Barnett rushed down to his office with the church bylaws and requested Mr. Pierce seek immediate legal relief.

After a two-hour trial, she was convicted of calling herself a witch and, less dramatically, of breaking church bylaws in the way she managed a spiritualist summer camp.

Dr. Shaw ultimately resigned in June 2006 following a controversy over amending the church bylaws.

The only mention of the council in the current church bylaws refers to their authority to approve church judicial procedures presented by the First Presidency.

She tries using church bylaws to separate him from the ministry, and he responds by hitting her lover with a baseball bat.

"But for them to be able to even initiate that type of vote is nowhere in the church bylaws," he said.

Juleen Turnage, a spokeswoman at the church's national headquarters, said, however, that church bylaws do not allow ministers to appeal rehabilitation decisions.

With the adoption of a sweeping new set of church bylaws at the 2002 World Conference, this body replaced the predecessor council known as the Joint Council.

The king and parliament participate in the establishment of canon law; the king establishes the church bylaws.

A Church Power Struggle Mr. Swaggart has 30 days to appeal his suspension, according to church bylaws.