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Staff Writer
A week after Cross Timbers Church in Argyle, Texas, announced their senior Pastor, Josiah Anthony, was asked to resign over unspecified “inappropriate” and “hurtful” actions, one that did not involve sins against children or sexual relationships with women, the 5000-member megachurch has shared more details about their decision.
During last week’s announcement, the elders were vague about the cause of his resignation, offering:
“Josiah has been in a prolonged and sustained season of struggle with his emotional and mental health, which has been very painful for him and those around him. Throughout this struggle, some of Josiah’s decisions and actions were inappropriate and hurtful to current and former members of the CT family and staff. During this time Josiah was not forthcoming and transparent with the staff and the Elder board. Once all of this came to light over the last few weeks, it became evident that Josiah could not continue to serve as our lead pastor.”
A few things have changed since.
During yesterday’s sermon, one of the elders, John Sullivan, elaborated further on the situation, explaining that at the end of June, they received a report about inappropriate communication between Anthony and a former member. These messages were “overly familiar” and inappropriate. When they confronted him, they found “Josiah was not forthcoming and transparent with us” and that they “learned that Josiah had a pattern of communicating inappropriately with women.”
Contemplating their actions, they learned only days later that Anthony was involved in even more conversations that were likewise not sexual but “excessively personally” and “overly familiar,” resulting in the church asking for his resignation.
After Anthony resigned and after the initial announcement to congregants, church leadership learned of further instances that WERE sexual in nature. They explain, “We were not aware of those interactions when we asked him to resign or when we announced his resignation to you last Sunday” and that contrary to what may have been mistakenly communicated, they “did not consider any of these instances to be emotional affairs.”
Sullivan insisted that emotional affairs require “consent” and that these interactions could not be consensual on account of the “unequal power dynamics created by Josiah’s position as a pastor in church.”
They conclude by informing congregants that their founding Pastor, Tony Slough, would take over the pulpit in the interim.
Notably, prior to coming to Cross Timbers in 2022, Anthony spent decades at Gateway Church under the leadership of child predator Robert Morris.
Anthony has a wife and three children, and he just turned their worlds upside down.
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Mega churches in and of themselves are a cesspool of sin. They are admonished in the Book of Revelation. the RCC is no exception. Christians should disassociate with “Big Religion.”
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MEGAMONEY ‘church’.
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Church leadership is a goal for people who want to sin and hide it. The position carries (or used to) a mantle of trust under which to commit all kinds of atrocities without suspicion. All churches struggle with good vetting. But mega churches foster mega problems; and unlike in a small church, when the leadership fails, it hurts mega people—even millions because of their online presence and high visibility.
All it takes is for one demonic slug to get in a position of strong influence. Then they stack the deck with associate pastorships, deacons, and elders, with either mutual sin issues or weak men willing to go along to get along because they like their power positions. This means nobody is really guarding the spiritual door.
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Scripture plainly tells church deacons and elders how to deal with corrupted leaders—private acknowledgment of rumors, honest investigation, congregational reporting, and dismissal if guilty…NOT private repentance and business as usual…and definitely not cover up. But the head haunch ALWAYS influences a “stacked deck” of deacons and elders in a mega church who will support their “sponsor,” choosing rather to try to hid it, whitewash it, or (like in this case), minimize or conceal the facts with weasel words. They always claim their motive is to protect the flock (they don’t follow Scripture because they think they know better than God.) But truth has a way of rising above the smoke screen, making the matter worse…that is, ultimately not only will the truth be revealed that the pastor is a pervert, wife beater, embezzler, etc., it will also reveal that the deacons and elders are in on the cover up. Thus the tear in the fabric of the life of the church becomes an unrepairable ripping apart. And even though that ripping apart has happened time after time, every single mega church thinks theirs will be different.
Not all mega church leaders are bad, but all should be highly suspect because of the greater temptation to sin. Men who truly want to expand the kingdom of God (more than hide sin or build a mini kingdom where they get to be the king) are far less likely to build a mega church. Instead, when their churches reach a certain size and overflows, they will call for volunteers to be part of a new church plant in another neighborhood headed up by some other man, NOT “theirs by satellite.” But pride is strong and Satan is alive and well…and He is operating in at least one or more members of leadership in every church. That’s his target.
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“Excessively personal” and “overly familiar” sound like Clintonian euphemisms.
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I was hoping he might have gotten a couple of hotties at the ripe adult age of 12 years 6 months and 1 day. They are known as “bogerets” in jew world, and they are adults.
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