Matt Chandler’s Dallas-area megachurch employed his father for five years as a custodian, despite his father’s admission he had committed a child sex crime, a former elder at The Village Church Denton said.
Matt Chandler’s father, Steve Chandler, worked at the Denton, Texas, campus of The Village Church from 2007 to 2012. In 2015, the Denton campus became an autonomous church, The Village Church Denton.
En una oracion read during a members meeting July 14, 2019, The Village Church Denton stated that Steve Chandler had committed a child sex crime 40 years prior. The statement said that staff at both the Denton campus and all locations of The Village Church became aware of Steve Chandler’s criminal past in 2009, yet he remained on staff for another three years.
Until this week, news about Steve Chandler’s criminal past and church employment was not widely known. However, on July 10, The Bodies Behind the Bus (BBTB) podcast broadcast this news during an episodio featuring the former chairman of the elder board at The Village Church Denton and his wife.
The couple were identified simply as Chris and Anna. However, El Informe Roys (TRR) found the couple’s last name and confirmed their identities with BBTB. We have agreed not to report the couple’s full names to comply with Chris and Anna’s stated wishes.
Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold Christian leaders and organizations accountable. Donate $50 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you can elect to receive “The Scandal of Leadership: Unmasking the Powers of Domination in the Church” by JR Woodward, haga clic aquí.
On the podcast, Chris said he first became aware of Steve Chandler’s sex crime at the 2019 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). According to Chris, the SBC’s handling of sexual abuse was a major focus at the annual meeting, because the Houston Chronicle had recently reported on widespread sexual abuses and cover-ups within the denomination.
Also, the day before the SBC meeting, Los New York Times reportado that a former associate children’s minister at The Village Church had been arrested and charged with molesting a girl who attended the church at summer camp.
Chris said a pastor from The Village Church Denton told him in a private conversation about Steve Chandler’s criminal past and employment. Chris said he was initially “very confused” about how this could have happened and that he quickly went into “detective mode” to learn as much as he could.
This eventually led the leaders at the Denton church to disclose the information at a member’s meeting, which was attended by 50-100 people. Chris said church leaders previously indicated that member meetings were for “family business information that ought not be shared outside the family.”
According to Chris, the main campus of la iglesia del pueblo (TVC) in Flower Mound, Texas, had planned to inform its congregation about Steve Chandler’s past the same day. However, shortly before the planned meeting, TVC’s leaders decided not to tell the congregation, Chris said.
TRR has reached out to TVC and Steve Chandler for comment, but has not received a response.
Steve Chandler reportedly confesses at Celebrate Recovery
According to the statement, Steve Chandler first shared about his child sex crime with others in the recovery ministry at The Village Church’s Highland Village campus, Celebrate Recovery. The statement did not indicate when the confession happened, but stated it occurred before Steve was hired on staff.
“Steve’s testimony included him vulnerably sharing many of his past sins, including his past sin of child sexual abuse 40 years ago. A sin and crime Steve had first voluntarily confessed to the district attorney and court of law 40 years ago,” the statement reads.
Although it claims Steve Chandler’s admission was public knowledge, the statement reveals that “those who were directly involved and responsible for hiring” him, including his immediate supervisor, were not aware of it. It states that his supervisor, all staff at the Denton campus and all staff at The Village Church were notified of his alleged crime in 2009. It does not explain why it was disclosed at that time.
“The decision was made not to terminate Steve from the church’s staff,” the statement reads. “At the time, this decision was made based on the theological underpinnings of God’s redemptive grace and sanctification. These theological convictions led the Executive Staff of The Village Church to not terminate Steve from our staff but to place the safety protocol around him for the remainder of his time on staff.”
The church implemented “specific safety standards and protocols” in 2009 for Steve Chandler, according to the statement. It does not state what those were, and Chris said on the Bodies Behind the Bus podcast that he never received them despite repeated requests, even during his time as chair of the elder board.
According to the statement, Steve Chandler’s criminal history did not show up on a background check.
“This is because Steve was never indicted by the court, due to his voluntary compliance with and completion of all requirements set forth by the court, including a period of intense counseling for five years,” the statement reads, noting that the National Sex Offender registry did not exist at the time of the alleged crime.
On BBTB, Chris and podcast co-host Johnna Harris said they had not been able to find any public records or court documents connected to Steve Chandler’s alleged child sex crime. Chris said he believes a court in California handled the matter.
Handling of Steve Chandler matter leads to resignation
On the podcast, Chris said he felt in 2019 that the statement about Steve Chandler was adequate but has since come to believe it fell short in many ways. For example, it did not address victims or encourage potential victims in the church to come forward.
“When we actually shared with the congregation, it was clear that the primary purpose was to make sure that the congregation knew that (Steve) was ‘restored’ and had overcome these struggles,” Chris said. “The fact that that was the main thing that was communicated in the statement goes to show there wasn’t a ton of concern for potential victims.”
Chris said leaders from the Flower Mound church were hesitant to share the information about Steve Chandler’s past because if it ended up in the wrong hands, it could “take down The Village and it could take down the Chandlers.”
Chris said he stepped down as chair of the elder board and then resigned from the board soon after the meeting. He and Anna stopped attending the church not long after that. On the podcast, Anna said she and Chris “attend a Methodist church very loosely now.”
“We will probably never again in our lives have the same church-as-everything type of attitude,” Anna said. “People live and they learn, and we’ve learned some really hard lessons.”
Ann Marie Shambaugh has reported as a print journalist in multiple states, including currently in Carmel, Indiana.
Spanish 
English
43 Responses
I was wondering if/when the Roys Report would pick up on this
Len Kinzel – it kind of sounds like you had heard this information somewhere along the way.
Not to endorse the way things are done at the Village and nepotism aside–groundskeeping or a custodian is hardly a position of trust and with full knowledge of staff and members(which was not always the case I understand) and appropriate accountability and monitoring, his employment in that role should not be so much an issue unless they had a full time daycare or something. In fact, as part of a thorough overseen program I think would be a good way to engage and rehab former felons and restort them to service if the body and of community in general.
groundskeeping custodians have keys to everything in the building and knowledge of where cameras are/aren’t. On the Behind the Bus podcast, Anna was very concerned with this news because their church had “a lot of nooks and crannies”
Groundskeeping custodians who have sexually abused children should not be allowed anywhere that children are or might be present.
I respectfully beg to differ. Custodian/facility manager/groundskeeper may not be high on the organizational chart, but, it can be a powerful position. Remember how many keys your grade school custodian had? That’s because he had access to the entire building, every nook and cranny. Also, Custodians often have access to the church In off hours. So, a pedophile could plant recording equipment.
I attended a small church 25 years ago that had a custodian who had keys to everything. He seemed a little “off”, so I finally asked the pastor what was up. His reply was that he was a former addict, out of rehab who needed a new start. I could accept that, until he started calling young women in the middle of the night and making lewd comments over the phone. I was out of there quickly. He had gathered all he information from the secretary’s office.
I’m just angry. The headlines are cruel and mis leading. Steve Chandler was a custodian, not an elder. It was FORTY yrs ago.Jesus is weeping Does grace mean nothing????
Matthew 18:6, Jesus is weeping for the children that have been hurt!
No one is questioning God’s grace- so richly given to all. But we should never equate that grace with rehabilitation, or what it means to ensure the safety of all.
Jesus is weeping, but so are the nameless survivors of abuse. 40 years may seem like a long time to you; but to some survivors, the passage of time does not lessen the pain.
In no way should someone who offended against a child be ever employed by any organization- most people would assume that any employee of a church can be trusted, vetted, and is safe.
he was a custodian at a church with a children’s ministry. he had keys to everything, and knew where cameras were and weren’t. There is no evidence that he disclosed his abuse of children to the people employing him until two years in, and wouldn’t have had to because his son is the pastor. There is no evidence that the victim(s) have ever received any justice. The church’s entire response was damage control, and applauding his “growth”.
he should have gotten a job where there aren’t children, and the whole church response should have been honesty and transparency.
Very well said. I couldn’t agree more.
I have a second cousin who, along with a coconspirator raped a killed a woman in the 1970’s in Montana. Whenever I have brought that’s always what I hear from my extended family “it was x number of years ago.” Like the passage time could ever make an event like that more palatable.
The headline isn’t suggesting that Steve was an elder. It’s saying that a former elder came forward with the information.
I can not help it but this is so true. This is scary. Where is grace? Should we have a sticker in our head with all our sins?
Terence, no one is suggesting anyone need reveal all of their sins publicly. HOWEVER, when applying for any job at a church or other place where children are regularly present, the fact that you were a child sexual abuser at (at least) one point in your life is pertinent information for staff and congregants to have. that directly impacts the safety of families, and they should be able to make decisions with full knowledge. They trust the church to do their best to hire safe people. This church didn’t- probably because they were hiring their pastor’s dad. regardless, Steve should have known that jobs around children will forevermore be off limits to child sexual abusers. even “repentant” ones.
I’m not sure I understand. A sex crime against a child is monstrous. Granted. But the degree of monstrosity depends on specifics:: the ages of perpetrator & victim, and what did or didn’t take place.
Today, a person could get sent to jail for being shoved into someone in a crowded bus while deliberate indecency in front of children at a “pride” parade is just fine.
So, if someone pays his court ordered due–counseling but no prison–and for 40 years does the right thing, this person shouldn’t even get to put food on his table by cleaning toilets in a church?
Andy, A sex crime against a child is monstrous. Specific details are never needed- never.
it was a sex crime against a child. 40 years ago they were a child, and while we don’t know steve’s age, we can guess, since Matt Chandler is now 50, steve is likely at least 70, which means he was 30ish at the time. So it was a sex crime by a 30 year old against a child.
also, prosecution and sentancing for sex crimes against children 40 years ago was not as stringent as today. You are correct that we don’t know the story, but even what would be CONSIDERED a sex crime against a child in the 1980s would be much more than what we would consider today.
and absolutely he should be able to get a job- just not at a church where children are present. or that give him keys to every room in the building. and knowledge of where the cameras are (these were concerns Anna noted in the Behind the Bus podcast). there are SO MANY places to get jobs that don’t have children at them, especially since he doesn’t have a felony on his record.
He should have gotten one of those.
We dont know the child’s age either. “Child” could be 16. “Adult” could be 21.
Matt chandler is 50 now. His dad is probably 20 or so years older. 40 years ago he’d be at least 30. Are you saying it’s acceptable for a 30 year old to sexually abuse a “16” year old?
Andy, are you serious? Are you really trying to figure this out? Or, are you trying to rationalize how this could actually be okay?
Rape and assault are rape and assault. Period. Are you joining the group that is injecting some guilt on the part of the victim? Are you insinuating because this happened 40 years ago the victim is over it? My sister’s perpetrator molested her for six years. He was 12 and she was six. He is the son of my mother’s best friend. He molested her until she was a very tall, angry 12 year old that was no longer convinced she was a “bad, bad little girl.” She didn’t reveal his crime against her for another four years, but our family doctor had already been concerned about her and was seeking answers. She was showing signs of depression. Unfortunately, my parents were advised by three professionals with the best of intentions to not file charges. It was a different time and they feared my little sister would be treated the way you are treating this situation. It is highly likely the person or persons this man molested had the same experience.
Sadly, victims are only now getting a LOUD voice, because of sources like The Roys Report and other brave advocacy groups.
I’m not sure how this is a “story”? This is not a pastoral position, children’s worker or the like. This is a guy 40 years later being a janitor?
We have people in our church family who have done different similar type acts in their distant pasts. There are boundaries and guidelines in place for everyone’s safety but I would never consider this as something that disqualifies them from being a janitor.
I’m glad he has found support and is growing through the church and Celebrate Recovery. I pray the victim has done the same through support and love.
This is gossip pure and simple.
There was no need for this to be reported. He confessed on his own, repented, did what was court ordered, wasn’t with children and did a menial job to earn money. Isn’t grace for everyone?
I would be interested to know if the local school district, boys and girls club, and community college hire janitors who have child sexual abuse convictions in their distant background? If not, it seems to me this may not pass the reasonable hire test. If so, the church would seem to have exercised no negligence in their hiring of the elder Chandler. Just my humble opinion.
Really! 40 years ago. My goodness!
James, Beth, Andy, and Thomas: people who sexually abuse children have extremely high rates of re-offending. If Steven is one of the rare ones who has not re-offended (and how do we know he has not?) he is still not a candidate for a job that gives him access to isolated restrooms and areas without cameras where children might roam. It is not safe. Ever. I hope he has truly changed, but the actions he took 40 years ago have life-long consequences. Not getting a job in a church is a small price to pay compared to living with the damages done to the young child(ren) he abused. I see much sympathy and grace for Steven, but minimal mention of a victim.
I have no reason to defend the Village or the Chandlers, but my understanding of Matt Chandler’s father is that he is a completely new man once he found Christ. And this incident, which none of us are certain of the details at all, happened way before he became a Christian. What I’ve heard from different people is Steve is like a night and day new creature in Christ. Cleaning bathrooms and putting a paycheck in his hands totally okay with me. And then to publish a story on a national website, ehhh, this article actually saddens me for this website. This shows different kinds of motives now.
this more than just about Matt Chandler giving his dad (and mom) jobs at his church, knowing his dad has sexually abused children in his history. it’s also about how the people working with him DIDN’T know this about him until two years in. As well as how they did the bare minimum to communicate this information to the congregation, and when they did, did so in a way to make Steve the hero, and never mentioned the the victim, and put a “protection plan” in place that they never gave to the chair of the elder board that asked for it repeatedly to make sure they were protecting kids. There was never an independent investigation to verify that there weren’t any additional victims at the church- it was all swept under the rug. This is another incident in a pattern of glossing over abuse when it’s discovered by Matt Chandler and Acts 29.
as for a lowly custodian job cleaning toilets- that job comes with keys to every door in the building and knowledge and access of where cameras are and are not. He should do a job in a place where children AREN’T.
You know who else everyone spoke highly of their walk with Jesus, their kindness, etc? Ravi Zacharias. We cannot trust the demeanor of people that we know have hurt vulnerable people in the past. This is much more a failure of the church culture than of Steve Chandler- and I’m not trying to impugn his character with speculation- but not asking these questions is exactly how offenders are able to keep offending- especially in churches who are prone to turn a blind eye in the name of grace.
Regarding demeanor, it goes the other direction too. Why are so many of these stories so shocking to begin with? From all appearances you likely walk amongst people in the church with all sorts of access and you might not even have a clue what horrendous things they did in their past or are tempted to do. I get this story is trying to point out how leadership failed to deal with the situation. But it goes too far to make a weak case due to the elapsed time. And it is not easy to find a job without any education and no children. We also don’t know if the safety protocols included a short period of time where he had no keys or was followed around or checked in periodically.
If the sex offender was working in a public elementary school, would you still feel the need to give him another chance?
Thank you for your comment. I am aware that the only thing I know is that I don’t know.
I don’t think any of us outsiders should be inserting our opinions when we do not have the facts or know the people involved.
There are plenty of articles here on this site where clearly a church has allowed disqualified leaders to continue or rehabilitate back into leadership. This is not one of them, but is more of a gray area that should be dealt with locally by those in the know with wisdom and discernment.
We can only pray that as the light shines into the darkness even (especially) within the churches, that wisdom and discernment increase. Pray for the leaders.
Tricia, I think part of the reason that this is newsworthy is because it is part of a pattern of how the Village church deals with sexual abuse allegations, perpetrators and victims. they consistently emphasize the perpetrators “testimony” and restoration, minimize the abuse, and nearly ignore the victims. This seems to be consistent whether it’s the lead pastor or the custodian. (in this case, both are Chandlers.)
Be nice to have a thumbs up button and not repeat the same thing.
If this was a minister on the board, pastor, person in leadership then you have a story. But a janitor with a sordid past that confessed long ago? Seems more like a story for a muck racking web site.
Thanks to the people that show grace.
Yes, I too would appreciate the thumbs up button. That is, however, probably because I spend way too much time on social media.
Gossip, pure and simple. How many decades of proven faithfulness, transformation, and humility do you need to live a faithful life to Christ. Is there any sin that is described in the Bible as permanently disqualifying? Or one that is dragged back up? That offends Christ and the Holy Spirit. I am all for this guy and ashamed roys report jumped on the perpetually offended bandwagon. Sorry no. Some people are never satisfied with redeemed and restored. Shouldn’t this guys very life fall under the whole tagline of your website “restoring the church”? I
I believe in redemption and restoration. But I also am not naive about child predators. Dr. Diane Langberg, who is a world-renowned expert on sex abuse and trauma, strongly urges that churches never allow a child predator access to children. I strongly urge you to listen to this podcast where she explains her view in more detail: https://julieroys.com/podcast/diane-langberg-on-cedarville-restoring-abusers/
It seems that in Texas sex offenders are prohibited from working on schools, parks, day care centers, play grounds and other areas where children are.
But they can work in churches! Why is that legal? And why are our Christian standards, once again, lower than our secular society?
Employment Restrictions for Sex Offenders
Texas law restricts the employment options for sex offenders. They cannot work in places frequented by children. This includes schools, daycare centers, and playgrounds.
Restrictions on Participation in Children’s Activities
Sex offenders are prohibited from participating in children’s activities. They cannot attend school events, sports games, or other child-centered activities. This ensures the safety of children in these environments.
https://www.bryanfagan.com/blog/2024/june/what-texas-law-says-about-sex-offenders-and-child-interaction/
This sort of situation is more ethically ambiguous, as if he confessed forty years ago to the court and was never charged or imprisoned, it likely was a very ambiguous case to begin with or one where there was minor consensual activity but the crime was one was older than the other or somethingl. It is highly doubtful it involves any rape or heavy molestation if he was not put in juvenile hall or jail after confessing. There’s no issue with being a custodian forty years later so long as he was upfront with the church and the church practices generally safety practices to begin with. It would be silly to hold that, “all sins in Christ can be forgiven except X.”
And if he confessed it to his employers, it’s not a scandal that they didn’t report it to the church since he hasn’t re-offended. They could have been more sensitive to the possibility of potential victims, true, but frankly that goes for any person not just the one who apparently did something a long time ago and immediately confessed and got help for it. The ones who can confess and turn themselves over to the court seem, if anything, less likely to commit a crime again than the ones who pretend to be squeaky clean.
We don’t have corborated evidence that any of your speculative scenario is true though. We only have the Chandlers’ narratives. He says he confessed, and completed counseling- there has been no evidence provided that either claim is true. The church says he was upfront about his history, and yet the chairman of the elder board, and others on the elder board did not know, no one in the congregation knew, and the church made many efforts to keep it quiet when it came out two years into his employment. The only evidence that we have that he hasn’t reoffended in the last 40 years is his word- the church did not bring in an independent investigation to verify that as true. They didn’t make sure everyone in the congreation knew- so that they could report situations that may have happened. 2 years into his employment the put him on a protective plan- so, if the staff already knew, why did they wait two years? If they didn’t know, it makes more sense that they put him on a plan when they found out. But what was the situation that happened 2 years in that required a protection plan? Was there an incident? was it just that now word was getting out? And why wouldn’t they be clear what the protection plan was? These are all unanswered questions- that the church is intentionally obfuscating and refusing to answer, even though they WERE being asked by Chris when he was the chair of the elder board.
I’m appalled at some of the comments on the board here – this issue has nothing to do with “God’s grace” or “forgiving his sins of the past”. It’s a security issue, plain and simple. He admitted to committing a criminal act against a minor – there are repercussions for those actions which would by necessity follow him.
Part of this is the reality of his role as a custodian – as said before, those individuals occupy high “trust” positions due to their access. They have the “keys to the kingdom”, so to speak.
Security policy and execution is always based off of the “worst case scenario” – what is the scenario you are striving most to avoid. In this case, we’re talking about the potential victimization of children.
In short, giving him this specific position at all was a gross negligence of the most fundamental of security principles – the safety of the people involved. Whether he had rehabilitated or not should never have been a factor – the proper evaluation should have been – does he qualify for the level of security and trust the position entails?
So if you’re going to hire someone in a church who was is a ‘recovering’ sex offender how on earth do you keep an eye on them? Even if they are in custodial work do you ensure that another worker is always with them? Or do you not hire them at all and point them in the direction of other work where they are away from children or other potential victims?
There is no circumstance where Steve Chandler should have held any staff position where children would be present. Not even as a “lowly” janitor. Depending on the lock and keying system, he could have had Master or even Grand Master keys. We trust janitors to be 100% worthy of our trust. (it’s a shame we don’t pay them accordingly) Sex offenders discover they can’t trust themselves even if they have good intentions. I will say his apparent honesty and transparency in revealing his past does suggest genuine remorse and repentance may have happened. But those do not allow him to work around or near children or in child spaces.
I’m processing this article 7 months after publication and carefully considered all responses. To all those here who think that a long period of time makes the crime less impactful , you are wrong and partially blind to the whole picture. When confronted with these crimes, ALWAYS remember the victim (s)
suffers in silence for the rest of their life, many a suicide has shame as the root cause . Victims are not on the perpetually offended bandwagon and neither is Julie. Try sitting down with a victim and look them in the eye and tell them they are on a bandwagon before you claim to know it all.