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BOD: At Deeper Life, punishment for breaking church rules or for other falls from grace is meted out by Jefferson and his wife, pastor Brenda Jefferson. The two hold court - or ``judgments'' - in the church basement meeting hall, called the Rose Room, or in Jefferson's office. Former residents say judgments often lead to fines: $50 for a cell phone ringing during a class, $100 for smoking a cigarette. The wrongdoers pay with money from their government- issued checks or savings from the $10 a day they are paid for collecting donations. Jefferson says the judgments are welcome. ``If you go out and do crack cocaine, then we give you 30 days on the grounds or a few days in the kitchen or something. It's no spanking on the hand,'' he told the Tribune and WFLA during an interview in August. Residents ``enjoy it,'' he said. ``People that really want to do right, when you chastise them, they feel better about it, you know?'' Judgments can be accompanied by severe tongue-lashings, former members say. Transgressors are told they have joined the devil. Jefferson, they say, demands they repent or be damned to hell. Decker, 38, once felt the bishop's wrath. He received a judgment for spending $200 when he took his stepson on the boy's first trip to the mall. Decker had given the majority of his monthly $545 Social Security check to the church, he said. When his ``tithe'' came up short, Decker said, Jefferson berated him. Decker and his wife, Bragg, left the church in February 2002. He entered a Salvation Army program, and she moved to Metropolitan Ministries, where she received help with child care. Today, the family lives in a three-bedroom town house in north Tampa. They both have full-time jobs, which they say Deeper Life discouraged. And they haven't abandoned God and joined the devil, as Jefferson warned would happen if they left. ``People are brainwashed, to a certain extent,'' Decker said. ``They're more afraid of the bishop than they are of God.'' http://tampatrib.com/News/MGA9QL5BXKD.html |