My dad, Vernon C. Lyons, at age 90 had welcomed Tommy Thompson to Ashburn Baptist Church to replace him as senior pastor. Toward the end of a two year transition period he was insisting that he should continue on as a salaried associate pastor. But, because of the priority of hiring new staff members it was essential that my dad step aside as was expected. He was offered the honorary position of pastor emeritus with continuing medical and other benefits; this he refused. Pastor Thompson and the deacons made multiple appeals for him to work cooperatively with them for the good of the church by continuing teaching and visiting as an unpaid pastor. Sadly, his repeated refusal turned into public criticism of the senior pastor and deacons, leading them to suspend his pastoral duties effective March 24, 2020 and give him till April 4 to vacate his study. Finally, a year later, it became necessary to exclude him from the membership of the church. I thought this consequential event, that happened a year ago now, needed to be detailed and added as a follow up to my previous articles about my dad.
After he received a formal accusation and a date for a hearing before the church, he promptly sought to gain an advantaged position by contacting the evangelical church’s foremost abuse advocate and whistle blower, independent journalist, Julie Roys. He posed as a victim who was being falsely accused of divisiveness while fighting for the survival of the church he founded and faithfully served as pastor for nearly 70 years. He further complained to The Roys Report that the newly appointed pastor, was running Ashburn Baptist into the ground.
Unfortunately, she gave him what he wanted, extensive quotes about the churches glory days, and a platform for criticizing Tommy Thompson‘s leadership. The Roys Report’s “balanced” reporting may have left some feeling sorry for the “grieving pastor,” but, it certainly had no influence on the members who had witnessed first hand the destructive effects of Vernon’s “save the church” campaign.
Here’s a link to the article from The Roys Report that was published only hours before the hearing.
The following commentary on what happened at the members-only meeting on March 31, 2021, is based on what I’ve heard with my own ears; thanks to a recording that was made available to me.
At the hearing for the charge of being divisive and sharing an internal e-mail with non-members, Vernon Lyons was given opportunity to speak in his defense. His only rebuttal to the charge of divisiveness was that since divisiveness divides, it would be evidenced by the resulting two parts. Referring to Ashburn as one part, he exultantly asked, “Where is the other part?” Well, I say, perhaps the charge should have been “explosive” rather than divisive, since people went flying, as he aptly described the explosion, “to the four points of the compass.”
But, of course, to him this exodus had nothing to do with his publicly claiming he was fired when he was offered the role of Pastor Emeritus, or his open criticism of the church’s compliance with CDC guidelines, or his filling the ear of a non-member with all his grievances, then supplying this outsider with the e-mail addresses of members, so this sympathizer could attack the new, duly appointed, senior pastor and board of deacons. No, it was Pastor Thompson’s fault the church was “falling apart.”
Towards the end of his comments, I believe he inadvertently exposed his heart as to why he was so adamant in refusing the position of pastor emeritus and insisting on continuing in a paid pastoral position. He gave an example of treatment he evidently thought he should have gotten from Ashburn. He told how a black church in Chicago had given their longtime pastor a retirement package with full salary, a new car and a driver (whatever that means). I guess he wanted Ashburn to be ashamed for being so stingy with their faithful pastor. In reality, he was facing the stingy policies he had put in place that aligned with his intention never to retire. But, tellingly, his final statement wasn’t about his love of the sheep, it was about money; but why? He likely had enough to support himself for another twenty years. But then he outdid himself making it about black vs. white when he finished by saying, that he must be “the wrong color.”
In Pastor Thompson’s and two deacons‘ testimonies, they gave details to substantiate the charge of divisiveness and much more. One of the deacons pointed out that my dad’s pattern was to cause confusion and conflict by deceiving people with half truths. Also, shared by the same deacon, when Pastor Thompson and the deacons, in a private meeting, implored him to support their unified leadership, his disturbing response was basically, “The best thing you can do at this point is to pray that I die.”
A salient example of a divisive breach of trust was given regarding a building contract with a construction contractor. Because it was so different from the original, it had been decided by the deacons to put a hold on signing it till the church could vote on it. Disregarding the deacons desire to get the church’s approval, my dad privately attempted to have one of the deacons sign the contract on behalf of the church. His defense later was simply that if the contract deadline was not met, the building would be dead.
I think one of the most powerful statements was when the second deacon, referring to the trouble my dad had caused the deacons and the church since the transition process had begun, said, “These have been the worst two years of my life.” Wow! That speaks volumes about the hurtfulness of my dad’s actions. Just multiply that by the number of people affected by his selfish and prideful actions.
Finally, though my dad was given an unrestricted opportunity to speak in his defense, which he took ample advantage of with 15 minutes of discourse, when denied additional response time later and told to sit down, he made one last attempt to assert his once unquestioned authority, by continuing to stand and saying to Pastor Thompson, the meeting chair, “Stand down.” Though likely taken-aback, Pastor Thompson was not intimidated.
This public showdown was certainly painful for everyone present to experience, but, it was nevertheless clarifying; for my dad, that he had indeed lost all authority and respect at Ashburn; and to all who in the next few minutes would write yes or no on a ballot, Vernon’s subversiveness and divisiveness was confirmed with a live example. In fact, 46 of the 55 voters wrote—YES, guilty of the charges. I would like to add to the 46, hundreds, who in response to my dad’s spiritually abusive leadership, voted with their feet in two church splits, to say nothing of an unknown number of sheep who fled over the decades of Ashburn’s history.
One final note: To me it seemed the prevailing feeling of the meeting was one of deep sadness. It was stated in multiple ways by those that testified. Personally, I wept more than once when I was listening to the recording, for those who had been so hurt and for my dad as he was so shamed and yet still completely blind to his faults. He was, as always, undaunted by the whole process and conclusion. It was definitely the church that was grieving.