A Kentucky megachurch has announced it’s closing in the wake of a sex scandal involving the church’s executive pastor.
As The Roys Report (TRR) previously reported, Zachary King, the former executive pastor at LexCity Church in Lexington, was arrested last week on allegations he raped and sexually abused a minor. He is facing six charges, including first and third-degree rape, first and third-degree sodomy, first-degree sexual abuse, and the unlawful use of electronics to engage in sexual acts with a minor.
King remains jailed on $250,000 bail.
This past Wednesday, LexCity posted a statement on its website announcing it will cease operations.
“Through thoughtful prayer and heartfelt tears, the leadership team of Lexington City Church has voted to permanently cease our ministry,” the statement says. “Due to the continued effects of the financial situation our church inherited several years ago and the impact of the ongoing investigation of a former staff member, we have lost the ability to remain financially viable and fulfill our God-given mission.”
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King resigned from the church after being confronted by church staff about the sexual allegations, according to Lex 18 News.
The sexual abuse allegedly started in January 2023 and continued until April 2024, Lex 18 News reported. King is accused of using Snapchat and WhatsApp to arrange meetups with the 15-year-old girl and to send and receive sexually explicit images, the news station said.
King reportedly assaulted the victim at the minor’s home, at King’s residence, and at LexCity Church, Lex 18 News reported.
This is the second pastor at LexCity, formerly Quest Community Church, to resign for sexual misconduct. In 2014, Pete Hise resigned from the church, after admitting to an emotional affair with a woman on staff, according to WTVQ 36 television station.
“Our hearts are broken for those who have been hurt and are hurting, and we will continue to cooperate fully with the ongoing investigation,” the church’s statement said. “However, with heavy hearts, we feel it is in the best interest of the Kingdom and our community that we discontinue our ministry.”
King previously served as a campus pastor and youth pastor at the Houston-based Metropolitan Baptist Church (The MET). He also was employed as a team leader at Lifechuch.tv, developing and training youth staff.
Sheila Stogsdill is a freelance print journalist and digital reporter, primarily covering crime issues for KSN/KODE.
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6 Responses
Another MegaChurch shuttered because of a pastor and a sex scandal, another child sex scandal.
Maybe, just maybe, a background check for pastors needs to be a little bit more thorough? Like, talk to people who have been lead by this guy. Talk to those he was on staff with. Get a good clear picture of who the person is.
I know if we would have done this for a Campus Pastor that was hired at a church I worked at. Guy was in a 6yr affair with his assistant. It devastated the church, ripped the staff apart and we ended up closing 3 campuses in the aftermath.
I wish this was the only staff sex scandal at this church, sadly it wasn’t.
The MegaChurch really needs to figure out how not to be a hiding place for people like this.
Background checks are a nice idea, but don’t put a lot of faith in them. They only show things that someone’s already been caught and charged with. If no charges were ever filed, that check will be clean.
100% Agreed. If the church actually held these predators accountable and had them arrested and charged in a court of law instead of “handling it” themselves they would have a record to show. The main issue in the church regarding these predators is THE CHURCH
I think the question is: why should the megachurch exist at all? Are they just the manifestations of a cult of personality or an attitude that the megachurch is not accountable to the temporal authorities and these crimes are to be handled internally?
Background checks just search public records for previous misdeeds or financial troubles, they don’t hire private investigators to grill the friends, families, and colleagues of those being hired to make sure they’ve been faithful to their marriage vows.
If King had no record of sexual abuse before being hired by the church, there was no way they could have found anything untoward. All you can do as a church is limit the chances of foul play as much as you can by putting policies in place to ensure there’s as little opportunity as possible for the type of inappropriate contact that leads to sexual abuse to occur, including providing a safe way for victims to report any transgressions of those policies without fear of retribution.
This should be the result when pastors abuse people in their care. it should be financially untenable to carry on. the congregation should go find leadership and teaching that doesn’t allow for abuse.