Judge rules Mt. Bethel can employ conservative Methodist leader as lawyer

Nov. 13—MARIETTA — A Cobb County Superior Court judge ruled Friday that Mt. Bethel United Methodist Church can employ Keith Boyette, who leads a conservative faction of Methodists, as co-counsel in their legal battle with the regional governing body of the United Methodist Church.

Lawyers for the trustees of the North Georgia Conference of the UMC had objected to Boyette, a Virginia lawyer and clergyman, being allowed to represent Mt. Bethel, which is seeking to disaffiliate from the denomination. Judge Mary Staley Clark ruled in Mt. Bethel's favor.

When announcing her ruling, Clark said that parties in the case having legal representation of their choice was paramount and highly protected under law.

"(Boyette has) been approved by the state bar," Clark said in a hearing Friday. "He's met those qualifications. He's been retained by the defendants. And nothing presented to the court dissuades the court from his efficacy in representing that entity."

Boyette is president of the Wesleyan Covenant Association, a group of conservative UMC churches planning a split from the denomination over issues such as gay marriage and ordination of LGBTQ pastors. Mt. Bethel is closely affiliated with the WCA.

The conference's trustees sued Mt. Bethel in September, alleging the church had violated the laws that govern the UMC and asking the judge to order Mt. Bethel to transfer its millions of dollars in assets to the conference.

Tom Cauthorn, a lawyer representing the conference trustees, argued Friday that Boyette's application to serve as co-counsel should be denied, saying his role in the WCA presents "a classic conflict of interest."

"It just so happens, Your Honor, that he (Boyette) also wants those congregations to join his organization, the Wesleyan Covenant Association, and he wants them to make sure that they bring all their assets with them," Cauthorn said. "His organization stands to gain from that outcome. An outcome where his proclaimed new denomination hits the ground running, and with all of the real estate and other assets that are being held in trust for the benefit of all, coming with them."

UMC churches do not own their assets in a traditional sense. The assets of a local church are held in trust for the benefit of the entire denomination. However, a new church law passed in 2019 allows a local church to disaffiliate from the UMC and retain its assets if it does so for reasons of conscience concerning LGBTQ issues. Mt. Bethel points to this provision as evidence that it should be allowed to leave the UMC and keep its assets. The conference, meanwhile, argues that Mt. Bethel has essentially gone rogue, violating several church laws and creating circumstances that necessitate a conference takeover.

Robert Ingram, a lawyer for Mt. Bethel, said in the hearing that Mt. Bethel wanted Boyette on its legal team because of his unique experience and familiarity with the UMC Book of Discipline (church law).

Boyette has been giving legal advice to Mt. Bethel for months, Ingram said.

"Few rights are more fundamental to our civil justice system in the United States of America than the right to select a lawyer to speak for you in court," Ingram said, going on to say the bar for denying an application such as Boyette's was extremely high under precedent.

In objecting to Boyette's application, lawyers for the conference provided "no affidavit, no supporting evidence, just irrelevant, unsubstantiated allegations," Ingram said.

In his arguments, Cauthorn had asked, should Boyette be admitted as co-counsel, that there be limitations placed on his role. Cauthorn asked Clark to forbid him from presenting arguments of counsel, examining witnesses or making objections.

"I'm not inclined to do that," Clark said when ruling. "If for some reason something presents itself — I'm not encouraging you to come back, by any means — but the door to the courthouse is open and available if concerns arise."

Next steps

After the hearing, Ingram and David Darden, another lawyer for Mt. Bethel, told the MDJ they were pleased with Friday's outcome, and pushed back on the conference's claims that Boyette is seeking to poach real estate and other assets for his new denomination.

"If the church votes to no longer be affiliated with the conference, they're an independent church, they can do anything they want at that point," Darden said.

Ingram added that the WCA is not a denomination and has no claim to the property of its members (Boyette is involved, however, with the planning of a new denomination, the Global Methodist Church).

"And if they (Mt. Bethel) did join the WCA, their property would be theirs. It would be the local church's. None of their property would go to the WCA, it would be theirs, just like a Baptist church," Ingram said.

Cauthorn said in an interview that Judge Clark was "measured and practical, as usual," despite her ruling against his client. Going forward, he said he expects the case to mirror a case that began in 2006 when a Savannah Episcopal church split from its denomination over homosexuality. The case took four years to resolve, eventually going before the state Supreme Court, and ended with the breakaway faction losing control of the assets.

"Past is always prologue," Cauthorn said.

In this case, Cauthorn said it could take even longer than four years, with judicial backlogs and the possibility of appeals.

"Our court system has been wounded by COVID-19. And there are so many matters for judges to deal with in the criminal realm and the criminal jurisdiction that, candidly, take precedence over civil cases," Cauthorn said.

Mt. Bethel has filed two motions that Cauthorn and his team plan to respond to next week. One motion seeks to add Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson, district superintendent Jessica Terrell and the conference as additional parties in their counterclaim against the trustees. Mt. Bethel has also requested Judge Clark issue an interlocutory injunction requiring the conference to let Mt. Bethel move forward with the disaffiliation process. That process includes Mt. Bethel members voting on disaffiliation.

"At this point, the main thing we want is a vote, we want a chance to vote. And the district superintendent, the bishop, won't let us vote," Ingram said.

Background

Mt. Bethel, which dates back more than 175 years, is the largest church in the conference, with about 9,000 members. It also operates Mt. Bethel Christian Academy, a K-12 school which last year had 680 students. The total market value of Mt. Bethel's church-owned buildings, vehicles and equipment is $34.6 million, according to 2019 conference data, plus another $1.1 million in financial assets and other liquid assets.

The current battle between Mt. Bethel lay leaders and regional administrators of the UMC broke out in April, when Haupert-Johnson reassigned Mt. Bethel's then-Senior Pastor Jody Ray (Methodist pastors are periodically reassigned by their bishops, a tradition of "itinerancy" that dates back centuries). Mt. Bethel leaders and congregants mounted a public campaign against Ray's reassignment, saying the bishop had not properly consulted with Mt. Bethel and suggesting the move was punishment for Ray's conservative beliefs.

Haupert-Johnson has maintained that Ray's reassignment was standard procedure, within her rights as bishop and that Mt. Bethel refused to engage in discussions about the reassignment. She had tapped Steven Usry, himself a conservative pastor, to replace Ray.

Shortly after came Mt. Bethel's announcement that it planned to leave the UMC denomination entirely. Ray relinquished his UMC credentials and was hired by Mt. Bethel as CEO and lead preacher.