Greater Salem Church, pastored by Anthony and Harriet Jinwright, owes $4.9 million on a 2008 loan now in foreclosure, court documents show.

Unless an agreement is reached, the California lender that wrote the $5 million loan – the Evangelical Christian Credit Union – will sell the main church building, a second church building in Cornelius and a parcel of land in west Charlotte, at a public auction on Friday in the Mecklenburg courthouse.

Greater Salem officials this week declined to discuss the pending sale.

The Jinwrights, meanwhile, are scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 8 after being convicted in May on numerous counts related to federal tax evasion. Prosecutors said the couple collected millions of dollars from the church between 1991 and 1997, even as it was spiraling toward financial trouble.

Witnesses testified during the four-week trial that the church’s financial woes began as far back as 2004. That year, according to the testimony of at least two witnesses, Mecklenburg sheriff’s deputies came to Greater Salem to repossess the church’s vans because of unpaid bills. To prevent the repossession, one witness testified, Anthony Jinwright paid $21,000 from his own assets and told church leaders that he expected to be repaid.

That witness, former Greater Salem member Regina Childs, testified that Anthony and Harriet Jinwright ran the church with near-total authority, at times publicly rebuking anyone who dared challenge them.

Childs and others testified that, as Greater Salem slid toward financial trouble, church leaders became increasingly reluctant to give their pastor bad news. Others testified that Anthony Jinwright became less involved with church finances.

Nearly all testified that Greater Salem continued to lavish the couple with luxury cars, vacations and cash, some of which they reportedly carried home in bags.

In 2008, faced with growing financial concerns, the church borrowed $5 million from the California credit union, posting as collateral the two buildings and a vacant lot on Rozzelles Ferry Road. The note was issued on July 14 of that year, with Greater Salem trustees Brendolyn Williams and W. Terry Sherrill signing for the church, according to copies of the document on file in the court.

The loan carried a 6.625 percent interest rate and a $32,014.37 monthly payment.

Greater Salem made its last full payment in September 2009, according to initial foreclosure documents. Neither the church nor the company would say whether subsequent payments were made.

Documents show an outstanding balance of $4,997,734.14. The note also allows a 15 percent penalty for attorney’s fees in the event of foreclosure.

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Qcity reporter Rhi Bowman contributes to this report.

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