Third Exodus Assembly Church upset with media

A deacon at the Third Exodus Assembly church has slammed the media for its reporting on the church's lead pastor, Vinworth Dayal, who on Old Year's Day, attempted to change $28m in paper $100 notes to the polymer $100 notes at the Central Bank in Port of Spain.

“The media has put our pastor, his family and the congregation in danger by unscrupulously publishing photos. We did not say anything before, but now we are,” said deacon Isaac John on Sunday prior to the start of service at the church located in Longdenville.

He said the church has nothing to hide and everything is available on its website. “What the media is doing is just malicious and this is not right. They have now made our members targets.

"On Friday there was a reporter here from another paper who wrote that the people went to the back to pay tithes. That is a lie. That newspaper don’t have their facts right. We do not collect tithes on a Friday.”

John said, “We will not be giving an interview because the pastor has nothing to hide and was not charged. He will not be charged because no crime has been done. What you all (the media) are doing will not be tolerated!”

When this reporter, accompanied by photographer Marvin Hamilton arrived at the church to attend its special communion service on Sunday afternoon, we were met by several church members who laid out specific rules about photography, videography and audio recordings.

One member ushered the Newsday crew to their seats and outlined the rules for the visit. “You are welcomed to stay for the service but photography and recordings are not to be taken inside the church. You can take photos of the building and people greeting each other,” the usher said. However, deacon John later instructed that no photos of members of the congregation were to be taken.

The service began at 2 pm with a prayer and worship session which lasted about half an hour later. By the start of the sermon, at about 4 pm, there were hundreds present with members having to sit in rooms to the back of the main service hall and in the foyer, where the sermon was shown on large screens.

A large media room to the side of the building afforded a global broadcast with in-house translators in the Portuguese, French and Spanish languages among others.

A young, male church member, who refused to be identified said, “I do not like how the media only focusing on the money, like our pastor did something wrong. What about the other good things that he is doing? Why don’t they mention he lives in a small house and drives an old CRV vehicle,” he asked. “Our pastor is not using the money for his personal gain.”

An older member added that the church has been around for almost 30 years and generations have contributed to the development that it is today. He said, “$28 million is not much money, considering the labour and investments over the years that was put in this church.”

During the service pastor Vinworth Anthony Dayal told the congregation to be strong and that they had not served God for 30 years for nothing. Several raids have taken place since both at the church and at the pastor’s relatives’ homes. The matter is being investigated Financial Intelligence Bureau (FIB).