When John A. Cherry attended a meeting of pastors at the White House, he left early to minister to couples with troubled marriages at what was then his African Methodist Episcopal Zion church in Prince George’s County, Maryland, President Bill Clinton told the nation in his 1995 State of the Union address.
Clinton praised the Rev. Cherry – a guest at the Capitol that evening – as an example of what Americans “ought to be doing,” noting that Cherry was building a new sanctuary in one of Prince George’s poorer neighborhoods so he could help those who needed it most.
Cherry, 79, who went on to break from the AME Zion Church – a move that sparked a lawsuit over control of millions of dollars in church assets – and turn his congregation into a megachurch with global reach, died Feb. 16 at a hospital in Fairfax County, Virginia. The cause was complications from a routine procedure, said his wife, the Rev. Diana Cherry.
A charismatic former furniture salesman, he grew his congregation from 24 people worshiping in a Suitland, Maryland, storefront to a multimillion-dollar megachurch with more than 27,000 members worldwide. From the Heart Church Ministries, now run by Cherry’s son and daughter-in-law, is headquartered in Suitland and has 26 branches globally.
“He could sit down with any president, anywhere,” said former Prince George’s County executive Rushern Baker, D. “But he was also a local preacher who cared about the people.”
Cherry had been an AME Zion pastor for 18 years when, one night in 1999, he said, the voice of God told him, “Get out of Zion, get out now.” He took the message to mean he needed to break from the AME Zion movement.
At the time, The Washington Post reported, Cherry was engaged in conflict with AME Zion leaders.
He changed the church’s name from Full Gospel AME Zion Church to From the Heart, and many of the congregation’s members voted to follow his lead. Cherry claimed nearly $40 million in assets including a Learjet and sanctuaries. AME Zion sued Cherry.
A judge ruled in 2006 that Cherry should return tens of millions of dollars in real estate assets but allowed From the Heart to retain ownership of the jet, furniture, cars and TV equipment.
The case had far-reaching implications in the debate over who controls church assets.
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