In Re Godwin

OPINION

Opinion by:

CATHERINE STONE, Chief Justice.

In this mandamus proceeding we must determine whether the trial court properly assumed jurisdiction over a dispute between an individual and his former pastor and church. The individual, Larry Nail, contends the dispute involves a purely secular tort action and that the trial court thus had subject matter jurisdiction. The pastor, Rick Godwin, and his church, Eagle’s Nest Christian Fellowship Church, claim the dispute involves matters of church governance and discipline, and that under the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine, the trial court…