Court to Liquidate Defunct Church
A federal bankruptcy judge decided Thursday to liquidate assets of the embattled The Bible Speaks fundamentalist church because its leaders had left town.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James Queenen Jr. agreed to a court-appointed trustee’s motion to liquidate The Bible Speaks under Chapter 7 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.
“I find that there is considerable loss to the estate,” Queenen ruled after hearing testimony and attorneys’ statements. “I also find that there is the absence of any likelihood of rehabilitating the church.”
Trustee David Ferrari testified in federal bankruptcy court that there was little that could have been done to reorganize the abandoned church under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection because its leaders had all moved to Baltimore.
In addition, Ferrari testified it was costing $10,000 a week to operate what had been the world headquarters of the fundamentalist church in Lenox, a rural community in western Massachusetts.
Pastor Carl Stevens Jr. and other ministers left the state after Queenen ruled in May that The Bible Speaks must repay heiress Elizabeth Dayton Dovydenas $6.6 million she allegedly was manipulated into donating to the church.
Dovydenas, 34, heiress to the Minneapolis-based Dayton-Hudson Corp. chain of department stores, accused Stevens and others of using “undue influence” in soliciting her donations.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
