W hile Jefferson lives with his wife and other family members on a sprawling estate behind a 6-foot- high wall in Brandon - their house has 10 bedrooms, three dining rooms and an indoor swimming pool - the poor his church takes in live in squalor.

BOD: They are crowded into church-owned housing scattered through one of Tampa's oldest neighborhoods, off Nebraska Avenue, between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Palm Avenue.

Jefferson estimates they number 500 to 600.

Their service to the church begins with 30 days of intense training during which they must, among other requirements, memorize 50 Bible verses. All must sign agreements releasing the church from any liability in case something happens to them.

Those deemed presentable enough then go on the road to raise money.

The crews usually travel in vans on cross-country excursions that can last weeks. They fan out at busy intersections to drum up donations from motorists waiting at red lights.

Often they are accompanied by children, some as young as 4. Except for a lunch break, they sometimes work an intersection for 12 hours straight, said nearly two dozen former members interviewed by the Tribune. Then they're usually jammed into motel rooms. Sometimes up to a dozen share beds and floor space.

For this, they earn $10 a day. Some crew chiefs require team members to pay for their meals from that sum.

At home in Tampa, they get no help with job training or placement, no training in skills such as balancing a checkbook or running a household, no help from licensed mental health counselors.

Instead, they return to a regimen of daily Bible study. They are expected to attend lengthy Sunday and evening services. Videotaped sermons show Jefferson and his wife belittling and threatening congregants with eternal damnation for not putting enough into the collection basket.

Then they go back on the road.

Former pastors say they have raised millions of dollars for Deeper Life this way.

From Day One, former members say, they are discouraged from having contact with the outside world, including relatives. Many are locked in at night, former members say.

``If I stay in your house, eat your food, become dependent on you, then I end up being controlled,'' said Darrin Rich, a former Deeper Life pastor and fundraising crew chief.

``I was brainwashed at one time.''

When he began questioning Jefferson, ``he told people I was a renegade,'' Rich said. Rich soon left Deeper Life.

Others speak of being encouraged to marry fellow church members, which the former church members regard as a form of control.

Unless the resident members have the means to buy their own food, they subsist on a church-provided diet of chicken necks and rice and beans, former members say. The houses they live in sometimes lack working plumbing. As many as 20 to 30 people may share a single bathroom.

Several of the houses have been cited for code violations that endanger health and safety, records show. They also show the church has made no attempt to pay outstanding fines. As of Thursday, one property had fines and penalties totaling $39,200.

Sickness is common, particularly diarrhea. The ill frequently seek treatment in the emergency room at Tampa General Hospital.

It is not what they expected.

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