More than four dozen members of First Baptist Church Piney Grove in Lauderdale Lakes have filed a lawsuit accusing their pastor of misusing church funds, according to the Sun Sentinel.
Ezra Tillman, appointed senior pastor in March 2023, is accused of using church money to make a $200,000 down payment on a personal home in West Palm Beach. The lawsuit also claims he removed deacons without proper authority and expelled members who questioned his decisions.
“He won’t follow the constitution, which allows the members to govern the church,” said expelled member Vonice Gibbs, the lead plaintiff. “You’re dealing with other people’s money. There should be some transparency. There is none.”
The Lauderdale Lakes church, one of Broward’s oldest and largest Black congregations, has a membership of more than 1,500 and is attended by many Caribbean-Americans in Broward.
Tillman’s attorney, Michael Garcia, told the court Friday that all expenditures by the pastor were approved through proper procedures. “There is no misappropriation of funds,” Garcia said. “We have sufficient evidence showing there’s a process in place that the church followed.”
The dispute has escalated to a legal battle, though both sides acknowledge that many church disagreements are traditionally handled internally, according to the New Testament guidance. Plaintiffs’ attorney Johnny McCray said, “When you become incorporated under the laws of the state, and you have bylaws, you are bound by those bylaws.”
Garcia defended Tillman’s dismissal of two deacons, saying one publicly shared the pastor’s home address, creating a safety concern, and another was absent in violation of church rules.
It remains unclear whether Broward Circuit Judge Daniel Casey will allow the lawsuit to proceed or dismiss it as an internal ecclesiastical matter. No continuation date for the hearing has been scheduled.
Legal experts say the First Baptist Church Piney Grove case could raise complicated questions of church governance reserved for secular courts — or not. Under Florida’s “ecclesiastical abstention doctrine,” civil courts generally avoid interference in purely religious matters such as doctrine or church discipline. But when the dispute centers on finances, bylaws, or corporate control, courts may step in using “neutral principles” of nonprofit and corporate law.
