The group of pastors turned to a state law on nonprofits that requires a special meeting to be held within 30 days if the signatures of at least 10 percent of voting members are obtained on a petition. They hope to get enough signatures to force a meeting in February

Gaston County Superior Court Judge Jesse Caldwell ordered the Greater Gaston Baptist Association to provide a local pastor with the list of its members within three weeks.

Caldwell called the situation “highly unusual” in court Friday because no lawsuit had been filed and no file existed in the case.

The Rev. Dick Roberts wrote a letter to Caldwell asking him to order the release of a list of church delegates after a month went by without the association providing one.

Roberts is one of a group of pastors seeking to correct what they see as violations of the association’s procedures and policies involving the resignation of the association’s longtime executive director, Larry McElreath.

Roberts sought both the minutes of the annual meeting and a list of all the church delegates so the group could circulate a petition calling for a special meeting on the situation. As of Friday he hadn’t received either.

The pastors say the association’s bylaws don’t give the executive committee the power to hire or fire the executive director. That power rests with the church delegates, but delegates were never given the opportunity to vote.

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