Megachurch head pastor Stovall Weems has resigned from Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida, as he continues to pursue a lawsuit alleging he was illegally suspended from his position by the church’s governing board earlier this year.
Weems said in a letter posted on Instagram (that he has since removed) that he would resign from his roles as senior pastor, president and CEO, chair and member of the board of trustees, and registered agent of Celebration, the Christian Post reported.
“I have spent much time in prayer and received counsel from other pastors here in the city, the region, and around the world,” Weems said. “The Trustees’ actions leave me and my family with no choice but to legally separate from CCJ and continue our ministry elsewhere, placing ourselves under the proper accountability and oversight of a council of apostolic pastors and elders in our city, nation, and world that understand and model biblical governance.”
Weems was suspended amid allegations that he and his wife Kerri had made unauthorized financial transactions, including selling a residence to the church at a substantial profit, taking salary advancements, and transferring funds to for-profit businesses that they managed. Tim Timberlake, who was previously chosen as Weems’ successor as head of the 12,000-member church, assumed leadership in March.
The Weemses have in turn filed a lawsuit alleging that trustee Kevin Cormier had fed church leaders “lies and misinformation” about them to deflect attention from himself, saying Cormier was charging the tens of thousands of dollars for rent and renovations to church property and had padded invoices. Weems had previously used his pastoral powers to remove Cormier from the board.
The church on March 10 filed a motion to dismiss the Weemses’ lawsuit, calling it “the latest chapter in a campaign of deception, manipulation, distraction, and abuse of power by Stovall and Kerri Weems against Celebration.”
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When asked during an Instagram Q & A session about what “victory” in the dispute with the trustees would look like to him, Weems said, “For the truth to fully come out about the evil that has been done in secret over the past 18 months. All people and all parties involved in it. Everyone held accountable for the malicious, lawless and illegal things they have done. Especially what they have done to my wife and the church. I want every lie exposed.”
He also called for “justice” for his wife, who he said was banned from church property, dismissed from her position at the church with no severance, and that she was intimidated as well as subjected to spying and lying and “horrible things no woman or person for that matter should have to endure.”
He also asked for restoration and reconciliation “wherever possible,” but said, “that can’t happen without truth.”
The Weemses said in another Instagram post they intend to continue to “pastor, preach and minister God’s Word” in Jacksonville. “We are excited about all that is to come for the Church (Big C) in our city, region and around the world!” they said, saying that they would announce details of their upcoming ministry plans “in the coming days.”