GASTONIA, N.C. — Members of Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Gastonia are accusing their pastor of lying on his resume.
Parishioners are now taking Daimon Rawlinson to court after he was voted out and refused to leave.
Trustee Sherman Mason is the first name on the lawsuit seeking to remove the pastor.
Mason was part of the board that approved the pastor about a year ago, but he said things are different now.
“I feel like we got the devil in the pulpit,” Mason told Channel 9.
Mason said that several members and the pastor disagreed early on many things.
He said in April members voted, 39-10, to remove Rawlinson, but he refused to leave.
“He tried to put me out of the church,” Mason said. “He tried to put other people out of the church.”
Both sides started calling the police to Sunday services.
“There were police coming to the church every Sunday for about two months,” Mason said.
The pastor got his legal team to send a cease-and-desist letter to Mason.
The letter said the meeting where members reportedly voted to remove the pastor “was neither properly scheduled nor conducted in accordance with established protocols.”
The pastor’s lawyers said a committee of the Gaston County Missionary Baptist Association investigated and agreed with the pastor.
“It’s a complete mess,” Mason said.
Two weeks ago, Mason and other trustees filed a lawsuit against the pastor and a few deacons.
“The majority of the church would like to see him removed,” Mason said.
Mason said church members have held fish fries to pay lawyers to force the pastor out.
The pastor’s legal team is working to respond to the lawsuit and keep him in the pulpit.
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