SPINDALE (NC)
WUNC
April 1, 2020
By Katy Barron & Anita Rao
In this March 2, 1995 file photo, Word of Faith Fellowship church leader Jane Whaley talks to members of the media as husband Sam listens during a news conference in Spindale, N.C. Whaley has persuaded a magistrate to issue trespassing charges against Democratic candidate David Wheeler, who brought supporters and a TV crew along to a scheduled meeting at the church. Wheeler says he was invited by Whaley to visit the church, which has been accused of beating congregants to expel demons.
When former schoolteacher Jane Whaley and her husband, Sam, founded Word of Faith Fellowship in Spindale, NC in 1979, no one could have imagined all that the institution would become: a religious movement with global impact; a community that provides housing and job opportunities to its congregation; and a cult dogged with allegations of physical, psychological and spiritual abuse.
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