WASHINGTON — The Court of Appeals of Virginia says members of a Tyson’s Corner megachurch can continue part of their lawsuit over a disputed 2021 leadership election – reviving it after a lower court dismissed the case as moot last year.
In a memorandum opinion released Wednesday and written by Judge Frank K. Friedman, a three-judge panel of the appellate court agreed, in part, with the decision of the Fairfax County Circuit Court last June to dismiss the lawsuit against McLean Bible Church (MBC) – an evangelical megachurch with multiple locations in Northern Virginia that claims weekly attendance of approximately 8,000-10,000 people.
The suit was filed by five church members who alleged senior pastor David Platt and the board of elders violated the church’s constitution by wrongfully deeming members “inactive” and therefore deprived of them of their right to vote in a regular election for three elder positions in June 2021. The members further alleged church leadership denied members the secret ballots guaranteed by the church’s constitution and targeted certain members for “inactive” status because leadership believed they would vote against their chosen candidates.
After nearly a year of litigation, the church agreed last year to adopt a “Plan for Lawsuit Resolution” and hold a new election under many, but not all, of the terms sought by the plaintiffs. That election rendered much of the complaint – which sought to redo the election under 2021 conditions – moot, according to Friedman.
“The ‘time machine’ remedy sought by appellants of reconstructing the 2021 voter universe and holding a new 2021 election is simply not feasible,” he wrote.
However, Friedman said the lower court had erred when it dismissed the entire lawsuit last year. In his opinion, he said MBC had failed to conclusively disprove allegations by the plaintiffs that it was continuing to disenfranchise members by wrongfully declaring them “inactive.” Friedman said the only evidence in the record on that issue was a plan approved by church leadership to conduct the 2022 re-do election. Friedman’s opinion remanded the case back to the Fairfax County Circuit Court to determine whether MBC violated its members constitutional rights through alleged “active membership purges” and the denial of the secret ballot in 2021.
Rick Boyer, a conservative Lynchburg-based attorney who previously encouraged portions of Virginia to break away and join West Virginia, is representing the five plaintiffs in the case. He hailed the judge’s decision this week as a victory and said his clients looked forward to a jury trial.
"God through the Holy Spirit ought to be able to lead his people to vote their consciences and choose the direction of the church that way," Boyer told WUSA9 on Thursday. "You don't really need to purge people from the voting lists if you don't think they'll vote the right way that in the context of the church, there is no need for this. And unfortunately, that's what happened. And that's where the breach of contract comes in."
Boyer said the plaintiffs believe they represent as many as 400 members of the church who have been wrongfully deemed inactive, although church leaders have said they think that number is significantly smaller.
In a statement to WUSA9 Thursday afternoon, McLean Bible Church lamented the “significant harm to our church family” the lawsuits have caused and said Friedman’s opinion left open only minor questions that weren’t addressed by the lawsuit resolution plan
“As we continue to seek ways to fully and finally move past all of this, our church family will respond in the same ways we have from the beginning: working with courts to show that this group’s repetitive lawsuits and claims are completely without merit, while at the same time remaining steadfast in our commitment to show the love of God in our city and the world around us,” the church said in its statement.
The lawsuit brought to the surface disagreements over the direction of the church between Platt, a best-selling author and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board, and a contingent within the church that believes he has steered MBC away from its founding ethos and the path charted for more than 30 years by long-time senior pastor Lon Solomon. Since taking over from Solomon in 2017, Platt has faced criticism from some members over what they view as his embrace of critical race theory and support for the Black Lives Matter movement, as well as allegations that he wanted to change the church's stance on abortion and homosexuality.
“We were historically a conservative church, and David is left of center – he’s taken our church down paths we never anticipated," Mark Gottlieb, a former church elder, wrote in a July 2021 letter posted to the Facebook group “Save McLean Bible Church” about his decision to leave the church.
Platt has denied any desire to change long-standing church teachings. In a sermon that same month posted to the church’s YouTube page and first reported by the Washington Post, Platt told his congregation there was an effort to reject qualified elder candidates and use “buzzwords and scare tactics” like critical race theory and defunding the police to take over the church.
“A small group of people inside and outside this church coordinated a divisive effort to use disinformation in order to persuade others to vote these men down as part of a broader effort to take control of this church,” he said.
Platt and church leaders have also rejected allegations brought in a second suit filed in December that they have failed to be transparent about the nondenominational church’s transfer of money to the Southern Baptist Convention as part of a church-planting partnership.
In March, Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David A. Oblon denied a motion from McLean Bible Church to dismiss that lawsuit.
In a recent meeting with congregants, elders said the church has spent approximately $750,000 in legal fees responding to both lawsuits. Last month, church members voted to adopt an amended constitution church leaders hope will address issues raised by the lawsuit, including removing a requirement that members miss eight consecutive weeks of church before being deemed “inactive.”