A week after Cross Timbers Church in Argyle, Texas, announced their senior Pastor, Josiah Anthony, was asked to resign over unspecified “inappropriate” and “hurtful” actions, one that did not involve sins against children or sexual relationships with women, the 5000-member megachurch has shared more details about their decision.
During last week’s announcement, the elders were vague about the cause of his resignation, offering:
“Josiah has been in a prolonged and sustained season of struggle with his emotional and mental health, which has been very painful for him and those around him. Throughout this struggle, some of Josiah’s decisions and actions were inappropriate and hurtful to current and former members of the CT family and staff. During this time Josiah was not forthcoming and transparent with the staff and the Elder board. Once all of this came to light over the last few weeks, it became evident that Josiah could not continue to serve as our lead pastor.”
A few things have changed since.
During yesterday’s sermon, one of the elders, John Sullivan, elaborated further on the situation, explaining that at the end of June, they received a report about inappropriate communication between Anthony and a former member. These messages were “overly familiar” and inappropriate. When they confronted him, they found “Josiah was not forthcoming and transparent with us” and that they “learned that Josiah had a pattern of communicating inappropriately with women.”
Contemplating their actions, they learned only days later that Anthony was involved in even more conversations that were likewise not sexual but “excessively personally” and “overly familiar,” resulting in the church asking for his resignation.
After Anthony resigned and after the initial announcement to congregants, church leadership learned of further instances that WERE sexual in nature. They explain, “We were not aware of those interactions when we asked him to resign or when we announced his resignation to you last Sunday” and that contrary to what may have been mistakenly communicated, they “did not consider any of these instances to be emotional affairs.”
Sullivan insisted that emotional affairs require “consent” and that these interactions could not be consensual on account of the “unequal power dynamics created by Josiah’s position as a pastor in church.”
They conclude by informing congregants that their founding Pastor, Tony Slough, would take over the pulpit in the interim.
Notably, prior to coming to Cross Timbers in 2022, Anthony spent decades at Gateway Church under the leadership of child predator Robert Morris.
Anthony has a wife and three children, and he just turned their worlds upside down.
