Dallas Church Announces Senior Pastor Dismissed Due to ‘Inappropriate Relationship’

Trinity Bible Church in Dallas is the latest area church to announce the retirement of its lead pastor.

In a statement posted on its website Thursday, the church announced it was firing senior pastor Steven J. Lawson because of an “inappropriate relationship” with a woman.

The church did not provide further details about the nature of that relationship and declined to comment Friday. Lawson did not immediately respond to email and phone requests for comment.

According to the church’s statement, Lawson has revealed his relationship with church elders and the church will no longer pay him. The church also stressed that “we are ALL sinners.”

Lawson, 73, became teaching pastor at Trinity Bible Church in 2018, the same year the church was founded. Before that, he spent more than 40 years as a pastor at churches in Arkansas and Alabama. He has been an influential advocate of Reformed theology, which adheres to Calvinist doctrines about the sovereignty of God and the infallibility of the Bible.

He wrote more than 30 books and served as dean of the doctorate in ministerial studies at the Master’s Seminary, founded by John MacArthur, and as a board member of Ligonier Ministries, founded by R.C. Sproul, according to biographical material on the church’s website and his nonprofit’s website, some of which has been removed since Lawson’s retirement.

Lawson also founded OnePassion Ministries, a Dallas-based nonprofit that reported more than $1.4 million in revenue in 2020 and $1.7 million in 2021.

The organization changed its homepage to post a statement saying Lawson had resigned from all responsibilities at OnePassion due to what she also called an “inappropriate relationship.”

“Steve has acknowledged and regrets the damage he has caused to his family, the church, the reputation of OnePassion Ministries and most importantly, to Jesus Christ,” the statement said. OnePassion Ministries did not immediately respond to email and phone requests for comment.

Lawson’s departure follows a string of pastor departures in the D-FW area. Since June, at least five other churches have announced the departure of one or more pastors. Some churches cited an undisclosed “moral failure” as the reason for a leader’s departure. Other pastors have resigned amid allegations of sexual assault of a minor, sending sexual messages to female employees and, in the case of Southlake Pastor Robert Morris, molesting a 12-year-old.

Adrian Ashford covers faith and religion in North Texas for the Dallas Morning News through a partnership with Report for America.