It’s been seven years since four young men went public with accusations that their mentor, Bishop Eddie Long, used his position, wealth and fame to coerce them into sexual relationships.
What We Know:
- Eddie Long, former Senior Pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church has been dead just over 18 months.
- Spencer LeGrande told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that he is collaborating, along with some of Long’s other accusers from a 2010 lawsuit, on a novel.
- The roman a clef — “Foursaken” — centers around a scandal involving the charismatic preacher of a thriving megachurch.
- The work will technically be fiction, though LeGrande said there should be no doubt the sordid tale of power and betrayal is one they experienced firsthand.
- 6 years ago LaGrande, along with former New Birth Missionary Baptist Church members Maurice Robinson, Anthony Flagg and Jamaal Parris, shared similar accounts about their relationship with Long, who, they alleged, filled a void left by absent or abusive fathers.
- An undisclosed financial settlement reached in 2011, after a fifth accuser, Centino Kemp, came forward, prevents them from discussing Long or New Birth.
- Long, who in his heyday wielded global influence as one of the more prominent proponents of the “prosperity gospel,” remained New Birth’s pastor until his death in January 2017 at the age of 63.
- Allegedly, his successor, Bishop Stephen A. Davis of New Birth Birmingham, recently resigned and a nationwide search is being conducted to find a new senior pastor.
- “Foursaken” will be completed and available before year’s end, LeGrande said. (They expect to settle on a publisher shortly.)
This story was originally spotted at AJC. It has been edited and modified for Black News Alerts.
Full Editorial Disclosure: Alex Haynes oversaw publishing of this article and was formerly affiliated with New Birth Missionary Baptist Church.
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