Chris Hodges, founder of Church of the Highlands (COTH), in Birmingham, Alabama—one of the largest churches in the country—abruptly announced yesterday he’s stepping down as lead pastor.
Hodges, who said he’s “not retiring” or “going anywhere,” will transition to chancellor of Highlands College. This, Hodges said, will enable him to “live out my ultimate calling.”
“I’ve always felt led to empower other leaders,” Hodges told his congregation Sunday. “. . . That’s why we started Highlands College.”
Hodges founded COTH in 2001 and grew it into a multi-site megachurch with 26 campuses in Alabama and Georgia and an average weekly attendance of 60,000 people.
He’s also is one of the co-founders of the Association of Related Churches (ARC), a church planting network that has been plagued by sexual and financial scandals in recent years.
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Plus, Hodges is named or associated with three lawsuits brought by former ARC co-founders, Stovall and Kerri Weems, alleging defamation, conspiracy to steal the Weems’ church, and racketeering.
Replacing Hodges as lead pastor is Mark Pettus, who’s been on staff at COTH for more than 20 years and served as president of Highlands College since it began in 2011. He also started the Motion Student Conference.
Hodges called Pettus and his wife, Jill, a “son and daughter to me.” Hodges added, “This church does need to be led by a younger generation. And I believe you’re the man with all my heart.”
Hodges said on Sunday that he and Pettus have been talking about “exchanging some roles” at the church “for more than two years now. However, yesterday’s announcement was the first time Hodges’ and COTH have spoken publicly about the leadership transition.
Hodges said he discussed his leadership transition with his family over Christmas and they were “all unanimous” that the transition should go forward. Similarly, he said he met with church staff last Thursday “and they’re 100-percent as well on board that Pastor Mark Pettus will become lead pastor and I’m going to take a new role in our church.”
Hodges said Pettus would step away from his role as president of Highlands College and the board and take the next year “to develop vision in this year of new beginnings.” Meanwhile, the Highlands College Board of Directors “will begin a new search for our president,” Hodges said.
Questions surround transition
Stovall Weems, who served decades with Hodges on the ARC Lead Team and pastored an ARC megachurch for 24 years, told The Roys Report (TRR) that leadership transitions of this magnitude are usually two- to three-year processes.
This would be consistent with how other longtime megachurch pastors, like Alistair Begg and John Piper, transitioned out of their pastoral roles after pastoring for decades. Begg announced in September 2024 he would retire in September 2025. Piper announced his retirement in 2011 but didn’t step down until 2013.
“The fact that (Hodges) gets up there and says, ‘I talked about this with my family over the holidays. I announced it to the staff Thursday.’ And it’s Sunday? And he’s trying to act like everything’s normal?” Weems said. “. . . It doesn’t happen like that. Why does he have to do it now—abruptly?”
Weems also noted that Hodges’ picture has already been removed from the church’s website. He’s also not listed as an overseer or trustee on the website. Instead, he’s listed as one of the leadership team, along with associate pastors and ministry directors.
“That’s weird,” Weems said. “You’re not going to stay on and be an overseer or chairman of the board? . . . It’s just the classic smokescreen.”
TRR reached out to COTH and Hodges for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
Weems—the founder and former pastor of Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida—says he suspects Hodges is responding to significant developments in Weems’ cases involving Hodges and other ARC leaders.
Weems noted that on Dec. 24 of last year—the same time Hodges discussed the leadership transition with his family—Weems’ attorney sent a demand letter to Kevin and Laura Cormier.
Kevin Cormier is a trustee at Celebration Church. And in Weems’ federal lawsuit naming Hodges and ARC, Weems claims that Cormier conspired with Hodges and other ARC leaders to steal Celebration Church and other entities Weems founded.
The demand letter states that the Cormiers, “with third parties,” stole $1.3 million from Honey Lake Farms, a nonprofit Weems founded in 2019. The letter demands Cormier return the money or Weems’ law firm will pursue legal remedies to recover damages of $3.8 million.
Then, on January 7, a judge lifted a stay on trial proceedings and discovery in a case between Weems and Celebration Church that tangentially involves Hodges, according to Weems. This stay paved the way for Weems to depose witnesses in the lawsuit—something he has been trying to do for three years but has been blocked by ARC’s and Celebration Church’s claims of “religious abstention.”
This doctrine, stemming from the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, requires the court to abstain from resolving issues related to ecclesiastical questions.
But a judge denied the abstention regarding several claims in one of the suits brought by Weems. And last Friday, following the lift of the stay on discovery, Weems’ attorney delivered notices of depositions to 10 witnesses.
Though the depositions do not stem from a case naming Hodges, all the lawsuits are interrelated. And “a deposition anywhere is a deposition everywhere,” Weems told TRR, noting they all can be used as evidence in related cases.
TRR will continue to follow the lawsuits and report on the information in the
depositions as they’re made available.
In addition to the lawsuits, Hodges may also be feeling pressure related to the sex abuse allegations that surfaced last summer regarding Gateway Church founder Robert Morris, who served as an overseer at COTH.
Morris resigned as a COTH overseer last June, when the allegations he sexually molested a young girl 40 years ago surfaced. At the time, COTH trustees, who are non-staff elders, stated they were unaware of “this part of (Morris’) past.”
However, questions have remained concerning what leaders close to Morris, like Hodges, knew about the abuse and when.
TRR specifically asked Hodges and COTH to comment on this issue but neither responded.
Julie Roys is a veteran investigative reporter and founder of The Roys Report. She also previously hosted a national talk show on the Moody Radio Network, called Up for Debate, and has worked as a TV reporter for a CBS affiliate. Her articles have appeared in numerous periodicals.
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19 Responses
Our lead pastor also resigned in January of this year. She and her family worked through it and told our staff last May. They told the congregation last September.
Transitions where you’re moving on voluntarily, without scandal, and to something good usually take more than a month (or a few days) to do well. Transitions that happen as quickly as this one did are usually covering something up. I guess we’ll wait and see.
Hey Julie, come and check out church of the highlands this Sunday. Discover what joy Jesus can bring to your life
How do you know Julie doesn’t have plenty of “joy in her life” from Jesus? Something must be maintaining her as she faithfully uncovers all of the chicanery and corruption in certain branches of Christendom!
She looks plenty joyful to me!
As a former member, I actually heard about this transition two months ago. Everyone knew Pettus was the heir apparent. I understand how an overnight change can raise eyebrows, but sometimes a well-planned exit just looks sudden from the outside. Hard to believe I was there for ten years—so much changed between year one and year ten. Power and money may indeed have played a role in that transformation.
I sure hope you are not living in a glass house, Ms. Roys.
Remember the “Words of Wisdom” that Soupy Sales had on a blackboard on his TV program?
One day, the “Words of Wisdom” were: “People that live in glass houses should dress in the basement.”
I’ve always thought that was good advice.
What are you getting at Mr. Lowry?
1 Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
Ms. Roys is not an elder! She reports on elders and the Bible makes it clear they are to be held to a much higher standard!!!!
Raymond, you know she is a journalist right? Reporting on events is what journalists do.
Hey Julie, thank you for exposing these hypocrites. I was a staff member with ARC for years. and I can tell you that behind the scenes Mr. Hodges has quite a reputation of being a bully and rude on a regular basis. He thinks quite highly of himself. I’ll second Stovall … no where does a pastor of this magnitude step down immediately Hodges has even counseled other pastors on best transition practices. Stepping down immediately reeks of some type of scandal brewing. There is so much shadiness in this organization. When your sitting in a seat each Sunday it looks great behind the scenes these men and the whole leadership team are swindlers and fatten there pockets they look at their sheep as dollar signs. It’s disgusting i look forward to seeing more of what develops with this through your reporting. Thank you for doing what YOU are called to do.
I question using Mr. Weems as a credible source for information or opinion. I’m sure there are others who you could have contacted with more reliable histories of ministry and good decisions. It may be odd to step down this quickly, but at this point, we’re not sure there’s anything to the story or not. Your article gives the impression there must be something wrong, but without any facts to prove it. Your hunch may be right, but it seems like you’re already slanting in a certain direction rather than just reporting the facts of the story.
This is a misleading article. If indeed you listened to the whole message, you would have heard that church leadership had been discussing this transition for a year. We certainly know that Chris’ passion lies in Highland College, so this really isn’t surprising to those of us who listen to him weekly. You are going to quote Weems who was run out of his own church for frivolously spending money on lawyers? What does he know about how long a transition like this should take? I will not make excuses for Chris’ poor judgement of friends. Maybe that played into his decision.
I thought the same after seeing Julie post the video from pastor Chris and because of her reputation I came here wondering why she did and what the “scandal” was? As a church elder who went through a pastoral transition a couple of years ago I know there is usually a lot of decision-making going on behind the scenes and being in a smaller church can’t imagine what it must be like in a “megachurch”!
I understand there are some peripheral events occurring but that doesn’t necessarily mean there is any connection (an implied scandal) to the transition itself.
So, Hodges & Pettus have been discussing it for 2 years, but his family just found out over Christmas and the staff found out last week? Interesting. Timeline seems a bit off, why wouldn’t you talk to your family when the idea first came into being? And why wait until a few days before your announcement to tell staff?
My family and I appreciate your work Julie, sure helps to see through the fog of all the gas-lighting from stage.
I appreciate transparency and believe it to be of the utmost of importance. Reporting is one thing but searching for scandal, implications of such, are unwarranted and unfounded. The whole world is not privy to the time and discussion and prayers involved in seeking the will of God for a specific person or church.
Julie, thank you for all that you do. Church abuse is paralyzing. The shame, never goes away. Especially when it seems that in the end, your treated as if you were the guilty one.
Although I appreciate this site, and the accountability it provides. I am disappointed in this article (and even the title). It doesn’t take much research to see this was a decision in the making for quite a while. Whether you agree with COTH in other ways or not, I believe this is simply a founding Pastor empowering the next generation. We often criticize pastors for holding on too long. Let’s make up our minds.