Stevens’ ministry was marked by controversy, with former members alleging on Internet sites that the church practiced mind control, sexual misconduct, child molestation, fraud and extortion.

Nineteen years ago, the Rev. Carl Henry Stevens Jr. left Lenox, the headquarters of his The Bible Speaks evangelical empire, after a federal court ordered him to repay a Lenox woman $5.5 million that Stevens had persuaded her to donated to his ministry.

Web site airs accusations of impropriety by pastor