Story Church Issues Statement About Accused Pastor Sam Collier, Then Deletes It (But of course we have it)
The church of embattled ‘Apostle’ Sam Collier has released a statement addressing accusations of infidelity against him by his wife, explaining that he will take a back for a season and the leadership team will step up while they work it out.
However, the church did not post the statement in a permanent location, but rather added it to their Instagram stories, which automatically deleted after 24 hours.
A few days ago Toni Collier, Sam’s wife, shared on Instagram that she was seeking a divorce from her husband, citing “discovering and enduring repeated acts of infidelity” over the course of years, and writing that “despite seasons of hope, attempts at reconciliation, and counseling, after recently discovering more infidelity, I realized this wasn’t a sustainable or God-honoring marriage anymore.”
Within minutes, he rejoined with his own statement accusing her of abusing him throughout their marriage, saying:
Ugly stuff.
While the two have not said anything publicly since then, Story Church revealed that they have “walked closely & privately with Apostle Sam” for several months, and it had been hoped the marital conflict and accusations would have been handled privately.
They offer “what we are experiencing now is the public revelation and responses to what we have been walking through privately in conjunction with Apostle Sam’s accountability council, ministry boards, legal team, and therapists.” Following the news of his impending divorce, they note that Collier will take a step back while the executive team steps forward in the leading of our community, and that they “fully trust in Apostle Sam’s commitment to be a submitted leader” to the Holy Spirit at this time.
For those wondering at the repeated use of the ‘Apostle’ title in the statement, which some of the more cynical among us might suggest was being used as a cudgel to assert Sam’s authority, Collier became an ‘Apostle‘ in the summer of 2023. Despite claiming that he simply wants to be called ‘Sam,’ the church certainly has made judicious use of that title. In a recent interview, Collier insisted he did not want to be commissioned as an apostle on account of the theological debates it would cause and partly because, and we quote, “it would hurt my brand.”
Yet he says the Lord told him to become an Apostle so that people in his congregation would know his gift. “God said, ‘stop telling people you’re a pastor, because you’re not.” Collier has asserted that he doesn’t operate in the office of a pastor or evangelist because he has no desire to share the gospel with strangers or visit sick people, but instead operates in the office of an Apostle- which is to be the leader of the church.
In late 2021, Hillsong Atlanta launched with Sam Collier as pastor. Collier has a wild theological past, including spending years as Youth Choir Director in a church where the Senior Pastor was the openly pro-choice, openly pro-LGBT, heresy-spewing, Planned-Parenthood-endorsed Democrat Senator, Dr. Raphael Warnock, and then several years at Bishop Eddie Long’s megachurch – a prosperity gospel heretic who preaches wretched blasphemies about name-it-and-claim-it, speaking realities into existence, little god theology, and multiple sex scandals. Later he joined up with Andy Stanley for several years until he was tapped by Hillsong head honcho Brian Houston to lead the new plant, even though Collier has no seminary training and a horrific Christian pedigree.
Hillsong gave them $762,000.
Once the news that Brian Houston was ousted from Hillsong, Collier also announced that he was leaving Hillsong and starting his own church, which he did three weeks later. Like seemingly every other Hillonsg Church, they too had questions about financial impropriety. The report reads:
“Although Hillsong Atlanta was intending to commence operations with only 5 staff members, $18.8k was allocated for the staff picnic/retreat. Yet, zero was allocated to CityCare Program Costs and zero for Bibles and Literature.
When Sam Collier decided to separate from Hillsong in early 2022 due to the Brian Houston scandal, the $762k USD Hillsong had invested into this fledgling campus was also lost. This included $82.5k in venue break costs.
Hillsong Atlanta’s Year One budget was approved with an operating deficit of $608,646. This included a salary of USD 145K for Senior Pastor Sam Collier (more than twice of the salary of the COO), Sunday Catering expenses of $60k, and executive meals, travel and accommodation totaling $43k.”
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These narcissistic buffoons who coronate themselves as ‘apostles’ and ‘prophets’ represent everything rotten about Christianity in America today.
Collier, Warnock, Long … what do these men all have in common? At least one thing — congregations with an average IQ of roughly 70.