Scandals over the years at the Christian TV ministry known as 3ABN

The land dispute between Three Angels Broadcasting Network and a family in Miami and The Bahamas is the latest controversy to rock the global television ministry over the years. Danny Shelton, a singer-songwriter who co-founded the network 40 years ago, has been at the center of most of these conflicts.

An ugly, public divorce

The network known as 3ABN was founded in 1984 in the small Illinois town of West Frankfort by Shelton and his second wife, Linda, who became a beloved on-air personality and 3ABN’s vice president and production manager.

Twenty years later, in 2004, Linda Shelton abruptly left the network after her husband and other 3ABN leaders accused her of “spiritual adultery,” saying she had developed an inappropriate relationship with a Norwegian physician who treated her son for a drug addiction.

Linda Shelton vehemently denied the accusation online and in her autobiography, “Adventures in Forgiveness.” She accused Danny Shelton of having inappropriate relationships with other women during their marriage and orchestrating the charges against her so he could divorce and remarry based on biblical grounds.

Shelton has had four marriages. His first wife, Mary Kay, died in a car accident in 1982. He married Linda in 1984 and divorced her in 2004. He married his third wife, Brandy, in 2006, and she divorced him in 2010. His current wife, Yvonne Lewis, founder of 3ABN’s urban-focused Dare to Dream Network, now resides with him in The Bahamas.

Shelton’s brother sent to prison for child sex crimes

In 2004, Shelton’s brother, Tommy R. Shelton Jr., replaced Linda Shelton as production manager.

Sexual abuse allegations would soon explode into a criminal case against Tommy Shelton and a civil lawsuit against 3ABN, where Tommy Shelton occasionally played piano for the network’s “Kids Time” program.

In 2012, Tommy Shelton was sentenced to six years in prison in Virginia for four child sex crimes. He now lives in Kentucky and is a registered sex offender.

He and 3ABN were also the subject of a 2011 lawsuit brought by Alex Walker, who said Tommy Shelton sexually abused him as a young boy in Virginia and later while working at 3ABN as a teenager.

In the lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Illinois, Walker said Tommy Shelton had been accused of sexual abuse as early as the 1980s while working as a pastor in Illinois and later as a pastor in Virginia. Tommy Shelton worked for 3ABN at various times in between and after those jobs and Walker said he had even worked on a children’s television show.

Tommy Shelton and 3ABN acknowledged that Shelton had been investigated in Illinois over at least one complaint of abuse, but denied any wrongdoing on his part. While Tommy Shelton had worked at 3ABN, they said the alleged abuse did not occur at 3ABN or while Tommy Shelton worked there, and denied that he had ever worked on a children’s program.

The case was ultimately settled.

A bitter dispute with a popular host

3ABN faced another controversy when Brenda Walsh, a popular “Kids Time” host and Danny Shelton’s longtime friend, split from the ministry amid a dispute with Shelton and 3ABN over $1 million to $2 million that had been earmarked for a proposed children’s studio in Collegedale, Tennessee.

In February 2019, 3ABN accused Walsh - via a video released on 3ABN’s Facebook and YouTube channels - of mishandling funds she had raised for the project while traveling the globe as a 3ABN representative. The video unleashed a social-media backlash from Walsh supporters and others who considered it an unfair attack on her character. 3ABN removed the video.

Walsh said 3ABN fired her on Dec. 31, 2018, after she insisted the funds be used for their designated purpose. The video, she said, was an attempt to damage her credibility and dissuade viewers from supporting her ministry.

Walsh accused Shelton of using her to raise the money even after deciding not to fund the project. 3ABN never released the funds to Brenda Walsh Ministries, despite the network’s promise to do so in a separation agreement, outlined in an email allegedly from the network provided by Walsh.

At the time of the controversy, 3ABN issued a statement saying they were willing to resolve the dispute through arbitration. Walsh said she refused because she wanted a negotiation process involving attorneys because the result would be legally binding.

Twice removed

Over the years, 3ABN’s board of directors and ministry leaders have stuck by Danny Shelton and his leadership.

While he has twice stepped down as president, most recently in September 2019 , Shelton remains a central figure at the network, hosting programs, singing and overseeing the Bahamas property under the title of 3ABN Founder & Corporate Consultant .

Alva James Johnson is a freelance journalist in Collegedale, Tennessee, where she also works as an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at Southern Adventist University.

This article was published in partnership with Spectrum , an independent magazine published by Adventists.