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The Rev. F. Willis Johnson may have preached his last sermon at the divided Shiloh Baptist Church.

The church’s governing council met Thursday night and has called for a vote June 28 to decide whether to fire the embattled Johnson, who was hired in 2007 and is currently serving a 90-day suspension.

“The most important thing is that he has become a divisive figure,” said attorney Camille Payton , a church trustee, council member, and one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that removed Johnson from the pulpit. She also made the recommendation Thursday to hold a vote.

“He is so much the subject of debate that his return threatens to split the church,” Payton said.

In recent votes involving Johnson, the membership has given mixed signals. Last September, the membership voted to keep the 34-year-old pastor. But earlier this spring, the governing council got a majority vote of the members to agree with taking out a restraining order against Johnson, keeping him out of the pulpit until at least Aug. 10.

Some members say the church and Johnson need time to work on healing — and that such a vote is premature.

“A deacon said, 'Something is not right about this, this is not out of love — don’t you think we are jumping the gun,’” said Mary DeGraffenriedt , a church deaconess who sat in on Thursday night’s meeting. “When you suspend someone you’ve got to give the person a time limit to correct things. They just want him gone. This is not right.”

Shiloh, once the seat of the civil rights movement in Greensboro, is known for its contentious battles with pastors. Johnson is the fourth leader in just over a decade in a church whose constitution gives its governing council the authority to reprimand the pastor. Johnson doesn’t want to go.

“I didn’t ask to leave,” said Johnson, who hadn’t been officially notified Friday of the upcoming vote. “I never stopped loving them. I have to believe the Lord’s will will prevail.”

A major sticking point between Johnson and the governing council has been plans to build a family life center. Before he was hired, Johnson told the pastoral search committee that he would seek grants to help build it. Now he says the church cannot afford it — something members such as Payton dispute.

“The church members at this point should be given the opportunity to decide whether they want to keep Reverend Johnson or whether they feel he can no longer lead,” Payton said. “If they feel he can no longer lead, they can terminate them. They certainly have the right to make that decision."

Contact Nancy McLaughlin at 373-7049 or nancy.mclaughlin@news-record.com