Editor’s Note: Little did they know. Having served on the Session of the Southminster Church in South Daytona Beach, Fla., Linda Davis was none too proud when her young adult son, Lloyd, was ordained and installed as elder on the church’s Session. The 1990’s were approaching. These were booming days in the life of the church in which Lloyd had been confirmed and married–to a bride he had met there in second grade Sunday School. Little did he or Linda know that, on the encouragement of the pastor and a few elders, the Session would soon initiate a process of investigation into the possibility of withdrawing from the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Such an action was allowed in the Articles of Agreement (Article 13) that guided the reunion of the northern and southern streams of the church. That process split the church and nearly split their family.
TPO: It sounds like you experienced at least a few years of booming ministry at SPC.
Lloyd: Somewhere in the course of events, around the time the pastor got to the church, the Good Lord really started getting a hold of Ann and me. We went through some pretty tough stuff, a severe motorcycle accident, a son born two months premature who wasn’t supposed to survive but did. … God used those things to bring us closer to Himself. The pages of the Bible became really real through that. God got a hold of both of us and opened our eyes.
Linda: The church was becoming more and more charismatic and less traditional in worship. It was exciting and enthusiastic. It met the needs of a lot of people. The church grew tremendously. Attendance reached over 400. The pastor was attracting a lot of people, especially young people.
TPO: How did the troubles all begin?
Linda: In my memory it began when I heard the pastor say during a sermon something about “the so-called Book of Church Order.” We had started getting an influx of members who were disaffected Presbyterians from another local church. When they started coming, they began to be the leaders, the members of Session, and the committees. It was primarily the people who had been there a long time who were becoming concerned.
Lloyd: The pastor wanted the Session to look like the congregation. So he had me on Session as an elder in my mid-20s. I can still remember the night when it was brought up–about six different points–about how the presbytery had gone down a different road on these six points. We voted unanimously just to discuss these points. They dealt with how the denomination addresses the authority of the Bible–with people denying the Bible’s infallibility–about ministers being ordained who deny Presbyterian doctrines, about homosexuality, about abortion, about denominational leadership and about church property.
We certainly felt we could discuss all that. Having grown up in the church as I had, knowing these were all good Christian folks, we certainly could discuss these matters. Man, that was like nitroglycerin. It was like we had put a brick wall right down the middle of the church. Older members were on one side of the wall. Newer members were on the other side of the wall. I saw a whole lot of people on both sides of the wall doing a lot of what I would call non-Christian things. I saw a lot of things done and said that were not loving or Christian whatsoever.
Linda: It was a real shock and surprise to many traditional Presbyterians when we received a proposal from the Session (that) gave reasons to withdraw from PC(USA).
As I remember it, that’s because of the Session’s feeling the PC(USA) was going in the wrong direction, and because after the merger of the northern and southern churches and Article 13 made it possible for PCUS churches to withdraw by a certain date. The deadline was drawing near. Many felt the true reason the pastor and the Session wanted to withdraw was not only the issues presented but that they wanted to acquire the church property and affiliate with another branch of the Presbyterian Church, the Evangelical Presbyterian Church. At the time it seemed like the bottom line was the wish to take the church property.
Lloyd: Ann and I would have been considered on the new side, the pastor’s side, and both of our sets of parents were on the other side of the wall. That made it very, very difficult for us personally. It took something like a six-month period for discussion. Things got nasty. We had to have Session meetings in public because of all the things that were being said. People were making threatening comments, threatening phone calls. It was terrible, nasty. Around the three-month period Ann and I made a conscious decision not to go with either side … and would simply vote how we believed.
It got into the secular press. … It was not very flattering.
TPO: Where did it go from there?
Linda: A group was concerned about this thing that was about to happen, and they were not on the Session. We started meeting at other churches. We had other pastors come meet with us. That group wrote a letter to presbytery and the committee on ministry requesting help. That probably was when the [presbytery’s] special committee was formed and a pastor was assigned by presbytery to assist with the process. For a time both pastors were at Southminster. Then there were a number of meetings at which both sides spoke. At some point in time the current pastor was removed by presbytery and the assigned pastor continued.
Lloyd: I do remember Howard Edington being there. I liked what he had to say. He was admitting that there are serious problems with PC(USA), but his premise was “Don’t leave us. Help us get them fixed.” I liked what he said. The only problem was that he seemed to be the only one that was really going to work for change. In fact, another speaker from the presbytery tried to argue from the Bible that abortion can be okay. I couldn’t buy that.
TPO: What about the vote?
Linda: The motion requesting dismissal from PC(USA) had to be approved by a two-thirds majority in order to pass. Everyone thought that would be the end of SPC, because the pastor had a big following. But there were enough really good workers who worked diligently with the new pastor to keep the church going. The motion did not pass.
Lloyd: There were people in church on that day for the vote that we hadn’t seen in years and years and years. I wonder to this day if that vote was a real reflection of the active congregation.
[Within hours of the vote, those wanting to leave the denomination posted a sign in front of another sanctuary announcing the opening of a new Evangelical Presbyterian Church, with services beginning the following Sunday.]
TPO: What happened to that new church and your former pastor?
Linda: Over the next year, I heard that almost everybody who left with him ended up splitting off from him. I’ve heard that he has changed to another Presbyterian denomination and then to a non-denominational church.
Lloyd: We never went and we lost touch with everybody that did.
TPO: How did this impact you?
Linda: It was sad. There were people who were no longer friends. It hurt our relationship with Lloyd. We chose to go to another church [during the season of deliberation before the vote] because we didn’t want to pull apart over it. We were determined not to lose our family over it, so we withdrew for a while. We returned when a new preacher was in the pulpit. It was the pastor who was assigned by presbytery to assist in the process. He did such a good job he remained at Southminster for fourteen years. We remain until today. … My husband and I have helped support the merger of our church with the Highlands Church. We are now called the United Presbyterian Church of Daytona Beach, Central Florida Presbytery, PC(USA).
Lloyd: We dropped out of church for nine years. We visited I think every church in our area. We ended up going to Orlando [an hour away] to find a church we liked. But after a period of time–that’s a long trip to go–eventually we did just in-home studying and worship. But, finally, I’m ashamed to say, we just got out of it altogether. It wasn’t until I saw our boys getting into some things, that I felt God getting on my back to give some leadership to my family spiritually. Finally we joined a Bible believing church in 1998.
With Ann’s and my parents it was very strained for a very long time. Ann’s mom passed away four years after that and her dad two years later. We would go back to Southminster for significant events like their funerals. And we did go for some holidays. It was strained whenever we would talk about the things of God. We found that we are on different theological levels and different directions.
Linda: We decided that these are subjects we just can’t talk about in the family. That’s still the case, and that’s really sad.
TPO: What else would you want to add?
Linda: It was just such a hurtful time for so many people. I think probably one of the most difficult things for the outcome of Southminster is that almost all of the young families left with the pastor, and we’ve still not been able to rebuild the young people. We are a senior church, and we minister well to those over 55, but we don’t draw in the younger ones although recently through the efforts of one young couple we now have two more young families. We do a good job of ministry and mission in the area–Community and through Presbytery.
Lloyd: I have come very much through God’s help to believe in … the promise of Romans 8:28, that says that all things work for the best … and it doesn’t stop there … for those who love God and are called according to his purpose …all means everything. All means … getting pulled out of a church home … that put us into a strange relationship with our parents. All means all. But they don’t work for the best for everybody but just for those who love God … actually work against those who are not.
I count that as one of the significant events of my life. There was a lot of Scripture that God showed me and made very real to me during that time. And I can thank him for it now.
Linda Davis is a retired school principal. Lloyd Davis owns a local construction business. Both continue to reside in S. Daytona Beach, Fla.
