward.
Webster and Back’s alleged role in the cover-up came into more focus when another church minister, Brooke Covington, went on trial for her alleged role in leading a violent attempt to cast out “homosexual demons” from Matthew Fenner in January 2013. Fenner contends that about 30 people collared him one night at church. For two hours, Fenner says, they slapped, punched, choked, and “blasted” him.
Covington was one of five people arraigned for their roles in the attack; they will all be tried separately. Last weekend, one of the defendants, Sarah Anderson, detonated a bombshell while testifying for the prosecution at Covington’s trial. She not only admitted being the first to slap Fenner after Covington tongue-lashed him, but that church leaders orchestrated an elaborate attempt to cover it up.
Anderson said that church leaders staged a number of reenactments of the “blasting” session, at which Covington frequently told people to move further back. Among those on hand for the reenactments were Webster and Back. Anderson also said that Webster and Back told church members to tell investigators that nothing improper happened. To that end, Covington and other church leaders wrote up an affidavit for Anderson and told her to sign it.
Anderson herself left the church in 2016 due to concerns that her son was being abused. While her lawyer didn’t want her to testify since she would be incriminating herself, it’s obvious that she wanted to clear her conscience. The trial abruptly ended on Monday when the jury foreman brought in outside materials to deliberations despite being explicitly told not do do so by the judge. A new trial has been scheduled for July 17.
If I were Webster and Back, I have a lot of reasons to be very afraid. North Carolina prosecutors who give legal advice or take part in outside cases could face discipline, up to and including disbarment. Giving legal advice to someone in order to help them avoid prosecution is a crime. In other words, Webster and Back’s decision to put their church above their oaths as lawyers and basic standards of decency could send them to jail.
Mark it down, folks. Anderson’s brave decision to come forward could potentially mean the beginning of the end for a crime family masquerading as a church.