Here is his church as “advertised”:http://www.greaterbiblewaychurch.org/ on his website

Toris Young's Church

Well maybe not actually as advertised. They don’t mention that it is a sandlot.

But that does not deter Rev. Toris Young, who has been convicted of “identity theft and fraud”:http://blog.nola.com/jamesgill/2009/03/cao_critic_has_own_worries.html perhaps the fraud was actually raising funds to build a church that does not exist.

Also of interest is the claim on his site of partnering with the National Guard.

Toris Young

So it was of great interest when I saw that the Commitee to Recall Cao was going to hold a Press Conference on the S.Claiborne site owned by Congressman Cao.

All I have to say is people who promote blight should not be calling anyone out for it, especially when you have done jail time.
I wasn’t playing political games when I wrote the piece but am not shocked or surprised that they are using the spot to hold a 2 p.m. Press conference.

From: Minister Aubry Wallace [ministerwallace@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, June 22, 2009 3:38 PM

Subject: Fwd: Recall Anh Cao Press Conference, Tuesday, June 23, 2:00 p.m., on public sidewalk at 3718 – 20 South Claiborne Avenue, site of Anh Cao owned slum property

For Immediate release:

Press Conference: Tuesday, June 23, 2009, 2:00 p.m.
Location: 3718 – 20 South Claiborne Avenue, New Orleans,
Purpose: Update on lawsuit against Louisiana officials, Request for City Inspector General Inquiry

The Recall Anh Cao Committee announces a press conference for Tuesday, June 23 (tomorrow) to update citizens on effort to recall Congressman Anh Cao. This press conference will take place on the public sidewalk in front of the site of slum property that has been owned and neglected for two years – since June 22, 2007 – by Anh Cao. The property is located at 3718 – 20 South Claiborne Avenue. The time for the press conference is 2:00 p.m.

The Anh Cao Recall Committee announces that on this Friday, June 26, its member and legal team representatives will meet in a pre-trial hearing with Civil District Court Judge Hon. Michael Bagneris. Representatives of the Office of the Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell and of the Office of Louisiana Secretary of State Jay Dardenne will attend this meeting. More details will be provided on tomorrow.

The Louisiana Attorney General has stymied our citizen-led recall effort through its politically motivated and erroneous ruling that Louisiana’s citizens do not have a right to recall our elected members of the U.S. House of Representatives. There is no written law – state or federal – that prohibits the recall of members of Congress elected by Louisianians. We move forward to secure this right for all of Louisiana’s citizens. This argument has national significance.

* * * * * *

The properties at 3718 – 20 and 3728 – 30 South Claiborne Avenue, located in Council District B and owned by U.S. Representative Anh Cao, symbolize why he must be removed from office. While Cao seeks billions in earmarks but hypocritically votes against President Obama’s bugetary measures needed to help this nation recover from economic recession, he also slows the recovery of this region, by serving as a derelict, neglectful owner of property in dire need of repair at a time when we seek additional funding from the federal government to continue this region’s recovery.

We are calling on the City of New Orleans Inspector General to launch an investigation into whether Anh Cao and his wife received favorable treatment from any City officials or agencies relative to follow up inspections, fines, penalties or permits after inspections by City Code Enforcement officials relative to the property at 3718 – 3720 South Claiborne. That property was demolished today, barely two weeks after the commencement of media attention to its existence as a blighted property.

* * * * * *

For more information contact Rev. Toris Young, 444-8190, cellular.

Karen Gadbois co-founded The Lens. She now covers New Orleans government issues and writes about land use. With television reporter Lee Zurik she exposed widespread misuse of city recovery funds and led...

44 replies on “Rev. Toris Young”

  1. The Type Of Lies a Site Like This Does Not Surprise Me Nor The Many thousands Of People who rev. Young Preach to across the United States And abroad……Karen You Would Know That If You Had only Talked To Rev. Young And went To The Three Locations That He And His Congregation Is having Service At…..You would Know That That web site Is Outdated And Rev. Young Has Stated That The Undated One Is on The Way…..I can Say Because This Rev. And Church Helped Me get My House gutted And has help So Many People In New orleans and abroad We As African american People Will Not And Shall Not Let People Like You Just Keep attacking Someone Because There Past….Look at All The Good Work He Has Done And Is Doing…..By The Way Pastor Young Is A Pastor, Leader Of Many Other Organizations, Board Member, Teacher, Counselor, Father, Fighter, And So Much More…….By The Way Deal With The Facts Karen Interview Rev. Young And Get The Facts And Stop Attacking His Credibillity Because Its Not working For U It Makes You Look Bad not Him…….
    My Name Is Mike Coleman And I Stand Behind What I Have Stated Karen Gadbois Is A Racist Who Have No Clue Of The African American Exsperiance

  2. Karen You Ought To Be Ashame Of Yourself To Attack Rev. Young Like You Have Been Doing I Had a Little Respect For You but It Is all Gone Out The Window Have You Talked To Rev. Young Or Any Of The Board Members About The Land On Joliet Street…….To see What Is Going On With It. There A Junk Yard Next Door I Have Never Heard You On That…..But I Know For A Fact Rev. Young Stood Up 7 Years ago About That And Many Other Issues In That Area ….Jay Batt Can Tell U That…..You Should Get The Facts And Stop Putting Half Truths Out On Your Site No One Read This Site……Rev. Young Has Three Church’s Not Just One You Only Know This One Get The Facts…….Check This Out This Is The New site Thats Coming Soon to Bring There Site Up To Date http://www.crownmedia.com/greaterbibleway/
    Check Out The Thousands Of people That Hear Him across This country and how much he Loves The People Of This City No Matter How Rich Or Poor You Are Or If Your Black Or White Get The Facts……

    When He Took A Stand For
    Stacey Head U Said Nothing
    Shelly Madura U Said Nothing

    And So Many others That He Has Stood Up For When It Was Hard Now When U Dont Agree With Him You Attactk Him Shame On You But Thank God, God Will Not Just Allow You To Keep Doing It…..

    Rev. Aubrey Wallace

  3. Karen You Need To stop…..Rev. Young Is My friend And I have Known Him For Many Years And He Is A Good Man Who Loves His City And The Lord……The Pic. You Have On This Site Is Not All For Rev. Young’s Church You Have The Junk Yard In The Backdrop As Well As Someone Else Property With The Container On It stop Putting Lies Out There…….The Dirt Thats There Must Be There For A Reason Why Dont You Contact rev. Young And Find Out What they Are doing……Rev. Young Keep up The Good Work Only God Can Judge You…..Thank You For Your Hard Work

    Bishop O. c. Coleman

  4. This Is A Joke I Am a National Guard From Texas And I Must Say New Orleans Have To Get It Together Im Proud To had Me Rev. Toris Young He was On The Ground In New orleans When The water Was Still There He Fed Us And I And Other Guardsman Came to New Orleans On Our Own Time To Help With Gutting Houses And Help The Many People That Rev. Young Organized……If I Lived In New Orleans I Would Make Pastor Young My Pastor……He Recived The American Spirit Award For His Work From President Bush Check That Out

  5. Bishop Coleman and Rev Wallace I want to become a religious person, what website did yall download your reverend and bishop certificates from, and how much will it cost, no more then five dollars I assume?

  6. Is it a coincidence that all 4 of those comments contain similar grammatical and spelling errors?

    Are all four of these people equally illiterate or is the same person making multiple posts?

    I love this:

    “…By The Way Pastor Young Is A Pastor”

    You don’t say. I mean I didn’t get that…thanks for pointing it out.

    Did you feel the need to emphasize that point in order to validate his credibility?

    So are you hiding behind Race, God, or Schizophrenia….or all of the above? I’m confused.

  8. Lakeviewguy You should Be Carefull When Playing With The Work Of God Or The Church There Will Come A Time In Your Life When U Will Need The Lord And Im Here To tell You God Will Not Be Pleased With You Or Anyone That Put Lies Out On His Servants Just Because We Dont Agree On Everything We Should Love Each other And Do all That We Can Do To Help a Brother Or Sister Up Be Blessed Lakeviewguy god Love You And So Do I….

  9. I am amazed, AMAZED that so many different posters could have the same compulsion to Capitalize Every Word In A Sentence.

    What are the odds? Hmmmm…. I wonder.

  10. I AM AMAZED CIVITCH THAT YOU DONT KNOW WHY MINISTER WRITE THAT WAY LOL…….I TOUGHT YOU WAS EDUCATED BUT I SEE MOST PEOPLE THAT BLOG IS UNLEARNED AND RACIST……MY HAT IS OFF TO THE REVERENDS JOB WELL DONE BECAUSE WHEN EVER WHITE FOLK ATTACK SOMEONE THEY MUST BE DOING WHATS RIGHT AND WHATS RIGHT HURTS THEM SO MUCH…….AND FOR REV. YOUNG I HAVE TO SAY I DONT KNOW WHAT YOU DID AND WHAT YOU DID NOT DO BUT THANKS FOR THE COURAGE TO STAND UP FOR US……I PASSED YOUR CHURCH DOWNTOWN SUNDAY AND PEOPLE WAS STANDING ALL OUT THE DOORS SO YOU MUST BE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT……..BY THE WAY CIVITCH I USED ALL CAPITAL LETTERS WHATS SUP WITH THAT……
    GIVE IT UP WHITE FOLK WE KNOW WHO YA’LL ARE WHEN YOU ATTACK US YOU SHOW YOUR RACE……MARTIN LUTHER KING HAD THE SAME PROBLEM WITH THE SAME RACE…….HISTORY WILL SAY THE SAME ABOUT Karen whatever her last name is

  11. Who Would Have Suspected that So Many Different People Would All Make the Same Capitalization Errors Over and Over Again. It Almost Seems Like The Work of one Person Writing All The Comments Under Different Names.

    Huh. God Works In Mysterious Ways.

  13. Guys:

    None of ya’ll live in this neighborhood where the good Rev owns several blighted properties. His passion for exposing Cao and his (Cao’s) negligence and disrespect for New Orleans tells me that as a homeowner/chruch property owner ,that Reverand Toris Young knows the right thing to do and of course has every intention of doing it..like right away. We’ll be there to watch and we will be there to help.
    I guess the other thing I have to say is: there is no racist issue here but if that is your excuse for why you don’t fix the buildings that you own in our neighborhood then, again I say, we will be there to help..so let’s get going. Put your faith where your mouth is.

  15. Didn’t take long to play the race card. This website is prone to thoughtful comments and discussion. Sorry to see all of you sully it.

    I don’t always agree with Karen, but I don’t attack her when I don’t. Stick to the facts and lay off the caps lock. (And check your spelling and grammar)

  16. Hi Karen, I’ve been following your site for a while, and just wanted to lend a note of support.

    Interesting to see the above, er, “comments” with the unusual capitalization. Odd that. Maybe you should take it as a compliment that people are paying attention.

    The “reverends” in this town are a story unto themselves. Who’s revering them and why?

    Keep up the excellent blogging, it’s well appreciated.

  17. I know Karen and Rev. young and i can say without fear of sucessful contradiction that they are great people and for people on this site to playa one against the other is a SHAME, they should meet and get on one accord and fight to bring NEW ORLEANS back. Thank you Rev. Young and Karen

  18. Justin im sorry you feel that way, but can you tell me why Karen is attacking Rev. Young. I live in the area where this sand is and we have not had any problems with this pastor or the church. We have only been blessed by the many things that they have done in our area. Thank you Rev. Young God Bless You.
    Keep up the excellent work and dont let these people stop you i know you will not, they have a agenda that does not include us

  19. I can not understand why when a black preacher stands up for what he feel is the right thing to stand up for the white people start attacking the person who carry’s the message. you should not be attacking Rev. Young but his message if you feel the message is WRONG, i see no wrong in Rev. Young nor his message as far as his past he paid the debt for that he is a free man and has moved on with his life why don’t whit people forgive and move on as well??????. We are not stuck on this foolish stuff you keep saying about the Rev. all your doing is allowing us to unite and to understand who white folk is…..No matter what good the Rev. does you and your follower’s will find something bad to say. i wonder WHY.

  20. I am a christian and i can see that these people who keep attacking the Rev. are not because they would know that he who is without sin cast the first stone. I now can see for myself this this agenda that has been attacking The Rev. young has gotten old and thank God He’s not out there attacking you Karen but he’s keeping himself BIZZZZZZY doing the will of God and Fighting for the poor people of this City”New Orleans” and you dont like it because its not you

  21. When you take pic. keep my vehicle out of it………………..you have many vehicles in this pic. that has nothing to do with the church property and i will seek legal advise on this my license plate is on this pic. as well as my neighbors cars and other neighbors property’s are featured in this pic. you need to cut all the exstra out and deal with just that dirt thats there…….and i dont see no problem with it they keep the grass cut

  22. Well, I see someone responded to constructive criticism regarding Captializing All Words and cut that out of the last three fake comments. Well done, sir.

  23. We seem to be missing the big picture here.

    Reverand Young has blighted properties (not just the sandlot) in our neighborhood, yet he has chosen to call out someone else on blighted properties. It’s GREAT that he is exposing Cao’s neglect but for heaven sake why would you all think this is racist??? HE HAS BLIGHTED PROPERTIES TOO!!!!!!!!

  24. I agree with Debi; this isn’t/shouldn’t be a black white thing. Karen didn’t go after the reverend because he was black. She went after Cao only a couple of days before this. The fact is that blighted property is blighted property no matter who owns it. Churches (with congregations of both races) tends to own a lot of property in this city; much of it blighted.

    Again; can we please have a toughtful discussion based on facts; not diatribe and hate. In the words of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. ” The only way we will get through this world, whatever it is, is by loving one another”

  25. In fact; a challenge:

    Lets continue this discussion without the following words:

    White, black, race, and racist

    We’ll see how long this lasts. Stick to facts and lets answers some key questions:

    – What properties does the church/ the reverend own?

    – What condition are they in?

    – What are they using them for?

    – If they are in a blighted state, how did they get that way?

    – How long have they been that way?

    – What has the church done to remediate these properties and what are there plans?

  27. this information is off the GBW Website:

    We have a site: at 2934-2936 Joliet Street which houses our Educational Dept., Computer Lab, Cafeteria, Administration offices, and our Children’s Church. 2940 Joliet Street is our main Sanctuary. 8493 S, Claiborn Ave house our Housing Development Corp., as we as 50 elderly units. 8940 S. Claiborn Ave is the location of our Church Housing with some 75 units.

  28. The Joliet Street addresses are the Sandlot.

    The Claiborne Street addresses do not exsist.

    Can someone please tell me where the services that are published on the site are held? It is advertised that ALL are welcome and I would like to attend the next service but I assure you there is no service going on on the sandlot and no housing of 75 units on Claiborne. I just drove to all the addresses.

  29. wow you go girl.

    you touched a nerve and got people talking.

    any chance of shining some sunshine bleach over here in the 8th ward 3rd district?

  30. Pingback: Suspect Device: The Blog » Round ‘em up

  32. Justin, you make a good suggestion. Unfortunately, I can’t ask some of Karen’s critics to clarify their comments without mentioning race.

    Karen, I don’t see how 13 comments from the same IP address is so incriminating. 13 people who don’t have home computers emailed from the same library, church, coffee shop…Even if they’re all friends of Rev. Toris Young or people who attend his church, what does that prove?

    Some of Karen’s critics should follow Bishop Coleman’s example. He implores Karen Gadbois to stop because he believes she’s mistaken about a good man. I don’t know whether Karen or Bishop Coleman is right on that account, but he makes his comment in a manner that one would expect from a Christian minister. He doesn’t express hatred for Karen or accuse her of malice or prejudice. I would guess that he had the good judgment to look at the rest of Karen blog before condemning her character on the basis of one post that he didn’t like.

    Mike Coleman, are you related to Bishop Coleman? It doesn’t matter, but you should follow his example. Did you even look at the rest of this blog? Karen doesn’t ask any questions of Rev. Young that she doesn’t ask of Joseph Cao and countless white landowners. How is it racism for her to hold a black property owner to the same standards as an Asian or white property owner? A white person says something you disagree with and you automatically assume racism, what’s up with that? You should at least look to see if what she said about a black person is consistent with what she says about white people.

    Bishop Warner, if I’m reading your comment correctly, you should be ashamed of yourself. What kind of Christian minister writes:

    “This Lady Who Have This Site Is A Joke The Black Church Need To Deal With Such Sites And People Who post these lies”?

    Maybe I’m misreading it, but that sure sounds like a threat to me. The questions I asked of Mike Coleman apply doubly to you. Have you even looked at the rest of this site? I’m also interested in the broader implications of your comment. I don’t want to put words into your mouth, but it sounds like you’re saying that white residents have no right to criticize or even question black leaders. Are you saying that we should just shut up and pay our taxes? I’m not trying to twist your words, I just don’t know how else to interpret your comment.

    Finally, some of Karen’s defenders should be more aware of the subconcious snobbery. There are still a lot of people in this world who don’t use the internet very often. When I first started using email, I worked in an office where the computer keyboards were often left on caps lock, at first it didn’t occur to me to turn it off if I was dashing off a quick response to a friend’s email. Spelling or grammatical errors? Big deal, there doesn’t seem to be either “comment preview” or spell check on this site, but they’d be irrelevant any way. If you’re just trying to prove that a few people used the same computer that was left on “caps lock,” brilliant deductive reasoning, but so what?

  34. Anyone who has cruised the streets of Central City can see that the religious machine has been exploited the poor people of New Orleans for years and thanks to the Jefferson Clan and New Orleans’ special brand of racially belligerent politics, many of these churches have been favored . . . given property based on their tax-exempt status which they have allowed to blight and eventually destroy.

    Drive through Central City and count the zillions of small and fake, unattended, vacant churches. As you count them, you also notice the hellish urban landscape. One can’t help but ask, What have they done to help New Orleans over the last 20 years?

    While these churches have played the same game in other parts of the city, Central City is a microcosm of the problem, it continues to be a bleak wasteland of drugs and murder, yet it has more “churches” per square block than any other part of the city.

    The ministers of New Orleans are largely poverty pimps who exploit their poor parishoners. They preach blind faith and hope in God for people who have little hope instead of promoting individual responsibility by setting a good example.

    In short, except for a few, these ministers are unskilled people who have figured out how to use the guise of religion and poverty for 501(c)(3) fraud, mooching money from their poor parishoners and the taxpayers at-large. They are crooks who have left an entire swath of the city in ruins.

  35. Well it never fails, Karen is running for public office once again another person trying to use other’s to advance themselves on the back of people who have race issues. Afther reading the bloggers on this site it is a shame that some of the white people in this city more than likely from across the lake have issues with the black ministers in this city well let me remind you that the same people had and have issues with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. I have great respect for the Rev. Toris Young he has not just started fighting for the rights of all people he has been doing it for a long time. maybe if people like Karen would check the record she would not be talking about the Rev. past without talking about all the good the he does and has done and is doing. We do not have to agree on everything to come togather as a city and i know for a fact that Rev. Young teaches and preaches this message of inclusiveness….I was online and check out the photo’s with Rev. Young and National Gurads when they were the only ones in the city, I seen the pic. where he led a delegation of 50 pastors to the white house and capitol hill why your not reporting all of that as a black community we dont care about Rev. Young Past down trots he paid the price for that he has moved on and based on his work you can not stop what God is doing thru him…….I can assure you that you will not get elected to the city council without the help of Rev. Young that you will seee….LOL

  36. Why is this about Rev. Toris Young is not The Rev. Wallace is the recall chairman and the author of this press release what does Rev. Young has to do with it other than he endoresed his efforts why again the white folk dont use common sense…….he is the president of a group of leaders who deal with issues around the world….stop beating up on him u haters maybe its time for u to get on board

  37. If these comments from these so called ministers and “Christians” are representative of the mindset of much of the voting bloc in New Orleans we are SCREWED.
    You are more interested in protecting your poverty pimp ministers than improving your community, bringing jobs here and improving the quality of life for all. What a joke. What a joke.

  39. justice was done today! it was in Gods hands and the verdict was guilty in c- murder case, but now here is a man who DISQUAILIFIED himself (as the apostle paul qoutes) as a pastor, is going to rally behind a convicted felon who is on you tube shooting a gun stricking a man in a baton rouge night club. this is sad what the christian church has become… any pastor who is living a willfully foul sinful life should be called out in public..enough is enough. go to exministries.com and see how hip hop is destroying this country while the church embraces this foolishness just to get a tithe check from these people.. also sorry bishop morten, mr jefferson will no longer be a big tither using dirty money to offer your church..

  40. this is the day that the lord has made we will rejoice and be glad in it. This is really amazeing that this property and this pastor is beiing attacked i will be fileing a complaint with the FCC in regards to this site and the false stements that Karen states in her report. I will not list them but she will learn about them in do season. i will as well talk to the Rev. Young about a lawsuite to take Karen and this site down……she should get her facts before she print things of this type…..and whats the deal with the attack on Rev. Young past is it not his past talk about all the things he has done just in the last 6months but im sure you did not care about all the good things LOL

  42. I remember when Young (I can’t call him Dr; it was an honorary title, and I can’t call him Reverend, because I’m non-denomiational) teamed up with Corey Miller. Read his proposition to lead the youth away from violence via some summertime programs. Never happened. Then he did some kind of promo gig with Snoop Dog…what a farce. Look, I don’t want to single out one person and chew on him like a dog’s toy, but reader’s beware. When James Gill did an article on him, it quoted “… He also explained that Katrina had destroyed his church on Joliet Street and his buildings on South Claiborne, but the Web site had not been updated. When told that one of the Claiborne addresses did not exist, and the other was the site of a pumping station, he said someone must have written the wrong numbers down.” Well, now he has a newer web site with the same information. The buildings either don’t exist, or are not in use for their purposes identified on the new web site. I particularly like the housing unit for 75 folks at the Claiborne pumping station.
    Folks, this guy is not credible, not committed to his advertised cause, and needs to be WATCHED LIKE A FREAKIN’ HAWK!!!

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