By Victor Ochieng
Founded in 1959, Triumph Baptist Church has been on the frontline of preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. For decades, the New Orleans-based church enriched congregants and its neighborhood with powerful worship every Sunday. Whenever a church member died, the North Rampart Street where the church is located would be filled with mourners dressed in black, and the church’s worship team would sing spiritually enriching music in readiness to join the deceased’s family to the graveyard.
Rev. Ronnie Crockett became the church’s pastor in 2000. He won the hearts of his congregants by delivering powerful sermons, like the one in which he says, “There’s a lamb that’s going to get you out of your jam.”
On matters of finance, the church’s financial management has been spotless, with the checks and balances being followed to the latter. Church members were so excited about giving to God that even those relying on monthly paychecks would bring in their tithes and offerings, collecting enough to run the church’s affairs, says Zandra Batiste, who’s been with the church for 48 years.
Being a member of Triumph Baptist Church’s board of trustees, Batiste remembers Crockett occasionally visiting her at her workplace to have her sign checks, a practice the church had upheld for years. For every expenditure beyond $500, Crockett had to explain what it was for before Batiste signed a check.
This was only so until recently, with the trouble starting when the church sold its building in a bid to move downriver.
That meant more money in the church account!
According to court files, Crocket, 49, was nabbed by authorities on August 11 for allegedly “fraudulently taking church funds.” The application for the pastor’s arrest indicated that up to $137,000 of the church’s funds couldn’t be accounted for.
Crockett would later be released and he’s already back to the pulpit. Things are, however, not good at the church. Some long standing Triumph Baptist Church members say they’ve been prohibited from asking any questions despite the fact that the old house was sold and the one they were to move to hasn’t been renovated since the money earmarked for the job has been spent.
The church is currently having its services in a rented space owned by Rev. Leonard Lucas.
Members of the board of trustees raised a red flag after realizing that the church’s bank account was gradually shrinking without much work going on in the new church.
The pastor came up with an idea, claiming God had spoken to him. He asked every church member to contribute $840 to be used in purchasing bricks for the new church’s open area. All those who made the contribution would have their names written on the bricks. Collectively, the total amount contributed to this account came to around $10,000, but it would later disappear. It was like Crockett was basically using the contribution as a trick to help him repay the thousands of dollars he’d squandered from the church’s main account.
Sadly, to date, renovations haven’t been completed in the church’s new building and the new parking lot still remains bumpy and grassy.
One of the long standing church members, Carolyn Wilson, 72, still remains active in the church. Some members of the board of trustees opted out after Crockett threatened them with “disciplinary” letters. Others just didn’t feel the spirit and couldn’t stick around anymore.
Wilson visited the new church and found it in bad shape. The ground is still in a mess and the interior isn’t completed yet.
“Look at this big beautiful church,” Wilson said. “And we paid for it in cash. We don’t owe a dime on it.”
The membership is going down. In a recent service, there were only about two dozen congregants, compared to the 150 it used to pull before the scandals came about.
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