The Nation - News from March 4, 1988

National officials of the Assemblies of God, unable to agree with Louisiana church leaders on a punishment for evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, passed the case to an appeals body that will have the final say. A statement issued in the Springfield, Mo., headquarters of the Pentecostal denomination said the Executive Presbytery of the church’s General Council has called a special meeting of the 250-member General Presbytery for March 28. The Louisiana district presbyters recommended that Swaggart be suspended from the pulpit for three months and undergo counseling for two years after confessing to moral misconduct involving a prostitute. National church officials said such a short suspension for a minister who had confessed to moral misconduct would be unprecedented.