A megachurch pastor and senior leader in the Assemblies of God denomination has taken a leave of absence following allegations that he sexually abused a young girl when she was just 16 years old.
Pastor Rod Loy is the senior pastor of First Assembly of God, a 16,000-member multisite megachurch based in North Little Rock, Arkansas, which is the third largest AOG church in the country. He also holds a leadership role as an executive presbyter in the Assemblies of God denomination.
Late last month, former church member Suzanne Lander filed a lawsuit against Loy and the church, alleging that Loy began grooming her in 1996 when she was just 16, and eventually raped her months later,
Lander, whose husband eventually became the church’s youth pastor and then executive pastor, said the abuse continued for 20 years, until 2016, when they moved away, enabling her to have the distance needed to recognize that her relationship with him was actually abuse.
Seeking financial compensation and punitive damages for mental anguish, medical expenses, loss of enjoyment of life, and emotional distress, the lawsuit alleges:
Defendant Loy’s conduct was extreme and outrageous, beyond all possible bounds of decency, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community. Defendant Loy exploited his position as a trusted spiritual leader to systematically groom, manipulate, and sexually abuse a vulnerable sixteen-year-old girl who had survived years of parental sexual abuse and trafficking.
…Defendant Loy used religious teachings and scripture to convince Plaintiff that God wanted her to submit to his sexual demands, telling her repeatedly that performing sexual acts pleased God and made her better in God’s eyes.”
..Loy “forced her to perform oral sex, performed oral sex on her, and raped her in multiple locations: his church office, the storage closet, nursery, Junior Super Church Room, church parking lot, and his home.”
Pastor Loy has emphatically denied the allegations.
First Assembly of God officials told The Christian Post they had “been aware of the claims of the accuser… before she filed a lawsuit…” and that they launched an “external investigation” as a result.
They ultimately “found no evidence to substantiate her claims” and stated that the church “is prepared to defend its pastor against Lander’s lawsuit.”
