church politics stink II

I was floored to read this in today’s Corpus Christi paper. (Free registration required.) In one large Baptist church, if you don’t think the pastor is Moses incarnate, you’re outta there:

Members of Gardendale Baptist Church voted Sunday to expel about 165 members from their congregation because they did not support the leadership of the church's pastor, according to a church spokesman and several ousted members.

In a letter to the congregation, Micah Davidson, the church's pastor, called a business meeting after a July 18 baptismal service at which members would vote on the following statement: "Pastor Micah is the God-called pastor for Gardendale and is leading us in God's direction or not."

Davidson also stated in the letter that he would leave immediately if the church voted against him.

"If the church votes for me to stay," he wrote, "those who vote against me will be removed from membership in the family immediately."

The vote was about 750 to 165 in favor of the pastor, according to John Gilbert, administrative pastor of the church. Immediately after the vote of confidence, members voted to revoke the memberships of those who voted against Davidson. Gilbert said that of the 165 members who were "removed from membership," all could come back to church if they "signed a covenant for church unity."

I would have voted against the pastor simply because he called such a vote, even if that did mean I was kicked out of the church.

Apparently, there’s a cult of personality thing going on here. If memory serves me right, this is the church that has a big billboard on the main drag in Corpus featuring – you guessed it – the pastor and his wife. Yes, I know (too many) other churches do that. It still sets off alarm bells for me.

Whatever you think of congregational government (I think it stinks.), the problem with some U. S. Baptist churches is that they are really dictatorships of the pastor. Even those that are not are often far too pastor-centered.

But this is over-the-top even by Baptist standards. That a man would exercise such raw power to consolidate his personal position and cast out those who disagree automatically disqualifies him from leadership.

By the way, in case you haven’t noticed, that’s one of my criteria for a church – the leadership must not be power-hungry control freaks.

(And sorry if I’m beating up on Baptists a bit here. You may have noticed I think most churches across the denominational spectrum botch how they handle authority.)

UPDATE: Here's a follow-up story.