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Two Rivers Votes to Keep Their Pastor

Orginally published on Tuesday, October 09, 2007 at 8:38 AM
by Todd Rhoades

Members have voted to keep a prominent pastor accused of misspending money at a Southern Baptist megachurch. A lawsuit filed last month by about 50 members of Two Rivers Baptist Church accuses the Rev. Jerry Sutton of failing to abide by church rules and punishing those who question his authority. The suit follows allegations that Sutton spent church money on his daughter's wedding reception. Members voted 1,101-286 during the church's services Sunday.

Sutton acknowledged Sunday that some church members might choose to leave as a result of the vote.

“If they do go somewhere else, I hope they’re happy,” Sutton said. “I’m convinced that when all this is over, what some intended for evil, God meant for good.”

A group of church members had asked Chancellor Claudia Bonnyman to stop the vote. But she refused, stating that neither law nor public policy would allow the judiciary to get involved in a matter of deciding who gets to be pastor of a church.

“It’s public policy that the court should stay away from these religious matters,” Bonnyman wrote last week.

Sutton, who lost a bid to become president of the national Southern Baptist Convention last year, has served for more than two decades as leader of Two Rivers, which sits just across the highway from the Grand Ole Opry.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit also want other church directors removed from office, access to church records and any misappropriated money to be returned.

SOURCE:  Associated Press


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