PUBLISHED MONDAY NOVEMBER 17, 1997
Copyright 1997 The Pensacola News Journal. All rights
reserved
Kilpatrick takes hard line against dissenters
By John W. Allman and Amie K. Streater
News Journal staff writers
PENSACOLA - The magnetic, persuasive pastor of
the Brownsville Assembly of God inspires hundreds to hurry to the altar
to be saved.
He wanted revival and he got it -- and along with it he
received international fame, wealth and adoration. He is revered and respected,
but he is also repudiated.
He is a man of God, but also a man to be feared and avoided,
say neighbors, former friends and members of his own congregation.
Since the revival began in June 1995, Kilpatrick has seen
many members of his church -- Brownsville Assembly of God -- walk out.
Some he has cast out, ordering them not to return.
Reason: They either did not agree with the revival and
its manifestations and impartations -- passing on of the Holy Spirit through
the preachers' touch -- or they were not living their lives the way Kilpatrick
thought they should.
"He just has a real critical and judgmental attitude toward
people he considers to be in sin -- which is not Christ-oriented at all,"
said a woman who left after years of faithful attendance.
"The message of love is not there," she said.
Kilpatrick can be a good pastor and a kind man, another
former member said.
There was one time several years ago that she needed advice
and called him. He prayed with her and showed her examples of Scripture
to comfort her, she recalled.
"He said, 'This is for you,' " she said. "That really
encouraged me."
But she has seen the pastor's other side, which is one
reason she asked not to be identified when interviewed.
Kilpatrick, she said, is not a man you can "agree to disagree"
with. There is one way -- his way -- that he expects members of his congregation
to follow.
"There's no, 'We're all part of God's kingdom,' " she
said. "There's none of that."
Kilpatrick has taught his flock to think within very strict
confines, she said. Anyone with a different attitude is encouraged to leave
or change.
"If you're not within those confines, then they'll pray
for you to come back into the fold," she said.
Kilpatrick's dealings with his neighbors also draw criticism.
The pastor acknowledges he has been in a property dispute
since he moved into a home in Seminole Landing, Ala., last fall.
Jeanie Bettcher, who lives in Winnipeg, Canada, owns the
lot next to the house Kilpatrick bought last year from a Brownsville Assembly
of God member. Bettcher is planning to build her retirement home on her
Seminole Landing lot. But she said she has had trouble getting a construction
loan because the lot has an encroachment.
When she visited her lot earlier this year, she saw that
Kilpatrick was parking his 40-foot-long bus on her lot and using part of
her land as a driveway for the bus.
Kilpatrick concedes that, but blames the person from whom
he bought his home -- a member of his church. "The detached garage was
already there. The previous owner built it over the set back line."
Bettcher complains that Kilpatrick not only used part
of Bettcher's land as a driveway and parking pad, he had a crew cut down
a stand of oak trees on her property because the trees were blocking his
view of a pond, put a concrete picnic table on her property and had landscapers
use railroad ties to terrace part of her land.
Kilpatrick says he had just one of her trees cut down,
and he says the terrace and table were a mistake.
"I had some landscapers come out here because the back
is steep. I had them put in railroad ties. When they did this, they went
in on her property. So I had to get that all moved."
Bettcher recently had other Erin Pond neighbors go to
her property and put yellow tape along the front and side adjacent to Kilpatrick's.
The tape says: "No trespassing."
By coincidence, Bettcher recently learned that she is
part-owner of a Pensacola property adjacent to Kilpatrick's church and
that the church may be encroaching on that property.
Brownsville Assembly of God is building a large Family
Life Center on land next to property that Bettcher and her aunts recently
inherited. Construction on the Family Life Center has been at a standstill
for more than a month because of the dispute over the property line.
Associate Pastor Carey Robertson explained the situation
as "discrepancies in the surveys."
He said the church is not encroaching and has turned the
matter over to its attorneys.
Bettcher is adamant about not giving the church an inch
for free, not after her experience with Kilpatrick over the Seminole Landing
property.
"He doesn't appear to be remorseful," she said.
News Journal staff writer Alice Crann contributed to
this report.