After fire, schism in Church of God of America leads to court battle in Kentucky

A battle for control of the Church of God of America Inc. has been underway since the organization’s main worship house and headquarters on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Danville burned to the ground on Jan. 31, 2010, and $918,000 in insurance money was collected.




Now the feud has moved from the church’s pews and meeting halls into the courtroom.



Three Somerset men who identify themselves as church elders and trustees and claim to represent the church itself, along with 27 people identified as church members, have filed a lawsuit in Boyle Circuit Court alleging that Tim Napier, bishop and president of the church, and three others have misappropriated church funds for their own use while acting without proper authority to rebuild the church in Danville and locking the doors of sister churches in Somerset and Shelbyville.



The plaintiffs, represented by Lebanon attorney Ted Lavit, are asking for a court order to stop construction of the new $1.5-million Church of God facility underway on Perryville Road and prevent Napier and the other defendants from taking any further actions on behalf of the church.

The lawsuit also asks that plaintiffs be allowed access to the Somerset and Shelbyville churches, and all church records and financial transactions, and that the church be repaid for “the misappropriation and embezzlement of church funds” by Napier and the others.



Napier, a Danville native and owner of Kentucky Tours and Travel in town, has not yet officially responded to allegations made in the complaint. But during an interview Thursday with his attorney Bill Erwin present, Napier categorically denied any misuse of church funds and said the plaintiffs are pretenders to any authority within the Church of God of America and are trying to sabotage his efforts to rebuild the church in Danville, where it was founded and incorporated in 1919.



“I think a lot of it is jealousy and envy. It’s an attack of good vs. evil,” Napier said. “They do not want to see the vision I have for this community to come to fruition. This is an attack to destroy it. Some of them want to rebuild in Somerset, but this is the town for this church to grow.”



Irwin said he plans to file a motion to dismiss the complaint this week on the grounds that the plaintiffs have no legal standing to make any claims of authority within the church.



“It’s a bizarre case. When we walk into court, I’m going to say I represent the Church of God of America and Ted Lavit is going to say he represents the Church of God in America,” Erwin said. “The difference is, I have documents from the Secretary of State’s office and they have some documents they downloaded from the Internet.”



According to the lawsuit, plaintiffs Eric L. Barnes, his son Justin Barnes and William Fay, all of Somerset, are ordained elders of the church and claim that Napier was never properly elected to the position of president by elders as required by church bylaws. Actions taken by Napier as president are therefore unlawful, including the purchase last year of 14 acres on Perryville Road where the new church is under construction, the complaint contends. Napier lives two houses down from the new church site.



The elders, by majority vote, asked Napier to resign his positions twice in 2012 but he “refused to relinquish his claimed position as bishop and president,” the lawsuit maintains.



Napier said during the interview that he assumed the role of bishop and president of the church in 2006 following the death of his predecessor. “I went through all the services and ceremonies to be officially named bishop and president,” he said. Irwin said Napier is listed as president on the church’s incorporation papers on file in the Secretary of State’s office.



No one questioned Napier’s leadership roles “until all of a sudden the church burns and there is money,” Napier said.




Napier said he appointed Eric Barnes and Justin Barnes to serve as pastors of the Somerset and Shelbyville churches, respectively, but described their relationship with the church over the years as on-again, off-again, and that he has terminated them from those positions. He said he wasn’t sure what connection Fay has to the church, and said that most of the 27 other plaintiffs did not regularly attend services.



According to documents attached to the lawsuit, the three plaintiffs met at a Somerset restaurant on Jan. 9 for a meeting of church elders and were the only three in attendance, after other elders and trustees — including two of Napier’s co-defendants, Charles Johnson and Perry Cunningham — failed to show up.