Police: Husband beat televangelist

ATLANTA -- Juanita Bynum, a televangelist with a national following for sermons about women's empowerment, pressed charges against her estranged husband Thursday after she was bruised in a confrontation with him during a meeting to reconcile, police said.

Preacher Thomas W. Weeks III, founder of Global Destiny churches, will be charged with aggravated assault and terroristic threats, Officer Ronald Campbell said.

The struggle happened Wednesday in the parking lot of the Renaissance Concourse Hotel near Atlanta's airport, Campbell said.

"They were talking about a reconciliation. They got into an argument. In the process of the argument, her husband walked out to the parking lot area, turned back around and started to choke Miss Bynum," Campbell said.

"As he choked her, he pushed her down to the ground and started to kick her and also stomp on her," he said. "There was a bellman at the location who witnessed the whole assault, intervened, and pulled Mr. Weeks off of Miss Bynum."

Bynum, who was bruised around her neck and upper torso, met with authorities Thursday at an undisclosed location to press the charges, Campbell said.

Amy Malone, a publicist for Bynum, said, "She was not in a fight with her husband; she was attacked by her husband."

"Basically she is recovering," Malone said. "The appropriate steps have been taken to ensure that this does not happen again. She just asks that everyone respect her privacy."

Weeks did not return a phone message or an e-mail request for comment by The Associated Press. A call to Global Destiny was answered by a recorded message offering only information about the ministry.

Bynum is a former homemaker, hairdresser and flight attendant who became a Pentecostal evangelist. She got a break when Bishop T.D. Jakes invited her to speak at one of his conferences several years ago.

Her ministry blossomed after her "No More Sheets" sermon about breaking free of sexual promiscuity at a singles event. She writes books, records inspirational CDs and preaches to millions through televised sermons.

She married Weeks in 2002 in a televised wedding.