Pastor Scandals That Got Quietly Swept Under the Rug

Despite our accomplishments and innovations, we are only human. People, for better or worse, are full of weaknesses and faults that often manifest themselves in unseemly situations. Those deficiencies become more pronounced and particularly egregious, however, when they come from people who fashion themselves as beacons of morality, piousness, and faith. There are thousands of pastors out there but some of them make the rest look bad when they become embroiled in scandals.

Despite a veneer of godliness, some pastors get caught up in scandals that would make even the most ardent sinner blush. Be it sexual misconduct with church members, sexual abuse of minors, or even murder-for-hire plots, some men of God get exposed as straight-up villains. To make matters worse, they are often unrepentant, resuming their ministerial duties without hesitation. Let's take a look at some of the biggest pastor scandals that got quietly swept under the rug. Some will shock you. (For highly successful pastors, discover the 20 highest-earning pastors and evangelists.)

To compile a list of pastor scandals that were quietly swept under the rug, 24/7 Tempo consulted a range of religious, news, and lifestyle publications including Firebrand Magazine, Religion Unplugged, and CBS News. From there, we selected pastor scandals that resulted in church shakeups, unapologetic behavior, and even arrests. Next, we confirmed aspects of each scandal using sites like Christianpost.com and WCNC.com.

Pastor and televangelist Robert Morris made his name as the founder of the Gateway Church in Southlake, Texas. Started with his wife Debbie in 2000, the Gateway Church has become something of a megachurch in recent years. By 2024, the church counted over 25,000 weekly attendees with several locations around the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Morris elevated his pastor status through a series of books, radio programs, and a television ministry that broadcasts in 190 countries.

In the summer of 2024, however, allegations regarding Morris' sexual misconduct and abuse began surfacing. Cindy Clemishire went public with details regarding a relationship between her and Morris that started when she was 12 years old. More troubling information came to light as time went on. Nearly two decades before, Morris had arraigned for a settlement with Clemishire if she signed a nondisclosure agreement, which she refused. He had also more or less admitted to sexual impropriety during sermons in 2014. Once the allegations became public, Morris publicly confessed to his moral failings. The church supported him initially, going as far as hiring a crisis management team, but Morris ended up resigning as head pastor at the end of the summer. He was not charged with any crimes but various Texas politicians rebuked his behavior.

In his stead, his son James Morris agreed to take over head pastoral duties at Gateway Church starting in 2025. Since then, Morris has laid low yet retains a sizeable following on various social media platforms.

Before his controversy, Bill Hybels was arguably one of the most successful pastors in the United States. His church, the Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, grew into one of the most attended churches in the country. As of late 2018, the church drew in almost 24,000 weekly attendees. Besides creating the Global Leadership Summit, Hybels authored a series of successful books centered around strategies for church leadership.

Hybels was due to retire at the end of 2018 but became embroiled in controversy before he could step down. On March 23, 2018, the Chicago Tribune published a lengthy article detailing Hybels' decades-long affair with a married woman. Though the woman in question later retracted her claims, various publications including the Tribune published more claims regarding Hybels' sexual misconduct. Once The New York Times published further allegations, Hybels publically responded. He denied all the allegations, but in short order, the upper echelon of his church began resigning en masse, citing the situation as untenable. Hybels resigned amidst the growing scandal. To make matters worse, it later came out that his mentor Gilbert Bilezikian had also engaged in sexual misconduct with various church members.

In response, the Willow Creek Community Church underwent a period of reflection and restructuring for its elder board. Hybels, himself, maintained a low profile after the allegations went public. Considering his integral role in the Willow Creek Community Church, he likely still has some association behind the scenes.

When pastor James MacDonald founded the Harvest Bible Church in 1988, it counted just 18 members and met in a local high school. By 2012, the Harvest Bible Church had grown to a massive size with more than 13,000 congregants attending on seven separate campuses around the Chicago area. During its growth, MacDonald became well-known to the world through his "Walk in the Word" radio program. This program eventually became broadcast on over a thousand radio and television outlets across North America. Like many other megachurch pastors, MacDonald also published a series of books. All the while, trouble was brewing.

The first inkling of problems surfaced in 2013 after three church elders resigned citing an atmosphere of fear and intimidation. They claimed MacDonald had excommunicated them. It would take another five years for the controversy surrounding MacDonald to truly come to light. An online blog published allegations regarding the church's financial impropriety and accused MacDonald of having a gambling problem. The church and MacDonald sued the blog for defamation, though later dropped the suit. As time went on, various church members, employees, and elders went public with allegations of MacDonald's bullying, sexual harassment, and misappropriation of church funds. Facing a mounting list of claims, MacDonald took a sabbatical from the church starting in January 2019. The rest of the year saw even more allegations including using church funds to buy members motorcycles and even hitman-for-hire plots.

Eventually, the Harvest Bible Church fired MacDonald after recordings of him making inappropriate comments surfaced. Various investigations were started by police departments and church councils for financial accountability, but no charges seemed to stick. As if a crescendo, MacDonald was arrested in March 2023 for allegedly assaulting a woman in a parking lot. Since then, MacDonald has started a new ministry emphasizing his repentance. He still maintains hundreds of thousands of followers across various social media platforms.

Born Timothy Bruce Cavey, Bruxy Cavey made his name as one of the leading proponents of Christian nonviolence theology in North America. Starting with street evangelism in the 1980s, Cavey worked his way up the Christian leader ladder. In 1991, he became pastor of the Heritage Fellowship Baptist Church in Ancaster, Ontario. Under his leadership, the church grew from 200 to over 1,100 weekly attendees. By the late '90s, Cavey had become the senior pastor at the Upper Oaks Community Church, which also swelled in numbers during his tenure. Thanks to his online presence including blogs and free sermons, the church maintained an international presence.

In 2021, accusations surrounding Cavey's alleged sexual abuse began surfacing. The church board opened an investigation after finding credible claims that he had sexually harassed a member of his congregation for several years. As such, they forced Cavey's resignation on March 3, 2022. Within a few weeks, several more allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct came to light. The police got involved after subsequent investigations uncovered that one of his victims was underage. On May 31, 2022, the Hamilton Police Service arrested Cavey and charged him with three instances of sexual assault. In response, Cavey published a confession blog and hired a high-profile lawyer.

It took until 2024 for his trial to start and in July, a judge stayed one of the charges against Cavey, citing the lengthy delay between his arrest and trial violated the right to a timely trial. Furthermore, the other two charges were dropped as the court felt it did not have a reasonable chance of conviction. Nevertheless, Cavey maintains an active online presence and ministry. He still regularly updates his website with sermons and other religious material.

A former college basketball player, Carl Lentz found his religious calling sometime during college. This inspired him to attend the Hillsong International Leadership College in Sydney, Australia. While at Hillsong, he befriended the son of the church's founder. Together, they formulated a new Hillsong campus in the heart of New York City. A few years later, they brought the idea to fruition and Lentz became co-founder of Hillsong NYC. He cut a striking character with his tattoos, leather jackets, and trendy footwear. Thanks to this nonconventional approach to pastoring, Lentz became associated with various celebrities. He baptized Justin Beiber and was present at the baptism of NBA player Kevin Durant.

This undoubtedly helped Lentz become a public figure. He began making regular television appearances, gracing the sets of hit shows like "The View" and Oprah's "SuperSoul Sunday." While on these shows he offered some contradictory claims about his faith, which elicited suspicion but little controversy. On Nov. 4, 2020, however, Hillsong founder Brian Houston announced that he had fired Lentz for "leadership issues and breaches of trust, plus a recent revelation of moral failures." Houston also fired Lentz's wife.

Eventually, Lentz publically admitted to conducting an extramarital affair. A year later, the wife of Hillsong Boston pastor Josh Kimes accused Lentz of manipulation, sexual abuse, and bullying while working as the Lentz family nanny for several years. When the FX documentary "Secrets of Hillsong" aired, Lentz admitted to the accusations as well as a longtime stimulant addiction. Despite the controversies, Lentz continues to maintain a social media presence with millions of followers. He still regularly makes appearances at churches, fields interviews on popular radio programs, and works in a nonpastoral position at Transformation Church in Oklahoma. (For more pastors that harnessed the internet, learn how social media is making millionaire pastors.)

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, Brian Houston found the religious life early when his parents began preaching for the Assemblies of God in New Zealand church organization. After moving to Sydney in adulthood, Houston worked at various churches before founding the incredibly successful Hillsong Church. Hillsong became one of the most well-known churches in the world thanks to its music ministry which released several chart-topping albums. Furthermore, Hillsong releases like "Mighty to Save" and "Shout to the Lord" were featured on episodes of "American Idol."

However, trouble was brewing. Despite Houston's firing of the aforementioned Carl Lentz, it seems he had his own misconduct to reckon with. On Aug. 5, 2021, New South Wales Police issued an arrest warrant for Houston. They alleged that he concealed instances of child sexual abuse by his father and church leader Frank Houston. It was later revealed that Houston had learned of his father's sexual abuse of a minor back in 1991. Instead of going to the police, he forced his father into retirement and swept the incident under the rug. He stood trial for the charges at the Downing Centre Local Court where he was eventually found not guilty. Despite clear indications of both the father's and son's crimes, no one ever served any jail time.

To make matters worse, in 2022, Houston resigned as senior global pastor of Hillsong after allegations regarding his sexual misconduct with two female church members came to light. For their part, the church blamed sleeping tablets for Houston's behavior. Seemingly unapologetic, Houston announced a new online ministry in 2024. He still counts millions of followers on social media and makes regular updates to his pages.

After attending a Fellowship of Christian Athletes at age 15, Mike Bickle became an evangelical Christian. During this time he claimed to have heard the voice of God several times and been taken up to Heaven. As an adult, Bickle worked as a small-time pastor for several years. Then he started his church, The International House of Prayer. Under Bickle's leadership, the IHOPKC grew into something of a megachurch. It opened a Bible college and counted 2,500 full-time staff members and students at its height. Along the way, Bickle earned followers thanks to his focus on prayer, fasting, and a passion for Jesus. He also elicited suspicion with his repeated mentions of sexuality and his devoted study of the Song of Songs, a book from the Bible with explicit sexual undertones.

That suspicion turned into scandal on Oct. 28, 2023, after allegations surfaced regarding Bickle's sexual abuse of multiple women over a decades-long period. The church put him on administrative leave while simultaneously hiring a private firm to conduct an internal investigation. After Bickle admitted to some of the allegations and denied others, the IHOPKC severed ties with him permanently.

Despite first-hand reports from his victims being published in major newspapers, Bickle seemed to fly under the criminal radar. While he is no longer with the International House of Prayer, he maintains a large social media following with hundreds of thousands of followers spread across Instagram and YouTube.

Perhaps the most famous pastor scandal of the 21st century involves Ted Haggard. After feeling the call of God during his first year in college, Haggard gave up his communications/journalism major to attend Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and pursue pastoring. While working as an associate pastor in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, his mentor had a vision of Haggard opening his own church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In turn, Haggard started the New Life Church with just 22 members who met in the basement of his home. Within two decades, the New Life Church had grown from a small operation into a veritable megachurch, counting a 14,000-strong congregation and several campuses.

The New Life Church created the Association of Life-Giving Churches which eventually grew to include 300 congregations. Haggard then served as president of the National Association of Evangelicals(NAE) from 2003 to 2006. In November 2006, however, a male sex worker came forward. He alleged that Haggard had paid for his services for years, often procuring crystal methamphetamine for the encounters. The accuser came forward after Haggard showed support for a state amendment that would recognize marriage as only between a man and a woman. Initially, Haggard denied all the allegations. Bit by bit, however, he began admitting to parts of the claims which saw him be put on administrative leave from the New Life Church. After the church fired him, Haggard finally admitted to the allegations. It became a big news story and more claims of impropriety surfaced over the ensuing years.

Haggard went to ground until late 2009 when he announced the formation of a new church in Colorado Springs. A year later, Haggard and his wife announced the creation of a new church, the Saint James Church in Colorado Springs. Since then, he's continued to amass a following. Recently, he opened several smaller churches seeking to capitalize on the micro-church trend.

Sometimes, impropriety at churches comes at the hands of staff members. Take the incident at the Immanuel Baptist Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. Pastor Steven Smith drew a sizeable crowd thanks to his measured and mature sermons. It quickly grew into one of the largest congregations in the state. In 2023, however, allegations came to light that put a spotlight on the church's internal activities.

According to several reports, Patrick Stephen Miller was accused of sexual abuse while working as the church's assistant director of children's ministry in 2015. A few years later, Miller was arrested and charged with felony second-degree sexual assault. He later pleaded down to misdemeanor harassment and received a one-year suspended sentence. When the public learned of these crimes it became clear the church did not take the proper steps. As per Smith's public apology letter, he had known about the abuse case for five years but chose not to disclose the incident to the church.

Despite public outcry, Smith refused to quit his position as head pastor. Eventually, he had a change of heart and stepped down. Nevertheless, Smith said he was "not stepping into another ministry, but stepping aside to let the healing process begin."

On May 30, 2024, the Stanly County Sheriff's Office in North Carolina opened an investigation into and subsequently arrested popular pastor Kenny Parker, the head pastor at the Straitway Baptist Church in Albemarle. The sheriff's office started looking into the church after a series of sexual assault allegations spanning decades came to light.

As such, Parker was charged with three counts of failing to report crimes against minors. To make matters worse, Parker also served as the chief administrator of the church's schools. By all accounts, the sexual abuse had occurred for decades under Parker's watch but he never reported anything to the authorities. According to anonymous members of the church, Parker created a culture of fear and intimidation during his tenure. As one member said to reporters, "He didn't want any type of public spotlight on the place. You feel like if you went to the authorities you'd be punished even harder." While investigators refused to comment on more details from the case, an investigation remains ongoing. Parker is scheduled for another court date in fall 2024. (For an exploration of the corporate-like structure of many churches, discover more about megachurches and the billion-dollar business behind them.)