Juanita Bynum beaten by husband

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Bynum, husband battle in parking lot
Famous minister met spouse to reconcile, but the two fought until an Atlanta hotel bellman separated them.

By Saeed Ahmed
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 08/23/07

Juanita Bynum, a preacher whose fiery and frank sermons about women's empowerment have won her a national following, was attacked by her husband in the parking lot of an Atlanta hotel early Wednesday morning, police said.

Bynum, whose ministry is based in Waycross, and her estranged husband, Thomas W. Weeks III, had met at the Renaissance Concourse Hotel near Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport to try to reconcile, Atlanta police said.

But while in the parking lot about 5 a.m., the two got into a physical fight that ended when a hotel bellman pulled Bynum's husband off her, said Officer Ronald Campbell.

"She was bruised up and battered," Campbell said. "She had purple bruising around her neck and upper torso."

The husband, who is also a preacher, left the scene. No charges have been filed against him, according to police.

A popular Pentecostal evangelist, Bynum lives in Hempstead, N.Y., but her administrative offices are in Waycross in southeast Georgia. Once a homemaker, a hairdresser and a flight attendant, Bynum's big break came when Bishop T.D. Jakes invited her to speak at one of his conferences several years ago. Her ministry took off a couple of years later after she gave her unrehearsed "No More Sheets" sermon on breaking free of sexual promiscuity at a singles event.

Since then, she has parlayed her tough-love evangelism into a one-woman industry, writing several best-selling books, recording inspirational CDs and preaching to millions through televised sermons.

Her 2002 wedding to Weeks, who started the Global Destiny churches nationwide, was televised and, according to media reports, featured a 7.76-carat diamond ring.

—- Staff researcher Nisa Asokan contributed to this article.