Embattled East Cobb Church Warned Of Coming 'Spiritual Battle'

EAST COBB, GA — A prominent Cobb County pastor and former president of the Southern Baptist Convention urged members of the embattled Mt. Bethel Church at a special prayer service to prepare for “spiritual warfare.”

Rev. Bryant Wright, retired pastor of Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, was one of about 20 faith leaders who spoke Sunday night at the event, held in response to a fight between Mt. Bethel and its denomination’s regional governing body.

“Realize who your enemy is,” Wright said, as reported by East Cobb News. “It is not the Bishop, it is the devil.”

Some members of Mt. Bethel might debate that point. The church’s problems came to a head in April when Bishop Sue Haupert-Johnson, head of the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church, reassigned Mt. Bethel pastor Jody Ray. But instead of accepting the new assignment — which is standard operating procedure in the Methodist church — Ray surrendered his credentials, and Mt. Bethel announced it would leave the denomination. The conference eventually responded by declaring it would seize Mt. Bethel’s assets.

Feeding this feud is a larger schism within the United Methodist Church over same-sex marriages and LGBTQ ministers, with the conference in favor and the conservative East Cobb church opposed.

Referring to Ray’s departure from the denomination, Wright told those in attendance that “when a leader is accused of division, that is straight from the evil one.”

Read the story from East Cobb News.

See a recording of the Mt. Bethel prayer service on Facebook.

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