Disturbing footage obtained by WLBT3 On Your Side shows Allie Thompson, an elderly woman, being forcibly removed from Mt. Olive Missionary Baptist Church by sheriff's deputies on Father's Day, marking the latest escalation in a bitter nine-month congregational power struggle. 

The video shows two Scott County deputies wrestling Thompson from the "mother's board" section as she cries, "You're hurting me!" Sheriff Mike Lee stated that the intervention was necessary after Thompson and six others violated a court order barring them from services. The order stemmed from an alleged September 2024 incident where a deacon was reportedly assaulted and hospitalized. The court documents claimed the group also threatened Pastor Charles Bell and his wife.

Thompson maintains that the conflict began when Pastor Bell started making unilateral leadership decisions, including appointing a finance committee without congregational approval and excluding her husband, the church's oldest deacon, from important decisions. Longtime members, such as Sunday School teacher Addie Johnson, told the outlet that they were suddenly removed from their positions without explanation.

“I am the Sunday school teacher here,” Johnson told WLBT3 On Your Side. “Mr. Johnson came in this morning and told me his pastor asked him to teach the Sunday School lesson, and he’s taking it over. I was not informed.” She also said she’s served as a Sunday School teacher at the church for decades.

Court records show the dispute has been brewing since at least October 2024, when church leaders first obtained a restraining order against the reported faction. 

“All the preachers that have been here and gone, if you get in touch with them, they will tell you that I have been a faithful warrior,” Thompson told the outlet. “Nothing but welcoming greeting guests as they come in. They would tell you that.”