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A Texas megachurch pastor is taking a depart of absence after his church realized of frequent messages between him and a lady who just isn’t his spouse.
Matt Chandler, the lead pastor on the Village Church in Flower Mound, about 30 miles northwest of Dallas, informed his congregation on Sunday the transfer was prompted by what the church’s leaders known as inappropriate messages between the pair.
Within the assertion recorded and shared to the church’s web site, the pastor defined that a number of months again, a lady approached him within the church’s lobby with considerations about “how I used to be (direct messaging) on Instagram with a buddy of hers.”
“I didn’t assume I had executed something unsuitable in that,” Chandler, 48, informed the congregation. “My spouse knew that, her husband knew that, and but there have been a few issues that she stated that have been disorienting to me.”
That very same night, Chandler shared these considerations along with his spouse, Lauren, and two elders, in an effort to deal with the state of affairs, The Village Church wrote in an Aug. 28 assertion on its web site.
The elders, the assertion continues, then commissioned an unbiased regulation agency to conduct a evaluate of Chandler’s messaging historical past throughout social media platforms, his cellphone and his electronic mail.
The investigators’ report led the elders to conclude that Chandler had violated the church’s inside social-media use insurance policies, and “extra importantly that, whereas the overarching sample of his life has been ‘above reproach’, he failed to fulfill the (Bible’s) commonplace for elders of being “above reproach” on this occasion,” the assertion reads.
“Whereas the messages weren’t romantic or sexual in nature, the frequency and familiarity of the messages crossed a line. They revealed that (he) didn’t use language applicable for a pastor, and he didn’t mannequin a habits that we count on from him.”
The assertion stated his depart of absence is “each disciplinary and developmental, which permits him to concentrate on rising better consciousness on this space.”
The timeline for his return shall be decided by expectations the elders have laid out for his growth, the assertion stated.
“I’m simply actually embarrassed, really feel silly… I really feel like I am embarrassing my spouse and youngsters,” Chandler informed the congregation Sunday. “I’m held to a better commonplace and fell in need of that greater commonplace.”
Lindsey Eenigenburg, the church’s govt director of administration informed USA TODAY on Tuesday that “a powerful group of pastors” will preach in his absence.
Chandler can also be president and chairman of Acts 29, a company devoted to beginning new church buildings. The group launched a press release to USA TODAY on Tuesday:
“The elders of The Village Church determined that Matt’s depart of absence could be from instructing and preaching. The Acts 29 Board has determined to comply with the lead of TVC and ask Matt to step away from his Acts 29 talking engagements throughout this time. Govt Director Brian Howard, who has offered day-to-day management for Acts 29 since Could 2020, will proceed to guide Acts 29 in our dedication to plant disciple-making church buildings worldwide.”
In keeping with his on-line church profile, Chandler married his spouse in 1999 they usually have three youngsters. In 2002, he grew to become pastor of First Baptist Church of Highland Village, now known as The Village Church.
In 2009, he was identified with mind most cancers, underwent mind surgical procedure and was declared cancer-free in 2010.
The church’s newest setback
The pastor’s depart is the newest blow for the church and the Southern Baptist Conference denomination – the nation’s second-largest religion group, of which the Village Church is a member.
Earlier this month, SBC introduced that it is below federal investigation associated to sexual abuse.
“Individually and collectively, every SBC entity is resolved to totally and utterly cooperate with the investigation,” learn an SBC assertion launched Aug. 12.
The inquiry adopted the discharge of an inside report that discovered SBC leaders had mishandled sexual abuse instances for 20 years.
Additionally on Aug. 1, The Village Church introduced on its web site that it had settled a 2019 lawsuit alleging that one in all its former youngsters’s ministers molested an 11-year-old woman. The legal case towards the minister was dropped in 2020, Faith Information Companies reported.
The church wrote that after an intensive and prolonged authorized investigation, “we keep and firmly imagine that we dedicated no unsuitable.”
Natalie Neysa Alund covers trending information for USA TODAY. Attain her at nalund@usatoday.com and comply with her on Twitter @nataliealund.
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