Willow Creek Church in Winter Springs, Florida, confirmed Thursday that they have fired Tullian Tchvidjian, 43, grandson of evangelical icon Billy Graham, after he revealed a previously unconfessed affair he had with another woman.
"When we heard the disclosures he made just a few days ago, the session acted within hours to end his employment at the church," Willow Creek's Senior Pastor Kevin Labby told The Christian Post in an interview Thursday morning.
"The disclosures that he made involved the fact that he had a previously unconfessed inappropriate relationship with another woman. He didn't share specifics with us. He said the person, that's worth saying … there were no specifics," Labby continued. "The session did not feel that specifics were necessary for our purposes right now in making a decision about whether to keep him on staff. So they've terminated his position but they have not distanced themselves from caring for Tullian and calling him to repentance."
Tchividjian landed a job at Willow Creek Church last September, some two months after he resigned from Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida due to an extramarital affair. During that period he filed for divorce from his now ex-wife, Kim, and was deposed of pastoral credentials by the South Florida Presbytery.
In a statement to
The Washington Post last June, Tchividjian said he began his previously confessed affair after he discovered Kim was cheating on him.
"As many of you know, I returned from a trip a few months back and discovered that my wife was having an affair. Heartbroken and devastated, I informed our church leadership and requested a sabbatical to focus exclusively on my marriage and family. As her affair continued, we separated. Sadly and embarrassingly, I subsequently sought comfort in a friend and developed an inappropriate relationship myself," he wrote.
image: http://images.christianpost.com/full/86474/tullian-tchividjian-kim-tchividjian.jpg
image: http://images.christianpost.com/full/86474/tullian-tchividjian-kim-tchividjian.jpg
(PHOTO: FAMILY PHOTO)
Tullian Tchividjian (r) and his estranged wife Kim Tchividjian (l) are getting a divorce.
His recent confession, according to Labby, contradicts that narrative. The Willow Creek senior pastor indicates that Tchividjian's newly confessed affair occurred prior to discovering Kim's infidelity.
When asked what prompted Tchividjian's confession, Labby said new rumors, which he is not at liberty to discuss, had come to light. Church elders, he said, were also blindsided by the breach of trust that they had placed in Tchividjian.
"I don't have details on them but it must be pretty strong rumors to prompt a disclosure like that," Labby said.
"The feeling of the elders was that Tullian had a long period of time to share that with the church and for one reason or another he elected not to. I can't really comment on what motivated him to not come out with that, but one thing that led him to come out with the confession was the knowledge that there were rumors swirling in Florida where he was previously ministering," Labby continued.
"The session felt that all that we were trying and attempting to do for Tullian had to be predicated on trust. And we understand confession comes over time, people build relationships, they gradually feel more comfortable. But the session was concerned that this was not shared with them and created a kind of faulty understanding in the situation and therefore compromised how we could minister to him," he added. "He is no longer an employee but our desire to care for him continues. How he avails himself to that is just really his choice but we would love to continue to walk with him."
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/tullian-tchvidjian-billy-graham-willow-creek-church-confesses-to-another-affair-159420/#fzkGDhUXbL2KBdwV.99
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/tullian-tchvidjian-billy-graham-willow-creek-church-confesses-to-another-affair-159420/#m27DtTZPiKerSgUb.99
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Price seems to have inherited the previous Tullian parachurch growth,
with plenty of fat cat donors. |
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http://www.religionnews.com/2016/03/17/tullian-tchividjian-out-at-church-as-his-ministry-board-members-quit/
Willow Creek Church in Winter Springs, Florida, confirmed Thursday that they have fired Tullian Tchvidjian, 43, grandson of evangelical icon Billy Graham, after he revealed a previously unconfessed affair he had with another woman.
"When we heard the disclosures he made just a few days ago, the session acted within hours to end his employment at the church," Willow Creek's Senior Pastor Kevin Labby told The Christian Post in an interview Thursday morning.
"The disclosures that he made involved the fact that he had a previously unconfessed inappropriate relationship with another woman. He didn't share specifics with us. He said the person, that's worth saying … there were no specifics," Labby continued. "The session did not feel that specifics were necessary for our purposes right now in making a decision about whether to keep him on staff. So they've terminated his position but they have not distanced themselves from caring for Tullian and calling him to repentance."
Tchividjian landed a job at Willow Creek Church last September, some two months after he resigned from Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida due to an extramarital affair. During that period he filed for divorce from his now ex-wife, Kim, and was deposed of pastoral credentials by the South Florida Presbytery.
In a statement to
The Washington Post last June, Tchividjian said he began his previously confessed affair after he discovered Kim was cheating on him.
"As many of you know, I returned from a trip a few months back and discovered that my wife was having an affair. Heartbroken and devastated, I informed our church leadership and requested a sabbatical to focus exclusively on my marriage and family. As her affair continued, we separated. Sadly and embarrassingly, I subsequently sought comfort in a friend and developed an inappropriate relationship myself," he wrote.
image: http://images.christianpost.com/full/86474/tullian-tchividjian-kim-tchividjian.jpg
image: http://images.christianpost.com/full/86474/tullian-tchividjian-kim-tchividjian.jpg
(PHOTO: FAMILY PHOTO)
Tullian Tchividjian (r) and his estranged wife Kim Tchividjian (l) are getting a divorce.
His recent confession, according to Labby, contradicts that narrative. The Willow Creek senior pastor indicates that Tchividjian's newly confessed affair occurred prior to discovering Kim's infidelity.
When asked what prompted Tchividjian's confession, Labby said new rumors, which he is not at liberty to discuss, had come to light. Church elders, he said, were also blindsided by the breach of trust that they had placed in Tchividjian.
"I don't have details on them but it must be pretty strong rumors to prompt a disclosure like that," Labby said.
"The feeling of the elders was that Tullian had a long period of time to share that with the church and for one reason or another he elected not to. I can't really comment on what motivated him to not come out with that, but one thing that led him to come out with the confession was the knowledge that there were rumors swirling in Florida where he was previously ministering," Labby continued.
"The session felt that all that we were trying and attempting to do for Tullian had to be predicated on trust. And we understand confession comes over time, people build relationships, they gradually feel more comfortable. But the session was concerned that this was not shared with them and created a kind of faulty understanding in the situation and therefore compromised how we could minister to him," he added. "He is no longer an employee but our desire to care for him continues. How he avails himself to that is just really his choice but we would love to continue to walk with him."
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/tullian-tchvidjian-billy-graham-willow-creek-church-confesses-to-another-affair-159420/#fzkGDhUXbL2KBdwV.99
Willow Creek Church in Winter Springs, Florida, confirmed Thursday that they have fired Tullian Tchvidjian, 43, grandson of evangelical icon Billy Graham, after he revealed a previously unconfessed affair he had with another woman.
"When we heard the disclosures he made just a few days ago, the session acted within hours to end his employment at the church," Willow Creek's Senior Pastor Kevin Labby told The Christian Post in an interview Thursday morning.
"The disclosures that he made involved the fact that he had a previously unconfessed inappropriate relationship with another woman. He didn't share specifics with us. He said the person, that's worth saying … there were no specifics," Labby continued. "The session did not feel that specifics were necessary for our purposes right now in making a decision about whether to keep him on staff. So they've terminated his position but they have not distanced themselves from caring for Tullian and calling him to repentance."
Tchividjian landed a job at Willow Creek Church last September, some two months after he resigned from Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Florida due to an extramarital affair. During that period he filed for divorce from his now ex-wife, Kim, and was deposed of pastoral credentials by the South Florida Presbytery.
In a statement to
The Washington Post last June, Tchividjian said he began his previously confessed affair after he discovered Kim was cheating on him.
"As many of you know, I returned from a trip a few months back and discovered that my wife was having an affair. Heartbroken and devastated, I informed our church leadership and requested a sabbatical to focus exclusively on my marriage and family. As her affair continued, we separated. Sadly and embarrassingly, I subsequently sought comfort in a friend and developed an inappropriate relationship myself," he wrote.
Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/tullian-tchvidjian-billy-graham-willow-creek-church-confesses-to-another-affair-159420/#fzkGDhUXbL2KBdwV.99
(RNS) Tullian Tchividjian, who resigned as the pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church last year after admitting to an affair, has been fired from his new position at Willow Creek Presbyterian Church in Winter Springs, Fla.
Tchividjian, grandson of evangelist Billy Graham, came forward to church elders Monday with “some previously undisclosed failures in his life,” said Willow Creek Pastor Kevin Labby. Labby later confirmed those “failures” were “an inappropriate relationship” and declined to comment on specifics.
More than half the board of Tchividjian’s ministry, the LIBERATE Network, also resigned this week after they were made aware of the relationship.
“What we were trying to do was all predicated on trust, and the elders felt as though that trust had been compromised,” Labby said Thursday (March 17).
Tchividjian resigned as senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., last year after an affair. He since has filed for divorce from his wife.
He joined Willow Creek in September and originally had been given the title of director of ministry development at Willow Creek, which Labby said was “poorly chosen” and a “mistake” on his part. Really, the pastor said, it was a sabbatical “set up to care for him and his family so he could pursue healing and counseling and rest.” Tchividjian had no ministerial role and worked completely behind the scenes at the church, Labby said.
The 43-year-old pastor had attended Willow Creek while in seminary, Labby said. Wednesday was Tchividjian’s last day at the church.
“He’d been going to counseling,” Labby said. “He’d been doing everything we asked of him. It’s really unfortunate.
“The way he responded to the elders’ decision was so good. He showed such contrition and humility. He didn’t push back. I really think it was something that probably sat there for a long time. It’s just hard to bring everything out.”
Those elders also asked the pastor to step down from the board of LIBERATE, which Tchividijan created in 2011, because “they didn’t want to blur the line there,” Labby said. Five board members have resigned, too, including two other board members who are part of Willow Creek, he said.
LIBERATE
recently announced it was relaunching as what Labby called a “message”-based ministry, rather than a “messenger”-based ministry, focused around Tchividjian. It is a resource ministry whose mission is “to connect God’s inexhaustible grace to an exhausted world” through multimedia, according to its website.
Steve Calder
