Church fractured by turmoil

Turmoil that rocked First Missionary Baptist Church and led to a civil complaint against the church at the beginning of 2022 has seen little resolution in the nearly 20 months since, according to congregation members serving as plaintiffs in the case. They said mediation that was supposed to take place to clear the air with the church’s leadership simply hasn’t happened, and the relationship has grown as icy as ever.

A consent order was filed on March 22, 2022 in the General Court of Justice Superior Court Division that paved the way for talks in place of litigation. Superior Court Judge Henry L. Stevens IV ordered a temporary restraining order filed just eight days earlier dissolved and a preliminary injunction entered binding all parties, with consent of all parties and the church, to several stipulations.

That came in the wake of a civil complaint filed March 14, 2022 by members of the church following the dismissal of the church’s pastor, accusing a select group of church officials with acting unilaterally against the church’s constitution and parishioners’ wishes, placing the “well-being of the church in imminent and serious peril.” According to the initial complaint, church officers exceeded their authority in dismissing then-pastor Leonard Henry, locking the pastor and members of the congregation out of the church at 900 College St., and approving church expenditures inconsistent with established guidelines, which call for the say of the church body, the complaint stated.

The consent order sought to bring the parties together, or at least establish a path forward.

“All members of the church will be allowed access to the church property and all rights of membership, and all parties shall immediately relinquish and turn over all keys, passcodes and any other form of access to the church property and/or records and/or equipment,” the consent order stated in part. “Said access shall therefore be granted and provided equally to all parties and members with any dispute regarding access, membership rights or actions by church officials to be first presented to the referee appointed by the court for resolution, with the right of the referee to seek either instruction or enforcement with regard to any question.”

Plaintiffs in the consent order, just as in the original civil complaint, were listed as Charles Boykin, Vernon Royal, Paris White, Laura Ray, Alonza Vann and First Missionary Baptist Church of Clinton (900 College St.). Church deacons Alfred Faison, Ronald Moore, Horace Bass and Eddie Williams, as well as church trustee Johnny Thompson and church trustee and treasurer Sherlene Fryar, were listed as defendants.

In early spring 2022, congregation members were back in the church — locks were removed and security codes restored, according to members — and in-person Sunday service returned. One of the plaintiffs, Charles Boykin, said he felt like it was the start of progress, but it was short lived.

In the consent order, Stevens designated and appointed attorney Reginald Kenan of Duplin County Bar to serve as referee over the matter … “and the parties and church membership shall cooperate with and abide by the requests, directives and decisions of the referee.”

“Mr. Kenan shall have the power and authority to confer, individually or collectively, with the parties, members of the church, authorities and any other person or source he deems necessary to advance the letter and intent of this order,” Stevens’ order stated in part. “Mr. Kenan shall have the power and authority to call, notice and conduct, in his discretion, meetings of the church membership conducted under Robert’s Rules of Order to allow discussion of the matters currently in dispute between the parties and any other matter he deems necessary to advance the letter and intent of this order, and to establish and enforce reasonable rules for the operation of said meetings in his discretion.”

The rules included, but were not limited to, when the meetings would take place, time allotted to speak, the number of persons from each of the parties that will speak at any meeting and the membership of the church that will participate and, if appropriate, vote in any meeting.

“It is the intent of this court, as stated on the record with the parties in attendance before the formal entry of this order, that all disputes and matters between the parties and the church should be resolved by negotiation, pursuant to church constitution, by-laws, policies and procedures and with the assistance and guidance of the referee appointed herein,” Stevens said in the order.

“This matter shall be stayed until completion of the work of the referee, but this court shall retain jurisdiction over the matter for enforcement of this order and the rules, actions and decisions of the referee through the power of contempt or otherwise in the event of any violations of this order or the law, and to supplement or amend this order as deemed necessary in the discretion of this court.”

Talks took place initially with Kenan, who asked that two people from each side of the dispute be present, with those people established as Vernon Royal and Charles Boykin on one side and Ronald Moore and Alfred Faison on the other. There was just one meeting held like that, before Kenan began to meet with the trustees board as a whole, according to Boykin.

Earlier this year, Boykin filed a grievance with the North Carolina State Bar against Kenan, contending that Kenan has met with church’s trustees board without the plaintiffs. Grievances have never been discussed, and nothing has been hashed out, he maintained.

“It’s not right,” said Boykin.

The Bar’s Office of Counsel, in a correspondence back to Boykin in August, informed that the grievance process “takes months, not days or weeks.” He said this week that he still has not heard back.

That grievance came out of frustration by Boykin, who said he met twice with Kenan in 2022 and the membership rolls were the key topic of discussion, not the issues that were the subject of the court case against the church.

“He was supposed to write a report” back to Stevens, Boykin said, but in a year and a half nothing has come, he maintained.

Boykin reiterated his desire to get the church back to normal but said that sentiment is seemingly not reciprocated.

In April 2023, Vernon and Dorothy Royal were sent a letter that their membership status as a full and active member was “hereby terminated,” and given the designation of “full and inactive.” Vernon Royal is one of the plaintiffs in the case. When the case with the church began, he was also a deacon and an associate pastor.

Deacons Alfred Faison, chair, Ronald Moore, vice chair, and Deacons Horace Bass and Eddie Williams signed the letter. Boykin said a number of congregation members received the form letter within a tw0-week period, including himself.

“Memberships may be terminated in the following ways: lack of interest as evidenced by not attending and no financial support for a one-year period of time,” the letter stated, citing the church’s constitution and by-laws. “After this period, the member’s name and membership status will be purged from the church roll.”

Dorothy Royal said their dues were paid.

“When members voluntarily remove themselves from fellowship with this church, they must re-establish their membership to again be a member with all membership privileges,” the letter from the deacons stated. “Restoration to membership will be based upon the criteria of membership being fulfilled. Upon recommendation of the pastor, deacons, and Board of Trustees, membership requirement may be waived when satisfactory completion of requirements have been attained.”

Letters were sent to many of the long-term members, some who had been going to the church for decades — upwards of 50 or 60 years, one more than 75 years. Some are well up in age, in their 80s and 90s. Some who have attended First Baptist Church most of their life “are forced to send tithes and offerings to the church in fear of losing their membership by being placed on the inactive list,” church members said.

Boykin, who said he served as chairman or vice-chair for the church’s trustees board for 18-19 years before being dismissed amid the rift, said he never recalled the church sending such a letter prior to this ordeal, or turning people away at the door.

“We have never sent out a letter like that, period. I would’ve known,” said Boykin. “This is something they started recently. We’ve never taken people off the rolls. That’s the most important part of your church is your members.”

He estimated that about 30% of the membership enrollment received the form letter, but conceded “nobody knows how many letters” were sent out. Where the church used to have around 130 in attendance for a Sunday, however, that number is around 25-30 now, said Boykin, who stood firmly on that figure.

According to members, a meeting was set up at the church on Aug. 26, just a few weeks after Boykin sent his letter to the State Bar. Boykin received a notification of the church meeting. He felt that it was to be an open discussion, potentially on church leadership.

Boykin, Alonzo Vann, Rev. Vernon Royal Sr. and Dorothy Royal attempted to attend the church conference at the First Baptist Church multipurpose building. Upon arriving at the church entrance, they were met by two people, one of them a church member and the other Deacon Ronald Moore, a defendant in the court matter. The church member told Boykin, Vann and the Royals they couldn’t come in and asked what they were doing there. Their names were not on the list, so they could not enter, he told them.

Boykin and Vernon Royal said they were still members of the church and had a right to be there. Moore reportedly continued to stand by the locked door along with the other church member and stressed they wouldn’t be letting the four enter the church.

“I have a court order to attend this conference,” Boykin said. But being refused again, the group left.

As they were leaving, another deacon Horace Bass, also a defendant in the case, was walking up. Boykin told him that he has received a call from the church robo-call about a church conference for all members, reiterating, this time to Bass, that he had a court order to attend the conference.

According to the group, Bass told them that, if that was the case, he needed to speak to someone to get the church list updated.

“We went in peace,” said Dorothy Royal.

First Baptist has utilized interim preachers since Henry departed and the membership roll has diminished, with some following Henry, who moved on to establish his own worship service at Sunset Avenue School Auditorium. Others have remained in purgatory as their membership status with the church is in limbo, or revoked all together.

Boykin pointed back to the original complaint from church members. Little has changed, he said, despite what he felt would be a good faith effort to mend what had been broken at the church.

That original complaint stated in part: “Church members were barred from entering the sanctuary without permission from the defendants which in effect is preventing the congregation from entering their place of worship, (and) the plaintiffs have been denied access to worship freely, usurped their authority to employ the pastor of their choice, serve within their local church and upon information and belief, have placed the church’s assets and financial stability in peril.”

It was ultimately the decision of four deacons that Henry be dismissed in February 2022, church members maintain. Major decisions are supposed to go before a joint board that consists of the church’s four deacons and the 11-member trustee board, before then being put to the church, members said.

Prior to any of the court proceedings, Boykin said 60 people showed up at an early 2022 meeting at New Life Outreach Ministries. Just three supported the deacons. At the meeting, the congregation voted to remove each of the defendants from their respective positions. The deacons were reportedly informed of their voted dismissal on Feb. 6, 2022.

They shot back with a letter to the congregation the next day, citing Henry’s suspension as a result of “dereliction of duties,” specifically noting the “failure to sign contract” and “obstinate refusal” to both “receive education and training on Baptist doctrine” and “to enroll in an institution of higher learning, as chosen by the deacon ministry and subsidized by the church.”

Church officials previously outlined those issues in a letter signed by the deacons on Dec. 23, 2021, in which they warned of church unity being undermined amid the pastoral contract dispute, and the lack of an approved budget. Henry declined to sign the contract, which church officials maintained was “fairly standard,” similar to one signed by his predecessor.

The church’s officers stated that the New Life Ministries meeting on Feb. 5 was “not authorized” and “was illegal,” alleging that “’business’ was conducted under a new name and new leadership.”

Boykin and others said the congregation did not have its say, taking issue with the deacons working unilaterally. When a deacon leaves, they don’t appoint anybody else, he said. There are no elections, said Boykin.

“All we wanted was the church to come together and vote — vote them out or don’t,” said Boykin.

“Everybody was under the impression that we are going to vote in new officers,” said Dorothy Royal. But that just didn’t happen. “The people got frustrated and felt there was no hope, and they moved on.”

It wasn’t because there was any sort of resolution, or that a lawsuit was over and one side won — although that is the story being told in some circles, Boykin maintained.

In the assessment of church members, past and present, nobody has won.

“They figured a way to do nothing,” said Boykin.

Boykin had been attending First Baptist for well over two decades. Alonza Vann, another plaintiff, has been going since he was a child himself, attending Sunday School there, while the Royals have valued their roles and involvement in First Baptist Church, which has a history of pride among its membership and in regard to in its place in this community.

“I love that church,” said Dorothy Royal. “It is sad. I’m trying to hold onto faith and hope and trust in God.”