Attendance Down 95%? Tavner Smith’s Venue Church Crumbles As New Congregation Seeks to Take Over

Venue Church used to be among the fastest-growing churches in the nation, topping 1500 people spread across four services and two locations. Then the pastor and senior leader, Tavner Smith, cheated on his wife, divorced her, and subsequently had an illicit affair with his worship leader/ personal assistant, resulting in a mass exodus of staff and congregants.

How bad is it? Based on a video from their church service yesterday, attendance is down an estimated 95%. While the church’s YouTube channel is careful only to show Taver preaching, whoever controlled the stream made a rare misstep and shared the church sanctuary before the service, revealing how bare and stark it is. There are huge gaps between the chairs, between the rows, and the center aisle is practically a chasm, with scarcely two dozen people.

With the church hemorrhaging money, owing creditors at least 130k, having no cash reserves, and defaulting on their rent for months, they declared bankruptcy several weeks ago in an attempt to hang on to their building at least, which was vision-casted by Smith in happier times.

This is unlikely to happen. Another thriving church, Rockpointe, is looking to expand, announcing to their congregation that they are still seeking to purchase the property and take it over, working with banks, lawyers, and real estate agents to pry the facilities out of the cold, begrudging hands of the disgraced pastor who has no path forward other than to sell.

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