By Michael Gryboski, Editor Thursday, September 18, 2025

A Tennessee sheriff and his deputies have been accused in a lawsuit of showing up to a church armed and trying to force a vote to oust a pastor and a deacon.

Pastor Rick Miller and Deacon Daniel Pate filed a lawsuit on Tuesday in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee against members of the Carter County Sheriff Department.

According to the complaint, Carter County Sheriff Mike Fraley and several deputies arrived armed, in uniform, and without a warrant at Old Horseshoe Freewill Baptist Church in Elizabethton in September 2024 during a prayer service.

Fraley and the others arrived at the church on a Sunday “to force a vote to terminate the church's Pastor and Deacon, in their role as spiritual leaders of the church, and church members who were occupying Old Horseshoe Freewill Baptist Church as their home church,” the suit alleges. 

According to the lawsuit, the police said they were there at the behest of former church members who had resigned from Old Horseshoe Freewill Baptist when a former pastor left for a different position.

“The deputies were going to force a vote between former church members and the current church members when the matter had already been settled,” stated the suit.

After nearly 30 minutes of arguing with authorities, Pate locked up the church building and set the alarm, with church members leaving and authorities eventually doing the same.

Multiple services afterwards were canceled as a precaution, according to the complaint, with county authorities allegedly surveilling the church for some time afterwards.

“The foregoing acts of the Defendants, and each of them, were taken under the color of state law intentionally, purposely, and maliciously to advance the goals of their conspiracy to deprive Deacon Daniel Pate and Pastor Rick Miller of their employment and leadership positions with the church,” the complaint claims.

The lawsuit accuses county authorities of violating the Fourth Amendment’s prohibition on unlawful search and seizure, depriving them of substantive due process, violating the First Amendment, civil conspiracy, obstruction of worship, violating the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, and violating police procedures and policies.

Pate and Miller are seeking $3 million in damages.

In a statement given to WCYB News 5, Sheriff Fraley said that his office had “received a copy of the document that is circulating through social media and news reports, and we are carefully reviewing it, and the allegations contained therein.”

“We are aware there are serious concerns in the community regarding this potential lawsuit, and that is rightly so. The allegations contained in these documents are extremely serious, and we are taking them very seriously,” stated Fraley.

“However, until we have been officially served, we cannot comment on what is, at this point, a non-event. As this progresses, and once we are actually served with official court documents, we will keep the public informed, and we will address the allegations contained in the complaint and whether or not they have any merit.”

News Source : https://www.christianpost.com/news/tenn-sheriff-accused-of-trying-to-force-church-to-oust-pastor.html