By Victor Ochieng
It’s very rare for church members to take their pastor to court over anything, but it appears like that’s the direction a Lexington congregation believed would work best for them in their quest to stop their pastor and his wife from spending church money.
Southern Acres Christian Church members filed a lawsuit against their pastor, Cameron McDonald, and his wife. The church accused the pastor of concentrating all powers on himself, his wife and another staffer. Court papers show that the congregants aren’t happy with the pastor because the move to take all the powers resulted in the breaking down of a larger church governing board, changed the church’s mode of operation and did away with checks and balances initially executed through church wide approval votes that were initially required for any major administrative changes.
The pastor has been accused of firing most of the church’s staff members, while his actions are also said to have compelled others to quit.
The lawsuit was filed on Monday by Chad Martin and James Keogh over concerns with the direction the church was taking in terms of administration, financial management, and viability of the church.
McDonald’s lawyer declined to comment on the issue, only saying the pastor remains with the church. Even though the pastor is harshly criticized in the lawsuit, he received praises from a former lead pastor who was a member of the church about a decade ago.
Nevertheless, Martin and Keogh are determined to have McDonald’s revised church bylaws and his new board annulled by the courts. In addition to the troubled pastor, his wife, and another pastor, Tim Jones, are on the board. The lawsuit says that the three earn salaries from the church, which, according to them, is a first in the history of Southern Acres.
The lawsuit says that the pastor’s actions are “flagrant self-dealing and conflict of interest.”
In May of 2016, the board had a total of nine members, but Pastor McDonald decided to trim it to just three in October of that very year. The then prevailing bylaws, enacted in 2013, required decisions of the board to be made by “no fewer than five but no more than nine.”
Now, because of the changes to the bylaws, McDonald cannot be removed from his position unless by a unanimous decision of the board, excluding the church’s senior pastor and his or her immediate family members. What that basically means is that only Jones can have McDonald removed from his position.
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