By LeoNardo Blair, Senior Reporter
Tim Somers, a formative years pastor with Steven Furtick’s Elevation Church in North Carolina, changed into fired from his feature after he changed into accused of enticing in sinister habits with ragged students at Oaks Church in Texas, where he served as an intern and workers member more than 10 years ago.
“Just no longer too long ago, allegations were introduced forward about Tim Somers’ habits whereas serving at a church in Texas approximately 12 years ago,” a spokesperson for Elevation Church suggested The Christian Post Monday.
“As quickly as Elevation realized about these allegations, we reached out to local Texas authorities and correct away placed Tim on leave. No prices had been filed. But Tim understands how impactful these allegations are for his feature in ministry and we now maintain got agreed he’ll no longer wait on on workers.”
In a teach to CP Monday, Pink Oaks Police Department Chief of Police Garland Wolf confirmed that no prices maintain but been filed in opposition to Somers, but he has been named of their ongoing investigation of “extreme allegations that would possibly well or will impact an particular particular person’s life for a form of years.”
“We are unexcited making an are trying to narrow down the timeline of events, the precise living of the offense(s), who would possibly well merely had been enthusiastic as suspects, and who would possibly well merely had been enthusiastic as victims. Additional, the investigation is being conducted to search out out what and if one thing else took place on church property or within the jurisdiction of Pink Oak, Texas,” Wolf acknowledged.
CP reached out to Somers for commentary on the allegations. A response is pending.
The investigation of Somers is attached to final month’s firing of Jerry Nickerson from his feature as the pupil pastor of Hope Fellowship’s Frisco West Campus after he voluntarily confessed to enticing in “sinister contact with a minor” 10 years earlier at Oaks Church.
Rapidly after Nickerson’s confession, Oaks Church confirmed in an email sent to congregants on Jan. 11 that Nickerson’s abuse changed into linked to his time with the congregation.
“This week, we grew to changed into conscious of a self-discipline that changed into disclosed by a ragged formative years ministry intern who served at Oaks Church,” acknowledged an email to the church from pastors Chris and Cara Railey.
“[T]his ragged intern, who changed into serving as formative years pastor at but another church, disclosed to that church’s management that he had sinister contact with a minor who attended Oaks Formative years at the time,” the email endured. “To make certain the topic is correctly investigated, we quickly reported the topic to the Pink Oak Police Department.”
Lt. Jason Esquibel, public files officer for the Pink Oak Police Department, suggested The Dallas Morning Knowledge final month that a representative from Oaks Church made a file to his department. Following Nickerson’s confession and their Jan. 11 email to Oaks Church congregants, pastors Chris and Cara Railey shared more relating to the abuse allegations for the length of a treasure service on Jan. 19.
“We were devastated to learn this. Since that time (Nickerson’s confession) extra students maintain advance forward to share their experiences from the identical timeframe approximately 10 years ago. The experiences they shared with us fluctuate from sinister text messages to sinister contact between formative years leaders and formative years students and we correct away reported this to the authorities,” Cara Railey acknowledged. “To the Pink Oak Police Department, we’re very grateful for the thoroughness and the dedication that the police department has shown as we now maintain given them this files.”
An Oaks Church spokesperson confirmed with CP that Somers served as an intern at the church from 2009-2011 and then worked on workers from 2011 to 2013.
Following the extra allegations after Nickerson’s confession, a source who asked no longer to be identified suggested CP that Somers had been accused of sinister habits and the police had been notified. Survivor recommend Amy Smith reported final Thursday that Somers had been fired for allegations of sexual abuse.
Whereas noting that they seek files from to cross forward with their case quickly, Chief Wolf made it clear that the investigation stays ongoing and they are going to be “thorough.”
“Mr. Tim Somers’s title has advance up but no prices in opposition to him had been filed right this moment, and as previously talked about, this is an ongoing investigation,” he acknowledged.
“Our detectives are working and had been working diligently to maintain details and statements to additional our investigation which we hope will consequence in an final resolution of the allegations in opposition to various persons. I will be capable to not hiss to what files the Oaks Church is placing out to their congregation or the public or where they’ve derived their files,” he added.
“These are extreme allegations that would possibly well or will impact an particular particular person’s life for a form of years. We are doing what we must total to see justice for the victims, prosecute the offenders, and exonerate the harmless as maybe the case. We are scheduling meetings with persons who maintain advance forward and we’re conducting interviews and taking statements from these who would prefer to cooperate with our investigation. We hope to cross forward quickly.”
Contact: leoNardo.blair@christianpost.com Follow LeoNardo Blair on Twitter: @leoblair Follow LeoNardo Blair on Fb: LeoBlairChristianPost
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