Friday, Sept. 6, 2002

Another church leaves Tuckaseigee

By Steve DeVane
BR Managing Editor

A second church has left the Tuckaseigee Baptist Association and two others have votes scheduled on the issue.

Tuckasegee Baptist Church voted Aug. 25 to withdraw from the association, according to Larry Perry, pastor of the church. The vote during the church's regular monthly business meeting was unanimous, he said.

Cullowhee Baptist Church, which has faced criticism from some other churches in the association since it called a woman co-pastor in January, voted Aug. 4 to cut ties with the association.

First Baptist Church in Sylva and East Sylva Baptist Church could decide this month to pull out of the association.

Perry, who is a residential contractor, said he had talked with people in the area who have lost respect for the association. He said it seemed some in the association had launched a "secret-type witch hunt" recently.

"We thought we could better serve Southern Baptists and I know we can better serve our community and county without being in the association," he said.

Perry said the church remains a part of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

"We're just not going to be in all that turmoil, all that fussing and fighting," he said. "We've got a lot more important things to do."

Claude Conard, the interim director of missions for the association, said the association is "fine" despite the withdrawals.

"It's best for their good and our good, too," he said.

Conard said the association has not yet felt an economic impact of the churches leaving.

"Other churches are making it up so we're not concerned about the finances," he said.

First Baptist Church, the association's largest contributor last year, will consider a motion on pulling out of the association at the church's regular business meeting Sept. 8, according to Wayne Hill, the church's pastor.

Hill said some church members want to stay in and try to influence the association.

"So many of our people have put so much effort into the association over the years that they don't want to let go," he said. "It's not a pleasant way to go either way."

If less than three-fourths of the voting church members are in favor of the motion, the church will remain a member of the association. How long it remains in the association could depend on what happens at the association's annual meeting in October.

The association's credentials committee is recommending that the association not seat messengers from the church.

East Sylva Baptist Church has scheduled a vote on withdrawing from the association for Sept. 22, said Charles Dean, the pastor. The vote will come if a constitutional change which allows for church members to be made aware of the proposal by announcement rather than letter is approved. Both votes require approval by three-fourths of those voting for passage.

Dean said an unofficial vote to pull out at a business meeting on Aug. 18 was unanimous.

"It looked like in the business meeting everybody was ready to go," he said.

Dean said he has had calls from others in the association asking the church to delay its decision.

"I've had churches call us wanting us to stay in and fight in October, but we're tired of fighting," he said.

But Dean didn't rule out the possibility that East Sylva might stay if First Baptist does not vote to leave the association.

"If they decide to stay in, it very much could have an influence on what we do on the 22nd," he said.

Some people don't want to give up the association's building, Dean said.

"There's other things more important than a building," he said.

Stella Parker, a deacon at Tuckasegee, said she thinks that the issue of a church's autonomy was a prime reason her church decided to leave the association.

"One of the things Baptists have always prided themselves on is each church has its own autonomy," she said. "Other churches can't say, 'Don't do this and don't do that.'"

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