Sales pitches for Melaleuca, one of the nation’s largest network marketing companies, swept the church, former members say. Like Amway, Melaleuca touts financial independence to its network of independent distributors who sell products and earn extra cash based on the sales of distributors they recruit.
Michele and Mark Leonard promoted Melaleuca’s line of skin lotions, health-food supplements and other products derived from oil from the Australian Melaleuca tree, former members said.
Some pastors questioned Melaleuca’s presence in the church, said Dereck Anderson, a former assistant pastor at Heritage who joined Michele Leonard’s sales team. In retrospect, he said, the critics were right.
“If I’m a pastor and I call a meeting, call it a special meeting and say, ‘You can make some money,’ you’re going to come,” Anderson said. “When you misuse your clout, the cause of Christ is blemished.”
