More on East Waynesville Baptist controversy

I reported on this yesterday.

Since the MSM as well as many bloggers are more than willing to believe the worst about any Conservative Christian, the story told by the dissenting group was taken at face value and reported as fact. The press release the church issued Sunday was all but ignored. The Baptist Press quotes much more of than any other source I could find:

A business meeting is scheduled to take place May 10 at the church to address the situation. The pastor, Chan Chandler, released a statement Sunday, May 8, denying that politics was involved.

"The goal of East Waynesville Baptist Church is to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world," the statement, printed in the Citizen-Times, read. "This church fellowships openly with all who embrace the authority and application of the Bible regardless of political affiliation, including current members who align themselves with both major political parties, as well as those who affiliate with no political party.

"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. All matters of the church are internal in nature and are resolved accordingly."

I've seen numerous situation where a church has a lot of “dead wood”, older members that like the stagnation and mediocrity the church has decayed into, when a younger pastor is hired who has the gall to actually preach the Bible. There is political fallout, depending on the power the old guard has, and the willingness of other members to abandon a country club mentality for true religion, either side may eventually win. This smells like that.

Coverage: Outside the Beltway, ChristWeb, The Narrow, Ambra Nykola

Posted by Danny Carlton at May 10, 2005 11:20 AM