CHARLOTTE - Choosing to quit rather than get thrown out, members of St. John's Baptist Church in Charlotte tentatively voted Sunday to become the second local church within a week to end its affiliation with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.

The move by the 600-member church came almost three months after the Baptist State Convention took its own vote -- deciding, by a two-thirds majority at its convention in Greensboro, to investigate and expel moderate Baptist churches that welcome gays and lesbians.

Under the gun since then: nearly 20 N.C. Baptist churches -- including St. John's, Myers Park Baptist and Park Road Baptist, all in Charlotte -- that are also affiliated with the Alliance of Baptists, a Washington-based liberal group that allows churches to accept homosexuals.

St. John's is the second Charlotte church in a week to vote to leave the Baptist State Convention. Last Wednesday, members of the smaller Park Road Baptist agreed to notify the convention that it was exiting the group.

"The November vote (by the convention) was the last straw for us," said the Rev. Russ Dean, who pastors Park Road Baptist with his wife, Amy.

Myers Park Baptist is taking a different approach, admitting that it is gay-friendly, but publicly inviting the state convention to visit the church before ousting it.

St. John's is still studying what effect its exit from the Baptist State Convention will have on keeping its tax status as a charitable organization. So the Sunday vote won't become effective immediately, said the Rev. Richard Kremer, who has pastored the church in the historic Elizabeth neighborhood in central Charlotte for the last 15 years.

But the statement approved overwhelmingly by a show-of-hands vote didn't mince words: It accused the Baptist State Convention of choosing "to narrow its membership to exclude churches and institutions that do not adhere to its exclusive and discriminatory view of who is welcome in its fellowship."

Kremer told the Observer the state convention has considered St. John's "a pariah" in recent years, and has "blackballed" members who sought state Baptist leadership positions.

St. John's has sent up to $50,000 to the Baptist State Convention in some past years, but began routing the money directly to Baptist charities -- such as the Baptist Retirement Homes -- "when we saw the direction the convention was going," Kremer said.

He acknowledged that, in light of the convention's November vote to cut ties with gay-friendly churches, St. John's was likely on a path to getting kicked out of the group.

"They probably would have (expelled the church)," the pastor said. "But that would be squalid. Why wait for someone to tattle on you? If that's the direction they're headed, we prefer to go in a different direction."

With 1.2 million members and 4,080 churches, North Carolina's Baptist State Convention is the second largest association of Baptist churches in the country.

At its convention , most of the 3,500 participants OK'd an amendment that read: "Among churches not in friendly cooperation with the convention are churches which knowingly act to affirm, approve, endorse, promote, support or bless homosexual behavior."

For a church to be expelled. two people must complain to the state convention. That would trigger an investigation.

Before the vote, the state convention had required only that members support the group through cooperation and financial contributions.

The Baptist convention in Georgia and the Southern Baptist Convention also require opposition to homosexuality -- an issue that has split many Christian denominations.

After the vote in Greensboro, the board of deacons at Myers Park Baptist adopted a statement of response that cited Baptists' belief in "local church autonomy" as the basis for welcoming gays and lesbians.

The statement added that Myers Park Baptist, a member of the N.C. Baptist State Convention since 1943, "will not allow our conscience to be coerced by (the convention's) exclusionary conditions of membership."

Next, said the Rev. Stephen Shoemaker, the church's senior minister: "We want to publicly invite (the convention) to come visit before they kick us out."