Isaiah Roberson knows a lot about Greater Salem Church. For more than 100 years, he says, someone from his family has been a member there.

On Friday last week, the day Greater Salem was auctioned off for nonpayment on a credit union loan, Roberson, in his 80s, made his way to the Mecklenburg courthouse to watch the proceedings. In a series of interviews with reporters, he described a once-vibrant church that, over time, took an ominous turn after the 1981 arrival of the Rev. Anthony Jinwright.

“He came to the church walking,” Roberson said of the convicted preacher who now sits in the Mecklenburg jail waiting to be sentenced, along with his wife, Harriet, on multiple counts related to federal tax evasion. “He didn’t have no car. He didn’t have anything. I didn’t call him no Bishop. I called him Jinwright.”

However the Jinwrights may have arrived, their fortunes soon changed.

Federal prosecutors presented evidence during the couple’s four-week trial that the Jinwrights received more than $5 million in compensation from Greater Salem between 2001 and 2007.

Witnesses testified that the couple routinely collected "love offerings" from Greater Salem, sometimes taking cash home in bags. Others testified that the Jinwrights used church money to lease luxury cars, pay for vacations and even their daughter's college tuition. Some of that income – at least $1.8 million between 2001 and 2007 -- went unreported on federal tax returns, the government said.

Consolidating power

Roberson said that shortly after the Jinwrights’ arrival, the new pastor moved quickly to gain control of the church – including control of its finances.

Older leaders were pushed out, Roberson said, replaced with younger members who lost sight of what was happening with church finances.

“It seemed like [the congregation] thought he was God, and that everything he said was right,” Roberson said.

As for Roberson, a former Greater Salem deacon and trustee, he said he frequently clashed with Jinwright, who he described as “halleluiah-ing and whooping.”

Roberson said he left the church nearly 30 years ago, despite the fact that five generations of his family had attended services there.

At the time he left, Roberson said, both the church and its property were paid for in full. He called the idea to re-mortgage the property “a big, bad mess.”

“If [Jinwright] was paying 10 percent of what he gets, he could have built the church himself,” Roberson said.

The auction

The sale of Greater Salem, in the end, was not much of an auction at all. The process began with a court clerk reading every word of a five-page legal document describing in minute detail the geographic locations of three Greater Salem properties that were put up for collateral to secure the credit union loan.

Although several people came hoping to acquire the properties, the opening bid -- $5.1 million by the Evangelical Christian Credit Union of Brea, Calif. – discouraged all competitors. (The credit union had made a $5 million loan to Greater Salem in 2008 and was still owed more than $4.9 million, according to court records.)

As the crowd filed out of the courthouse, Roberson approached the clerk, who stood behind a small wooden desk tucked away in a corner of the building. She explained that there would be a 10-day period during which the court would accept “upset bids” – competing offers at least 5 percent greater than the amount the credit union offered.

Five percent of $5.1 million is $255,000, meaning an upset bidder must pay at least $5,355,000 and put down a $267,750 deposit.

A son of the church

Also in attendance that day was another man who professed close knowledge of Anthony Jinwright. Although the man spoke only on condition that his name not be used, he described himself as a Rock Hill pastor and “son” of Greater Salem.

Like Roberson, the man said his family also had a century-long association with the church, and after the auction, the two men spent time talking about how Greater Salem’s finances had led to such an end.

The Rock Hill preacher described Anthony Jinwright as a gifted, charismatic leader who wasn’t afraid to try new things to expand his congregation and boost tithing, but he also added: “As the church’s deacons got older, he (Jinwright) was getting stronger.”

The pastor says once Jinwright decided to make the church non-denominational, changing its name from Salem Baptist to Greater Salem Church, the regulatory boards inside the church lost much of their power. Many of the elders left, he said, allowing Jinwright to fill their positions with people who would vote as he wished.

“Even with all of the missteps he’s made, he really has a good heart,” the Rock Hill preacher said of Jinwright.

The Rock Hill preacher described Jinwright as a friend, but he also acknowledged that the two were different in key ways. Although both entered the ministry around the same time, the Rock Hill preacher said he made time to relax and enjoy family, while Jinwright, he said, worked non-stop and eventually “some pastors began treating him like the Pope.”

The Rock Hill preacher said he remained hopeful that the Jinwrights would avoid prison. But if they don’t, he said, he hoped to keep in touch with them.

Roberson, meanwhile, was less generous.

He said he had hoped to testify against Jinwright in court and now thinks the convicted preacher should be “thrown under the jailhouse.”

The Jinwrights are scheduled to be sentenced in federal court on Dec. 8.

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