MorningStar and SC County Reach Settlement Over Former PTL Ministries Tower
Agreement may end decade-long dispute over Heritage Tower, which remains unfinished after nearly 40 years
A decade-long dispute between MorningStar Fellowship Church and a South Carolina county over a building formerly owned by the now-bankrupt PTL Ministries is possibly over.
Heritage Tower / Video screenshot via WCNC
MorningStar and York County have finalized a settlement resolving all legal disputes over the unfinished Heritage Tower. The tower was part of Heritage USA, a Christian theme park founded by Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker of Praise The Lord Ministries (PTL).
The park operated from 1978 to 1989 as the third-largest in the country before closing after Bakker was convicted of 24 counts of mail and wire fraud and bilking his followers out of $158 million in a vacation scheme while living a lavish lifestyle.
Construction began on the tower in 1986 and halted the following year when the park shut down following Bakker’s scandal and bankruptcy.
In 2004, MorningStar purchased part of the property, including the unfinished 21-story tower, which led to ongoing disputes with York County. In 2012, MorningStar sued the county over repair disagreements, followed by a 2018 lawsuit alleging religious discrimination.
Although the parties reached a mutual agreement to dismiss disputes in 2020, York County filed another lawsuit in 2021 after MorningStar announced plans to renovate the tower.
The settlement agreement, signed in October 2024 by Rick Joyner (MorningStar president) and Allison Love (York County Council co-chair), states that MorningStar will dismiss all lawsuits and withdraw related FOIA requests while York County agrees to end its counterclaims.
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MorningStar has 18 months to apply for a building permit to complete the tower. If they fail to obtain a license within that time frame, MorningStar must demolish the tower within nine months. Permits will be valid for 180 days, with the option for five extensions, but if they expire without action, the church must tear the tower down.
A third-party firm will oversee building code compliance, and York County and MorningStar will resolve all disputes under South Carolina law through binding arbitration.
The settlement ends all state and federal lawsuits between the two parties.
Both parties have agreed not to comment further on the settlement beyond a joint press release.
MorningStar Ministries, a prominent influence in the charismatic/Pentecostal movement, has faced controversy under founder Rick Joyner’s leadership. Known for his mentorship in the New Apostolic Reformation, Joyner has been linked to revivals like the Toronto Blessing and the Brownsville Revival, which often ended in scandal. Despite widespread criticism, Joyner’s restoration of disgraced figures like Todd Bentley prompted further examination.
Most recently, MorningStar has been embroiled in legal and moral crises. A lawsuit alleges the church enabled sexual abuse in its youth programs, and Chris Reed, its president, resigned amidst revelations of prior misconduct overlooked during his hiring.
In 2021, televangelist Jim Bakker claimed on The Jim Bakker Show that his 1989 fraud conviction, which led to a five-year prison sentence, was an early example of “cancel culture,” blaming the media and government manipulation for his downfall. He also alleged that the government edited his broadcast videos to incriminate him falsely.
Now remarried and hosting a show with his wife Lori, Bakker sells various merchandise, including controversial health products. His ministry faced legal and regulatory action in 2020 for promoting a supplement falsely claimed to cure COVID-19, which he denied, framing the lawsuit as an attack on his religious freedom.
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