On Tuesday, Former Seattle King County NAACP President Dr. Carl Mack moderated a press conference where four Black women alleged that they were victims of abuse of power by key leadership officials at Mt. Zion Baptist Church of Seattle.
The women, who combined have over 180 years of membership at the church, claim that Rev. James Stallings, Interim Pastor at Mt. Zion, and Trustee Chair Harry Bailey have allegedly abused their power in their treatment of the women – Reverend LaVerne C. Hall, Reverend Ruth Saunders, Debra Ward and Dr. Lora-Ellen McKinney – over the last several months.
In the case of Revs. Hall and Saunders, both received letters signed by 13 members of Mt. Zion stating that, “It has become apparent that your disruptive behavior towards Rev. Stallings and others are intentionally derailing and counterproductive to the efforts the leadership team is making to restore and rebuild the spiritual and Christian relationships of Mount Zion. …… The conduct you are exhibiting is undermining the effectiveness, impeding the motivation of fellow members, and making it extremely difficult to move the Church forward. We are asking you to cease and desist in attending, in any manner or form, all future Advisory Council and All church meetings. If you insist continuing in your present course after receiving this letter the membership committee will be asked to make the difficult decision to remove you from membership at our next church meeting. This would also remove you from your privilege to participate in any church function and fellowship.”
Mack, who resides in Ft. Washington, MD, was appalled that these women would receive such a letter from the church.
“These women of faith represent two ordained ministers, these women of faith have two doctorates among them, one of the women is faith is arguably the greatest person to ever reside in the pulpit of Mt. Zion, one of these women of faith is the daughter of the oldest living deacon in Mt. Zion. So, we’re not talking about “trouble makers”, we’re talking about outstanding women in this community, and outstanding women that have been a part of Mt. Zion,” said Mack.
“The power [of the church]is not with the Trustees, the power of that church is not with the pastor, the power of that church is with the congregation, and where did the congregation say they these four women are not worthy to be a member of Mt. Zion,” added Mack.
Rev. Hall has been a member of Mt. Zion since 1962 and over the years has served in many different capacities, including: superintendent of the Church Sunday School, the Ministry of Christian education, serving more than 10 years as a church office administrator, and served 18 years as the director of the Mt. Zion Saturday Ethnic School.
Hall, who is 80 years old and less than 5 feet tall, says that as she stood up to speak at a Mt. Zion Baptist Church Advisory Council Meeting on August 10, 2018, Rev. Stallings would not allow her to speak at the meeting.
“A big, I mean a big more than six feet tall, bully would not allow me to speak,” says Hall. “Stopped me in my tracks and scared me to doing something that I have never done before in my life – I wet my pants.”
Hall claims that Stalling was “rushing” towards her, calling her names and telling her to sit down because she had a microphone in her hand.
“When I got home I called my children and then the next morning I got up and wrote a letter to the advisory council and the diaconate and I simply went over how I had been treated,” says Hall, who said she asked for an apology.
Hall says that about a week later she received the letter from the church asking her to cease and desist.
Ward says that Stallings and Bailey treat her father, the oldest living Deacon at Mt. Zion, with disrespect.
“Stallings, when I introduced my father, just looked at him like he was a piece of dirt on the ground,” says Ward. “It’s as if they’re simply waiting for them to go away so they can do what they please.
Ward claims she began being harassed after she questioned the business practices of the church.
“One of the things they say is that ‘you don’t understand it,’” says Ward of the response she receives when asking questions of the church. “I have a Master’s Degree in public policy and finance. I’m the former CFO of the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency. I understand money perfectly. I understand how things should operate. I’m not telling them that they are bad, I’m simply telling them that I think there are better things that they could do.”
“If asking questions and saying maybe there’s a better way is unChristian and unGod-like then I’d like to know how these men of God go to sleep at night,” concluded Ward.
Saunders claims that she came under fire at the church after she was the chair of the Finance Ministry at the church. Saunders claims that she and her colleagues were not allowed to present their proposed budget to the church, and alleges that Stallings presented his own budget to the church. She claims that when she stood up to vote against the proposal Stallings told her that she could not vote because she was not a member of the advisory council. It was a short time later that she received cease and desist letter from Mt. Zion.
McKinney claims that she has been unable to mourn the death of her father, Rev. Dr. Samuel B. McKinney, Pastor Emeritus of Mt. Zion, because she has been “harassed, intimidated, berated and physically intimidated by people whose leadership in the church that my father loved.”
McKinney says the situation has gotten so bad that she has been blocked from entering the church on more than one occasion.
According to McKinney, Bailey has “told security not to let her in several times and she has been blocked at the door.
“I’ve been told that I must sit and that I must be given permission to enter by Stallings or by Bailey,” says McKinney.
“Bailey has made it clear to me that he despised my father,” says McKinney. “He and others have stated in my hearing that they were just waiting for my father to die, so they could do what they wanted with the church.”
“These are the accounts that I heard,” said Mack. “I’m not here because I want to, I’m here because I had to.”
“These stories should be troubling to all of us, about these men and their positions,” added Mack. “Do I think they are bullies? Absolutely.”
“They have prostituted their positions for the business of Mt. Zion versus the salvation of souls for Mt. Zion, because if you cared about the salvation of souls it is unexplainable to me how these women with these credentials or anyone for that matter could be spoken to in such a manner,” Mack concluded.
Editor’s Note: The Seattle Medium was unable to reach out to Mt. Zion Baptist Church leadership prior to press time for comment.
