A north Texas church has fired its pastor for allegedly looking at “inappropriate materials,” despite the pastor’s denials of wrongdoing.
Lake Country Church in Fort Worth fired Senior Pastor Scott Crenshaw for allegedly viewing “inappropriate materials” during an Instagram search, according to WFAA 8, a Fort Worth television station.
Crenshaw’s lawyer, Mark Lane, says the claims are false, the station reported. Email messages left for Lane were not returned, and the law office did not have an answering service.
Crenshaw assumed the pastor role in 2018, according to the church’s website. His name has since been removed from the church’s official webpage, and a message left for church officials was not returned.
Crenshaw’s Facebook page says “I am a follower of Jesus Christ, a father of four, husband of one. I am a seeker, a teacher whose heart is to shepherd and pastor.”
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Lane reportedly told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, church elders initially offered Crenshaw a 60-day sabbatical, but withdrew their offer and offered a 90-day leave of absence. That quickly changed to the church asking him to temporarily step down and subsequently losing his job, the Fort-Worth Star-Telegram reported.
Lane threatened to send a pre-litigation letter to the to the church and its elders, seeking restitution and damages for destroying Crenshaw’s career, the station reported.
Crenshaw was fired from New River Fellowship Church in Hudson Oaks after viewing inappropriate images on a church computer, the Star-Telegram reported in 2016.
Crenshaw told the Star-Telegram, “(I) found myself viewing inappropriate images” on his church office computer.
Crenshaw reportedly said in a statement, “I have always preached that New River was not a museum for perfect people, but a hospital for those who are hurting, jacked up and messed up . . . If this church is only for perfect people, then it would be very small and you would be without a pastor.”
Crenshaw is just one on a lengthy list of Texas pastors resigning recently in the wake of inappropriate sexual behavior.
The most well-known, the former pastor of Gateway Church Robert Morris, resigned this past June after a decades old secret came to light that he allegedly sexually abused Cindy Clemishire, a 54-year-old grandmother from Oklahoma, beginning in 1982, when she was 12.
Clemishire told The Roys Report (TRR) the abuse lasted until she was 16 years old.
Another well-known Texas pastor who recently resigned due to unspecified “sin” is Tony Evans of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship.
Sheila Stogsdill is a freelance print journalist and digital reporter, primarily covering crime issues for KSN/KODE.
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14 Responses
Why do other – already repeatedly reported – stories have to always be repeated on this platform? Why can’t the readers be respected enough to remember?
Because not every reader has been here as long as the website has existed? Plus, I have been around for several years but I can’t keep it all straight. The links are very helpful to me
Because maybe not everyone who visits the site has read every article on the site? Could that be the reason?
Anyone can inadvertently look at “inappropriate material”, even without trying. I typed in what I thought was the website for a movie, only to be re-routed to a porn site.
However, given that this is NOT this pastor’s first time doing so, I’m not buying his claim that the church is in the wrong here.
It does seem that the consequences increased as they investigated and learned more. If it was inadvertent it wouldn’t have gone from sabatacal to leave to firing.
Also, Texas passed a law last year that requires that porn sites obtain identification (such as a driver’s license) before allowing access. The “inadvertent access” that I had years ago, wouldn’t be the case now. So, this “pastor” would have had to provide personal info to access the site.
I don’t actually think a pastor should necessarily be fired for looking at porn. But he was looking at porn at work, you would be fired from any job for doing that.
Another Dallas area church with a pastor fired for doing something sexually inappropriate. I’m seeing a pattern here. How many more Dallas area churches need a house cleaning and which city is next?
Tip of the iceberg. In the 1990s my mom stayed in a hotel in Illinois a week after a very large Pastor’s Conference. The hotel manager said they sold more porn videos during those yearly Conferences than at any other time. Over 95% of the pastors ordered porn videos every year they came. Imagine what it is like now that the internet and phones makes it even more easy to hide? The wrath against the church has been stored up and is just beginning. Like Jonah in the boat, the wrath against Jonah affected the poor sailors until they threw him overboard. Why do you think neither the pulpit or the pew speaks out against the unrepentant Trump? He is their poster child. Literally. The “holier than thou” and self-righteous attitudes about the “sinful worldly sinners” is a stench. The sin is IN the unrepentant “church”. God lit a match but I believe He is about to use a blowtorch on the church. Mark my words.
There seems to be a trend – when a church’s doctrinal statement as it relates to regeneration deviates from the clear, simple biblical pattern of faith alone in Christ alone for eternal life (Jn. 6:47), the church’s management team seems to easily deviate from biblical conduct. This church has no Scripture to validate or support its doctrinal position regarding regeneration/salvation (https://www.lakecountry.org/statement-of-faith/)
After clicking the links and seeing the local reporting, it seems that he has been let go from another church for viewing inappropriate materials on a church computer. This church is wise for cutting ties at the first instance of impropriety. If you already have a problem in that area and haven’t put into place things that keep you FAR away from troubling instagram searches, you’re probably trying to get away with the same old sins.
I could be wrong, but it is my opinion that if you are viewing porn on company time and equipment, it is grounds for termination. Why would a church be different?
That is clearly stated in a
employee guidelines, hr manuals, etc. regarding use of company computers and time. One can also be fired for using company time and computers to watch Youtube videos. A church should be no different.
Ham was cursed for uncovering his father Noah’s nakedness while Noah lay in a drunken stupor. When one wishes to view the nakedness of others as this account describes, it brings a curse on self and others (Canaan was cursed as a result of his father, Ham – and then the succeeding generations suffered). Shem and Japheth walked in backwards and covered their drunken father with a sheet. They were spared this curse. Deuteronomy chapter 28 warns of both blessing and cursing in regard to the keeping of Father YHWH’s Commandments which bring LIFE (14 verses of blessing for obedience; 54 verses of cursing for disobedience – 4 times the amount). This is serious.