Bakker Favors Laguna Firm’s PTL Plan

Ousted PTL leader Jim Bakker said Wednesday that an Orange County firm’s plan to buy and restructure the bankrupt Christian park and television ministry signal the “best hope on the table at this moment” for his return and that of his wife, Tammy Faye, to PTL.

in a published report in the Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, an official for Laguna Beach-based Family Entertainment America Inc. said the takeover plans do not include Bakker, who resigned from PTL last year in the wake of a sex scandal. FEA officials have denied having any association with the former television evangelist to creditors and PTL representatives.

The takeover plan was presented to PTL creditors in Charlotte, N.C., early this week by Family Entertainment, which is headed by David Hengstler. Other representatives of the corporation include Kerry Moody, former assistant press secretary to Pat Robertson, who until recently was seeking the GOP presidential nomination, and Dale Hill, a former PTL vice president under Bakker.

Bakker described Hengstler, who reportedly has offices in Laguna Beach, Los Angeles, Dallas and Salt Lake City, as a “born-again” Christian who acquires and resells bankrupt corporations. Hengstler and other FEA officials could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

In contrast to PTL leaders’ current plans, which call for partial liquidation of the Heritage USA property, Family Entertainment proposes converting Heritage USA into a family-oriented theme park and retirement center, a consultant for one of PTL’s creditors said. The company also proposes to lease time on PTL’s satellite network back to the television ministry. The plan is scheduled to be filed before Friday for consideration by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

“They will pay creditors 100% on the dollar,” Bakker said he was told by representatives for FEA, which issued public stock last week. “This will give people who love PTL a chance to own a part of Heritage USA by buying stock in this company. It’s a wonderful thing,” he added.

Bakker said he has not seen the final plan and is anxious to scan its “fine print”--referring to his possible return to television evangelism.

“He (Hengstler) has asked me at a future date if I would be willing to serve on the ministry side of the organization,” Bakker said. “Needless to say, there’s no contractual requirement for them to recognize me in any way, shape or form.”

Moody told the Charlotte Observer this week that Bakker will not be part of any reorganization plan.

PTL spokesman Dave West told The Times on Tuesday that Family Entertainment officials have said they are “not involved with Bakker in any way.”

Bakker Says It’s No Front

Bakker denied that the company is a front for himself but added, “I wish they were.”

He said FEA has been looking at the Heritage USA situation for about a year.

“They are working very, very hard to put PTL back together again--day and night. . . . They’re a powerful group of individuals from what I can gather,” he said.

Less than a year ago, mutual acquaintances introduced Bakker to Hengstler, who lives in a development across the street from Bakker in Palm Desert.

“When he first came to us, he had gone through some marriage problems and heartbreak and loss of things in his lifetime,” Bakker said. “He really ministered to us and prayed for us and shared for us out of his own heart. He’s definitely a ‘born-again’ Christian.”

Bakker said he prays that the company’s plan “will not be so evil that it writes us out. Tammy and I have not been tried in a court of law and found guilty of anything. It’s unfair for us to be treated as criminals.”

PTL owes creditors more than $70 million, not including back payments to the Internal Revenue Service.

So far, creditors favor no one among the 21 different groups that have come forward to discuss PTL’s reorganization, said Jeffrey Hadden, consultant to National City Bank of Minneapolis, which stands to lose $7 million. “To date, no one has walked in with a line of credit.”

Creditors began meeting with Family Entertainment on Monday to find out “who the heck these guys are, whether they’re legit,” he said.

Hadden said FEA representatives concluded that Bakker should not be part of their reorganization plans.

“I wrote a statement that in effect would have been a statement for Hengstler, which concluded not now or ever” would Bakker return, Hadden said. “I handed it to him late Monday, by way of saying it’s been a busy day. If he wanted to make a press statement, here’s something.

“His reaction was: ‘No, it’s a nice statement, but I have to say it myself, and my language has to be much more emphatic,’ ” Hadden said. “I didn’t see how it could be more emphatic.”