Rising star pastor accused by fellow ministers of ‘secretly practicing polygamy’

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

A prominent evangelical pastor in St. Louis is living a secret double life as a polygamist, arguing that having multiple wives is a way to “avoid sexual temptation,” according to a pair of whistleblowing ministers.

Dr. Vince Bantu, who leads the nondenominational Beloved Community Church and is an assistant professor of Black church studies at the Fuller Theological Seminary, revealed the news to the two over breakfast earlier this year, according to a bombshell report published Thursday in Christianity Today. It says Bantu made a scriptural case for polygamy, arguing that the practice simply required a “non-Westernized” reading of the Bible.

In January, Bantu, 42, told fellow pastors Thurman Williams and Darren Young — who formed a so-called accountability group five years ago with Bantu to help keep one another godly — that he had taken a second wife and was considering adding two more, the piece alleges. The woman, who has not been publicly identified, had reportedly been a parishioner and a student of Bantu’s.

“I never saw it coming,” Young told the outlet. “I just never would have thought that. He said he married himself and her ‘unto the Lord.’ That was the phrase he used, ‘unto the Lord.’”

Williams, who heads up the homiletics department at the Covenant Theological Seminary, said, “I should have just [told him], ‘Man this is crazy.’ But I tried to argue with him about it.”

Paulea Mooney-McCoy, who until she resigned earlier this year oversaw compliance at Beloved Community Church and was responsible for looking into the polygamy claims, reportedly told Williams and Young that Bantu’s side of the story “fail[ed] to make logical sense” to her. (Mooney-McCoy did not respond to Christianity Today’s or The Independent’s requests for comment.)

But in a statement to Christianity Today, Bantu accused Williams and Young of concocting the tale out of whole cloth.

“My brothers in Christ have fallen into the snare of jealousy and have made false allegations about me,” he said. “I cannot fully comprehend the motivation for these accusations.”

Bantu’s alleged second wife denied outright she had married him at all, telling Christianity Today in an email that she is “friends with the Bantus,” and “would never do something like that.”

Bantu did not respond on Thursday to a request for additional comment.

In a statement on Friday to The Independent, Young said, “Our mission as an accountability group and Vince’s brother in Christ, has always been clear: to encourage Vince toward repentance, expose the ongoing issues within his leadership, and seek healing for the victims, the Church, and for Vince himself. We diligently followed the appropriate steps, confronting Vince directly and reaching out to board members, elders, and faculty responsible for his oversight — well before the publication of the [Christianity Today] article. When we received no responses, faced resistance, and encountered legal threats, we felt a profound responsibility, as believers, to take further action and bring this situation into the light. The evidence reveals a troubling pattern of behavior, bolstered by substantial witness testimony. We mourn the pain inflicted upon victims and the deep sense of loss felt within our Church community.”

Reached by email, Williams declined to comment further on the allegations.

Pete Singer, a licensed clinical social worker and the executive director of GRACE, a Virginia-based nonprofit that conducts independent investigations on behalf of churches dealing with allegations of abuse, told The Independent that it’s crucial to view accusations involving clergy through the lens of the specific power dynamic at play.

“One of the things that’s really important to remember in this type of a situation, where there are allegations of sexual misconduct, is that the person with more power in the relationship has the responsibility for maintaining the boundaries in the relationship,” said Singer, who is not involved with the Bantu case and emphasized that he was discussing the subject in general terms. “I am a therapist. It’s not my client’s responsibility to maintain the boundaries in our relationship. It’s my responsibility, as the therapist, because I’m the one that has more power.”

It is unclear exactly when Bantu and the woman allegedly married. Bantu first expressed interest in polygamy in December 2023; in January 2024, he told Williams and Young he now had two wives, according to Christianity Today.

Bantu, born Vince Campbell, was raised in St. Louis “and got saved when he was in elementary school,” his official church bio reads. “From the jump, Pastor Vince had a heart for sharing the Gospel in his school and on the block. Pastah V received the call to pastor when he was in high school and left St. Louis to study the Bible. Pastah V met his wife Diana in Bible college and they had their two daughters Taina and Naniki while he was finishing his doctorate. They came back to the Lou to share the Gospel and partner with the community to testify to the shalom of Jesus in the hood.”

Bantu used his position as a teacher and a big draw on the faith-based speaking circuit to hook up with women, according to Christianity Today, which cited a pastor at Bantu’s previous congregation who decried a near-total lack of accountability thus far for what he said had become a “clear pattern” of disturbing behavior.

When Williams, Young, and a third local pastor told Bantu that he needed to come clean about his supposed second wife, Bantu threatened to sue them for defamation if they exposed his doings, according to Christianity Today. The chair of the board at the Meachum School of Haymanot, a Black-focused seminary Bantu founded and where he serves as “ohene,” the Ghanaian word for “king,” also cautioned the group they would be sued for defamation if they pushed their claims any further, the CT article said. (Bantu’s alleged second wife is reportedly a student at Meachum.)

At a crossroads, the three went public with their story.

On Friday, Meachum’s homepage greeted visitors with a message: “As many of you have become aware of the recent article by Christianity Today, there are significant allegations regarding Ohene Vince Bantu. We take these allegations seriously. We are meeting as a board over the next few days and will discuss next steps. We ask for your prayers for the Bantu family and the tamaharis and mamhers of Meachum.”

Fuller Seminary is also now probing the allegations, and has hired an outside firm to conduct an independent investigation, Christianity Today reported.

Bantu has reportedly faced accusations of sexual improprieties before. In 2018, he was pushed out of a church and a seminary over an alleged affair with a student, according to Christianity Today. A year or two later, Bantu confessed to having had an affair with one of his wife’s close friends, Williams and Young said.

As for polygamy, Williams and Young said Bantu insisted it was not specifically proscribed in the Bible, it was a way to prevent being seduced and that it was a long-accepted practice in African Christianity — an assertion African Christian scholars denied to Christianity Today.

When Young and Williams last saw Bantu in April, they pressed him to admit wrongdoing, repent, resign from the ministry, and divorce his second wife, to which Bantu responded by walking out of the room, according to Christianity Today.

“He’s trying to avoid accountability, and he’s using his position and his fame,” Young told the outlet. “I committed to him that I would hold him accountable.”