Elevation Church—Steven Furtick’s megachurch, based in Charlotte, North Carolina—has fired its youth pastor due to allegations of inappropriate conduct when the pastor served at a Texas church more than a decade ago.
The allegations against Elevation Church NextGen Pastor Tim Somers, who ministered to youth, reportedly stem from his time as an intern and staff member at Oaks Church in Red Oak, Texas, The Christian Post (CP) reported.
Somers came under investigation shortly after Jerry Nickerson, the former student pastor at Hope Fellowship in Frisco, Texas, confessed to “inappropriate contact with a minor” while he was at Oaks Church. Hope Fellowship then fired Nickerson.
Since Nickerson’s confession, “additional students have come forward to share their experiences from the same time period approximately 10 years ago,” Red Oaks Pastor Cara Railey told CP. “The experiences they shared with us range from inappropriate text messages to inappropriate contact between youth leaders and youth students, and we immediately reported this to the authorities.”
Red Oak Police Chief Garland Wolf told The Roys Report (TRR) the investigation surrounding Somers is ongoing, but no charges have been filed against him. Wolf reportedly told CP that “these are serious allegations that can or will impact a person’s life for many years.”
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TRR left a message on Somers’s social media account, seeking comment on the allegations, but Somers did not respond.
We also left repeated telephone messages and emails, asking Elevation Church for comment but the church did not respond.
In an interview with The Christion Post, Elevation leaders said they reached out to Texas authorities as soon as they learned of the allegations. They also immediately placed Somers on leave and eventually fired him.
Police Chief Wolf told TRR that investigators are meeting with individuals who have come forward, conducting interviews, and taking statements from those who want to cooperate with the investigation.
“We have formed an opinion based on interviews that something has occurred, but we are still attempting to narrow down the actual location of the offense(s), who may have been involved as suspects and as victims, and if anything occurred on church property or in the jurisdiction of Red Oak, TX,” Wolf said in an email.
Woman posts allegations of Facebook
An alleged victim of Somers has posted her account of abuse on Facebook.
TRR is not publishing the woman’s name because she asked TRR for anonymity and was a juvenile at the time of the alleged abuse.
The woman said she and Somers were on a worship team at a church in Waxahachie, Texas, around 2005 and were romantically involved for more than three years. When the relationship began, the woman and Somers were around 15 years old, the woman said.
“He was physically and emotionally abusive to me,” the woman said in an interview with TRR. “I had no broken bones. He was controlling, and he didn’t like when I was the center of attention.”
The woman’s parents found out about the alleged abuse and made her break up with Somers, she said. Her parents then went to the church leaders, who contacted Somers’ parents.
But when confronted with their son’s behavior, Somers’ parents told the woman’s family “they would deal with their son,” the woman said.
The woman said her parents received a typewritten, unsigned letter from Somers, apologizing, “but I didn’t receive an apology.”
Somers left the church in Waxahachie around 2008 or 2009 and became the Fine Arts Director at Oaks Church, she said.
“My father contacted an Oaks staff member who went to the (Oaks) board,” the woman said, referring to the abusive behavior.
“Nothing was done, he was hired as their Fine Arts Director,” she said. “They didn’t believe me.”
The woman added that in the past 19 years, several women have contacted her, claiming they were physically abused by Somers. The woman said she believes Somers has remained under the radar for so long because he is “charming and smooth-talking.”
This article has been updated to include Somers’ title as NextGen Pastor.
Sheila Stogsdill is a freelance print journalist and digital reporter, primarily covering crime issues for KSN/KODE.
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5 Responses
Anyone who delights in and profits from airing the Church’s dirty laundry publicly should be pilloried in New Haven. This practice is one of the reasons that Paul counseled elders to keep the “church ladies” quiet. Whispers in the pews do far more good for Satan than preachers who put up with gossips and destroyers of character. Personally, I’m disgusted with the human race, especially those who indulge their impure desires by taking advantage of the immature. But public vilification of Christians works against the Holy Spirit, and often blasphemes Him, a very bad move.
Brian, it’s obviously already public and true knowledge so there’s no airing of dirty laundry going on. And by the way God is a revealer so that is not contrary to the Holy Spirit. And was Paul in 1 Cor 5 listening to gossip when he dealt with “reports of immorality”? No. It was true. I think you’ll find the emotions from all those that work with Julie Roys and most of its readers are far from delight. The general point of stories like this is to get leaders of local churches to understand the spirit of the age going in within the body (which is highly mobile) and take action to protect the sheep (the primary of church elders). This man who was fired destroyed his own reputation and the fact that it was women who were abused and spoke up matters not. That passage you refer to was obviously about doctrine not all matters (if one takes a strict interpretation). If all the female heroes of the faith were completely quiet, then God’s work would not be complete. I suggest you think about the situation against all the counsel of God whose judgement begins in the house of God. Yes God hates reckless gossip but He also cares about accountability. And that judgement does not happen by osmosis nor are women are restricted from being a part of that process. Wouldn’t you want to know if you have sinned and hurt a woman? We shouldn’t use the Bible so that victims can’t approach leaders who can keep other Christian’s accountable.
What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight. What you have whispered to someone behind closed doors will be shouted from the rooftops. Luke 12:3 It may not be pretty, or fit expectations, but the Word of God is true. Always.
To borrow a quote from the Watergate era, what did Steven Furtick and his staff know when this guy was being considered for a job at Elevation and when did they know it? That will probably determine anything else I have to say on this.
This is from the same pastor that plagiarized a sermon he preached at Ballantyne. (This may or may not have been public knowledge, but was known by some staff and it was removed from sermon archives)