Posted on 05/16/2005 4:30:48 AM PDT by MississippiMasterpiece
WAYNESVILLE, N.C., May 15 - From the pulpit of East Waynesville Baptist Church, the temporary pastor offered an unusual message for his adopted flock: "I don't mind telling you before I start off this morning, this is not where I want to be."
No one blames him. Over the past two weeks, the modest brick church with baskets of artificial lilies on the doors has found itself at the center of a national debate, a crash test site in the mixing of politics and religion. The Rev. Chan Chandler, the young minister who led the congregation of about 100 people for the last three years, is gone, having resigned under fire last week and taken his mostly younger followers with him. And nine longtime church members who said he had ousted them because they did not support his increasingly political sermons are back.
When Mr. Chandler, 33, resigned on May 10, some said the battle had been won. But the congregation that regrouped on Sunday was smaller and grayer, teary-eyed and leaderless.
"All the young people left, the young couples," Ernestine Parton, a white-haired woman in pastels that matched the church's colored windows, said after services on Sunday, the first without Mr. Chandler at the head of the congregation. "That's what really hurts."
The turmoil here began last October - near the end of a heated presidential race that divided the nation, families, friends and, ultimately, East Waynesville Baptist Church - when Mr. Chandler told members: "The question then comes in the Baptist Church, 'How do I vote?'; let me just say this right now, if you vote for John Kerry this year you need to repent or resign. You have been holding back God's church way too long."
Mr. Chandler, according to a tape recording of his sermon, added, "And I know I may get in trouble for saying that, but just pour it on."
The split over his comments amounted to more than ordinary congregational squabbling. It involved critical fault lines pitting conservative, and generally older, Democrats of the Old South against younger Republicans, who seemed to be looking to the pulpit for political as well as spiritual guidance.
Even Mr. Chandler's opponents acknowledged that he brought new life and new members to the 52-year-old church.
"He was energizing them," said David Wijewickrama, a lawyer for the ousted members. "But he was not energizing them with religion, he was energizing them with hate."
The ousted members had considered suing the church but eventually decided against it. Two congregation members said that some people who had left the church because of Mr. Chandler's sermons returned on Sunday.
One of the ousted members - Lewis Inman, who had been a deacon - welcomed the 50 worshipers and said he would like to honor the oldest and the youngest mother present, a yearly Mother's Day tradition that had been skipped amid the turmoil.
The oldest was 81. The youngest, it turned out - after an auctioneer-like "I'll start at 25, do we have one 25 or younger?" - was 42.
The guest pastor, Jack Sammons, the head of the Waynesville Baptist Association, spoke at length about the conflict, saying, "Satan has attacked the church."
"It's time to quit taking sides," Mr. Sammons said. "The only side that's here that's worth anything is the side of Jesus."
He asked people to call those who had left the church and to invite them back.
Despite his exhortations, some rancor was still evident. One churchgoer referred to a member who did not return as "confused" and said eventually the people who left would "wake up."
But many declined to discuss the controversy.
"It's over, we got our church back, and he's gone," said Edith Nichols, who said she was a registered Republican. "That's about all I feel it's appropriate to say."
Most of those who left were Democrats, but the conflict cannot be reduced to party lines - Haywood County, like many parts of the South, has more registered Democrats than Republicans, but voted for President Bush by a significant margin.
"The Democrats here are Democrats because they're for working people, not because they're for abortion," Mr. Wijewickrama said. But as in much of the South, younger generations are trending Republican here.
Mr. Chandler, who grew up in the area, became pastor of East Waynesville three years ago. Members say he was a dynamic preacher, but his sermons against abortion and what his lawyer called "the gay agenda" seemed, to some, to cross a line between morality and politics.
John J. Pavey Jr., Mr. Chandler's lawyer, said that his client was speaking from a Christian, not a partisan, point of view, and that he also condemned two Republicans who support abortion rights, Senator John McCain of Arizona and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California.
Mr. Chandler declined to be interviewed, and telephone calls to several of his supporters went unreturned. "His whole position has been that matters of the church should remain within the church," Mr. Pavey said.
The conflict simmered until May 2, when Mr. Chandler called a church meeting and, according to his opponents, declared that the church was going to be political and that anyone who did not like it could leave. "He just got up and just told us he had held back as long as he intended to, he was going to lay it on the line, it would be a cleansing of the church," Ms. Nichols said in an interview last week.
Nine church members left the meeting. After they did so, they said, they were voted off the church membership rolls.
Mr. Pavey said last week that the members had not been expelled. But on Friday, he gave a slightly different account of events. He said the nine wanted Mr. Chandler to leave, but when they could not muster the votes they became angry and stomped out, using profanity. "When these people stormed out, it was a unanimous vote to remove them from church," he said.
A television station heard of the news, and by the following Sunday, the story had made national headlines. After church that day, Mr. Chandler issued a statement saying, "No one has ever been voted from the membership of this church due to an individual's support or lack of support for a political party or candidate."
Nevertheless, some religious leaders questioned the removal of the nine members. An official of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, with which East Waynesville is affiliated, called the action "highly irregular" in a statement on the organization's Web site.
And a national group that advocates separation of church and state called on the Internal Revenue Service to investigate the tax-exempt status of East Waynesville.
On Tuesday, Mr. Chandler called another meeting and asked a retired preacher to lead the gathering in prayer. During the prayer, Mr. Pavey said, Mr. Chandler walked out, followed by about 30 supporters. One, Misty Turner, said, "I'm not going to serve where there are so many ungodly people," according to news reports.
One former East Waynesville church member who returned for Sunday's service was Harry Buchanan, 67, who came with his wife, Lolita, 47. Both say they are born-again Christians and that they both oppose abortion. But, they said, it was wrong to focus on the evil of abortion to the exclusion of war and the death penalty. Mrs. Buchanan said she voted against Mr. Bush because her son had just joined the Marines, but when she told colleagues at work, they said she needed to repent.
For Mr. Buchanan, it came down to what he said was the Christian principle that one person cannot judge another. "People try to separate sin, and you can't separate sin," he said. "They're the same, abortion and treating your neighbor like dirt. Anything that separates you from your God is sin. I can't say who's ungodly and who ain't."
As Vicky makes his church radder* and gayer.
*As in "more radical"
"The Democrats here are Democrats because they're for working people, not because they're for abortion..."
Ah, but friend, the lying socialists you vote for are for abortion.
I don't believe that Jesus is a Republican - not by a long shot. I do, however, believe that the entire message of Judaism and Christianity from Genesis to Jesus condemns the overwhelming evil in the Democratic platform.
The parting of the ways in this church speak to a need in thousands of congregations. One cannot focus on politics as being endorsed by God, but sacrifice to Molech needs, IMO, to be addressed in no uncertain terms. Besides, anyone claiming to be of Christ and voting left has done more flushing of the Bible than anybody at Gitmo.
One cannot divorce their politics from their religion and Pastor Chandler was correct.
I agree with you.
"They're the same, abortion and treating your neighbor like dirt."
...
...
Come again?
Qwinn
The Democrats are indeed for abortion. No Christian can vote for a party that permits and even glories in the murder of innocents. Sorry, the Pastor was correct. Namby pamby Christiantity is worth nothing. Jesus would toss the abortionists (and their apoligists) out of the temple as he did other sinners in a different time.
A shorthand rendering of the entire dilema in the "church" would be to simply describe the modern cult of Molech. Anyone with ears to hear will understand that RAT's serve as the high priests of the cult and feminists are the priestesses that fling the children into the furnace.
Abortion is primarily sold to young women (and men) on the basis of economics. That is, kill the baby so that you have more disposable income for a good life and lots of material pleasures. First, they abort because they are too young and haven't fairly begun life. Then they don't want the child because they are in school and need to finish so they can get a good job. Then they don't want the child because they are single and can't afford it. Some don't want the child because their husbands (or weenie boyfriends) don't want the expense. Later, they don't want the child because they are busy with their careers. Later on still, they don't the child because of the impact on the environment. Finally, they don't want the child because they already have enough children.
The motto of the RAT party should be: 'SACRIFICE YOUR CHILDREN UNTO ME SO THAT ALL MAY GO WELL FOR YOU'
The new god at East Waynesville Baptist Church: http://www.piney.com/MolechFlame.jpg
"We're not really for abortion, we just vote that way."
Must be nice to own a church.
A desperate and dying church calls a young pastor who then battles with the "old guard" to change things. Pastor oversteps himself, leaves, and the "old guard" comes back and takes over again.
I'd say that it sounds like almost anyone involved in this story (except for maybe any new Christians) could use a good dose of repentance.
Some people need a good mirror and some just can't see the forest for the trees.
ping for later pingout.
Yo. 15 minutes is up. Next!
They will have no chance of getting a Pastor that is commited to growing the church.They will get just what the old geezers want.Someone to tickle their ears and preach feel good sermons that don't challenge them to reach out to a dieing world.The dead can't minister to the dead.
When all the young people leave, the church is dying.
....it was a sad Sunday in 2000 our priest told me he was voting for GORE.
I walked out of that church and never went back.
Of course that was after I told him "Shame on you father GORE is PRO-CHOICE".
A merely cultural faith could reside on both sides of the issues here. Pharisees love to be on the winning side but they aren't real concerned about what God wants.
The Godly people in this instance are busy trying to protect any new believers who might be involved....And we aren't reading about them if they exist.
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