A church-versus-church legal battle over a valuable property in downtown Miami is widening, with new court documents containing blistering allegations of fraud and conspiracy allegedly engineered by Crossbridge Church’s lead pastor, Rev. Carter Brown.
The legal fight pits the largest Lutheran denomination in the U.S., the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) against Crossbridge, a network of Miami churches that broke away from the Presbyterian Church in America a few years ago. Crossbridge has a congregation in Key Biscayne that Rev. Brown often preaches at. Its main campus is in Pinecrest.
The new filing, made Sept. 3, says that Crossbridge and a local Lutheran pastor, took part in a “plot and scheme to defraud the Lutheran church of approximately $30 million” involving rushed meetings, an improper payment, and late-night closing intended to conceal the transaction…