Let Us Prey: Big Trouble at First Baptist Church
A string of assaults and sexual crimes committed by pastors across the country have one thing in common: The perpetrators have ties to the megachurch in Hammond, Indiana.
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Pastor Jack Hyles, circa 1988, the man who built First Baptist into a megachurch
Genesis
In the beginning—1959, in this case—Jack Hyles arrived at the First Baptist Church of Hammond as a skinny, charismatic Bible thumper with a Southern-fried drawl and a couple of cheap suits. No one could have imagined he would grow into the larger-than-life figure whom critics would dub the Godfather and others would consider the Chosen One.
Born in the tiny Dallas suburb of Italy, Hyles often preached about his alcoholic father, his devoted and deeply conservative Christian mother, and the curse of growing up poor. After serving in the army in World War II, he married his sweetheart, Beverly Slaughter. The fire-and-brimstone words of his mother burning in his head, Hyles then enrolled at East Texas Baptist College in Marshall, Texas, where he became a student pastor. After graduation, he set out to spread his particular brand of harsh theology.
In a show of modesty that would be almost unthinkable in later years, Hyles acknowledged that he didn’t immediately set bushes to burning. After his first sermon in 1947, “Elijah blushed and Heaven’s flag flew at half mast for three days,” he lamented in a 1975 Time magazine article.
Whatever awkwardness he may have had soon gave way to his extraordinary oratorical gifts. By the time he took charge of the 44-member Miller Road Baptist Church in Garland, Texas, in 1952, he was a full-fledged, fire-breathing, stem-winding spellbinder, blessed with a booming preacher’s voice, a savant’s recall of the Bible, and a charisma that could almost magically levitate people from their seats to surrender their lives to the Savior.
Outbursts of anger, an unwillingness to brook criticism, and a penchant for ironfisted control were also part of his repertoire. “He was a genius,” recalls a former member of the Hammond church who has edited some of Jack Schaap’s books. “He also had a nasty, nasty temper. He used his temper as a form of control.”
Hyles eventually abandoned the church’s Southern Baptist theology, saying it was too liberal. He began calling himself an Independent Baptist—untethered to any dogma or ritual he didn’t cotton to, unaccountable to any ruling body or person beyond himself.
The approach resonated deeply with rural Texans longing for a return to old-time religion. Within a couple of years, his flock had swelled to 4,000, earning Hyles a far-reaching reputation. When the long-serving pastor of First Baptist Church in Hammond stepped down, Hyles got the call.
* * *
Exodus
Founded in 1887, sleepy First Baptist had a mostly well-to-do congregation, many of whom commuted to jobs in Chicago. Hyles made driving out these “northern liberals” his first priority.
Accordingly, he ditched the church’s denominational affiliation with the mainline American Baptist Convention, freeing him to transplant the authoritarian, hellfire-and-damnation theology he had honed in Texas.
A seemingly endless list of rules—both written and unwritten—grew and multiplied. Men were to wear jackets and ties and close-cropped hair. Women were to wear skirts that covered the knee. Trisha LaCroix, who attended Hyles-Anderson College, says that she was disowned by her parents—First Baptist members both—in part for daring to wear pants. Rock music was out, of course, as was any music with a syncopated beat. “Even Southern gospel music was sick and sinful and of the devil,” says Busby.
The Bible was to be interpreted literally and by Hyles alone. According to his reading, men ruled absolutely. “The belief was that women needed to be in complete and total submission to their husbands and to male leadership,” says a former member who requested that she not be named. (She left the church in 2010 after her husband, a prominent member of the congregation, was caught having sexual relationships with underage girls.)
If a man did “stumble”—having an affair, say, or visiting prostitutes or abusing children—the question wasn’t how he could have but rather what the woman, or the child, did to drive him to such sin, some former church members say. “They have a system where abusers and pedophiles can flourish, because you can’t challenge the men,” opines one. “You have to submit 100 percent of the time, and whenever anything goes wrong in a marriage, it’s because the woman didn’t do enough.”
Hyles, meanwhile, exerted extreme control over every aspect of his flock’s lives—control that members say they welcomed because they believed it was divinely inspired. “I used to joke that people would not rearrange their living room furniture without help from Brother Hyles,” says Jerry Kaifetz, a former teacher at First Baptist’s Pastors’ School who left the church around 1990.
Virtually no one would marry without Hyles’s blessing, several former church members say. He soon took it upon himself to arrange marriages. According to Kaifetz, “When a guy like Hyles says, ‘This is God’s will for your life,’ you just say, ‘Well, I guess it is.’ ”
One area in which Hyles—a father of four—exerted particular control was child rearing. In this, his views were severe unto merciless. Using biblical passages as justification, Hyles preached that spanking was more than tolerable; it was a sacred duty. In his 1979 book How to Rear Infants, he wrote: “The parent who spanks his child keeps him from going to hell.”
Spanking “should be deliberate and last at least ten or fifteen minutes,” he continued. The blows “should be painful and should last . . . until the child is crying, not tears of anger but tears of a broken will.” They should “leave stripes” if need be. The age at which such punishment should begin? Infancy.
Several people who grew up at First Baptist recall that parents took the instruction to heart. “Beatings would last endlessly, it seemed,” says Mary Jo McGuire, 45, a corporate trainer in Colorado whose father was a deacon in the church. As a seven-year-old, she “used to count the lashes as a way to cope through the searing pain.” McGuire’s younger sister, Sherri Munger, told me she once received more than 300 lashes from a thick leather belt. When authorities were called, McGuire says, Hyles told the girls’ parents how to avoid arrest.
“What was going on [at First Baptist] was kind of like a process of hollowing out the followers and repopulating them with yourself,” says Schaap’s former editor. “[Hyles] took your voice, he took your beliefs, he took your likes and dislikes and opinions, and he gave you his own. But in the process of hollowing you out, he made you very weak.”
In her first one-on-one interview about the church, Hyles’s middle daughter, Linda Murphrey, a motivational speaker and coach in Southern California, remembers his followers as “zombies” who were “willing to believe and obey whatever he said.” She told me: “He used to joke around about ‘drinking the Kool-Aid,’ but that was never funny to me because I knew that those people really would have done anything he told them to do. Anything.”
Photograph: Courtesy of Jerry Karifetz
This article appears in the January 2013 issue of Chicago magazine.
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Decent article - could have had more horrifying events to put the real picture about that place; but oh well
Here is a link to my book, "Profaned Pulpit -- The Jack Schaap Story" now on Amazon Books. This is a detailed insider account of Jack Schaap's rise & fall, and the megachurch and national Fundamental movement they led for thirty years.
Thank you to Bryan Smith for a good job on this article. (I am one of the people mentioned in the article) Dr. Jerry Kaifetz
http://www.amazon.com/Profaned-Pulpit-Jack-Schaap-Story/dp/1479180297/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1355271977&sr=1-1&keywords=profaned+pulpit
Bryan, Thank you so much for FINALLY putting a spot light on this monstrosity. You have provided validity to the abuse so many of us have experienced. You are giving us an opportunity to realize that we are not horrible backsliding Christians who will never please our Lord and Savior Jesus. We have been enamored with the lie that no matter what we do no matter how hard we try, we will never be good enough. We have been beaten, raped, and murdered by several leaders as well as others in authority within this cult.
The Bible says:
Ephesians 2:8-9 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.
Maybe they missed this when they read the Word of God!
I cannot say Thank You enough, Bryan Smith for giving us a voice.
I'd bet that everyone over at First Baptist is absolutely freaking out over some of their secrets getting out. But the truth will set you free. Good article except it didn't expose all the doings it could have. Thanks Chicago Mag for correcting the town name of Culpeper and thanks Bryan for writing this piece to show just how toxic FBC really is.
Please look at the Wendy G. case that Lundy Bancroft is writing about on his blog dated August 18, 2012. Lundy is an expert on Domestic Violence and abuse. Judge Hulsing in Ottawa County Court in Holland, Mi. gave custody of Wendy's 2 minor children to the ex (sexual molester). Wendy's ex (a Pastor in Colorado) sexual molested their minor daughter and he still has custody of her.Judge Hulsing threw Wendy (A Psychologist) in Jail because she tried to keep the children from her ex (the abuser)Judge Hulsing did NOT allow the forensic evidence (of the sexual abuse) to be entered into evidence. The church organization that her ex belongs to is protecting him of this atrocity.(Christian Reformed Church) Please look at Lundy's blog and help us get justice and for Wendy G. to get her two minor children back.
http://lundybancroft.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-document-judge-wont-allow-into.html#links
Bryan Smith, this article is well-researched and articulately presented. A million thanks to you for your excellent reporting! It is, sadly, only the tip of the iceburg, but it is a start. Thank you for pulling back the curtain and exposing a bit of the wizard. Please do a follow-up article soon . . . there is MUCH more truth to be exposed in an effort to put a stop to the abuses that are perpetuated and covered-up in the IFB system! May future victims be protected as a result!
As a former member of more than 25 years I found this article to be objective, well balanced, carefully researched, and very true. In fact it is just the tip of the iceberg. After everything that has happened there through the years, the current leadership - pastoral staff and deacons, still refuse to open their hearts or make changes in their attitudes or actions. May this article be a first step in helping them to finally open their eyes.
I find it mind numbing that Julie Busby is quoted here because the "abuse" she suffered was nothing compared to us who have actually physically and sexually been abused. I am not saying mental abuse isn't real; but get over it already. There are hundreds of us who would give anything to only have had mental abuse inflicted on us.
The only way scare away unwanted creatures is to shine the light right at them, I feel this article does some of that. Very well written!! "The cause of Christ" is the most abused narrative in our society, and many of these "leaders" have been using that as a way to prey on sincere people. We need more light shined in the caves, to removed the infestation and then, and ONLY then will any cause of Christ have a REAL chance.
This extraordinary article isn’t just a well written and researched masterpiece it is much more- it is a gift. A gift of a voice and a gift of validation to all those battered sheep who have been broken and abused for decades and told that they were the ones who asked for it. This article peels back all the bravado and the holy facade and exposes the horrors of what lies behind the curtain for decades upon decades by "men of God" who gave us a false, angry, demanding God who carried a big stick and wanted to beat us with it.
Thank you for giving hope and a voice to all those who are too afraid to speak up, too afraid to leave, truly believing they are deserving of the abuse. Thank you.
As I said before—this article isn’t just words on a page—it is a gift from God—a gentle, loving, gracious God who loves his Children and who holds them in the palm of His hand.
Thank you Bryan Smith and Chicago Magazine—what a gift you gave us this Christmas.
Spot on. Well balanced.
Great usage of dividing "chapters" and the ending was sad but perfect.
Duke
a.k.a. Former HAC graduate 1979
I grew up under the teaching of Jack Hyles. Not at FBC Hammond, but in churches in several US states and even one overseas (military family). Jack Hyles came to preach at my parents' church in FL and my church subscribed to the Sword of the Lord newspaper in which Jack Hyles often had sermons and articles published. My dad used the Sword of the Lord to find churches to attend whenever we moved. As a result, I ended up in one abuse church after another. Systematic beating of children was the norm. I know so many that suffer life-long scars from their childhood in Jack Hyles "Independent Baptist" styled churches.
Thank you to Bryan Smith and Chicago Magazine. You have validated what I and so many of the people I knew growing up experienced. We never had a place to get help or be safe. Thank you for shining a bright light on this horrible teaching--still not uncommon across the US.
Very well written, thank you. It is long overdue to have the reality of FBC Hammond exposed. More needs to be said and this is a great overview.
One correction though....When the offender is a 54 year old Pastor, taking advantage of a 16 year old child, seeking counsel from her Pastor, it is NOT a relationship, it is child abuse.
I assure you that there are many stories that have not been told. Just like mine. :/
This is hardly enough to scare the insiders of the IfB away, Onaled. Those of us who are already out don't need to be scared away. Someone needs to be bold enough to really scare the insiders. That's what will matter - making the ones still in the cult stop rearing their families in it ensuring the cult lives on.
Someone needs to look into the cover ups at Shawnee Baptist Church & College in Louisville, KY, Gospel Light Baptist Church in Hot Springs, AR and Tabernacle Baptist Church in Orlando, FL. I am so sick of all the abuse that has gone on and hope that those involved in the abuse as well as the ones that covered up the abuse will be charged and serve time! That is the only think that will stop these perpetrators.
Brian Smith, thanks for sharing this story with the world. It needs to be told.
Bryan Smith did an excellent job capturing both the recent as well as the distant past of what I call "The Two Jacks," Jack Hyles and Jack Schaap. He spent a considerable amount of time researching this sordid story and presented a fair and balanced account of this church, college, and loose-knit organization of authoritarian independent fundamental Baptist churches. Bryan probed wounds that have yet to be completely healed, but his exploration, in the form of this article, is a powerful vindication of those of us who suffered under the mind-numbing indoctrination of those power-mongers who exploited us for their own gains, yet found our way out of their dead end doctrines of death. Still, many of my companions, though delivered from the bondage of this brainwashing system, live daily with the scars of the seduction of this pair of Jacks.
Another church that needs checked out is Pleasant Valley Baptist in Chico, Ca. A youth pastor went to prison for his relationship with a then 14-year old. One of the pastor's sons has been charged with an illegal relationship with a minor - he was her teacher! His court case is ongoing. Of course the pastor graduated from Hyles-Anderson.