Sustar v. Williams

• Decision Date: 05 June 1972
• Docket Number: No. 46633,46633
• Citation: 263 So.2d 537
• Parties: Reverend H. D. SUSTAR, State Overseer for the Church of God in Mississippi, et al. v. David WILLIAMS et al.
• Court: Mississippi Supreme Court

Page 537

263 So.2d 537

Reverend H. D. SUSTAR, State Overseer for the Church of God in Mississippi, et al. v. David WILLIAMS et al.

No. 46633.

Supreme Court of Mississippi.

June 5, 1972.

Rehearing Denied July 3, 1972.

Satterfield, Shell, Williams & Buford, Swep S. Taylor, Jr., Jackson, for appellants.

Harlon H. Varnado, John H. Downey, Jackson, for appellees.

RODGERS, Presiding Justice.

This litigation involves that which is commonly known as a church dispute. The crux of this case centers around property ownership of a church building. This is what happened.

Certain citizens of Jackson, Mississippi, associated themselves into a religious association known as the Church of God. The original church organization is located at Cleveland, Tennessee. It is organized as a hierarchical church association. It is governed by a General Overseer and a General Assembly who appoint State Overseers and State Trustees of property. In short-it is a pre-Reformation feudalistic organization governed from the top, or apex, down.

The local citizens worked tirelessly to raise funds by giving parties, selling cokes and in other ways, until they raised sufficient funds to buy a building lot and to build a church. They raised many thousands of dollars to establish a place of worship. They then borrowed funds and erected a parsonage next to the church. In the meantime, the governing authorities appointed one David Williams as an Exhorter. This is apparently an intervening station since he was later ordained as a licensed minister.

The affairs of the church moved smoothly until the State overseer, H. D. Sustar, decided to transfer the pastor, Brother Williams, to another church. The Overseer claimed that he had been told by someone on the telephone that unless he moved Brother Williams, he would be shot. The State Overseer ordered Brother Williams to move. He said he would get Brother Williams a good church, but Brother Williams refused to move. The local church members apparently felt, from the reading of their church law, that they could recommend a minister to the State Overseer. They wrote a letter to the General Overseer at Cleveland, Tennessee in which they proclaimed their loyalty to the 'Church of God.' The letter contained the statement, which was considered by the church officials as challenging their authority, as follows:

'. . . Therefore, it must be understood that the revocation of his license as a minister of the Church of God does not waver (sic) his position as our pastor. We intend to continue as a faithful Church, first of all to God, secondly as a Church of God. . . .'

The letter was signed by practically all the members of the local Leavell Woods Church of God. In the meantime, the license of Mr. Williams as a minister of the Church of God had been revoked by the hierarchical authorities.

After the letter reached the General Overseer, the State Overseer appeared at the Leavell Woods Church on January 27, 1971 and read a proclamation to the assembled congregation in which he said that

'. . . (T)his church is, at this time, not a qualified member of the association of the Church of God, and is hereby dissolved and disbanded . . . I am pursuant to the authority in me vested, declare (sic) this Church, as of now, disbanded and as a direct result, I am declaring all offices of this church are vacant. Any and all personal belongings of any and all persons, should be removed immediately from these premises. . . . I have sought guidance and counsel from the Lord and this is the only way I know of, or have found, to solve the dilemma in which I find this Church. . . .'

The congregation, however, did not leave and take their personal belongings; they continued to worship in the church for which they had worked so tirelessly. After the State Overseer had declared that the local trustees were no longer officers of the Church of God, he recognized the State Trustees as holders of the title to the Leavell Woods Church of God and he sought help from the Chancery Court of the First Judicial District of Hinds County, Mississippi. He alleged in his petition to the Court that James L. Franklin, Jr., Paul Barker and H. P. Ford are State Trustees of the Church of God and as such are holders of the title to the property of Leavell Woods Church of God located at 304 Cedar Lane, Jackson, Mississippi. A copy of a deed signed by a trustee is attached to the petition. No point was made as to whether or not the original deed limited the ownership of the property. We are, therefore, restricted to the evidence before us on the question of title. This deed is made to certain local trustees named in the deed. The habendum part of the deed is in the following language:

'TO HAVE AND TO HOLD unto the said Oscar King, Donald Sharp, and James Walker, as Trustees and constituting the Local Board of Trustees of the Church of God at Jackson, in Hinds County, Mississippi, and to their successors in trust, and assigns forever, and subject alone to the following limitations:

The said Local Board of Trustees shall hold title to, manage and control the said real estate for the general use and benefit of the Church of God, having its general headquarters in Cleveland, Tennessee, and for the particular use and benefit of the local congregation of the said Church in Jackson, Mississippi.

The said Local Board of Trustees shall have full right, power and authority to sell, exchange, transfer and convey said property, or to borrow money and pledge the said real estate for the repayment of the same, and to execute all necessary deeds, conveyances, etc. provided the proposition shall first be presented to a regular or called conference of the said local church, presided over by the State Overseer of the Church of God, or one whom he may appoint, and the project approved by two-thirds of all members of the said local congregation present and voting.

If the local congregation at the place above designated shall at any time cease to function, or exist, then said Trustees shall hold title to said real estate for the Church of God generally in the State where said real estate is located, and said Trustees shall convey the said real estate upon demand to the State Board of Trustees of the Church of God in said state, which said State Board shall be authorized to either use said real estate, or the proceeds derived from the sale of same (said State Board being authorized to sell and convey the said real estate at any time after title is vested in it), for the founding of another Church of God in the same state, or for the promotion of one already existing.

If at any time the Local Board of Trustees shall cease to exist or to perform its duties, then the State Overseer of the State in which said real estate is located, shall have the power to declare all offices on the said board vacant, and the State Board of Trustees of the Church of God for that state shall automatically then hold title.

The limitations set forth herein are those appearing the Minutes of the 42nd General Assembly of the Church of God held at the Municipal Auditorium, Birmingham, Alabama, August 28-31, 1948.'

The petition prays the court for a temporary and permanent injunction against David Williams, thr former pastor, and James Errington and James Walker, trustees of the former Leavell Woods Church of God, enjoining them from going upon the property described in the deed and enjoining David Williams from occupying the pulpit of the Leavell Woods Church of God or any Church of God in Mississippi and prays for general relief.

The First National Bank answered that it held no funds belonging to the Church of God.

The trustees answered by denying all of the facts stated in the original bill and especially denying that Jimmy D. Hankins was a local trustee of the Leavell Woods Church of God.

In the meantime, however, practically all of the adult members of the congregation of the Leavell Woods Church of God filed a petition asking to be permitted to intervene in the litigation as beneficiaries of a religious trust and the real parties of interest involved in the litigation of the title to the church property. They alleged that they are representing a majority of the beneficiaries of the religious trust; that at least sixty-six and two-thirds percent (66 2/3%) of the members have determined 'that there exists a deep-seated and irreconcilable hostility' between themselves and the complainants; that under the authority of Section 1273-01, et seq., Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated, as added by Laws of 1960, Chapter 221, they are entitled to an order enjoining the State Overseer and the State Trustees from exercising any control over the described church property. The church congregation was permitted by the court to intervene in the action and they filed their answer to the original bill stating, in substance, the allegations set forth in their motion, and again prayed for an injunction to prevent the State Overseer and State Trustees of the Church of God from interfering with the use and occupation of the church property. David Williams joined in an amended answer in which he denied that the court had jurisdiction to prevent him from holding himself out as a minister of the Church of God, since this did not involve church property rights.

The complainants in the original bill, the State Overseer and the State Trustees of the Church of God answered the affirmative allegations set out in the original and amended answers of the defendants and intervenors. They filed a demurrer as a part of their answer, and also filed a plea in bar to the defense of the intervenors in which they charge that Sections 1273-01 and 1273-02, Mississippi Code 1942 Annotated (Supp.1971) are unconstitutional, inasmuch as the Church of God is a hierarchical church and the title to the property is vested in the trustees of the mother church rather than in the trustees of the local congregation. The Chancellor refused to...