ATLANTA — Bishop Thomas W. Weeks III still holds out hope that he and his wife, popular televangelist Juanita Bynum, can be reconciled, he said in a statement released today by his attorney.
“If that is not possible, he is committed to working things out amicably and will only litigate as a very last resort,” Weeks’ attorney said in the statement.
Weeks hired family law firm Kessler, Schwarz and Solomiany on Aug. 22, hours after police responded to a call at an Atlanta hospital, where Bynum accused him of choking her, pushing her down, then kicking and stomping her in a hotel parking lot. Although Weeks is not planning to file for divorce, he was worried that his wife might, divorce attorney Louis Tesser said.
“It is his strong preference to remain married,” Tesser said.
Reports of Bynum’s intention to file for divorce have been in the media for days, but no court documents to support the claim have surfaced in Gwinnett County, where the couple lived, or in Ware County, where Bynum has a home.
Tesser and divorce attorney Randall Kessler said they have not been contacted by a divorce attorney on Bynum’s behalf.
“If she has hired an attorney for a potential divorce, we invite her and her attorney to meet with us privately whenever they like,” Weeks’ statement ends.
Bynum said earlier this week that she wanted to go from being a victim of domestic violence to an advocate.
“I believe domestic violence will be my new mantle,” Bynum said during a news conference.
Weeks is charged with aggravated assault and making terroristic threats. As a condition of his bond, he is not allowed to have contact with Bynum, and so has not been able to attempt to reconcile with his wife.
“He would if he could,” Kessler said.
Bynum is a former hairdresser and flight attendant who became a Pentecostal evangelist, author and gospel singer. Her ministry blossomed after she preached at a singles event about breaking free of sexual promiscuity. Among her books are “No More Sheets: The Truth About Sex” and “Matters of the Heart.”
She has recorded top-selling Gospel albums and also preaches through televised sermons.
Weeks, 40 — who is known to his followers as Bishop Weeks and is the pastor and co-founder of Global Destiny Ministries — has cautioned against rushing to judgment in the case and said he would give his side of what happened at the appropriate time.
The couple married in 2002. Together, they wrote “Teach Me How to Love You: The Beginnings.”