Everyone was laughing and goading, like it was a joke—until it wasn’t. Whoever said the dumbest thing had to take off an article of clothing until one pastor was left without pants, and humiliated.
That’s how Ben White, a former pastor at Next Level Church (NLC)—an Association of Related Churches (ARC) megachurch in New England and Florida—described a stripping competition in 2014 initiated by NLC Pastor Josh Gagnon. White said the incident took place during a staff meeting at the church office in Somersworth, New Hampshire, and it left NLC Operations Pastor Daniel King depantsed and shamed.
“People felt more and more humiliated,” White told The Roys Report (TRR). “The catch—Josh didn’t have to take off anything at any time.”
This story is just one of many hazing, spiritually abusive, and bullying accounts that 25 former pastors, staff, and volunteers shared in exclusive interviews with TRR. The former staff and volunteers also told of financial misconduct by Gagnon over many years.
The allegations at Gagnon’s church represent the latest in a string of scandals at churches associated with ARC—one of the largest church planting organizations in North America with more than 1,000 churches planted.
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Other scandals include multiple allegations of infidelity against a member of the ARC lead team; allegations of financial misconduct by a former founding ARC lead team member; numerous ARC pastors resigning amid allegations of sexual assault, harassment, or adulterous affairs; and allegations of bullying by former ARC Pastor Andy Wood—now Rick Warren’s successor at Saddleback Church.
ARC teaches its church planters to “launch large” by investing tens of thousands of dollars in slick marketing, professional worship, and quality childcare. And like many other scandal-ridden ARC churches, NLC was once one of the fastest growing churches in America.
At its height in 2018, NLC claimed 5,000 members with 10 locations throughout New England, Quebec, and most recently in Florida. Now it’s down to eight locations. And according to Marty Holman—former pastor for NLC’s Worcester, Massachusetts, location—numbers are down, but he’s not sure how much.
TRR reached out to NLC and asked for current numbers, but the church did not respond.
Like many other ARC churches, which often have boards comprised of other out-of-state ARC megachurch pastors, NLC has had very little accountability over the years.
An early state charter report shows no governing board. Later reports name two board members—pastors Gagnon and King. Yet, according to both Holman and former Executive Pastor Roman Archer, Gagnon told staff repeatedly that NLC had a board but refused to name its members.
In just the past week, NLC filed a document with the state, listing a board of directors. But all the directors listed are NLC employees. And one of them, Graham Siemon, told TRR that he wasn’t aware he was on NLC’s board and has never been to a board meeting.
Gagnon and NLC’s Executive Team did not respond to TRR’s attempts for comment.
Greg Surratt, ARC president, told TRR he didn’t want to comment.
According to Gagnon’s alleged victims, his abuse traumatized former staff and volunteers and kept them isolated. They say Gagnon manipulated staff into silently enduring the chronic abuse, while claiming souls were at stake. And when staff spoke up, Gagnon retaliated with firings, they say.
“I was caught up in the opportunity because it was a growing church and there were a lot of exciting things going on,” said former Worship Director Bruce Burger, who was also in the room for the stripping competition. “There’s a Christian mindset of grace and forgiveness to a fault. Something Josh did is he demanded blind trust.”
Similarly, Chris Boardman, former pastor for NLC’s Epping, New Hampshire, location, told TRR, “You’re led to believe it was a God thing. If you buck the trend or go against the person telling you what you need to do—the leader of the organization—you feel like you’re going against God.”
According to anti-bullying expert and founder of The Protectors, Paul Coughlin, what former NLC staff and volunteers described to TRR is not unusual for victims of bullying.
“Almost all targets of bullying feel swamping fear, shame, and confusion,” Coughlin said to TRR. “Someone they believe to be decent has lied to and about them. They believe the bully’s lies that there’s something wrong with them. This puts most targets into a tailspin, making it nearly impossible at first to link arms with others.”
At the time of Gagnon’s alleged bullying, the ambitious megachurch pastor was writing and speaking about how planting a “relevant and life-giving” church in the rocky spiritual soil of New England was his God-given dream. In his book, “It’s Not Over,” Gagnon admits that his former pastor discouraged him from pursuing this “dream.” But Gagnon writes that this was simply a hurdle to overcome.
“(H)e was wrong and his words . . . were just another form or resistance I needed to push through in order to pursue and accomplish my dreams,” Gagnon wrote.
Gagnon claims he wants others to live their dreams, too, but many likened their experience with him to a nightmare.
“That man took everything from me,” said former NLC Creative Director Alex Goff. “He took my joy for ministry. He took my joy for church. He took everything I ever did my whole life. Church has become everything but what God intended it to be.”
Acquiring churches & building celebrity status
Gagnon formed NLC as a nonprofit corporation in 2006 to “influence in a positive way and to care for the community,” in Rochester, New Hampshire. Gagnon had never read a church planting book and had no official pastoral training or experience, Gagnon wrote in his book and has said on podcasts.
Gagnon said he got the church’s name off an ESPN sports show called Next Level Sports. NLC’s first service drew about 30 people to a school auditorium, Gagnon explained on a podcast with popular speaker and pastor, Carey Nieuwhof.
The name choice proved serendipitous. There was already a Next Level Church in Florida—an ARC church. Gagnon reached out to that church’s pastor, who connected Gagnon with ARC, Gagnon said in a podcast.
With ARC’s help, Gagnon decided to relaunch NLC on Easter 2008, said Roman Archer, former member of NLC’s directional team. Within a few months, the numbers doubled, not from evangelism, but from church acquisition, which would become one of NLC’s key growth tools, Archer said.
Other ARC churches, like Echo Church, founded by Andy Wood, have been known to use church acquisitions as a means of growth too. A California Baptist group told TRR that Echo’s practice was predatory, taking advantage of vulnerable, often aging congregations, who didn’t realize what was happening.
Similarly, former NLC pastors Holman and Archer told TRR that NLC’s mergers were predatory too, involving broken promises and deception.
For example, in 2015, NLC merged with Fellowship Church in Holden, Massachusetts, and acquired the church’s $800,000 bank account. As part of the merger, Fellowship Church (FC) became NLC Worcester, and former FC pastors, Marty Holman and Al Dancy, became pastors at the new NLC location.
Holman and Dancy told TRR that as part of the merger, FC elders and NLC leadership agreed to three stipulations. These were detailed in a letter Dancy wrote to members of NLC Worcester in 2019. The stipulations were that NLC would pay Holman a lump sum approved by the FC board; would continue giving to a Guatemala mission project FC had begun; and would allow the Worcester church to organize and run FC’s long-standing, annual 5K community fundraiser—the Holden Road Race.
Yet in the years following the merger, NLC Operations Pastor Daniel King pressured Holman to take less than the agreed-upon bonus, both Holman and Dancy said.
NLC also broke its promise to fund the ministry in Guatemala but didn’t tell the Worcester pastors, Dancy and Holman added.
In his letter to NLC Worcester, Dancy wrote that in 2019—four years after the merger—he reached out to the director of the organization that processed the money for the Guatemala mission. “(The director) informed me that NLC has never made a payment for the Guatemala Mission, despite him making multiple attempts to contact NLC directly,” Dancy wrote. (Dancy gave TRR the email correspondence between him and the director for confirmation.)
NLC also appeared to take money designated for the 5K race , according to race organizers Angela Rogers and Linda Markarian.
In October 2017, Rogers said she wrote a check for $4,500 to a vendor that bounced. When she checked the race account, $10,000 was missing, which bank records show was transferred to another account a few days prior. Rogers said when she notified King, he transferred the money back into the account, also shown in bank records.
Similarly, Dancy wrote in his letter that funds from the 2018 race “were not paid out until February 2019, and only after NLC Leadership’s hand was forced.”
Around 2011, NLC also began growing organically, and Gagnon started launching churches in other New England towns, former NLC pastor Boardman said. Gagnon also attended pastors’ conferences and connected with big name pastors like Life.Church’s Craig Groeschel and Elevation Church’s Steven Furtick, said Archer.
This reportedly had a dramatic impact on Gagnon.
“When we went down to Elevation and met with Furtick, there was something about spending that time there, being in his green room, and seeing the security and how he was catered to and even hearing some of their values,” Archer said.
Gagnon soon required his own expansive green room at the church office, said Nikki Winship, Gagnon’s former assistant. Staff had to keep it immaculate and stock it with favorite snacks, she said. Winship added that sometimes Gagnon told her to order meals for him, but then would eat out.
Gagnon would often pitch the church growth dream to others, especially young pastors.
He’d use Groeschel’s line about being willing to “do anything short of sin” to grow a church, according to former Keene, New Hampshire, Location Pastor Cory Graves. Gagnon called Groeschel his “pastor,” said Graves. Gagnon also referred to Groeschel as his friend on podcasts.
“I was told all these things you want to hear: ‘you’re gonna be rubbing shoulders with giants,’ ” former Creative Director Goff said.
TRR reached out to Groeschel for comment on his relationship with Gagnon. Groeschel’s spokesperson, Rachel Feuerborn, replied that Groeschel was not in a mentoring relationship with Gagnon.
Growing in numbers . . . and personal wealth
In 2014, Outreach named NLC as the fifth fastest growing church in the nation, and the first New England church to ever make its list of 100 fastest growing churches.
But former pastors said NLC inflated the numbers it reported to Outreach Magazine.
Goff said in 2019, NLC asked him to create videos saying that 4,000 people attended a service across locations at NLC, when only about 1,000 had attended the service. Just a year earlier, Gagnon told Carey Nieuwhof on a podcast that 5,000 people attended NLC.
Former staff said the recognition by Outreach fueled Gagnon’s narcissism. It also reportedly spurred major marketing campaigns. NLC required pastors to post hundreds of signs all over towns, even if doing so violated local ordinances, former staff said. And on Easter, the church hired a helicopter for an Easter egg drop, they added.
NLC also funded Gagnon’s sudden social media rise with “thousands of dollars” a month using a social media professional, who cross-posted to guarantee likes and followers, said former Directional Team Leader Roman Archer. This increased Gagnon’s platform from 1,000 to 80,000 followers in less than a year to prepare for his book launch, Archer said.
According to Katelyn Beaty, author of “Celebrities for Jesus,” a social media platform can be ethical and healthy when it grows “organically” due to a connection between an individual’s work and followers. However, it also can be a reflection of an unhealthy obsession with numbers.
“I get that excitement (occurs) when you can see something growing in a really measurable and clear way,” said Beaty. “I just think that fixation on numbers can also end up justifying behavior that might lead to growth. So not all growth is good or deeply rooted from a spiritual perspective.”
For Gagnon, the growth in numbers and platform resulted in a better lifestyle and personal enrichment, former staff said.
In 2017, Gagnon wanted another location in Florida, so he sent staff, including Goff, down to do most of the church planting work on tiny budgets and long hours, Goff said. But then Gagnon and his directional team would fly from New Hampshire to Florida each week, staying in nice hotels, Goff added.
In 2015, NLC bought a 5,000-square-foot parsonage on 11 acres for Gagnon’s family for almost $500,000. In 2018, the church sold the property to Gagnon for $250,000, Zillow and Strafford County and Dover city public sales, deeds, and mortgage records show.
A couple years later, Gagnon sold the home for almost $1 million.
Gagnon and key staff also seemed to profit from church-related contracting. Staff were required to use Gagnon’s Legacy Drywall for drywall jobs, former staff said. They added that NLC also used Pemi Printing, owned by Operations Pastor Daniel King, for church-related printing needs.
Broken dreams and people
While Gagnon and his staff lived in luxury, many NLC staff worked extremely long hours and made barely enough to live, former staff said.
Some NLC staff had salaries in the $20,000s, they said. Gagnon also docked staff pay when giving dipped, former Location Pastor Chris Boardman said. NLC fired staff for questioning the 60- to 80-hour work weeks, according to Caleb Chamberlain, video producer.
Staff also were required to tithe, Chamberlain said. And when former Events Coordinator Sarena Espeaignnette missed a required deadline to give an extra financial offering to NLC, she said she got demerits and lost a couple extra vacation days with her baby. Those who didn’t receive demerits got extra vacation days, according NLC’s staff handbook.
Staff also routinely had to endure Gagnon’s abusive behavior.
“If anything’s out of place, or if the audience response was bad, didn’t respond to his bad jokes, if nobody raised their hand for salvation, he would come offstage after the service and lose his freaking mind,” Goff said.
Gagnon’s pattern of abuse started off with love-bombing and promises, former pastors said.
Ben White said that after visiting NLC, the pastoral team welcomed and loved him and his wife well. They also offered White a part-time position to relocate from Conway, New Hampshire, to Somersworth about 60 miles away.
But after White moved, Gagnon and his directional team withdrew the salary offer, asking White to prove himself first, White said. Sold out to the vision, White worked hard and pushed through all the red flags he was noticing, like the stripping competition. Gagnon also once threw a table in anger that nearly hit White—an incident both Archer and former NLC Worship Pastor Bruce Burger said they witnessed.
Similarly, NLC hired Scott Prather as a full-time pastor of its church in Conway, New Hampshire. But after Prather gave notice to his previous employer, NLC said it would pay him only a part-time salary—less than $20,000 a year, Prather said.
Prather told TRR that his family maxed out their credit cards to pay for their basic needs, like heat for the winter and diapers for their baby. Prather added that NLC once asked him to ship a printing machine overnight to another location. Doing so cost $200, an amount the Prathers questioned since they weren’t making a living wage.
“In that moment, I had the sense of, ‘I don’t matter at all,’” said Scott Prather’s wife, Anna Prather.
As 2012 was coming to an end, Bruce Burger, a new college graduate from South Africa, hoped to start the new year with a new life for himself in the United States. He accepted an internship at NLC’s Newington, New Hampshire, location.
NLC then offered Burger a job as worship director, with an annual salary starting in the low $20,000s for the 60- to 70-hour work weeks, Burger said. NLC also reportedly paid for Burger’s work visa.
But Gagnon soon targeted Burger with mocking and scary pranks, Burger told TRR. Gagnon once tricked and locked Burger into a 50-foot cherry picker, lifting it up to its full height, Burger said.
Gagnon also took control of his dating life, Burger added. When Burger started dating his future wife, Bethany, Gagnon at first approved, Burger said. Then Gagnon changed his mind and said she wasn’t “pastor’s wife material” because she was pursuing a career, Burger said.
Burger said Gagnon told him that if he didn’t break up with Bethany, Gagnon would fire him. Feeling trapped and penniless, Burger said he complied.
He added that once before a Saturday service, Gagnon shoved him up against a wall, ripped his shirt, and yelled in his face. Gagnon’s former assistant Nikki Winship told TRR that she saw Gagnon and NLC Executive Assistant Walt Robbins leave the room laughing and saw Burger emerge moments later with his shirt ripped.
Despite these events, Burger began dating Bethany again, but kept it private. Gagnon eventually found out, Burger said, and retaliated by firing him and threatening to turn him into immigration.
After his termination, Burger said he discovered that NLC hadn’t been properly withholding taxes and he owed over $1,000 to the IRS. Burger said he had virtually no money to start over somewhere else and his work visa, which was tied to his NLC job, had expired.
“He took advantage of the fragile situation I was in,” said Burger, who eventually received help from another church so he could stay in the country.
Call for an independent investigation
Many have tried to report Gagnon’s abuses over the years, providing documentation to TRR of emails and statements to NLC leaders, dating back to 2015.
In its handbook, NLC tells staff to report any unethical conduct at work to HR, but also instructs staff to “protect the house.” The handbook expressly forbids staff from speaking to “overzealous investigative reporters” because they may “lull them into a false sense of security, and distort their quotes to support a predetermined conclusion.”
NLC also seems to lack any independent oversight and accountability.
NLC’s handbook doesn’t include a list of names of board members. Archer, who was a member of the directional team from the beginning until 2021, said even he didn’t know who the board members were.
“We’d get asked questions about accountability, and we had these make-believe answers, like ‘we have the board of overseers,’” Archer said. “I genuinely never had a clear picture who the board of overseers was.”
Gagnon has claimed that megachurch pastor Craig Groeschel was on the board, said Archer. But Groeschel was never on the board, according to Groeschel’s spokesperson.
NLC’s first annual report in 2010 doesn’t name a board, even though it’s required. Annual reports for 2015 and 2020 list only Gagnon and NLC Operations Pastor Daniel King as directors.
On Jan. 30, Archer sent a statement to Gagnon, Executive Assistant Walt Robbins, King, and various campus pastors, calling for an independent investigation of the church and for the names of NLC’s board to be made public.
King replied the same day, saying the NLC the board of overseers had three members—Anthony Milas, pastor of Granite United Church in Salem, New Hampshire; Chris Goeppner, pastor of Riverbank Bank in White River Junction, Vermont; and NLC’s Walt Robbins.
TRR reached out to those individuals around noon on Jan. 31, but got no response.
Archer also reached out to Chris Goeppner, who texted back that he was not on NLC’s board.
The night of Jan. 31, NLC updated its board of directors on the New Hampshire Secretary of State’s website. The new list named five NLC employees as directors: Gagnon, King, NLC Keene Location Pastor Michael Grayston, NLC Somersworth Location Pastor Shane Becton, and NLC Executive Pastor of the Creative Ministry Graham Siemon.
According to the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, non-profit boards should be comprised of a majority of independent members—members who are not employees of the organization or related to employees or other board members.
On Feb. 4, Siemon resigned from NLC and gave a copy of his resignation letter to TRR. Siemon told TRR that NLC had never asked him to be on the board, he had not been to a board meeting, and he didn’t give permission to be listed on the Secretary of State’s site.
The other directors listed on the Secretary of State’s website did not respond to TRR’s requests for comment.
Coming Together Again
Most of the 25 former staff, who spoke to TRR, left or were fired from NLC feeling shattered and isolated—like they were the only one confused by all that happened. But they’ve recently found each other in a private Facebook group.
Now posting on a public Facebook website, they’ve found strength to no longer stay quiet when Gagnon strips them of clothes and more.
“Connecting with people who were in it and really know is the only thing that finally made me feel 100 percent sane,” said Ben White.
This article has been updated to accurately state the details of a church-related financial transaction.
Rebecca Hopkins is a journalist based in Colorado.
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37 Responses
Thank you for continuing to expose the bizarre actions of ARC churches.
Wow! Sounds almost identical to Applegate church in Medford , Oregon !
A whole host of scandal, control , bullying and heavy shepherding by Jon Courson and Son
How God exposes the wolves among us!
This is insane and utterly destroys the high and holy calling to the pastorate
There is no high and holy calling to the pastorate. This is exactly the mindset that produces what we see here. There is a high and holy calling to be saints, a royal priesthood and, as John says in revelation 1, a call to abide in what Jesus has made us, “a kingdom and priests to His God.” The high and holy calling is the call to Christ as one of His saints. We need to stop elevating people and ourselves. We need to take more seriously the warning of Christ to His apostles in Matthew 23. “Don’t be called Rabi, for you have one who is your Rabi and you are all brethren.” Read the whole chapter. It is pretty sobering.
What even IS this?? This is not church. This has nothing to do with Jesus. Please, anyone who’s involved in a situation like this: Don’t ignore what your gut is telling you. Get out of there and find a real church.
I suppose this begs the question: “Next Level” of what?
Next level grifting. Did I read right that this “pastor” has no schooling or training in the pastorate?
Man, sadly this isn’t just with ARC mega churches. It’s with a lot of mega multi-sites.
I spent 13yrs in that world and left it in 2020 due to being let go during the Covid pandemic. While at first it seemed to be the worst situation, it ended up being a huge blessing!
This article hit home for me in soo many ways. The tales of a narcissistic leader run rampant, chasing after a magical number that’s grater than everyone else’s. Paying to work, sorry…mandatory staff tithing, oops sorry, tithing…I’m just going to stop on this one! The shaming, rage incidents, ridicule, lack of any type of love and grace.
I left the church with this feeling, man…I’m going back to the corporate world where it’s much safer. At least there, there are rules and HR so you are protected as an employee.
If the story about the stripping event is true, all I have to say is how could a CHRISTIAN leader be so stupid? And, how could the staff be so stupid to play along?
Hey David,
Former staff here – seek to understand first my friend, look inward and find similarities in your own story. Hope you grow as a result from our missteps.
Nick, I can here the pain and humility in your response. While I haven’t been in your situation, I have been in similar and can empathize with you.
When you’re in the madness you feel as if you’re the one that’s crazy for questioning the situation. Gaslighters and manipulators are the best spin doctors then you make them pastors…goodnight!
There is one humble response and only one that I know of, and what you are saying is not it.
I helped a child molester grow a ministry and I was stupid and wrong to do so. That is my standard. What David said is right. Easy to stop following Jesus and the Word of God and start following a man. Been there. Done that. Ain’t going there again and I am not excusing the immaturity that made that all happen in the first place. Nothing changes until you take your own advice. Doing otherwise is to follow your old pastor’s way instead of Jesus way.
Hi Mr. Smith,
Seeking to understand how it can happen. As former staff, would you please explain how it can happen? I can look into my own life, but I have never encountered an stripping competition initiated by a pastor in a staff meeting.
Thank you,
AT
David. Nice post. These are not “missteps.” Arrogance is the twin sister of ignorance. Many of these pastors and their ilk are bred in the bubble of private Christian seminaries. Based upon my experiences, very few reach the pulpit with real work world experiences, i.e. military combat, police work, or heavy lifting. Many of these pastors are spoiled brats with all of life’s answers about morality and wokeness, and came from isolated, upper middle class enclaves. This creates a perfect storm for young, spoiled, arrogant pulpit brats.
It screams of one narcissist training other narcissists and that’s how it continues, because it’s normal for narcissists to bully others. Eventually the beta bully gets fed up with the alpha bully’s bullying…or a regular/normal/average/non-professional person notices it’s not Biblical leadership and calls bs
David, calling the staff stupid, when all you have to go on is an article that spans 10 years of testimony, is foolish and far from helpful. It would take a very long conversation to cover everything- the manipulation by a morally bankrupt leader, to the enabling inner circle. Perhaps maybe a comment lead with compassion instead of blaming the abused.
Friends, I have only one response to this circus: Character Matters! If this stuff describes your church, leave now and don’t subject yourselves or your families to this garbage. And don’t follow, serve, or vote for people who demonstrate such lack of character. I shudder to think of religious leaders facing our Lord given that the only folks he got angry with are religious leaders who used their power for self, and not God.
Thank you, Ms Hopkins for the granular reporting. We’ve seen this tale often enough to recognize recurring patterns of exploitation: of a workforce of believers, of communities where employment opportunities are few, and most of all the gospel which is used to abet this repetitive nightmare of personal self-aggrandizement. See Driscoll, Mark for the contemporary template.
Someone in the documentary world needs to shine a bit of sunshine into ARC’s business plan. (Ms Hopkins, may I humbly suggest a podcast is in order here).
As an aside, I always wonder about headlines that say the Christian faith is dwindling across America and then I read stories like this one that are always full of thousands of worshippers joining this church and that. Can both be true?
One thing is certainly true if the first premise is correct: If Christianity is shrinking a lot of very valuable property will be on the market. That’s what fascinated me about the Andy Wood’s transaction in the East Bay. ARC knows they can pick up a lot real estate cheaply by engaging in the sort of swindle they pulled on that East Bay Pastor. Someone needs to put a flashlight on those affairs.
Good work, Roys Report!
I did a podcast on ARC with a former ARC pastor. He’s outstanding and explains the business and unbiblical underpinnings of the entire movement. Here’s the link: https://julieroys.com/podcast/former-arc-pastor-exposes-unbiblical-movement/
Dear David,
while this church family reported 10 locations with 5,000 in attendance, that was at it’s height in 2018.
Many mega churches have suffered reduced attendance brought on in part by the pandemic.
And now we’re in a sustained economic downturn.
My prayers are is that this specific church will get to the bottom of these reports of abuse & Financial mismanagement.
And maybe God lead them onto paths of righteousness.
If 1/4 of this is true regarding Joshua Gagnon he should spend time in jail.
Knowing some of the NLC guys up here in NH, I’ll just say that everything in this story is completely believable.
There is something Demonic and very Evil in many of these ARC Churches! The Pastors are clearly out of control with no accountability, it seems.
Once married to a church leader who acted much like this nonsense, I wonder sometimes why I didn’t listen to my gut. I always knew the behavior was bullying and not biblical and was abusive but I wanted to honor the church and God in being a faithful wife. When you are living under spiritual abuse you don’t realize it is abuse until one day you do realize it is abuse. It takes learning what works, what doesn’t and being abused so badly that you cannot take it anymore. Then God steps in, changes things for you and over many years of layers of healing and seeing the truth you say to yourself thank God I see things as they are. No one asks to be abused by church leaders. You just one day realize this is not working and then much later you thank God that you see it for what it is. Pure evil.
It’s hard to phrase this without making it sound like “victim blaming” but these are adults–mostly men–who have allowed themselves to be treated like this. If even half of these allegations are true, the proper response should have been a bloody nose for Gagnon, an emphatic “I quit!”, and then whatever legal action was necessary.
The second someone tells me to take my pants off in a meeting, the answer is “No, and I quit!”
The second someone tells me they get to decide who I can date, the answer is “Mind your own business.”
The second someone “shoved him up against a wall, ripped his shirt, and yelled in his face” there should have been assault charges pressed.
Maybe it’s because I’m no longer in the church (agnostic/practical atheist) but I have a hard time understanding the kind of submission and internal rationalization that would allow for this kind of treatment.
I’m in a very similar situation as you and but it’s really amazing the lengths Gagnon went through to control these ex staffers. The person’s story you reference (Gagnon controlling dating and ripping shirt) is from South Africa and was here under a work visa sponsored by NLC. If he had done what you suggested he believed he would have been setting himself up for immigration action. Gagnon used that against him and was just one way to exercise control over this particular person.
satan used it for you to turn your back Jesus. You are the loser and I am sorry. Eternity is a very long time. – Tim
** “When we went down to Elevation and met with Furtick, there was something about spending that time there, being in his green room, and seeing the security and how he was catered to and even hearing some of their values,” Archer said. **
There is a Next Level Church here in the Charlotte suburbs, just minutes from the original Elevation campus, but it seems to be unrelated to the Next Level Church in this story. According to its website, the one in Stallings was founded in 2005. I used to go to Weight Watchers meetings there, when it was first getting started and they weren’t always using the whole facility.
Their original plan was to be a multi-site behemoth, but it didn’t happen.
To anyone who even hints at victim blaming here, I have to think you either have never experienced this kind of abuse or you are involved in abuse. These powerful people have risen to their positions for a reason – they are master manipulators. Very often, they present as very charming until things don’t go their way. By the time you are on the receiving end of their wrath, they have already sucked you in and try to make you look crazy for questioning anything they do. I happen to know because I was raised by one. If you have never experienced this, I’m truly happy for you. But, please, I beg of you, do not add more shame to victims who are trying to heal from this horrific abuse dynamic.
He’s a megachurch pastor. If this surprises you, you have lost touch with your faith so much you can no longer see greedy wolf’s in pastors wool.
Absolutely- and Paul Coughlin’s quote- Paul being a survivor of childhood abuse himself- says it all- which Rebecca included in this article:
“Almost all targets of bullying feel swamping fear, shame, and confusion, Someone they believe to be decent has lied to and about them. They believe the bully’s lies that there’s something wrong with them. This puts most targets into a tailspin, making it nearly impossible at first to link arms with others.”
Ted, thank you for your response! When I was abused from all angles at church, home, school it takes correct thinking that sometimes has to be taught in order to leave certain systems and organizations. I still love God and am his. Fortunately, God and the church are different.
Please help, I do not know what to do , the church in South Oklahoma City called frontline. The so called pastor is destroying lives
Steve, I wish this could start a thread where anyone could feel as safe as you have.
Newbreak Church San Diego, CA.
There are way to many bodies behind the bus that the “legacy” and “lead” so-called pastors are driving. They are no different then the men mentioned in this article.
And I was uncomfortable in January every time I passed a local church with an outside sign advertising the following:
Pajama Party Service Friday, January…..2023
Wear your pjs.
You know when we were pre teens the neighborhood kids had a plan to play strip poker after supper in a neighbor boy’s tent. We all piled on the clothes in preparation. None of us told our parents our plan. And the reason we did not tell our parents is that even as young kids we knew it was something we should not be doing.
My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment.
James 3:1 NKJV
My adult daughter lives in Dublin, NH. Raised as a Christian, with her grandfather as her main “Pastor”, she fell away from the faith during college years. Often she has attributed it to the hypocrisy she observed in churches and their members. When NLC opened in Peterborough, I’d hoped that the modern music and format would draw her back. It didn’t! And now it’s just one more bad example she can point to of people who are manipulating ministry for personal gain. We don’t have time to fight off Satan if we’re busy policing our clergy. What a shame. Just another black eye against the church and the Savior we are supposed to represent and serve.