Tupac's Murder, 9/11 Scam, Kimye I Dos: Epic Tale Of Empty NYC Church

HARLEM, NY — What do Kim and Kanye's wedding, a Florida megachurch dynasty, a scam to defraud 9/11 funds, Mike Tyson and the gun that killed Tupac Shakur all have in common?

A vacant Harlem church on the corner of West 131st Street and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard.

From the outside, it would be easy to mistake the empty space at 2207 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard for yet another abandoned storefront in Harlem.

But the modest structure belies a history that expands across the city, the nation, and into the hearts and wallets of some of this country's most iconic citizens.

In its day, the building has fallen into the hands of a Florida megachurch whose "sexy" son weds celebrities, a local evangelical congregation rocked by a $1 million fraud, and a nightclub owner that a determined LAPD cop believes is tied to the death of Tupac Shakur.

This epic story begins more than a century ago, with a small gesture in midtown Manhattan.

Two Drunks Stumble Into A Church

Two drunks stumbled into a hall on West 42nd Street, accepted Jesus Christ as their savior, and thus began the largest congregation of an international pentecostal conglomerate, fated to fall into the hands of a corrupt pastor with keen eyes on 9/11 relief funds.

The year was 1907.

Marie Burgess had come to New York City from Zion (Illinois) determined to spread the word about the power of prayer, which she believed had cured her of the tuberculosis that killed five members of her family, as the New York Times reported in her obituary.

In a small hall on West 42nd Street, Burgess set up 96 chairs and prayed for New Yorkers to come.

Enter the drunks.

The life-changing sermon that day was delivered by an Irishman who didn't believe in the Pentecost but found himself drawn to Burgess, who would become New York City's lone ordained woman minister.

According to a Pentecostal Evangal article from 1957, Robert Alexander Brown would receive his own Baptism in 1908, one year before he married Burgess.

The couple would go on to transform Glad Tidings into the largest congregation of the Assemblies of God, a Pentecostal network of churches with congregations across the globe.

It's worth noting Glad Tidings lost its largest congregation status as Assemblies of God became the largest Pentecostal denomination in the world, boasting 69 million members worldwide and 13,000 U.S. churches.

Among those churches, for a time, was Hillsong, the controversy-riddled megachurch known for celebrity followers such as Justin Bieber, Selena Gomez, Chris Pratt and Bono.

Burgess may never have preached to Bono, but she founded a church that maintained a respectable following even after her death in 1971.

Glad Tidings was led by several pastors in the decades to follow, but none quite as spectacular as the man who held superhero-themed services and told the New York Times in 2003 he dreamed of renovating their West 33rd Street church into a transformative community housing development.

There was just one problem to solve, Carl Keyes said: "We really don't have the money.''

"The Angels Of 9/11."

When Rev. Keyes performed a service for victims shortly after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centers, then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani called the minister and his church, "the angels of 9/11."

Years later, an Associated Press fraud investigation — which ended with the $1.2 million repayment of disaster relief funds — listed among Keyes' unsubstantiated 9/11 claims that:

1. He went door-to-door rescuing hundreds of abandoned Battery Park City pets.
2. He set up a center to feed thousands of ground zero workers actually founded by Chef David Bouley.
3. Volunteers at his ground zero soup kitchen included Susan Sarandon and Jerry Seinfeld.

"That doesn’t sound right to me at all," Keyes’ brother-in-law, Mark Jones, reportedly said when faced with Glad Tidings's tax filings. "Not even close."

Keyes' dazzling rise and fall — from New Jersey drug addict to celebrity pastor to subject of an Attorney General's fraud investigation — would ultimately leave Glad Tidings in financial ruin, according to multiple reports.

For it was through Glad Tidings that Keyes funneled funds meant for 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina relief, among other charities, for a life of luxury.

Church cash bought the Keyes a BMW, a country home in the Poconos, renovations on the family home in Tribeca, and another car for his son, who was attending a private Florida college, the Associated Press reported.

Charity money also funded lavish fundraisers that featured political leaders as high ranking as the former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, who later told the Associated Press, "I don’t know how they spend their money or manage their finances.

Keyes blew it, records and reports show.

In February 2008, Glad Tidings had $13.8 million, a building in Tribeca and plans to renovate, according to financial documents obtained by the church.

Just three years later, in 2011, Glad Tidings officials testified in court they'd had to sell the Tribeca building and there was just $180,000 in the church's coffers, the Associated Press reported at the time

The Associated Press's reporting finally resulted in a state ban for the Keyes, who are no longer allowed to lead any religious organization or non-profit in New York.

And the church?

In return for cooperating with the Attorney General's investigation, Glad Tidings was allowed to claim $4.5 million in proceeds from the sale of the Tribeca building, the Associated Press reported.

The new management decided to buy a new home in Harlem, a former nightclub at 2207 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard tied to the murder of Tupac Shakur.

The Gun That Killed Tupac

Among many unproven theories about the murder of rap legend Tupac Shakur, is that a Harlem nightclub owner named Eric “Von Zip” Martin received $500,000 from Sean "Diddy" Combs and provided the gunman with his gun.

This theory — denied by Combs — comes from LAPD detective Greg Kading, who was assigned to reinvestigate the unsolved case in 2008.

"Murder Rap", Kading's 2015 documentary about his investigation, relies heavily on the testimony of Dwayne "Keefe D" Davis, who told investigators Martin gave him the gun he gave his nephew to shoot Tupac.

"We have artillery out here," Martin allegedly told Davis the night Tupac died. "That's the perfect opportunity, baby."

No one was ever charged with the crime and Martin's friends have denied Davis's claims, but it is undisputed that he forged ties with people close to Tupac.

Consider Martin's iconic funeral, which saw horse-drawn carriages carting his body down Seventh Avenue. Among those reported to pay last respects were Combs and Mike Tyson, whose fight Tupac had come to Las Vegas to see the night he was shot.

Martin is also the man, as Davis told investigators, who received a $500,000 check from Combs after Tupac's death in 1996.

Davis also told investigators he never received his cut.

Finally, the investigation spurred Davis and investigators to attempt a sting operation in 2008, during which they hoped to force testimony from Martin.

Where did they meet? Zip Code, the Harlem nightclub Martin ran at 2207 Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard. And, according to his good friend Tyson, Martin ran it with style.

As an example, Tyson tells a wild story about "Zip" taking a bag stuffed with $600,000 from the legendary Don King to throw a party at the club.

And video shot at Zip Code in 2000 also features another surprise guest star, Stevie Wonder.

"I'm just here chillin' out with my friend at Zip's," Wonder tells the camera. "The food is good, the music is good and the wine is good."

Like all good things, Zip Code's story came to an end.

But its storied past did not escape the notice of the Assemblies of God blogger in 2015 who boasted of its bullet holes and promised new owners would revitalize the space.

“A dream deferred is not a dream denied,” District Superintendent Duane P. Durst said, playing with the words of the Langston Hughes poem.

“If God puts a vision in your heart it will eventually come to pass.”

Yet despite this promise of a new future, the brother of the pastor who married Kim Kardashian to Kanye West has yet to reopen Zip Code's doors.

Meet A 'Sexy' Pastor

Pastor Rich Wilkerson Jr. likes yacht parties, Justin Bieber (as a friend), SnapChat and sex.

“Sex is a gift from God,” Wilkerson told the New York Post. But only after marriage.
Wilkerson is the 39-year-old leader of Miami's youthful megachurch VOUS who made headlines in 2014 when he officiated Kardashian's wedding to West.

Guests at the ritzy Florence ceremony included Caitlyn Jenner, Andrea Bocelli and John Legend, who sang.

He's also the son of megachurch pastors and the brother of Taylor Wilkerson of Trinity NYC (more on them later).

Kimye's glitzy ceremony catapulted the "hot pastor" into the world of celebrity, earning him an Oxygen network reality show called "Rich In Faith", a book deal (with cover art designed by West), and a massive online following.

The show ultimately folded after one season, but Wilkerson keeps up with headline-making antics such as acting like an "inappropriate superfan" with disgraced Hillsong pastor Carl Lentz and riffing on the big questions with Bieber.

In an Instagram interview, Bieber asks Wilkerson, “What is grace?”

“Grace by definition," Wilkerson tells Bieber, "Is the unmerited favor of God.”

Amen. Now, back to Harlem.

A Man After God's Heart

Hoards of Harlemites crowded into P.S. 242 on June 11 for a Trinity Church service led by the “sexy” pastor's little brother, a young Miami transplant, who preached to Harlem about the religious necessity of accepting a pastor's authority.

"You'll never walk in the authority God has for you, until the honor the authority God has placed over you," Wilkerson told his flock.

"When I reject authority, it's not people I'm rejecting, it's God's sovereign plan I'm rejecting."

Trinity New York did not respond to multiple emails, texts or messages to their social media accounts from Patch over the span of months.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Trinity New York (@trinitynewyork)

So what does that authority entail?

Trinity New York is an outpost of Trinity, an evangelical church with locations in Florida and Washington run by husband and wife Rich and Dr. Robyn Wilkerson.

The younger Wilkersons frequently say their churches are for all races, genders and sexual orientation, but Rich Wilkerson Jr. has preached something a little different at VOUS.

"Sex is good, but it's good between a man and a woman in a marriage," Wilkerson said. "We're gonna make sure we build our life on God's unchanging world rather than our society."

And in an extensive feature about Rich Wilkerson Jr., the Miami New Times notes Trinity is a member of the Assemblies of God, whose conservative politics saw them condemn the Boy Scouts of America's allowance of gay members and then-President Barack Obama's contraceptive coverage mandate.

Miami New Times' also reports that Rich Sr., the patriarch, moved the family to Florida in 1998 to open up shop in an all-black church, leaving behind murmurs that Wilkerson was "all show."

"Followers whispered," wrote reporter Kyle Swenson, "[Wilkerson] blows in to struggling communities, blows out, and doesn't stick it out for the heavy spiritual lifting."

From Zip Code to 'Temporary'

Pastors Taylor and Kristen Wilkerson will not preach at 2207 Adam Clayton Boulevard Jr. Instead, the Harlem building will be put up for sale.

This decision, which Taylor confirmed to Patch earlier this month, follows about eight years' worth of Building department permits filed to renovate the shuttered space as the Wilkersons transformed Glad Tidings' four members into a Trinity congregation of about 800.

Those Buildings department permits include vent work, electrical repairs and even an "interior demolition" that expired when the contractor withdrew, a city spokesperson told Patch.

From the outside, the noticeable changes were few.

Namely, a “Trinity Church Harlem, NYC" sign posted in 2016, a new sign with directions to P.S. 242 posted in 2019, and a green scaffolding wall that has since become a canvas for graffiti.

Christina Blythe, an 131st Street resident, also notes it has become a hangout spot.

"People just hang out in front of it all hours of the day, not necessarily causing trouble, but are noisy," Blythe said.

"It has been unproductive real estate and could be used for many good things, like affordable housing or a community center."

Pastor Taylor, whom Patch spoke to earlier this month, says the problem was a "bomb cyclone."

A major pipe burst in the 131st Street building when a major storm hit New York City in 2018, Wilkerson said. He told Patch the damage was too great for insurance to adequately cover.

That's why the Wilkerson's have decided to seize upon what one Trinity employee called "a miracle"; a new space gifted to the church in the East Village.

Trinity plans to also keep its services at 122nd Street, but it will sell the former Zip Code location, Wilkerson said.

But the years of struggles haven't stopped Wilkerson from believing a higher power summoned him to Manhattan.

Said Wilkerson, "It felt like God really called on us to come to New York."