More than 100 present and former members of Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church met this week with the Bishop of the North Georgia Conference, who responded to claims that the denominational body “caved” in its legal dispute with the East Cobb congregation.
Earlier this month, the Conference entered into a settlement agreement with Mt. Bethel to allow it to leave the UMC with its property and assets in exchange for a $13.1 million payment and other terms.
Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson said at a meeting of the Friends of Mt. Bethel this week that legal costs and voluminous deposition requests were mounting.
The Conference and Mt. Bethel have been in litigation since last September, but agreed to a consent decree that has been signed and is expected to be finalized by later this summer.
Mt. Bethel has 120 days to make the payment, and would then become an independent church. According to the AJC, Mt. Bethel is more than halfway toward reaching that goal.
“Our legal counsel was that if we wanted to settle the matter, which we thought was in the best interest of everyone, it would be better to do so before the deposition process began,” Haupert-Johnson said at the Friends meeting, which was held at Mt. Zion UMC in East Cobb.
“That would be a contentious phase. . . So much of our time was spent in the process of litigation and the constant discovery. It wasn’t caving. It was a missional decision above all else to free them to be about the overall mission of the Church.”
The Friends of Mt. Bethel was formed last fall by church members who opposed the congregation leadership’s decision to fight Haupert-Johnson’s reassignment of senior pastor Rev. Dr. Jody Ray.
Mt. Bethel also declined to accept her appointment of Rev. Dr. Steven Usry to succeed him, saying the church was not properly consulted.
After Ray refused his new post and turned in his UMC ministerial credentials, the Conference eventually moved to claim Mt. Bethel property and assets, followed by a failed mediation effort and litigation.
The Friends group numbers several hundred individuals on its mailing list, and has been meeting informally with Usry in recent months. They recently had a picnic and have had other fellowship events in the Sibley Forest neighborhood in East Cobb.
For Easter, Usry preached a sermon for them at another UMC in Atlanta, and the group is planning worship events at Roswell UMC the last Sunday of each month, with him presiding and with a choir.
“These events will give us a chance slow down, pause and deal with our anger and confusion together,” said Suzanne Tucker, Mt. Bethel’s former director of traditional music and creative arts.
She said she was terminated in April because she didn’t go along with Mt. Bethel leadership in the dispute with the North Georgia Conference.
“I am deeply saddened by what is going on,” she told East Cobb News in a message in May. “I am appalled at the power grab being attempted under the banner of Christ by Jody and his supporters.”
Those sentiments were echoed Tuesday at the meeting with Haupert-Johnson, who was joined by Usry.
Someone asked why “didn’t we just go ahead and evict Jody? He was trespassing. He was told he couldn’t be the minister of this Methodist Church and then he sat and squatted.”
Haupert-Johnson responded that “Have you ever tried to evict a tenant from a dwelling that you owned?”
Others asked her why Mt. Bethel won’t have a disaffiliation vote, as is called for in the UMC’s Book of Discipline governing documents.
Haupert-Johnson said that was the intention, and while “we knew Mt. Bethel might not go ‘woo-hoo a new pastor’ . . . we didn’t expect all that went on.”
She said the plan was to have Usry represent Mt. Bethel through such a proceeding. “But the leadership of the church took a different direction,” she said.
“When they refused the appointment, when they created their executive committee, when there was so much of that, we realized there was nobody in Mt. Bethel that represented the Methodist Church.”
Haupert-Johnson told the Friends of Mt. Bethel group that she pushed for Mt. Bethel to have a church conference for members to elect leadership this fall and then have a disaffiliation vote next spring.
“They soundly rejected that, every step of the way. So I would have loved for you to have a vote, she said. “I advocated for that to happen. But that wasn’t going to happen.”
Robert Ingram, the lead attorney for Mt. Bethel, previously told East Cobb News that his clients sought a vote because it would have cost “millions and million of dollars less” than what’s been settled.
“We wanted the court to allow a vote just on disaffiliation,” he said, explaining that only the North Georgia Conference superintendent could call for a such a vote.
“Despite our pleas, they never did that,” Ingram said.
Another attendee at the Friends meeting said “that I feel abandoned and unwanted and unnecessary in my own church of 38 years. My question is how do we go ahead? I’m missing spiritual guidance. I don’t have a church right now that I feel like I can go to and worship in.”
Usry said he will be providing pastoral care and shepherding to those Mt. Bethel members who aren’t inclined to go back, and “to provide environments that will help you discern a way forward.”
Tucker said there will be prayer events in July and August at Mt. Zion. She’s also organizing choir rehearsals that take place at East Cobb UMC.
In a video message this week, Ray said “we have a new task of rebuilding toward a new horizon.” He mentioned the fundraising campaign is off “to an amazing start” in asking for donations.
“God has moved in a mighty way on behalf of Mt. Bethel Church,” he said. “He has brought us through a time and place when had to turn our eyes to him and place our total reliance upon him.
“I believe that if we will continue in that same surrender and obedience, Mt. Bethel’s greatest days are out in front of us.”
Related stories:
- Mt. Bethel, North Georgia UMC file settlement documents
- Mt. Bethel Church to keep property, pay $13.1M in settlement
- Mt. Bethel Church, UMC agree to settlement terms
- Mt. Bethel Church, UMC ask Cobb judge to settle lawsuits
- Mt. Bethel requests UMC documents to former pastor
- Mt. Bethel UMC member subpoenaed as lawsuits proceed
- Mt. Bethel allowed to retain Methodist leader in lawsuit
- Mt. Bethel asks for disaffiliation vote in lawsuit counterclaim
- ‘Friends of Mt. Bethel’ growing more vocal against church leaders
- Mt. Bethel pastor likens church’s saga to Civil Rights movement
- Mt. Bethel sued by UMC denomination
- Mt. Bethel, North Georgia UMC enter mediation
- At prayer service, Mt. Bethel urged to prepare for ‘spiritual warfare’
- Mt. Bethel blasts ‘false declarations’ to seize assets
- North Georgia UMC to seize assets, take over management of Mt. Bethel
- Appointed Mt. Bethel pastor “disappointed” with church leaders
- Mt. Bethel church members fears “that we’re being torn apart”
- Mt. Bethel Church files grievance against Methodist leaders
- Mt. Bethel announces intent to leave United Methodist Church
- Mt. Bethel UMC opposes reassignment of senior pastor
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Maybe these whiners should find another church that supports the leftist crap that the UMC has adopted. Cry me a river.
The real question that people should be asking is “How does a church come up with 13.1 million dollars in 120 days?” That’s a lot of money to have on hand for an organization that purports to operate as a non-profit.