New President of PTL Vows to Work Without Pay or Benefits for One Year

The Rev. Richard Dortch, who took over as president of the PTL ministry after the resignation of evangelist Jim Bakker, announced Tuesday that he will not accept a salary or pension benefits for the next year.

Dortch said on the “PTL Club” television program, of which he is host, that for the next 12 months he “will continue to live in the parsonage of this ministry . . . but I will not accept any salary whatsoever, nor pension benefits or any other benefits.”

“God has spoken to my heart, and he will provide for my needs,” he said.

The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer reported Saturday that Dortch earned about $350,000 in 1986 as PTL’s executive director, including bonuses totaling $220,000 and a retirement contribution of more than $80,000.

In the first three months of 1987, Dortch received about $270,000, most of it as a $200,000 bonus, the newspaper said.

Dortch was named PTL president by the $172-million television ministry’s new board last month. Bakker resigned as chairman and president after disclosing a sexual encounter with a church secretary.

Dortch, 55, has come under fire for his role in negotiating a settlement for Jessica Hahn, the woman involved in the sexual liaison with Bakker, and for his early assurances to PTL board members that rumors of sexual misconduct and payments were untrue.