SAGINAW, MI — Kicked out of their church, seven former members of Zion Missionary Baptist Church are not giving up their fight against Zion's pastor, whom they blame for their removal.
The former members — among whom are a former Saginaw mayor and two Saginaw County commissioners — claim pastor Rodrick A. Smith violated their constitutional rights when revoking their memberships in late 2011 and early 2012.
The former members filed a lawsuit against Zion Missionary Baptist itself, one of Saginaw's oldest churches. That suit, filed in April 2012, was thrown out in October by Bay County Circuit Court Judge Kenneth Schmidt.
Schmidt was assigned the case after each of Saginaw County Circuit Court's judges recused themselves, citing personal and professional relationships with the plaintiffs.
The seven former members filed a new lawsuit Nov. 29, this time naming Smith as the defendant.
Ever since they were expelled from the church, many of the former members have spent their Sunday mornings protesting outside the building at 721 Johnson in downtown Saginaw. They can be seen along the street each week, holding signs accusing Smith of refusing requests for a meeting and lying to law enforcement.
The seven former church members listed as plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Curtis Robinson, Barbara Anderson, former Saginaw Mayor Joe Stephens, John Pugh, Steve Robinson and Saginaw County commissioners Eddie Foxx and Robert "Moe" Woods Jr.
Smith declined to comment for this story, comparing internal church matters to "family business." He said that current church members "know what really happened."
Current church members contacted to comment on this story either declined or could not be reached for comment.
Removal of members
According to Curtis Robinson, the problem began in the summer of 2011, when Smith asked for a motion to dismiss five deacons for "not doing their job."
Those five deacons, according to the lawsuit, were Steve Robinson, Eddie Foxx, John Pugh, Joe Stephens and Robert "Moe" Woods Jr.
The five deacons stood up during a Sunday church service in December 2011 to announce a meeting after church on the matter, according to Curtis Robinson. Robinson said this prompted Smith to call for a vote by those in attendance to expel the deacons from membership entirely.
He said both moves by Smith were improper because, according to church bylaws, the pastor is not allowed to chair meetings.
According to the lawsuit, no motion to dismiss the deacons was made, nor was a vote ever taken. It is one instance where the lawsuit claims Smith lied to Saginaw County sheriff's deputies and Saginaw police officers.
"Further, defendant Smith falsely claimed to the sheriff detectives that in response to plaintiff Stevens' (Stephens') alleged disorderly interruption of the December 11th worship service, a motion had later been made, seconded, and a formal vote of the congregation taken to expel plaintiff Stephens and the four other plaintiff Deacons from church membership — a motion that supposedly 90%-95% of the church congregation had stood up for in a show of support," attorney William T. Street wrote in the lawsuit. "In fact, no motion was made or seconded, and no vote was taken."
Shortly after the December service, during a January 2011 business meeting, Robinson said he and Barbara Anderson were themselves expelled while attempting to address the removal of the five deacons.
"Each plaintiff received letters, signed by defendant pastor Rodrick A. Smith, threatening them with arrest and possible criminal prosecution, if they should appear and peacefully attend regularly scheduled Sunday morning church services at Zion Missionary Baptist Church in the company of their families, neighbors, and friends," Street wrote in the lawsuit filed Nov. 29, 2012, in Saginaw County Circuit Court.
Robinson said the former members have been warned by law enforcement to stay off church property. He claims he was escorted off the premises by Saginaw police officers while trying to attend church Jan. 22.
Robinson was arrested on a trespassing charge and taken to Saginaw County Jail on that Sunday, according to county jail logs.
Zion Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Rodrick Smith, shown here in a photo taken in recognition the historic Saginaw church's 140th anniversary in 2008. Arguments in lawsuit
According to the latest lawsuit, the seven former members claim their First Amendment right to free exercise of religion was violated by Smith's removal of their memberships.
"Defendant Rodrick Smith injected the secular police powers of the state into the internal affairs and religious mission of the Zion Missionary Baptist Church by means of falsehood, and by arbitrary, wrongful use of the Michigan Penal Code criminal trespass act, MCLA 750.522," Street wrote in the lawsuit.
The lawsuit claims Smith's actions violated the members' constitutional rights by preventing them from "taking part in prayer and peaceful public religious worship with family, neighbors and friends."
The group is asking a judge to overrule the criminal trespassing warning letters issued to each former member, which would allow the seven to again begin attending church services at Zion.
The group claims Smith lied to law enforcement, which led to the criminal trespassing charge filed against Robinson. To address this, the lawsuit asks Smith be held responsible for $25,000 in damages, payable to Robinson, for "malicious prosecution" of the man in that case.
"Defendant Rodrick Smith knew that Curtis Robinson had never done anything 'to threaten, harass and intimidate' anyone," Street wrote in the lawsuit. "Defendant Smith had no reasonable basis, and lacked probable cause, to falsely assert these things in his letter and repeat the falsehoods to secular law enforcement officers."
In the original lawsuit dismissed by the Bay County judge, the group claimed the church itself was guilty of breaching its contract with the seven former members.
- Original civil complaint filed by seven former members in April 2011
Because of that, they claimed, the church owed them more than $129,966 in tithes and offerings given to the church during a six-year period leading up to their removal.
Attorney Witold Sztykiel, representing Zion Missionary Baptist Church, cited a Michigan Court of Appeals case, Lynch v. Church of Today. Using that and other cases, Sztykiel argued that a civilian court cannot determine whether a church violated its own policies or procedures.
On Oct. 24, Schmidt granted a motion for summary judgment filed by the church, effectively dismissing the initial lawsuit.
- Judge Schmidt's order to dismiss the case
Five black Saginaw residents formed Zion in 1868. Smith has been the pastor there since 2001.
The seven former members say they will not give up the fight until they have been welcomed back into a church that some of those removed have been attending for decades.