Rev. E.V. Hill to Bid for Baptist Presidency

The Rev. E.V. Hill, long a politically conservative voice among African American clergy, declared his candidacy Wednesday for president of the nation’s largest black Baptist denomination to succeed the Rev. Henry Lyons, recently convicted of misusing church funds.

Hill, 65, one of the most prominent black ministers in Los Angeles and pastor of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, said Wednesday that he can provide leadership that the National Baptist Convention USA “desperately needs.”

Lyons, 57, a close friend of Hill, was convicted last month in state court in Largo, Fla., of stealing money donated to rebuild burned Southern black churches, as well as of bilking $4 million from companies that sought the convention’s mailing list to sell cemetery products, life insurance policies and credit cards. He was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in prison and ordered to repay nearly $2.5 million. He faces sentencing in federal court in June on related charges of fraud and tax evasion.

“I come here with not a whole lot of joy when one of my best friends is in jail,” Hill told a crowd of well-wishers at his South-Central Los Angeles church, where he has been pastor 38 years. Last year, Hill called himself a “staunch Lyons supporter,” and said Wednesday that he would not forsake his friend. Hill said Lyons had asked him to run.

Hill in the past has suggested that racism was a factor in the decision to prosecute Lyons. On Wednesday, he said: “Somebody has said that during the Lyons struggle that I played the race card. Well, if the card ain’t in the deck you can’t play it. But if it’s in the deck, you can play any card that’s in the deck.” He went on to say that the fight against racism and for equal opportunities is not over.

But in response to a question from a reporter, Hill said that Lyons had crossed the line. “He’s done wrong. . . . You don’t repent if you haven’t done nothing wrong,” said Hill, noting that Lyons has repeatedly begged forgiveness and repented since his conviction.

Hill, a registered Republican and a friend of the Rev. Jerry Falwell and other leading Christian conservatives, said Wednesday his election is all but assured. But he is one of nine candidates, and backers of another candidate said Wednesday that Hill’s close association with Lyons may hurt him.

“I don’t think he’s held in high esteem by the brothers,” said the Rev. Perry Jones, pastor of Messiah Baptist Church in Los Angeles. “He’s made some tactical errors in his support of President Lyons. A lot of the things he’s done rub you the wrong way.”

Jones said he is backing the candidacy of the Rev. W. Franklyn Richardson, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Mt. Vernon, N.Y. Richardson has scheduled appearances in Los Angeles next week.

Hill, who was endorsed by several prominent Baptist leaders, pledged to institute a transparent budget process open to examination by all of the denomination’s members. He said he would not “attempt to buy votes” and promised to accept no campaign contributions from companies that had business with the National Baptist Convention.

He also said he would call for an accurate accounting of the number of members in the National Baptist Convention. Lyons was accused of inflating the number claimed by the denomination in order to sell its mailing lists to corporations for more money. The convention has routinely said it has 8 million members, a figure that Hill said Lyons “inherited.” Other estimates run from 1 million to 4 million.

But Hill said he would not end the practice of the denomination president’s receiving outside income unrelated to the National Baptist Convention for such purposes as lobbying for a bill or endorsing a product. Instead, Hill said he favors “full disclosure.”

“If somebody right here wants to give me $1 million as an individual for endorsing your hat . . . I’m ready to endorse it, but I will endorse it as E.V. Hill Inc., a for-profit organization, and pay my taxes on it and pay whom I will,” Hill said amid laughter and applause.