FAIRBANKS — Members of a divided Corinthian Baptist Church were in Fairbanks Superior Court last week fighting about the church pastor and access to the church building.
At issue is whether a vote earlier this month by church leaders to remove Pastor S. Anthony Justice was legitimate.
Also, locks on the church building have been changed, causing some members of the congregation to complain about being kept out.
Justice had been at the church for 15 months. The 30-year-old Baptist minister came from North Carolina.
During his tenure, he was credited with boosting the congregation, particularly with younger members.
But in August, church leaders met and decided Justice’s performance was lacking. They suggested some areas for improvement, according to Gregory Silvey, the Anchorage lawyer representing members of the church’s board of trustees.
Three months later, four trustees and a deacon voted to dismiss the pastor. Two trustees dissented.
About two dozen members of the church and at least one trustee took the matter to court, saying the church leaders did not follow church bylaws when they fired the pastor.
They asked Superior Court Judge Paul Lyle to reinstate Justice. They also called on Lyle to order that the church’s regularly scheduled activities resume.
“This is some church members trying to stop other church members from hijacking the church,” said John Franich, the attorney for those in favor of keeping Justice as pastor.
Silvey, the lawyer for the trustees who fired the pastor, said the church’s schedule has had minimal disruption.
“The public is welcome,” he said. “Services have been going on during the past two weekends as scheduled.”
Silvey said the locks were changed because the trustees had trouble locating the pastor to tell him the news. They even hired a process server. A check equal to two months’ pay was written to Justice as severance, the lawyer said.
“This is about Pastor Justice,” Silvey said. “He was an at-will employee.”
The squabble has spilled over into other churches, whose members attended the court hearing in a show of support for Justice. About 30 people, representing both sides, sat in the courtroom gallery.
In the end, Lyle issued a temporary order for keys to be provided to all church trustees. The order did not include the terminated pastor.
The judge scheduled a Feb. 27 hearing in which he’ll take testimony before issuing a final ruling on the matter.
Cited From:
http://newsminer.com/news/2008/nov/30/pastor-problems-send-congregation-court/
