The board of Cornerstone Church is defending pastor David Wigington after allegations emerged that he was purchasing prostitutes and escorts for erotic massages, telling congregants that they believe he is innocent.
During their September service, which was not broadcast, board member Gregory Lamar decried the claims as “false allegations” and insisted that they believe their pastor did no wrong.
We speak to you today about Pastor David and Shana, and about a matter that we know will raise questions and concerns.
False allegations that are unrelated to his work here at Cornerstone have been brought forward concerning Pastor David. From the very beginning, David brought this matter to our district leadership and voluntarily submitted himself to the district’s process and to the accountability of this board. He has cooperated fully throughout this process, which is now continued for more than four months, and as of today, we are still awaiting its conclusion. While we continue to wait, we want our church family to know a few things clearly.
First, we believe Pastor David. We believe in his innocence.
And David and Shana have this board’s full confidence, love, and support. We have walked closely with them throughout these past four months. We have watched David willingly submit himself to accountability and cooperate with everything that has been asked of him.
Supporting David does not mean the allegations should not be taken seriously; they should be. This is precisely why David submitted himself to the district process from the beginning. We believe accountability matters. We believe fairness matters. And we remain hopeful that the process will soon reach its conclusion.
At the same time. These past four months have taken a significant personal and emotional toll on David and Shana. They have continued leading, serving, and loving this church, and carrying the normal responsibilities of ministry, while living under the weight and uncertainty of this situation. As their board. We care about them not simply as our pastor and his wife, but as people we deeply love.
For that reason, the board has asked David and Shana to take some vacation time away from Cornerstone to rest, to spend time together, and begin to heal from the toll these past several months have taken on them.
We want to be very clear about what this means. This is not a suspension or discipline, and it does not represent any change in this board’s confidence in David. Quite the opposite. This is their board saying to them, “You have carried enough for a while. Let us carry some of this for you.”
While David and Shana are away, Cornerstone will continue to be well cared for. Our staff, board, ministry leaders, and preaching team will continue serving and leading our church. We ask our church family to help us give David and Shana the freedom to genuinely step away, let them rest, give them space, and pray for them and their family.
Pray that these days bring rest and healing. Pray for wisdom for everyone involved, and pray for the continued unity, health, and mission of Cornerstone. When the district process concludes, we will communicate appropriately with our church family. Until then, we want there to be no uncertainty about where this board stands.
We believe David. We stand with David and Shana. We love them with all our hearts.
Right now, one of the most important ways we can show that love is by giving them permission to step away for a little while, rest, heal, and simply be David and Shana rather than Pastor David and Shana. Cornerstone will continue its ministry. We will continue
Wigington is the lead pastor of Cornerstone Christian Fellowship in Bloomington, Indiana. According to his church bio, he has “traveled worldwide to engage, encourage, and equip missionary workers and pastors in more than 60 countries.”
He’s also the Director of Church Relations1 for Project Rescue. Founded in 1997 and growing to $10M in annual revenue, they are a “global, faith-based network that rescues and restores women and children who are survivors of sexual slavery and human exploitation.” Wigington has been heavily involved with them and has helped raise millions of dollars to stop sex trafficking.
Four months ago, Jo Fipps, a longtime congregant and church volunteer, discovered Wigington’s purported secret life after receiving one of the pastor’s old computers. The laptop wasn’t properly wiped and still gave access to his iCloud account, texts, messages, and calendar, dating back to 2020. He told the Roys Report:
“I was not remotely suspecting or expecting to find the depth of what I found: conversations with dozens of people that appeared to be sex workers talking about sexual services and meeting up all over the country,”
Some examples, which were all provided to the Roys Report in the attached trove, include:
and
Wigington has denied the allegations.
10 responses to “‘We believe David.’ Cornerstone Board Defends Pastor Accused of Purchasing Prostitutes”
This is in my mind far worse news for the church than the allegations themselves. How the church responds to such things is of the utmost importance. The board’s language is very concerning – “We believe him” “We believe in his innocence”. “Belief” (outside of the truth of God) should form no part of a board’s language in context of such serious allegations.
“Against an elder, receive not an accusation, but before two or three witnesses.”
1 Timothy 5:19
This is one person’s word and a bunch of digital data that cannot be clearly tied to any individual. Everything is based on this one person’s testimony. Everyone the person approached has basically turned him away. So there may well be something here not being said about the accuser.
Until there is more evidence, it would appear (from the perspective of someone who only has the advantage of reading these articles) that the board is doing the right thing.
Investigation and official admittance of a charge are two different things. Scripture does not forbid investigation without at least two witnesses. In Deut. 13, for example, diligent inquiry and investigation is to be conducted pretty much even if one hears as much as a rumor bout false gods being worshiped. Deut. 17:2-7 makes the distinction between investigation and charging more clear. It does not say not to investigate (which includes finding and gathering witnesses), but it does say not to put anyone to death on the testimony of a single witness.
Evidence can also suffice as a witness. Scripture is the first example, such as reiterated in Heb 10:28. Anytime one references scripture there are already far more than 2 or 3 witnesses. There is, in fact, a “great cloud of witnesses”
1 Tim. 5:19 does not mean that elders are to be scrutinized or investigated less, or that they have some sort of immunity from investigation that the rest of us do not. It means the opposite. It means that leaders are to be afforded the same due process as anyone else. Charged by the same standards, tried by the same standards, and punished by the same standards. Leaders are to be watched like hawks, in fact, as Jesus instructed us all to do.
You have to understand, in those days, and within the early church, they did not practice separation of church and state. What you’re reading when you read such scripture is the written law of the land. So you have to understand that it is referring to an official admission of a charge. It is not talking about investigating or looking into matters.
Scripture says to inquire diligently.
In this case, as to your statement Jeremy, there are ways to tie it to a specific individual beyond any reasonable doubt. And there are steps that should be taken in order to conduct a proper investigation. First and foremost a full forensic image of the drive. Providers will keep records/logs of basic file and database transactions. Apple, for example, will have logs of iCloud activity, and be able to tell you when the files/data were created and deleted. (though if it synced with iCloud that is fairly solid evidence by itself that the files/data existed prior). Possession of the device can be traced. It would’ve taken a ton of work to fabricate all those messages, and to do so in a manner that didn’t leave any holes – i.e., in sync with his travel times and locations, etc. Efforts could be made to contact the other parties, and so on.
I could go on, but suffice it to say that there’s a ton of investigation that could be done, which apparently hasn’t been done. When you start investigating such matters, then the lies expose themselves. Nobody can perfectly lie, especially such elaborate lies. There’s always holes. Somewhere, somehow, whoever’s guilty messed up. And a good investigator will find where they messed up – most especially one who is following the lead of the Holy Spirit.
Now what does it say in Deut. 19 should be done in the case of one suspected of false accusation? It says, guess what … inquire diligently in order to determine whether or not the accuser is a false accuser, or is himself being falsely accused.
Scripture demands diligent inquiry in either case. And the reason is obvious. As it stands right now, many are accusing Jo Fipps of lying, without themselves having any witnesses or evidence to substantiate the claim that he is lying.
False accusation is a serious sin. It too must be investigated. And if they are going to say that Jo Fipps has lied and falsely accused, then scripture demands that they prove their accusation. Lest they themselves be the ones who falsely accused devoid of any witnesses or evidence.
Scripture says to “inquire diligently”. Regardless of whether or not there may be false accusations, scripture demands diligent investigation in either case … in either case! … and from what I’ve seen and read, there has not been any such sort of diligent inquiry. And at the root of that lack of concern or effort, it seems there is a festering wickedness. Ultimately, if it’s not done then the reason it is not done is because nobody cares about getting to the bottom of the matter and finding out the truth.
Then the stupidity that manifests from the wickedness exposes itself. Right. The severe self-centered love of pleasure and comfort, rather than love of God (2 Tim. 3). When people essentially send the message, saying in so many words, “I don’t really care enough to look into anything or to try to understand or to put forth any effort to get to the bottom of things, but I’m certain so and so is absolutely guilty of false accusation …”, well, that doesn’t exactly betray much intelligence. What it betrays is a severe wickedness of the heart.
If they want to “inquire diligently” and get to the bottom of things, then they certainly can and will do so. But as it stands right now, by all appearances, they don’t really want to …
If what you say is true, Jeremy, that everyone Jo Fipps approached has turned him away (and by implication failed to even care about conducting any sort of inquiry or investigation), then it would say far more about them and their wickedness than it would ever say anything about Jo Fipps. At best, it’s an admission that they did not conduct any sort of diligent inquiry or investigation.
There are no holes in God’s standards. If there is suspicion of false accusation then that too must be investigated. Scripture demands an investigation in such a case, and there’s a good reason it does so. The “church” cannot and will not get away with just flippantly saying “he’s lying” and then ignore it and walk away. No, that’s not how it works.
“Eye for an eye”, as Deut. 19 reiterates, is referring to this balance. It refers to the fact that God’s standards are not and will never be hypocritical. They are single standards, solid standards, firmly based standards that do not change. There is one dividing line, and all are held to that same standard.
In keeping with that standard, notice the punishment for false accusation is the same as that of the alleged sin of the accused.
There’s a good reason why …
Jo Gibbs, no matter what “polite society”, or any individual, group or congregation that might arrogantly believe they decide of their own accord and standards who is to be a part of the body of Christ, might think of him, is entitled to just as much due process as David Wigington.
The fact that he has been flippantly turned away does not … DOES NOT … say anything bad about him, to any degree anywhere remotely near what it says about those who flippantly turned him away …
He is entitled and has the right to just as much due process as anyone else. If you’re going to call him a false accuser, then you need to prove your accusations.
There is no way to lazily and flippantly dodge God’s commandments. You cannot honor scripture, including Matt. 18, 1 Cor. 6, etc. without doing the required diligent inquiry. So if you are not going to honor it, then don’t try to appeal to it. You (they) violate the very same scripture to which they try to appeal. Where are their witnesses and where is their proof that his accusation is false?
If God says to “inquire diligently” whenever there is suspected false accusation, then you should and must “inquire diligently” whenever there is suspected false accusation … no ifs, ands, buts, or excuses of any kind …
In the course of all this, the way it is being (not) dealt with, the way it is being handled, with early unsubstantiated verdicts being rendered everywhere and Mr. Gibbs being essentially convicted and punished as a false accuser without proof, he is not the one who is being exposed as chaff … they are …
There are tons of things that could be done to investigate. Tons. Geolocation – IP and GPS in the case of a phone, and all sorts of things. And any good software or other engineer in the IT field can easily inform them of steps to take.
But they have to WANT to do so …
Claiming there is no way, or that it can’t be done, and so on, without even trying, is the worst of excuses. That itself betrays a wickedness …
I don’t care if they’re the most computer illiterate, computer ignorant people on the planet, are they unable to operate a phone? Call some engineers for crying out loud …
I’m an old software engineer who’s forgotten most of what he ever learned, and even I know there are many things that can be done. Good grief. It absolutely can be tied to an individual beyond a reasonable doubt. And I’m not seeing or hearing of any sort of legitimate effort whatsoever …
If they WANT to get to the bottom of it then they can do so …
And any truly born again Christian, indwelled by the Holy Spirit, would want to do so. Some of these denominations, you know it’s all about the Holy Spirit when it comes to acting like a loon and jumping pews, but when it comes to what scripture says the Holy Spirit actually does, and what His job actually is, not so much. It reminds me of 1 Cor. 14. Right. Speaking gibberish into the air … right, well, nobody’s impressed … how-about doing what scripture says to do and conducting some diligent inquiry in this case instead, then maybe I’ll see some evidence of the presence of the Holy Spirit within you …
I absolutely despise the mob rule that so many have been brainwashed into believing. Look here, the Body of Christ is not a democracy. It’s not a mob. It’s not a cult. It’s not a cabal. He and He alone rules supreme.
You need to undo that brainwashing. Become aware of it, face it, and then undo it. And you need only ask the Lord to undo it for you. You need only to WANT to undo it …
The mob masquerading as a congregation is put into God’s place, where it does not belong. The mob operates to protect itself. And so what might’ve been a congregation of truly born again Christian quickly dissolves into nothing but a cult, a den of wickedness, a brood of vipers.
Read your Bible and use your noggin.
The fact that he has been turned away is indicative of nothing whatsoever. Whether turned away by one or a thousand, IT SAYS NOTHING !!! It indicates nothing whatsoever about the facts of the case or the truthfulness of the allegations … NOTHING …
But it absolutely does say something about those who turned him away, and those who would then appeal to such a mob mentality. It says quite a bit …
SMH … Lord help us …
Is “he’s lying because he’s been turned away” a commandment of men, or is it a commandment of God? Who made up that stupid rule? (the “mob” did, that’s who – for the obvious reason)
Quit being a bunch of blasted pharisees, for crying out loud … either do what He says, or quit claiming His name!
You don’t even pay attention to the very scripture you reference. You only read and see it from one perspective – as if through a glass darkly (1 Cor. 13). You only see and care to see one facet. Deut. 19 essentially also says, in so many words, DO NOT label someone a false accuser without diligent investigation proving he or she is a false accuser. It also says that. But you’ve got to care more about what it actually says than what you want it to say, before you’ll ever see it or understand it …
I don’t mean to slam you Jeremy. Only to make you aware. You don’t realize what you said and did. You’re blind from being led by the blind …
The Body of Christ is a supreme, absolute, total Monarchy, in the truest sense of the word. His government has ONE and ONLY ONE employee. It’s not a democracy. It’s not a republic. He and He alone rules supreme. And there is only one Body of Christ. Only one …
If He turns you away, then you’re turned away. Not before and not until …
If the Lord has not turned one away, then you do not treat him like he’s just scum of the earth unworthy of your blasted group, turn him away and call him a liar without proof. You don’t do that!
Is this a church? Is it a congregation of born again Christians? Or is it a blasted cult?
Make up your minds … it can’t be both
The “church” these days is something to behold. It welcomes those scripture says not to welcome. It turns away those scripture says not to turn away.
It has become nothing but a cult, making up stupid mess as it goes … “teaching for doctrine the commandments of men” …
How many times and by whom must one be ignored before his claims magically become false? Where’s that scripture? Is there a specific number, or is that also made up on the fly, ever-changing whichever way the wind blows? SMH …
If the “church” believes it has the power to convey the reward of Heaven, would that not necessitate a belief that it also has the power to condemn? Words of condemnation are not acceptable in polite society, or within the group. But if the group (mob) believes it has the power to decide the one, then it must believe it has the power to decide the other. Yet saying one is taboo (within the mob) while saying the other is considered the most loving and righteous thing one can say. While, the truth is, that trying to reward one with Heaven of your own accord (or by the commandments of men) is every bit as wicked as trying to punish one with Hell … that’s the Lord’s domain and His alone.
By all accounts, Mr. Fipps is still a member of the congregation. If he is the sort who should be turned away, according to the Lord’s instruction in His word, then why has he not already been turned away and kicked out of the church? If he is not of such a sort, then why was he turned away?
Hoo boy …
It says nothing about Fipps that he was turned away, but it says a lot … tons … about those who turned him away. There is no place for such mob rule in the Body of Christ.
If you’re going to label him a false accuser, then you’d darned well prove it. There is no dodging thorough investigation. You cannot cherrypick the scripture, ignoring the parts you don’t like (in this case, even the very same passage). Neither man is guilty until proven innocent. If you must prove one, you must prove the other. That’s what scripture says to do. And if you are going to half-hearted pretend to conduct an investigation that is far less than “diligent”, then you might as well not investigate at all, because that is worse … far worse …
He sent his picture, age and description.
Nobody has ever been despised and rejected more than our Lord (Isaiah 53). He continues to be despised and rejected several times a second every second of every day.
But a “church” is going to try to tell me, with a straight face, that a man’s guilt or innocence is dependent on whether or not he is despised and rejected? If such were the case, then Jesus would be the most wicked to have ever existed, by infinite orders of magnitude.
Never forget the fact that Jesus was crucified according to a vote …
The number and size of the crowd yelling “crucify him”, who voted to spare Barabbas, was it relevant? Any indication of Jesus’ wickedness or wrongdoing?
Dispense with the brainwashing. Repent, get on your knees, and ask the Lord to clear your thinking. You can serve Him or you can serve the mob (which is to serve yourself), but you can’t serve both …