This megachurch pastor’s extramarital DMs got him pulled from the pulpit
Wake up readers, a new example of straight people ruining the sanctity of marriage just dropped!The married pastor of The Village megachurch in Flower Mound, Texas has stepped down from his position after being caught sending inappropriate Instagram DMs to an unnamed woman.In a not-quite-tearful apology befitting a recently disgraced YouTuber, the pastor confessed to sending “unguarded and unwise” messages containing “course and foolish joking.” That was the extent of his specifics, as he mostly referred to the entire situation with things like “what I was in” and “whatever this is.”His complete vagueness matched with the severity of the punishment have many, including survivors of church abuse and a long-time pastor counselor, thinking that Chandler isn’t telling the whole story.Related: Gay rumors swirl after Southern Baptist leader retires over “morally inappropriate relationship”This pastor being caught sending inappropriate messages to a woman outside his marriage is doubly notable, given his track record on handling marriage sanctity instances in his church.In 2015, a Village Church congregant named Karen Hinkley left her husband for being an admitted pedophile.
Chandler & Co. subjected the woman to church discipline for the annulment, but let the man off scot-free because he repented.The church later apologized for this mishandling, but only after Hinkley went public with it all.This was an especially bad look for a pastor who met his wife at a youth church camp where he was a guest pastor and she was a high school camper.This 2015 incident is, of course, not a Christian church’s first go-round at protecting sexual abusers.
