A church official told me that the church sanctuary — and the church helicopter — won’t be seized by the bank.

By Frank Lockwood
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Regions Bank is suing one of North Little Rock’s largest churches for $1.1 million, saying that Full Counsel Christian Fellowship has failed to pay off its ministry headquarters building.

The creditor is asking that Promised Land Plaza — a 28,000-square-foot, four-story structure at 1800 Maple St. — be auctioned off at a foreclosure sale.

The building houses Full Counsel’s administrative offices, bookstore and Bible-training center. The church’s radio station and its School of the Prophets are also in Promised Land Plaza.

Regions Bank is also seeking to sell two smaller church-owned tracts of land at 1714 Maple St. and 1501 Main St. in North Little Rock.

The suit, filed Wednesday in Pulaski County Circuit Court, names Full Counsel Christian Fellowship and Full Counsel Ministries Inc. as well as Joshua Ministries and Community Development Corp., all based in North Little Rock, as defendants.

Joshua Ministries says on its Web site that it is a nonprofit subsidiary of Full Counsel Christian Fellowship International. Both those nonprofit groups are led by Full Counsel’s pastor, the Rev. Silas Johnson, according to Arkansas state records.

According to the complaint, Joshua Ministries took out a $1.2 million loan on Nov. 29, 2001 but failed to make all its payments. The mortgage was renegotiated in October 2005, but the borrower couldn’t pay off the debt when it came due in Oct. 22, 2008. The bank gave Joshua Ministries until April 23, 2009, to pay off the loan, but the debt has still not been paid.
Regions Bank says the church owes roughly $1.03 million in principal plus about $76,000 in accrued interest and $18,500 in late fees.

The bank’s attorney, Donald H. Henry, didn’t respond to a request for comment through his secretary.

The filing caught Full Counsel officials off guard Thursday. “If it was filed, surely you know that I hadn’t heard anything about it,” said Larry Bennett, the church’s administrator. “I’ve got to call over there and talk to them about it.”

“We’re in the process of getting that loan refinanced. We thought that we’d have it refinanced by now,” Bennett said. “Hopefully, we’ll have everything worked out by next week.”

Full Counsel’s sanctuary won’t be forfeited even if the bank forecloses on Promised Land Plaza, Bennett added.

Thursday afternoon, a for-sale sign met visitors to Promised Land Plaza. Many of the first-floor offices were vacant.

Early on, the ministry rented office space to several businesses. But the vacancy rate soared, making it tough for the church to pay its bills, Bennett said.

Full Counsel claims total membership of about 4,500 people and has branch campuses in Pine Bluff, Conway, Camden, Malvern and Fort Smith, according to its Web site, www.fullcounsel.org. The congregation owns a seven-seat Bell Helicopter that sometimes ferries Johnson between preaching engagements.

Johnson was ministering in Brinkley, and his wife, the Rev. Jennifer Johnson, was ministering in Florida on Thursday night, according to their son, the Rev. Vincent Johnson.

Neither could be reached for comment, he added.

Vincent Johnson, who leads the Pine Bluff campus, said he couldn’t offer details about the suit.

“This is the first I’ve heard about it, so I’m not exactly sure what’s going on,” he said.

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