Jackson Way Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala., 'Where Love Abounds,' was the location for the meeting of the Madison (County) Baptist Association Executive Board meeting in which Weatherly Heights Baptist Church was dismissed from the association in a vote of 74 to 5 on Monday, March 16, 2015. (Kay Campbell/KCampbell@AL.com)

Meeting for less than one hour on Monday, March 16, 2015, representatives of each of the 86 congregations of the Madison (County) Baptist Association voted to dismiss Weatherly Heights Baptist Church from the Southern Baptist Convention-affiliated association because of the minister's support for same-sex marriage. The vote was 74 to 5.

Media was barred from the meeting itself, but was invited to wait in another room for the vote results. Voting messengers for the meeting could have been as many as 172, since each congregation, regardless of size, is allowed two votes, usually cast by the pastor and a member of the deacon board.

"It is truly a sad evening for Southern Baptists and the Madison Association Baptists," said Charlie Howell, the director of missions for the association in a written statement he gave to AL.com following the meeting, which was held at Jackson Way Baptist Church in Huntsville, Ala. "Our Association has lost one of its sister churches. But our Executive Board...has deemed it necessary that we remain true to the biblical definition of marriage in belief and practice. The culture in which we live may change, but we must stand firm upon the Word of God (the Bible), which remains constant."

"We have a great opportunity before us as Madison Association Baptists to impact our city, nation and world with the 'good news' of Jesus Christ," Howell's statement said in its conclusion. "We truly strive to love all people, regardless of what sin might entangle them, knowing that Jesus died on the cross for all of our sins. If anyone repents of their sin and embraces Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, then they receive forgiveness of sins and eternal life in Christ. This is the best news we can share with you tonight."

Howell and others who attended the meeting declined to comment further.

Weatherly Heights Baptist Church member and unpaid minister to the community, the Rev. Dr. Ellin Jimmerson, officiated at the first public wedding of a same-sex couple in Huntsville on Feb. 9, 2015. When Association representatives called Weatherly Heights senior pastor Dr. David Freeman to ask about that action, they learned that Freeman had also defended adult, loving, monogamous, same-sex relationships" in a sermon in September 2013.

After a February 17 meeting between a leadership team from Weatherly Heights and the Baptist Association, it became clear that the association would vote on Weatherly's membership, and that the vote would likely dismiss the congregation from membership.

Rev. Dr. David Freeman

Why not resign?

So why didn't Weatherly Heights - which is also affiliated with the less conservative Cooperative Baptist Fellowship - resign from the Baptist Association, rather than face that vote?

"Weatherly has stayed in the Southern Baptist Convention because our tent is large enough to include them," Rev. Freeman wrote in an email exchange with AL.com before the meeting. "We actually are far more alike than we are different. They will have to decide if their tent is large enough to include us."

Weatherly's congregation includes members who disagree with Freeman's conclusions about gay marriage, he said. Remaining in communion with others does not mean everyone has to agree on everything.

"Gay marriage is ripping some denominations and churches apart, but not all," Freeman said. "It is not an essential of the faith; therefore it does not have to damage relationships. I have people in my congregation who disagree on this issue and still love and respect each other. Each person is encouraged to open his or her mind, open his or her Bible, and then, before Almighty God, wrestle with the issue and the text. We do not all arrive at the same conclusion, but we do respect the others' honest struggle with God."

In his statement Monday night (a statement he released to AL.com after the meeting), Freeman again pointed to the historic principles around which Baptists organized.

"Weatherly is a Baptist church. We always will be. Removing us from the Madison Baptist Association will not further the cause of Baptists nor the cause of Christ," Freeman said to the association. "My fear is that it will make us look petty and unloving. Our tent is large enough to include you. Our hope is that you will decide that your tent is large enough to include us."

Both Charlie Howell and David Freeman regretted that the issue has taken time, energy and attention away from other, positive, activities of both the association and of Weatherly Heights Baptist Church.

"This issue has taken a lot of energy," Freeman wrote in the pre-meeting exchange. "We are also preparing to feed 430 children during Spring break. We just provided respite care for families with a child with a disability. Our church was full this morning with people learning English as a second language. We have men and women rehabbing affordable housing.

The Rev. Dr. Robert White

Baptist heritage

"Being Baptist," historically, meant the opposite of what this vote signified, said the Rev. Dr. Robby White, senior pastor of Locust Grove Baptist Church in New Market and also professor of ethics and religion at Athens State University.

"Our birthright as Baptists is freedom," Dr. White said in his comment to the meeting, which he gave to AL.com after the meeting. White's statement begins with the story in Genesis in which Esau sells his birthright to his brother, Jacob, for a bowl of lentils. "We have from the start been a liberty-loving people: A free church, a free pulpit, a free people who live out there priesthood of believer under the Lordship of Christ.

"Tonight, we are on the verge of selling our birthright as Baptists- and for what? It's not about the same-sex marriage issue nor is it about biblical authority. This is about being a Christian and Baptist --it's about a fundamentalist viewpoint in regard to interpreting scripture. We Baptists are not bound by one viewpoint or interpretation of scripture nor do we have to agree with each other on the issue of the day -- otherwise we would not practice priesthood of the believer or autonomy of the local church. The real issue is about how fundamentalism has taken over not only the Southern Baptist Convention but how it now controls the Madison Baptist Association.

"I have been in this association for 34 years. I have served in many different capacities in this Association across those years--from president of the Pastors Conference to serving on the personnel committee. What I can tell you is that the character and tone of what we are doing presently does not demonstrate who we have been across the years.

"Our mandate as Christians is to love God and love our neighbor," White concluded. "We are called on to be peacemakers. In a country that is already polarized, it appears to me that Christians should attempt to bring people together in the love of Christ. At the least, we are called on to stand in the gap and build a bridge where others have built a wall. As Harry Emerson Fosdick once said, 'Opinions may be mistaken, but love never is.'"

White predicted after the meeting that because of his support for Weatherly's position that his congregation, which is also dually affiliated with both the Southern Baptist Convention and the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, would be the next to be dismissed from the Madison Baptist Association.

White also wrote an open letter to the association on March 4 explaining how dismissing a congregation over a doctrinal issue contradicted historic Baptist principles.