One of Miami's oldest Black churches has until Sept. 11 to pay back a $1.6 million mortgage taken out in the church's name by its former pastor, or three of its main buildings, including a fellowship hall where service is held, will be auctioned off, a Miami-Dade judge has ordered. The former pastor of St. John Institutional Missionary Baptist Church in Miami was fired after learning that he took out two mortgages totaling nearly $2.5 million in the church's name in 2017 and 2018 that the church said it did not know about at the time. 

Before Bishop James D. Adams signed his name to two mortgages on the church totaling nearly $2.5 million, St. John Institutional Missionary Baptist Church in Overtown — one of the oldest Black churches in Miami — was in good financial standing. But after months and months of missed payments and a shake-up of church leadership, St. John’s is now facing foreclosure on three of its properties that were pledged as collateral against the loans. St John’s, which has roots going back to 1906, 10 years after the city of Miami was founded, has until Aug. 14 to pay back the lender or congregants will lose their fellowship hall, which houses the Sunday School classrooms and where services are held while the church undergoes renovations. Two other church buildings and their parking lots also are affected. The historic church building at 1328 NW Third Ave. is not impacted.

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