Zion Baptist votes against reinstating pastor

Members of Zion Baptist Church voted overwhelmingly Saturday against reinstating the Rev. A. Carl Prince as pastor of the historic North Philadelphia church.

The vote was 298-54, with three ballots declared invalid.

Church members had complained that soon after Prince arrived at Zion, he began behaving as a "dictator" and was often rude and arrogant in speaking to members.

A four-page "Letter to the Joint Board," presented by deacons to a board of officers, outlined dozens of complaints from members who said that Prince "closed off three rooms" in the church for his exclusive use, that he spent large sums renovating his office, and that he began charging $300 in cash for funerals on top of the normal fee.

Ballots were cast between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday according to a detailed procedure worked out in a court-approved settlement in September between several Zion members who had sued to challenge the July 2014 vote that ousted Prince and church officials. The agreement called for four volunteers, two chosen by both supporters of Prince and by defendants in that lawsuit, who would monitor and tally the vote count.

About 125 church members waited for the results in the cavernous sanctuary.

"I have always been for the church. I have never felt that [Prince] was the person for this church," Inez Holloway, 90, a member of Zion's Deaconess Board for 26 years, said after the votes were counted.

"I didn't like his demeanor when he first came here," she said. "To me, it seemed like he was a dictator."

John Allen, a member of the church Prince led in Prince George County, Va., said Prince had his name added to that church's bank accounts and tried to sell church property to a group of foreign investors. He tried to persuade the 20 elderly members who remained with him to rent out space for church services at a nearby school. Allen said the church agreed to Prince's resignation after eight years of litigation.

Saturday's vote was the third time church members sought to dismiss Prince, who is in his late 50s, and came to Zion in January 2012, church members said. Helen Plenty, 73, a member for 51 years, said the earlier votes were in March 2014 and July 2014.

Prince filed suit on Dec. 22 to overturn the second vote and be reinstated. On Friday, he filed a preliminary injunction to try to block Saturday's vote.

Prince's lawsuit declared that the July 2014 vote against him was "illegal" because it had not followed either the church bylaws or the contract he signed when he was appointed pastor.

He also alleged that there had been no independent audit of Zion's finances since 2004 and that his asking for an audit prompted members to try to vote him out.

Kathleen Thomas, Zion's attorney, said the atmosphere at the church during the vote had been cordial.

"People were greeting each other and talking and chatting," she said. "I like that because at the heart, they are a family, and they are acting as a functional family."

Neither Prince nor Robert T. Vance, Prince's attorney, was seen at the church. Vance did not respond to an email seeking comment after the vote.

"This is the third time we've voted him out," Plenty said. "Three strikes and now you're out."

Another member, Jane Cameron Miller, who also voted to fire Prince, said she saw two members who had stopped coming to Zion because they supported Prince and had returned to vote "yes" to reinstate him.

"I embraced them warmly, and I asked them to come back," Miller said. "I miss them."

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