Ex-congregants tell of abuses at N.C. church

SPINDALE, N.C. — From all over the world, people flocked to a tiny town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, lured by promises of inner peace and eternal life. What many found instead was years of terror — waged in the name of the Lord.

Congregants of the Word of Faith Fellowship were regularly punched, smacked, choked, slammed to the floor or thrown through walls in a violent form of deliverance meant to “purify” sinners by beating out devils, 43 former members said.

Victims of the violence included pre-teens, toddlers and even babies, who were vigorously shaken, screamed at and sometimes smacked to banish demons if they were crying.

“I saw so many people beaten over the years. Little kids punched in the face, called Satanists,” said Katherine Fetachu, 27, who spent nearly 17 years in the church.

Word of Faith also subjected members to a practice called “blasting” — an ear-piercing verbal onslaught often conducted in hours-long sessions meant to cast out devils.

As part of its investigation, The Associated Press reviewed hundreds of pages of law enforcement, court and child-welfare documents, along with hours of conversations with Jane Whaley, the evangelical church’s controlling leader, secretly recorded by followers.

The people who spoke out, most of whom were raised in the church, said Word of Faith leaders waged a decades-long cover-up to thwart investigations by law enforcement and social services officials, including strong-arming young victims and their parents to lie.

The former members said they were speaking out now because of guilt over not doing more to stop the abuse and because they fear for the safety of the children still in the church, believed to number about 100.

Word of Faith Fellowship has been scrutinized on numerous occasions by law enforcement, social services agencies and the news media since the early 1990s— all without significant impact, mostly because followers refused to cooperate.

All of those interviewed said it is Jane Whaley — a fiery, 77-year-old Charismatic Christian preacher — who maintains complete control of the flock and also administers some of the beatings herself.

Under Whaley’s leadership, Word of Faith grew from a handful of followers to a 750-member sect, concentrated in a 35-acre complex protected by tight security and a thick line of trees.

By then — isolated from their families and friends, and believing Whaley was a prophet — they were afraid to leave or speak out, they said.