ARLINGTON, Texas — He was the charismatic preacher; she was the supportive wife.
Together,
Terry and Renee Hornbuckle built a successful mega church in Arlington
with more than 2,000 members. They owned a beautiful home and drove
luxury cars. But, in January 2005, it all began to fall apart.
"When
something like this hits you, you're like there's no way possible,"
Hornbuckle said of the moment her husband made a horrific confession.
"There's no way this is happening."
The bishop told his wife that he was in trouble.
"It
was there in that hotel room that everything was exposed, but he was
still in denial," she said. "He accepted no responsibility."
Three
women, two of them members of his church, Agape Christian Fellowship,
accused him of rape. He brought them to an apartment in Euless, drugged
them with GHB and then sexually assaulted them.
"It was devastating just to know that someone has been violated in that way," she said. "It's just horrible."
There
had been rumors for years at the church that Hornbuckle was sleeping
with female members of his congregation, and many speculated his wife
knew.
"People have already said, 'Oh, what was she thinking? She
had to have known what was going on,'" she said. "And let's be honest,
sometimes people said, 'She's stupid for staying.'"
Hornbuckle insists she didn't know because she was isolated.
"People
can be so cruel and so judgmental," she said. "And people don't think
about that it's possible to be in a relationship and not know what
another person is doing."
She does admit her husband started acting erratically and violently. He later confessed to being hooked on meth.
"There's a saying I like to say, 'There's just as much pain in the projects as there is misery in the mansion,'" she said.
It's taken Hornbuckle years to speak about what happened and tell the rest of the story.
"You're
living in this world that is so volatile and you don't know what to
expect and so you just learn to tolerate and put up with things you
shouldn't put up with," she said.
Hornbuckle said the man on the pulpit, who claimed to be a man of God, beat and verbally abused her.
"There
were times when he would actually hold me captive in the bathroom for
hours and hours belittling me, stripping me of my value, blaming me for
no reason at all," she said.
Two years after his arrest, she
dutifully sat in the courtroom listening to all the horrible things her
husband did. Some of her husband's advisers told her to stand by her
man.
"I was told a lot of times to pray," Hornbuckle said. "I'm a
praying woman. I believe in the word of God, but I needed something
extra. I needed some intervention."
She said it pains her now that
she didn't do more to get out. She said she also thinks about the women
who were hurt and the followers who were disillusioned.
"First of all, I apologize and I'm sorry for the things that happened," Hornbuckle said. "But don't give up on God."
When
her husband was convicted of all three counts and sentenced to 15 years
in prison, she shut the door on that part of her life. She divorced her
husband and raised their three children alone. She also renamed the
church, where she's now the pastor.
She has written a book that
will be released in November about her experiences. She says her message
now is that if she can make it through this, other women can overcome
and learn how to live in peace after the pain.
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