Church takes longtime member to court for trespassing - Greensboro News & Record: Local News

Saint Mark

UNITED METHODIST CHURCH

781 Peachtree Street, NE

Atlanta, Georgia 30308-1205

404.873.2636

facsimile: 404.873.2639

office@stmarkumc.org

WWW .stmarkumc .org

July 1,2015

To James Avery,

Acting on behalf of the congregation as represented by Administrative

Council of Saint Mark United Methodist Church, we, the Board of Trustees,

hereby notify James Avery that his presence on the property of Saint Mark

United Methodist Church, 781 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta Georgia 30308;

bounded by Peachtree Street, Fifth Street, and Juniper Street, shall constitute a

criminal trespass from the time of the delivery of this notice forward.

E.C. LaRocca-Pitts

Senior Pastor, representing the Board of Trustees

Loving

Accepting

Serving

Church takes longtime member to court for trespassing - Greensboro News & Record: Local News: GREENSBORO — Sixty-two-year-old Marilyn Baird stood before a Guilford County District Court judge for a first appearance Monday and entered a not guilty plea to the crime of trespassing — for sitting in a pew at her church during a recent Sunday-morning service.

Baird, who ended up in handcuffs and in the back seat of a police car that Sunday, says she wants a trial over the misdemeanor charge.

“Despite everything that has gone on, I thought I had a right to worship,” Baird said about the arrest, which took place July 14 at New Hope Missionary Baptist Church. Baird has been a member since 1992.

“It illustrates the frailty of human beings even in sacred space,” said Bill Leonard, a church-history professor at Wake Forest University’s Divinity School, who says church is supposed to be about reconciliation and care.

“It may be seen as the last resort for irreconcilable differences,” Leonard said about congregations having to involve the police. “Even then, it is a terrible witness either for the individual in question ... or for the congregation.”

Baird, a former director of the nonprofit N.C. Occupational Safety and Health Project, said the controversy dates back at least as far back as this past spring, when she questioned financial practices at the church and was “silenced” for six months.

Baird said being silenced means not being able to talk about church issues.

Baird, who still considers herself a member of New Hope, said she is fighting for the integrity of her church and for the right to go back.

On Monday, the judge gave her a Sept. 17 court date.

“This has got to stop,” Baird said.

***