Judge clears National Baptist Convention presidential vote
Associated Baptist Press
Bob Allen
Sep 09, 2009
Judge clears National Baptist Convention presidential vote
By Bob Allen
Wednesday, September 09, 2009
WASHINGTON (ABP) -- A judge in Washington ruled Sept. 9 that the election of a new president of the nation's largest black Baptist convention could go forward as scheduled on Sept. 10.
One of two candidates vying for the post, Henry Lyons, a former president of the National Baptist Convention USA, Inc., who resigned from the post 10 years ago after being convicted of swindling more than $5.2 million from organization partners, filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the election on Sept. 8.
Lyons, pastor of New Salem Missionary Baptist Church in Tampa, Fla., claimed a 2006 bylaw amendment limiting the number of votes that a representative entity can cast unfairly favors his opponent, Alabama pastor Julius Scruggs. Scruggs is currently the convention's vice president at large.
