Foreclosure sought against church

December 6, 1997

Port Washington -- Firstar Bank Milwaukee is seeking to foreclose on the mortgage of Rhema Worship Center, the Mequon church hastily closed this fall by its pastor, Chuckie Burris.

The bank contends in papers filed in Ozaukee County Circuit Court that Rhema Worship Center Inc. owes more than $192,000 in principal and interest on two loans.

Burris, 40, is the president of Rhema and signed the notes.

Burris raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from congregants in Mequon and Milwaukee before he left abruptly this fall, according to former church members.

In 1996 alone, Burris raised an estimated $600,000, much of it supposedly aimed at retiring the church's debt, a former financial adviser and church member said.

The Journal Sentinel reported Sunday that Burris used at least $100,000 of church funds in an attempt to purchase a $500,000 home in a gated community in Scottsdale, an upscale Phoenix suburb. He eventually purchased it.

State records also show that Burris drove a variety of luxury automobiles, from a 1992 Rolls-Royce to a 1996 Porsche 911, while he was Rhema's pastor.

According to the suit:

Firstar loaned Rhema $200,000 in March 1996 and $21,800 in May of that year.

Rhema, however, failed to make its October payments of $2,224. On Nov. 18, the bank informed Rhema that the loans were in default.

Burris sold his Brown Deer home for $165,000, closing on Oct. 30.

Papers filed with the state Department of Financial Institutions list Burris, his wife, Alethea, and Phoebe Humphries as Rhema's board of directors.

Burris has relocated his ministry to Scottsdale and has advertised services held at the Ramada Valley Ho Resort there. Tapes of his services also appear on the CBS television affiliate in Phoenix on Sunday mornings.

Repeated attempts to reach Burris for comment have not been successful.

A representative of the resort told the Journal Sentinel Friday that Burris had canceled his meeting room reservation there.