In a 743-page federal lawsuit filed Feb. 14, Pastor JD Greear claims that The Summit Church is a mark of religious discrimination. The decision to file followed a unanimous denial of the megachurch’s plans to rezone its land to accommodate more guests.
Greear’s lawsuit on behalf of The Summit Church claims the Chatham County Board of Commissioners violated the 25-year-old Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). As with many megachurches in rural locations, there are concerns about growth. The concern is how it affects community traffic and other tax issues in Chatham County.
JD Greear services 13 campuses across Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. Its primary Chapel Hill campus is growing faster than most people expected. Greear proposed rezoning most of the location’s 100 acres to accommodate more members and guests.
Church leaders surveyed their land last year and found 50 acres that could be used more effectively. Although Chatham County officials already approved the plan to build a multi-purpose active-adult community on that land, The Summit Church ran into a wall of denial in December 2024. They immediately denied their plan for a two-story, 82,000-square-foot building for offices, an athletic court, and a play area.
That’s when JD Greear believed something else was motivating the church’s refusal to build on its own land and denying the zoning requests needed to do so.
“Religious Discrimination” Claims Pastor JD Greear
Denying The Summit Church the right to rezone their land lacks any legitimate legal rationale.
When it was to be part of a Herndon Farms development close to its Chapel Hill location, the process was going to happen. But now, it’s different.
However, when JD Greear announced a change of intent on that land for something that could be used more substantially by the community and the church, Chatham County officials weren’t happy. Neither were Chatham County residents, who have resoundingly expressed displeasure in public meetings about The Summit Church’s growth affecting their community.
This is one of North Carolina’s fastest-growing counties, having grown ninth over the last five years. The county plans to develop rapid infrastructure, expand commerce, and develop residential areas. As noted in Chatham County short-circuit TV, residents don’t have a problem with those plans.
Residents have particular regard for traffic and the county’s culture. Officials boldly labeled Summit’s plans as “antithetical to the preservation of true rural character.” Furthermore, residents pointed out that the property would constrain tax revenue. The claim is that Summit has created missed opportunities for high-paying jobs that others could have brought to the area.
That’s when Pastor Greear determined something else was behind this.
In a statement to the Biblical Recorder, The Summit Church insists they are “launching the lawsuit to protect the constitutional rights of their church” and other churches in a similar predicament:
The Board of Commissioners unanimously rejected our rezoning request, claiming that we were too big, after previously approving large commercial and retail developments within approximately three miles of our proposed location.
Their statements also made it clear that our church is not welcome at all in the County. We view this to be unjust and in violation of federal law, specifically the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), and are appealing to the courts because we believe we have a responsibility to defend our constitutional rights and the rights of all churches, regardless of beliefs, size, or methodology.
The Triad Business Journal reported that Chatham County Attorney Bob Hagemann has denied any hostility toward religious institutions. Additionally, the county will respond to the legal complaint “through normal legal processes.”
Greear has no intention of not seeing this legal process through. His goal is for The Summit Church to serve as many people as possible. The county has until March 7 to answer The Summit Church’s motion for a preliminary injunction. A federal judge must compel approval of the rezoning and site plan.
