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The following article contains excerpts from an interview with Evergreen Baptist Church, conducted by  SBCEnquirer™:

Evergreen Baptist Church, affiliated with the Southern Baptist Environment and Climate Initiative (SBECI), just before the holidays, practiced church discipline and “removed some ‘polluted’ members from [its] ‘environmentally- pure’ roll,” stated Evergreen’s pastor, the Reverend Clevis Bevins.

Bevins stated, “We make it crystal-clear to every prospective member that we are a 100% totally green congregation! We live in a polluted age,” Bevins passionately stated, “We are called to be environmentally pure. I let them know, up-front, that I will not tolerate ‘fence-riders’ on the environmental issues. Either you are green, or you are not!  You are either striving to heat this world up, or cool it down. Our primary goal should be to cool it down! For this reason, every person who joins our church must sign the SBC’s 2007 Global Warming Resolution (and, yes, it is printed on recycled paper).”

Here is a listing of the violations that spawned Evergreen’s pastor to take action:

1. Four members were forced to leave the congregation when Bevins received word that they had used authentic Christmas trees and wreathes for decorating their homes. Bevins emotionally replied, with a cracking voice, “Four innocent lives [of trees] were maliciously taken . . . they aren’t coming back! If we don’t act upon these senseless murders, who will? “

Alvin Bledsoe, one of  Evergreen’s members who was charged with the violation, stated, “I told Pastor Bevins that the real tree was 50% cheaper than the artificial one; also, I am on a tighter budget, this year. Therefore, the best economical choice for me was to purchase the real tree. Also, you could not tell the two apart!” Bledsoe, when asked how Pastor Bevins learned about the ‘real tree,’  replied, ” When Pastor Blevins visited my house the other day, he literally ‘caught wind’ of it as soon as he walked into the door . . . the scent of freshly cut cedar fumigated the entire house. I knew right then that I was busted! A couple days later, I received, in the mail, a copy of the statement I signed with a letter of dismissal. Bledsoe went on to say, “Oh, how Pastor Bevins has changed. He used to cry for the souls of lost sinners. However, now he cries for dead trees!”

Teresa Young stated that Bevins found out about her  “real tree” when she posted a video clip, onto her  Facebook page, of her family’s yearly outing to the Christmas tree farm. Here is the video:

2. Three members were busted when the Reverend Bevins received early Christmas cards from them; the cards were not made from recycled paper. (Bevins is a big stickler for using only ‘recycled’ paper.) Bevins refused to comment on this violation. However, Jill Scott, one of the violators, stated, with tears streaming from her eyes, “Pastor Bevins used to preach on the blood of Jesus and the salvation of lost sinners.  He used to preach on how hot hell is; now all we hear is  how hot the earth is becoming and the salvation of trees.” Scott also stated, “He started changing about the time of the 2007 Global Warming Resolution was passed [by the SBC].

Roscoe Kimble, another excommunicated member, stated, “Pastor Bevins used to talk about Calvary alot. Alas, now all he talks about is Copenhagen! In our prayer meetings, he constantly tells us to make  COP15 Copenhagen our greatest prayer need . . . that we need to pray that the leaders will make the right environmental choices! . . .  blah, blah, blah!”

3. Four members were ousted because of ”atmosphere molesting” automobiles. Bruce Freson, a former-Evergreen member, stated, “Pastor Bevins ‘churched’ me because of my ’smokin’ diesel pick-up truck [that I use to transport cattle to make a living]. He told me that those diesel fumes were not only obnoxious to the planet, but were also obnoxious to God. I started seeing Pastor Bevins slowly change about the time he traded his Ford Explorer for a ‘Green-Certified’ Ford Focus Hybrid.”

Emily Rainey fears that she will be Evergreen’s next victim. She stated, “Last week, I [simply] asked Pastor Bevins if he had heard anything about the “leaked” ClimateGate emails. The words were not even out of my mouth yet when his demeanor suddenly changed. It made me think that I had just used the Lord’s name in vain. I could see the jugular vein flair up in his neck as he coldly stated, ‘I should have guessed it; you’ve been listening to those heretics on Fox News, haven’t you?’ I told him that I didn’t even watch Fox News. However, he then threw his hands up in the air and stomped out of the sanctuary mumbling, something under his breath, about some Hannity fellow.”