East Waynesville Baptist Church

East Waynesville Baptist Church is a Baptist church in Waynesville, a small town in the Great Smoky Mountains of Western North Carolina, United States of America. It is an independent and autonomous member of the Southern Baptist Convention and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (BSCNC). As of May 2005 it had 100 members.

The church received mass media attention in May 2005. During a May 2 deacons' meeting, its pastor Chan Chandler allegedly told any members who had supported John Kerry in the 2004 United States presidential election to leave. Nine members of the church, including at least one deacon, left the meeting at that point. Chandler then allegedly declared an impromptu business meeting, and a majority of the 20 church members present voted to expel those who left. Chandler had been vocal in earlier months that he considered voting for the Democratic Party tantamount to supporting homosexuality and abortion. Forty church members threatened to terminate their membership in protest against the actions taken at the meeting.

The BSCNC called the actions attributed to the church leadership "highly irregular" and warned that they could threaten the church's tax-exempt status. Groups campaigning for church-state separation called for the Internal Revenue Service to consider removing the church's tax-exempt status on the grounds that it engaged in political advocacy.

On May 10, 2005 Chandler resigned as pastor. He denied that the actions at the meeting were politically motivated, but did not give his version of events. The BSCNC offered to assist the church in healing the rift between the factions.

External links

* [http://www.biblicalrecorder.org/content/news/2005/5_9_2005/ne090505achurch.shtml Church removes members for political views, deacon says]
* [http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050507/NEWS01/50506036/1001 Members say church ousts Kerry supporters]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/09/AR2005050901026.html Politics Prompt Church Tax Questions]
* [http://www.bscnc.org/insidebscnc/pressroomnewsletters/membersousted.htm East Waynesville Action 'Highly Irregular']
* [http://wireservice.wired.com/wired/story.asp?section=Breaking&storyId=1031970&tw=wn_wire_story Pastor Accused of Running Out Dems Resigns]