![]() service for about 50 members, he delivered a sermon in a conversational manner about "threats, tests and trials" facing churches today. Cunningham has led the congregation for 17 years. In the deposition, Cunningham said church attendance has dropped significantly in recent years. Radiant Life Church is an independent evangelical congregation that recently moved from Elk Grove to south Sacramento. "It's unusual to file suits because for them it would be like taking God to court," said Jeff Van Vonderen, an author and leading authority on spiritual abuse. Also rare, experts said, are lawsuits by members seeking restitution for money they said they were misled and coerced into giving. "But I don't find that difficult to believe."Įxperts said spiritual abuse complaints are rare but have surfaced in other churches nationally. "I don't recall that," Cunningham said under oath. He was asked about a time when the couple allegedly came to his office with an envelope with $2,000 cash inside. However, in a deposition for the Plant lawsuit obtained by The Bee, Cunningham said he could not remember the gifts the Plants gave over the years. The church's attorney, Talia Delanoy, did not return phone calls. The five members of the church's board of elders declined to speak on the advice of legal counsel, or did not return phone calls. Cunningham did not respond to phone calls. The Bee requested an interview with Cunningham and received an e-mail from the church declining the request, citing pending litigation. The lawsuit reflects other former church members' contentions that Cunningham, 46, abused his position as their spiritual leader, as the lawsuit states, "to give up basic political, social and religious beliefs and attitudes and to accept Cunningham's regimented ideas." They claim Cunningham used his position as their spiritual adviser to defraud them of more than $221,000. Plant and his wife, Callie, 43, who own an Elk Grove mortgage company, filed the suit last year against Cunningham, accusing the pastor of psychological manipulation and forcible indoctrination. "So many families are trying to pick up the pieces." "This has been devastating for us and a lot of people who have been hurt," said Daniel Plant, 45, a former member. They have detailed in interviews how their relationship with a pastor they once revered was fractured. Recently, they have complained, sometimes with hurt and anger, on a Web site devoted to controversial religious movements. ![]() Since then, more members have come forward accusing the pastor of abusing his authority as a spiritual leader. On his street, so many bought homes that former church members call it a "cult de sac."Īllegations about Cunningham first came to light in a lawsuit filed by one couple in Sacramento Superior Court. Many purchased upscale homes in the same Elk Grove neighborhood, at his urging, they said. Another said his wife was encouraged to leave him because Cunningham said he was spiritually unfit. One family said it paid for the pastor's family vacation to Maui and a stay at a five-star hotel. The message members of Radiant Life Church said they heard was this: To receive blessings from God, they must honor, submit and give to their pastor, Tony Cunningham. ![]()
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