Five deacons of the Fielding Spring Missionary Baptist Church1 filed suit against Rev. Gilbert Howard, the pastor of the church, in connection with Howard’s handling of church funds and property. The complaint sought a declaratory judgment that the Board of Deacons had authority to control church property, and further sought to enjoin Howard from interfering with church business. Fielding Spring Missionary Baptist Church was organized in 1880. The Church is not incorporated and does not have a written constitution or by-laws. Rather, the church is governed by custom and practice, under which church deacons are vested with authority over temporal affairs. On or about June 20, 2001, Richard Johnson, one of the deacon-plaintiffs, began questioning Howard’s handling of church finances because expenses were exceeding income.2 This controversy soon developed into a dispute over church leadership, and a church meeting was held on July 19, 2001. The majority of those present at that meeting voted to discharge Johnson and the other four deacon-plaintiffs from office. Two of the deacon-plaintiffs were also voted out of the church. The deacons denied ever receiving notice that the meeting would address the issue of their termination or their membership, and they questioned the number of actual church members attending the meeting.
In their complaint, the deacons asserted that they represented a majority of the Board of Deacons and a majority of the church congregation. They produced 57 signatures supporting their contentions that they represented a majority of the congregation and that the majority sought the resignation of Howard as pastor of the church. But Howard produced over 100 identically-worded form “Affidavits” supporting the results of the July 19 meeting. These documents stated that a majority of the church had attended the meeting and had voted to remove the deacon-plaintiffs from office. The evidence showed, however, that a number of these affidavits were signed by people who were under 18, some as young as five-years-old.
