Faith Baptist Church of Knightdale Lawsuit Against Summit Church

The lawsuit filed by members of Faith Baptist Church in Knightdale against The Summit Church and their own church leadership ended in a December 3, 2024 settlement that killed a proposed merger under which Faith Baptist would have dissolved and transferred its 30-acre, roughly $25 million campus to Summit, the Raleigh-Durham megachurch led by former Southern Baptist Convention president J.D. Greear.¹ The settlement came the day before Greear was scheduled to sit for a videotaped deposition.

What the Dissenting Members Alleged

A group of members organized as “Defenders of Faith” and retained attorney James Lawrence to challenge the merger in Wake County Superior Court. Their core claims were that the merger violated Faith Baptist’s own constitution, which explicitly forbade denominational affiliation, because Summit is aligned with the Southern Baptist Convention; that the congregational vote had been rigged by reclassifying 183 longtime members as “inactive” and stripping them of voting rights; that the financial crisis used to justify dissolution rested on figures no one could substantiate; and that severance packages built into the plan for staff violated the church’s rule against dissolution for personal gain.²

The Vote That Triggered the Suit

On December 10, 2023, treasurer Jon Wallace told the congregation the church had run eight consecutive years of shortfalls totaling more than $1 million. The former treasurer told member Brian Hopper Sr. the numbers were inaccurate, and in a later deposition Wallace admitted he did not know how they had been calculated or who prepared them.²

On January 21, 2024, leadership announced the proposed merger with Summit. Before the March 3, 2024 congregational vote, 183 members were reclassified as inactive and excluded. Many were among the most vocal opponents of the deal. The reduced electorate approved the merger 97 to 55.¹

What Discovery Showed About Summit’s Role

Summit had publicly framed itself as a third party responding to a struggling church. Discovery told a different story. Internal emails and text messages showed that Faith Baptist pastor Jason Little had been coordinating with Summit pastor Daniel Simmons since September 2023 about Summit’s interest in the property. Little gave Summit communications director Amy Whitfield access to Faith Baptist’s bylaws and gave Summit chief financial officer Todd Ervin full access to the church’s financial records ahead of the congregational meeting. Whitfield helped draft a FAQ document sent to Faith Baptist members about the merger.²

Greear personally recorded a video endorsement of the merger and appeared at a Faith Baptist meet-and-greet on February 18, 2024. Kivett Hicks, pastor of Summit’s Knightdale campus, toured the Faith Baptist student center with Little and, in a text message uncovered in discovery, wrote of the displaced members meeting outside under a pavilion, “I’m in for blasting away at the chairs.”² After the temporary restraining order issued, Hicks texted that he was personally fine if Summit didn’t get the property but that Greear remained in “fight mode.”³

After leaving Faith Baptist in April 2024, Little signed a contract with Summit paying him $6,000 per month for “research regarding methods and helpful tactics in building strong local church partnerships.”³

Injunction, Bankruptcy, and the $170,000 Payment

The Defenders of Faith filed for a temporary restraining order just before the March 3 vote. The court granted the TRO on March 4, 2024, and on April 19, 2024 issued a preliminary injunction halting the dissolution. The judge ruled that Summit had been involved in the situation “from the beginning,” rejecting its claim to be an uninvolved third party.³

On May 10, 2024, Faith Baptist filed for Chapter 11 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, assigned to Judge David M. Warren. The petition listed assets between $10 million and $50 million and liabilities between $1 million and $10 million.⁴ The filing froze the state court case. On the same day, Summit contributed $170,000 to Faith Baptist, money the opposing members said was used to fund the legal fight against them.³

Settlement on the Eve of Greear’s Deposition

Greear was scheduled to be deposed on camera at 10:00 a.m. on December 4, 2024. Summit’s attorneys moved to prevent the deposition from being shared on social media, arguing that release could embarrass the church. The judge denied the motion.¹

The parties settled on December 3, 2024, the day before the deposition. The merger was dead. The bankruptcy case was later dismissed on the debtor’s own motion on April 8, 2025 and formally closed on April 24, 2025.⁵

Summit Church’s Position

Summit’s directional elders issued a formal statement denying allegations of “manipulation, dishonesty, bullying tactics, or conspiracy,” calling them “simply untrue.” Summit maintained that Faith Baptist’s leadership approached it because of declining attendance and financial instability, and that Summit acted “with the utmost integrity at every step.”¹ Summit was not a named defendant in the lawsuit. Its attorneys nonetheless sought to restrict Greear’s deposition, and the $170,000 May 10 payment was made directly to Faith Baptist.

Where Things Stand

After the settlement, Faith Baptist recalled its founding pastor, Gary Williams, who had led the church from its founding until his 1993 resignation, and resumed services in 2025. Summit continues to operate its Knightdale campus, which it launched at Knightdale High School in 2023, as part of its multi-site network across the Raleigh-Durham area.¹

1
The Christian Post. Summit Church Denies It Attempted Takeover of NC Church
2
American Reformer. Silent Takeover
3
Sarah Stankorb. A Failed Hostile Takeover
4
InfoRuptcy. Bankruptcy Case – Faith Baptist Church of Knightdale NC Inc
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PACER Monitor. Faith Baptist Church of Knightdale NC Inc