An embattled Calvary Chapel pastor, who quietly put his church building up for sale last month, resigned abruptly Sunday, after 30 years of pastoring there.
Calvary Chapel Cary Pastor Rodney Finch—who has been accused of bullying, misuse of funds, and alleged drug addiction—announced to his North Carolina church Sunday that this would be his last Sunday. Finch also apologized that he and his elders didn’t tell the congregation before putting the $11 million church property up for sale in July, a decision that drew questions online from former staff. By last Wednesday, the listing was no longer available.
“We made a decision, the five of us, that we could wait until we actually had a real deal, a real buyer, and then tell the church,” Finch said in Sunday’s church service. “I will tell you, please forgive me. On behalf of the board, forgive me. That was not the right thing to do.”
Calvary Chapel Cary’s services are usually livestreamed and posted to YouTube, but Sunday’s service was not. However, The Roys Report (TRR) obtained a recorded copy of the service.
Three years ago, TRR reported on allegations of misconduct against Finch by several former staff and church council members, many of which were reported to the Calvary Chapel Association as early as 2018. Finch’s son, Rodney Finch Jr., had also alleged on social media that his father had abused two of Finch’s daughters, which Finch denied.
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Despite the allegations, Finch remained senior pastor.
The church applauded Finch’s apology Sunday and his parting words thanking the congregation for their support.
“Sometimes I showed up and messed up, but I showed up,” Finch said. “I think that’s all the Lord requires of us.”
Assistant Pastor Ralf Stores said the church itself wasn’t closing but may change locations. Stores asked the congregation to ignore criticism about the matter on social media.
“If I could wave a magic wand and ask you to get off of anything you’ve seen or heard on social media and blanket from your mind in the last 72 hours, I would wave that wand right now,” he said. “Please do not allow the external things that have been going on to influence what is a family matter.”
Meanwhile, Stores asked the congregation to “pre-empt gossip” and to be patient with the leaders.
“Do not allow the enemy to come in,” said Stores. “Do not panic. . . . Do not make any snap decisions.”
Going forward, Stores promised to “over-communicate.”
“We will be available,” Stores said. “We will be approachable. We will be accessible. And we will be accountable.”
TRR has made several attempts to contact Finch, the elders, and Stores with questions about the church sale, Finch’s resignation, and the church finances, but has not yet received a response.
Financial problems and allegations of abuse
Finch said in church Sunday that last year, God moved his heart to be “dissatisfied with where I am here in the ministry.”
Finch said he told the board in January he planned to resign sometime in 2025. He thought that would give the church time to plan the transition.
Since Finch has been the church’s lead pastor for 30 years, he said he and the elders worried that some members would leave when he left, creating financial problems. He said they worried the church’s large mortgage would be difficult to pay. So, they decided to put the church up for sale without telling the church until they had a buyer.
Then over a five-week vacation in July, Finch said God told him he needed to resign now.
“Knowing that the church was going to need to relocate, knowing that I would not be a part of that relocation, it would be important for the leaders to now begin to set their plans in motion, to begin to congeal as a group of men, and begin to set a course together without Pastor Rodney in the mix,” he said.
Kyara Crayton, Finch’s stepdaughter and a former Calvary Chapel Cary employee, told TRR this week that Finch beat her with an extension cord when she was 15.
Crayton’s brother, Rodney Finch, Jr., stated on social media in 2021 that his father had abused him and two of his sisters. But this is the first time Crayton has publicly confirmed she was one of the abused sisters.
Crayton said she thinks her parents count on people, who’ve heard them say and do “horrible things,” to never speak up. She added that in 2009, when she raised a concern about her stepfather, the church abruptly fired her from a volunteer role.
Crayton said normally Finch is “very strategic,” but she believes “his hand is being forced.”
“Whoever noticed that real estate listing really threw a wrench in his work,” she said.
Former staff previously told TRR the church has had financial problems for years due to Finch’s poor decisions and lack of accountability. They said they watched Finch raise money for big projects that never materialized and spend money on projects overseas without any oversight.
When TRR previously asked for financial records, the church initially agreed to provide them but asked TRR to give the church time before publishing a story. Later, the church withdrew its offer to provide the records.
In 2021, several members with financial means left the church, Crayton said. Attendance has been dropping ever since, she said. Last year, Crayton attended her grandchild’s dedication at Calvary Chapel Cary and said the once 2,000-member church had a much lower attendance.
“They were down to two services, which is wild,” she said. “The second service was always jam-packed. There were maybe 30 people in there.”
‘The truth will guide us’
On Sunday, Stores said he didn’t have leads yet on a lead pastor, but a “plurality of leadership” would continue to lead the church regardless. He thanked the Finches for the foundation they provided and said he believes the church’s future is bright.
“As we share the path and the vision moving forward, we agree, appreciate, and acknowledge that the nearly 30 years of ministry that Pastor Rodney and Miss Elvira have invested in this community . . . have set the foundation, making it possible for us now to embark on this new journey—to reset and refresh an exciting future for our church,” Stores said.
Stores said the elders would take questions at a Sunday afternoon meeting from people who’d attended and been involved at the church for the past four to six months. Previously, Stores has preached that he wanted to hit people who gossip with a shovel.
“This is going to be done orderly and according to Scripture,” Stores said Sunday. “The truth will guide us in all things.”
The recording TRR obtained ended before the question-and-answer session began.
Correction: This story has been updated to accurately reflect details of Crayton’s past role with Calvary Chapel Cary and subsequent firing.
Rebecca Hopkins is a journalist based in Colorado.
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8 Responses
Here is the dirty little secret of Calvary Chapel. The church name and IP is owned by the senior pastor, most likely the building. While there is an LLC non-profit corporation listed for the church and its assets for legal and business purposes, the organization for all intents and purposes it is the senior pastor’s (the Moses in the Moses Model that Calvary Chapel uses).
Yes this is what you get with “the Moses Model” which is actually the opposite of the real Moses.
The real Moses was the most humble man on the planet. The Calvary Chapel model appeals to control freaks with a false Moses label. Moses was the opposite of narcissistic. Moses is the kind of leader none of us would vote for which shows just how much God’s ways are not our ways, not by a longshot.
How convenient to say, “God told me”.
So much wrong with this church leadership. The article didn’t even get into his history of his drug abuse.
When we were homeschooling my kids, we went to a co-op at this church. I really enjoyed the fellowship of the other parents, and thought if we didn’t have a church already we would have wanted to be a part of it. It wasn’t until years later that I learned about the heavy-handedness, control issues and total lack of accountability among the leadership. I guess God spared me that pain in my life.
The amount of grip and control religion fosters makes the door for abuse so easy to fling open. To be a congregant of this church, know the things that have gone on and continue to go on and believe you need to keep quiet so you’re not “gossiping” is abusive adult controlling a child type level of control. Religion creates an environment that convinces the audience they have no faculties within themselves to do much of anything without the blessing or physical presence of a pastor. A slow indoctrination toward giving all of their individuality and sound thinking in Christ to a charlatan. I’m recovering from spiritual abuse and thank God no man can ever convince me he’s the leader of my life over the Lord Yeshua again.
“Sometimes I showed up and messed up, but I showed up,” Finch said. “I think that’s all the Lord requires of us.”
Pithy sayings such as this obscure responsibility.
And it is so ironic because he didn’t just expect the congregation to just show up.
Regarding the Moses model, Moses listened to his father-in-law to distribute the burden he had. Of course, their answer here is that they have elders but we know that is usually in title only.
I attended Calvary Cary back from 2004-2008. It was a fundamental spiritual building time in my life. It was a Holy Spirit filled church then for sure. Thank God for Rodney.