{"id":286223,"date":"2025-10-08T09:59:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-08T09:59:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/286223\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T09:59:26","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T09:59:26","slug":"texas-megachurch-founder-tony-evans-returns-to-ministry-more-than-a-year-after-resigning-over-mysterious-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/286223\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas megachurch founder Tony Evans returns to ministry more than a year after resigning over mysterious ‘sin’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Texas megachurch founder who stepped away from his congregation last year over a mystery \u201csin\u201d<\/a> has been restored to ministry, describing his absence as an \u201cextremely challenging time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pastor Tony Evans \u201csuccessfully completed this restoration journey\u201d and has been welcomed back to the Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas on Sunday, according to CBS News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Evans, 75, was greeted with a roaring standing ovation from the congregation when he appeared on stage after he stepped down as the church\u2019s leader in June 2024.<\/p>\n

Texas megachurch founder Tony Evans returns to ministry more than a year after resigning over mysterious \u201csin.\u201d Corbis via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know, this last year has been an extremely challenging time \u2013 a time of being separated from what I love most \u2013 the proclamation of God\u2019s word,\u201d Evans said in a video posted on YouTube following the announcement of his return.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of that was due to my own fault, and I had to go through a period of repentance and restoration so that healing could take place. The good news is our God is a god of restoration,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

While the church\u2019s elder board praised how Evans handled his moral failure \u2014 which was never disclosed \u2014 he is not expected to return to a leadership capacity, according to CBS News.<\/p>\n

Instead, the church announced that Evans\u2019 son, Jonathan, will step into the role of lead pastor.<\/p>\n

Evans \u2014 the former chaplain for both the Dallas Cowboys and the Mavericks \u2014 said he \u201ccommitted no crime\u201d but \u201cdid not use righteous judgment in my actions when he stepped down from his role last year.<\/p>\n

Evans was greeted with a standing ovation from the congregation when he appeared on stage after he stepped down as the church\u2019s leader in June 2024. Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship<\/p>\n

\u201cA number of years ago, I fell short of that standard,\u201d he said during his resignation. <\/p>\n

\u201cI am, therefore, required to apply the same biblical standard of repentance and restoration to myself that I have applied to others.\u201d<\/p>\n

The details of the \u201csin\u201d Evans committed were never shared publicly.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

The Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship was started by Evans in 1976 as a Bible study group, according to the church\u2019s\u00a0website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It has grown to over 10,000 members and 100 different ministries reaching people \u201clocally and abroad.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evans, who is also the author of several bestselling worship books, hosts the daily, worldwide radio show \u201cThe Alternative,\u201d which airs in over 130 countries.<\/p>\n

The details on what \u201csin\u201d Evans committed in his past that prompted him to step down from his tenured position were never shared with the public. Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship<\/p>\n

His return to the ministry comes days after fellow Texas megachurch pastor Robert Morris<\/a> pleaded guilty Thursday to five counts of lewd and indecent acts with a child in the 1980s in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

Morris was the senior pastor of Gateway Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb of Southlake, where he led one of the nation\u2019s largest megachurches until his resignation.<\/p>\n

He was\u00a0indicted earlier this year by an Oklahoma grand jury after a\u00a0woman in Oklahoma accused\u00a0the pastor of\u00a0sexually abusing her when she was 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Texas megachurch founder who stepped away from his congregation last year over a mystery \u201csin\u201d has been…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":286224,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,8571,20367,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,147337,58381,358,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-286223","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-christianity","10":"tag-churches","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-pastors","18":"tag-resignations","19":"tag-texas","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-us-news","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115337964054809685","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286223\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/286224"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}