Former pastor Steven Lawson has acknowledged that he has “sinned grievously,” speaking out for the first time about the scandal that removed him from ministry.
In an X post on Wednesday, Lawson wrote: “I have sinned grievously against the Lord, against my wife, my family, and against countless numbers of you by having a sinful relationship with a woman not my wife. I am deeply broken that I have betrayed and deceived my wife, devastated my children, brought shame to the name of Christ, reproach upon His church, and harm to many ministries.”
“You may wonder why I have been silent and largely invisible since the news of my sin became known. I have needed the time to search my own soul to determine that my repentance is real,” he insisted.
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Lawson took responsibility for his actions and maintained that he had turned a corner: “I alone am responsible for my sin. I have confessed my sin to the Lord, to my wife, and my family, and have repented of it. I have spent the past months searching my heart to discover the roots of my sin and mortifying them by the grace of God. I hate my sin, weep over my sin, and have turned from it.”
The former lead preacher at Trinity Bible Church and president of OnePassion Ministries also apologized to those who looked up to him: “My sin carries enormous consequences, and I will be living with those for the rest of my life. Over the years, many have looked to me for spiritual guidance, and I have failed you. I beg for your forgiveness.”
“I have been undergoing extensive counseling for the last five months to face the hard questions I need to address. I have dealt with sin issues that have been painfully exposed in my heart. I have submitted myself in weekly accountability to two pastors and to the elders of a local congregation, who have shepherded my soul. I am also under the oversight of an accountability team who monitor my progress and give me wise counsel in the decisions I have to make.”
Lawson highlighted additional activities he has participated in during his “recovery season,” which include “growing in grace, reading and absorbing the Word of God, putting it into practice, praying, and meeting with other believers” as well as “attending and participating in prayer meetings, Sunday school, the worship service, and taking communion weekly.”
After expressing gratitude for “the unmerited grace of God in the gospel to extend His full forgiveness” and reiterating his call for his supporters to forgive him, Lawson added: “While I continue to do the hard work of soul-searching repentance, I do not intend to make further public comments for the foreseeable future.”
Lawson concluded by urging his followers to “pray for the Lord’s mercy and grace as I seek to make right the deeply wrong sins I have committed against my wife and family, and that in His time and way He will bring about redemption and restoration in our marriage, for His glory.”
News of Lawson’s removal from ministry first broke last September, and the pastor has kept a low profile over the past six months until he released a statement on Wednesday. A longtime friend of Lawson’s, Pastor Clint Archer of Christ Fellowship Church in Alabama, revealed in January that Lawson had moved to Tennessee to temporarily stay with his brother.
Phil Johnson, executive director of John MacArthur’s Grace to You ministry, elaborated on the details of Lawson’s affair in a now-deleted thread on X. “This was a 5-year relationship with strong romantic overtones,” he wrote. “Both parties insist no literal fornication was involved, but their tie to one another was adulterous in spirit, if not in fact.”
According to Johnson, “[Lawson] is 73. She is in her late 20s. She is not a member of his church. In fact, she lives in a different state nowhere close to any of the ministries Steve served.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
