Denton Bible Church Pastor Tommy Nelson announces retirement plan
Bestselling author and leader of Denton Bible Church in Texas, Pastor Tommy Nelson, says he is ready to transition away from the helm of his megachurch and turn it over to a team of younger leaders a year after confessing that the church failed to prevent the abuse of multiple young girls by a former youth pastor.
In an Oct. 4 email to his church published by Fox 4, Nelson, 73, did not reveal exactly when the transition from his post would be complete but said, over time, he will be replaced by current Associate Pastor Logan Nyquist, 37.
"Most of you are aware by now of the man taking my place. Logan Nyquist is now the Associate Pastor with the intention that his role and responsibilities will increase over time. You will see him in the pulpit more often," Nelson said. "He is a DTS [Dallas Theological Seminary] graduate with great giftedness in biblical exegesis, preaching and languages. He has a passion for evangelism and discipleship."
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Nelson, who has been at Denton Bible Church since he was 27 and began preaching full-time at the church at the age of 37, praised Nyquist, who has been working there for nine years, as well-equipped for the promotion.
"He has the tools needed, and he has been faithful where he has been planted. Most of all, he has been faithful to those things that Denton Bible stands for," he said.
Nelson said, "a church like Denton Bible Church needs to ... always exist" to represent the "fundamental, premillennial, Calvinistic, dispensational, discipleship-focused, elder ruled, complementarian, and 'non woke,'" congregation.
"Our goal is to transition the leadership of Denton Bible Church to the next generation who will preserve these truths," Nelson added.
"I've never felt anything quite so strongly as the need to transition now to the next generation. Our church is as strong as it has ever been. Twelve new young elders have come aboard. We have ministries for all. Our staff is skilled, excited, and young. Of our fifty staff, forty-eight are younger than me. All our future leadership are Gen X and Millennials," he said in his message.
Under Nelson's leadership, Robert Shiflet, a former youth pastor at the church, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison in June 2021 for child sex trafficking charges due to a sentencing miscalculation after he was accused of sexually abusing 14 young girls placed under his care. He was released earlier this year after his sentence was reduced to 25 months for good behavior.
In 2022, the 15-member, all-male elder board of Denton Bible Church said the church failed to prevent the sexual abuse of the girls, didn't involve women leaders when evaluating abuse allegations and failed to provide adequate care for the victims.
"Our church culture lacked involvement of women in decision-making processes related to the abuse of these girls," board chair Curtis Elder and Nelson said in a letter to the congregation. "Further, in almost all meetings with the victims, no women were present, which was inappropriate."
In an email to church members responding to the Fox 4 article, Nelson stressed that his retirement has nothing to do with the cases of abuse at the church.
"Many of you heard Clarice Tinsley on Fox 4 say 'Tommy Nelson is retiring' and she sought to make it sound like it was a response to the Rob Shiflett case. I am amazed that channel 4 know me so well, a man they have never spoken to," Nelson wrote.
"I have been talking about retiring long before this story came out. But, my retirement is because I am 73 and have been in the pulpit for 50 years, and not because of any slander by Fox 4 News. Be of good cheer, we were all as surprised as many of you were. I have no definite date."
