Police: Televangelist Bynum beaten by husband

updated 4:47 p.m. ET Aug. 23, 2007

ATLANTA - Juanita Bynum, a televangelist with a national following for sermons about women’s empowerment, pressed charges against her estranged husband Thursday after she was bruised in a fight with him during a meeting to reconcile, police said.

Preacher Thomas W. Weeks III, founder of Global Destiny churches, will be charged with aggravated assault and terroristic threats, Officer Ronald Campbell said.

The fight happened early Wednesday in the parking lot of the Renaissance Concourse Hotel near Atlanta’s airport, Campbell said.

“They were talking about a reconciliation. They got into an argument. In the process of the argument, her husband walked out to the parking lot area, turned back around and started to choke Miss Bynum,” Campbell said.

“As he choked her, he pushed her down to the ground and started to kick her and also stomp on her,” he said. “There was a bellman at the location who witnessed the whole assault, intervened and pulled Mr. Weeks off of Miss Bynum.”

Bynum, who was bruised around her neck and upper torso, met with authorities Thursday at an undisclosed location to press the charges, Campbell said.

Weeks did not return a phone message or an e-mail request for comment by The Associated Press. A call to Global Destiny was answered by a recorded message offering only information about the ministry.

Asked about the fight, a woman who answered the phone at Juanita Bynum Ministries in Waycross said, “We’re not at liberty to discuss it at this time.” She did not identify herself.

Famous for 'No More Sheets' sermon
Bynum is a former homemaker, hairdresser and flight attendant who became a Pentecostal evangelist. She got a break when Bishop T.D. Jakes invited her to speak at one of his conferences several years ago.

Her ministry blossomed after her “No More Sheets” sermon about breaking free of sexual promiscuity at a singles event. She writes books, records inspirational CDs and preaches to millions through televised sermons.

She married Weeks in 2002 in a televised wedding.

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