One of Colorado’s largest Christian schools has sued the megachurch that founded it, alleging the church tried to hamper school operations and evict it from church facilities.
Resurrection Christian School (RCS) sued Resurrection Church, also known as Rez Church, on July 28 in Larimer County District Court. Church members founded RCS in 1998 as a separate nonprofit to instill “Christian principles and values” through “quality education.”
In the suit, RCS seeks to “clarify, confirm, and enforce” two lease agreements with the church. The suit seeks a temporary restraining order to keep church officials from interfering with school operations. RCS has also asked the court to order Rez Church to pay the school’s legal fees.
Senior Pastor Jonathan Wiggins has led Rez Church in Loveland since 2010. It’s currently one of northern Colorado’s largest congregations, with up to 5,000 attending Easter services.
Last year, as reported by The Roys Report (TRR), Wiggins filed a defamation suit against six staff and members of Rez Church. That suit involved accusations of moral failure against Wiggins, which he denied. It was dropped three months later.
Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold Christian leaders and organizations accountable. Give a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you will receive a copy of “Hurt and Healed by the Church” by Ryan George. To donate, click here.
Now, Wiggins’ allegedly erratic actions are at the center of this lawsuit filed by the church’s affiliated school.
According to the lawsuit filed by RCS, “In the last three years Senior Pastor Wiggins’s actions have become divisive and he has openly complained that the school is no longer ‘controlled’ by the church and ‘does nothing for the church.’” The suit claims Wiggins has stated that the 99-year lease agreement between the church and RCS is “below market” and should be terminated.
In an agreement signed in 2012, Rez Church leased about half of its 74-acre property to RCS for school activities. That included the athletic fields and church parking lots for use during weekdays, according to the suit. The suit states RCS pays Rez Church a “base rent” of $1 per year and “additional rent” covering the school’s share of utilities, property taxes, insurance, and related expenses.
The lawsuit alleges church officials took a series of harmful actions over the past year, like demanding that school officials vacate offices in the church building. Those offices “remain empty and unused by the church,” according to the lawsuit.
Preschool classes that met in the megachurch’s children’s area were forced to move, too, the lawsuit states. And some minor school building remodeling projects have been stalled for weeks as church officials have refused to approve the modifications proposed by RCS.
The lawsuit also states Rez Church imposed a “facility use agreement” that would supersede their signed lease with the school. It requires extra fees for the school’s use of athletic fields. The church implemented the agreement on July 17.
RCS sued 11 days later, seeking to uphold the 2012 lease that provides the school “unencumbered” use of the facilities covered in the agreement. RCS claims this includes the athletic fields and some shared spaces, like parking facilities and preschool classrooms.
TRR reached out to Rez Church and to RCS for comment, but officials declined to comment on the record.
But in a letter to RCS parents, Superintendent Jerry Eshleman wrote in part that “we can truly say we’ve done everything possible to resolve this internally as well as with the aid of mediation,” the Loveland Reporter-Herald reported.
The church began mediation a year ago to avoid a lawsuit from RCS. An informal group of four outside pastors led that intervention. When it failed, legal mediation took place, during which the parties also failed to resolve the disagreement.
On its website, Rez Church stated to congregants on June 13: “The leaders of Rez and RCS are actively cooperating and pursuing a long-term solution that will ensure the success of both organizations.”
Church-school relationship deteriorates over years
Over the past 25 years, RCS has become the largest Christian school in northern Colorado. Its more than 1,600 preschool through 12th grade students are served by 165 faculty, coaches, and administrators.
Evangelical luminaries like former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, actor Kirk Cameron, and Christian author Bob Goff have headlined the RCS annual gala, which raises funds for campus improvements and other school needs. This spring, Heisman Trophy winner and best-selling author Tim Tebow is set to give the gala’s keynote address.
The school has often endorsed its parent church. A FAQ page of RCS’s website states enrolled students and their families don’t have to attend Rez Church, but “We strongly recommend that you give Rez Church a try and attend one of their fantastic weekend services.” The lawsuit states staff and students attend 73 different churches.
During his tenure as pastor, Wiggins has often praised the school and its impact, too. “One of the great legacies of Resurrection Fellowship is RCS,” Wiggins wrote in October 2015. And RCS superintendent Eshleman spoke on stage in multiple weekend services at Rez Church in 2019.
Wiggins has said that Rez Church is “closely affiliated” with the Association of Related Churches (ARC), a prominent church-planting organization, though Rez is not currently listed as an ARC member church. ARC and several of its churches have been dogged with scandals related to money to sex in recent years.
But the relationship between Rez Church and RCS has grown tense in recent years.
After Wiggins joined the church in 2010, according to the lawsuit, church leaders started to seek “increased influence and authority” over the school. By spring 2022, the suit alleges, “Wiggins began to openly attack the school’s mission, governance, and operation.”
Today, Eshleman has become the public face of RCS in the ongoing conflict with Rez Church.
“The church is entitled to its position and opinions, and we fully respect that,” Eshleman wrote to RCS parents. “Thankfully, there exists a legal mechanism to sort this out. The 99-year lease is a legal document, and we seek legal help from a court to provide clarity and protection, which, in the end, will benefit both the church and school.”
A preliminary injunction hearing in the case Resurrection Christian School v. Resurrection Christian Church is scheduled for August 17.
Sarah Einselen contributed to this article. It has been updated with information on the affiliation of Rez Church.
Freelance journalist Josh Shepherd writes on faith, culture, and public policy for several media outlets. He and his family live in the Washington, D.C. area.
English 
Spanish
12 Responses
“The suit claims Wiggins has stated that the 99-year lease agreement between the church and RCS is “below market” and should be terminated.”
Ah, there it is…let me translate to something more honest, most likely… “I’m (or maybe a little more charitably) we’re not getting paid enough! I/we want more money! Money! Money! MONEY!”
Megachurchianity and the grifters and narcissists it attracts, coddles and produces. Sickening. Lord, how long? When will these ‘high places’ be torn down?
Andrew – Thank-you and exactly… Not willing to be abide by integrity of covenant – just the god of the almighty dollar… standard evangelical leadership behavior – and influencing so many of their disciples.
A lot of these churches are money-making businesses. They could equally as well be exchanging money in the temple.
I’m still waiting for someone to say, “I was called to the ministry because that’s where the money is.”
Yes, that would be refreshing if soneone actually said that.
As someone familiar with this story, there is so much more. The school board and administrator have tried everything to resolve this without going to court. Wiggins is a bully with accountability to no one except his inner circle of hand picked “bros.” The administrator is his own man who cannot be controlled and that is bothering to a narcissist. The original pastor who had the vision for starting the school and was part of the original 99 year lease still has a good relationship with the school and in fact spoke this week at the teacher orientation. The intent was to have the school draw from all area churches and denominations to provide a Christian based education in Northern Colorado. Perhaps the fear is that the school has more influence in the region than the church? This is about power and $$$. It is grievous to watch.
Wiggins’ tenure at the church has been very rocky and in my opinion he is disqualified from ministry. A minister is to be above reproach. There are other articles published by Julie Roys to back up my statement. Unfortunately, because of the structure of the church, there is no one with power/authority to remove him. The church has been bleeding long time members due to his leadership. This whole situation is absolutely sickening.
Sadly this is about the declining financial state of Rez.Church and not about the reaching more people for Jesus. I quit attending Rez this summer as I could not take the lack of transparency. I asked to set up a meeting to see the finances and was told they do not simply open books in a meeting. Just look at the cars the pastors drive and you will know exactly what I mean. I believe Rez is using the school as a lifeline and now trying to extort the school for their financial troubles.
Coleen,
I agree with the lack of transparency. When Wiggins started his “Nothing Without God” campaign, we asked for financials and were stone walled. They wouldn’t produce them. That whole campaign funded “churches” that are mostly defunct now and where did all the $ go? Rez is also funding ARC Chris Hodges pastoral restoration center.
It is my understanding and one thing that is never mentioned about Jonathan Wiggins, all four of his children went through RCS tuition free. Just sayin!
As someone who attended Rez before moving out of Colorado in 2010, this and other storylines out of Rez are really hard to read. Wiggins did beautifully well as a music minister. Absolutely. He is so gifted in that arena and appeared to lead with such humility. Attention: People of Rez who had a say in allowing his transition of music minister to pastor happen all the way back in 2009/2010 or so — why? It was obvious to me way back then he was not the man to step into his current church role. I was in prayer about this more than once, asking the Lord what was going on. Was the Lord really leading that decision back then? What an absolute mess has been made. And now students, teachers, and other staff have to endure this mess as well. It’s stealing from them on so many levels. Repent, Wiggins et al.
So interesting. The erratic behavior. It’s interesting when we near 35-40… we’re financially stable, kids are grown, we’re e not forced to be literally watching kids 24 hours a day any longer. The age when the white hot continuation of life begins to cool… and we’re left with something we didn’t have before. Time.
We’re juxtaposed between finishing a marathon, hopefully successfully, and exhaustion from said marathon. With that, we’re poised to reflect. This is where, and this is why, we see crises of middle life. We’re able to reflect, now as adults, on the truly horrid experiences of our youths. The memories we created as uncomprehending children can now be assimilated with the full capacity of a formed being. This is where and when mortality strikes.
For some, coping is a new wife. For some, it’s a new shiny car, a new hobby, a new drug, etc, to attempt to recapture that cooling and spent youth. Other’s are a bit more introspective. To deal, they become better, giving, and others focused. And others still, that have had horrors wrought against them that shouldn’t be conceivable… evaluate, and find, the only way to overcome the monster, is to become the monster. That unresolved conflict lies behind it. You can’t get hurt by it any longer if you become it.
Rez Church posted an eviction notice for the preschool