Bishop Eddie L. Long, a former corporate salesman who built Georgia’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church into one of the country’s most prominent ministries and who faced lawsuits over his alleged sexual impropriety with young men, died Jan. 15. He was 63.
The church, based in Lithonia, Ga., announced the death and said the cause was cancer.
Bishop Long, whose church became a stop for state and national political leaders, also hobnobbed with celebrities from the worlds of business and other prominent religious figures. He visited with President Bill Clinton at the White House and wrote numerous books that were promoted on black talk shows.
Bishop Long, the son of a Baptist minister, was a physically imposing figure known for wearing clothes that accentuated his physique, particularly his bulging biceps and pectoral muscles.
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“It helps in the board meetings,” he once told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “In the old days, the deacons ran everything. So the pastor had to come into the board meeting pretty buffed.”
He was sometimes called “daddy” by the congregation, had several spiritual sons who now pastor other churches and inspired fierce loyalty. His voice, rumbling and sometimes warbly and baritone, was unmistakable, and he often punctuated his sermons with “watch this ... watch this” — a habit sometimes picked up by other pastors.
His church had a vibrant ministry, which supported youth programs and an academy, and provided services for the poor and those in prison.
“He was a big proponent of the prosperity gospel,” said Anthea Butler, an associate professor of religion at the University of Pennsylvania. “He was able to grow a church from 300 people to more than 25,000. He sits alongside pastors like Creflo Dollar, Ted Haggard and T.D. Jakes in a way. He was a big part of the megachurch movement.”
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He also placed a big emphasis on “hyper-masculinity, which attracted a lot of men to the black church in a time when women were the primary focus,” Butler said.
Share this articleSharePart of his ministry was also opposing same-sex marriage and homosexuality. In 2004, he led a march in Atlanta against same-sex marriage and other issues. Six years later, four young men accused Bishop Long of sexual coercion in separate lawsuits.
All four alleged that Bishop Long gave them gifts and took them on trips and, when they reached the age of consent, developed sexual relationships with them. Settlements were reached in the lawsuits. Bishop Long repeatedly denied all allegations.
“His ministry never really recovered” from the lawsuits, Butler said.
Eddie Lee Long, the son of a Baptist minister, was born in Huntersville, N.C., on May 12, 1953. He was a 1976 graduate of North Carolina Central University, receiving a bachelor’s degree in business.
His first marriage, to Dabara Houston, ended in divorce. He later married Vanessa Griffin. A complete list of survivors was not immediately available.
— Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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