Several dozen members of the historic Shiloh Baptist Church in Washington, D.C., are calling for the ouster of their pastor, claiming that among other things, he is visibly absent from the church tending to his job as president of a seminary located almost 150 miles away.
A group of longtime parishioners claim that since accepting full-time responsibilities as president of Palmer Theological Seminary, the Rev. Wallace Charles Smith, who has served as pastor of Shiloh since 1991, has been “inaccessible to the congregation on a daily basis and does not maintain an on-site presence at Shiloh during the week.”
Over the weekend, 138 members voted to have Smith removed as pastor, but church leaders say the vote was unauthorized and did not follow the church’s bylaws and constitution.
Still, parishioners are upset, claiming that he did not inform the congregation that he had assumed the full-time job at his alma mater. And they charge that his daily five-hour round-trip commute and his job responsibilities at Palmer, located outside of Philadelphia, have left Shiloh without effective leadership.
“He has not been honest and forthright with us about the outside jobs he has taken since he arrived here,” says Sammie Ellis, a church member since 1977 and a member of the group calling for Smith’s resignation. “He is living in the parsonage that the church pays for, using the church’s credit cards and automobile which he’s supposed to use to visit the sick and shut-in and on matters pertaining to the church. He is having a good time doing whatever he wants to do.”
Smith dismissed the church critics saying, “When you’ve been at a congregation as long as I have, there are always issues with folks who have a problem with the pastor.” He says he told the congregation that he accepted the post at Palmer, noting that when he did, he received a standing ovation.
Smith says that with technology he can communicate with staff at the church and the seminary without physically being present. “I understand what each position requires and I put the time and effort in to get things done,” says Smith.
