Minister leaves State After Collecting Money

Wisconsin State Journal/November 24, 1997

Pastor Chuckie Burris may be gone, but he's not forgotten.

The minister who drove about town in a Rolls-Royce or a Land Rover or a Porsche preached to a congregation that gave freely. That is, until he abruptly put the church up for sale and moved to Arizona this fall, former worshippers said.

Now, all that former members of the Rhema Worship Center have are memories of Burris' smooth manner and questions about how their donations were spent.

Church members gave about $600,000 in 1996 alone at the peak of Burris' fund-raising efforts, former church financial officer Willie Maddox said.

Church members also found out later they never had any real say in running the worship center. They learned that Burris, his wife and one adviser had controlling interest of the church's finances.

Burris did not respond to repeated attempts to reach him for comment. Burris, 40, began attracting worshippers in the early 1990s to a series of locations in Milwaukee's central city.

Then red flags started showing as Burris drove to services in a variety of luxury cars, former Rhema worshippers say.