Village Church Denton hired Matt Chandler’s father despite past child sex abuse, podcast alleges
The Village Church Denton, a former campus of Pastor Matt Chandler's The Village Church in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, reportedly hired Chandler's father, Steve Chandler, to work as the church's custodian and kept him on staff for five years after he confessed to child sexual abuse.
A former chairman of the elder board at The Village Church Denton and his wife identified respectively as only Chris and Anna to protect their privacy, made the revelation with supporting documentation last Thursday on "The Bodies Behind the Bus," a podcast centering on the voices of spiritual abuse survivors.
The Village Church Denton's decision was highlighted in a purported rough draft of a public statement leaders of the Southern Baptist congregation shared with members in 2019.
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That same year, the Southern Baptist Convention was the focus of national headlines after The Houston Chronicle published a three-part-series reporting more than 700 victims of alleged sexual abuse by 380 Southern Baptist leaders and volunteers since 1998.
Some 220 of those leaders were convicted, and 100 were still in prison at the time of the report.
The Village Church Denton did not immediately respond to a request for comment when contacted by The Christian Post about the podcast claims. In a statement, The Village Church told the Religion News Service that it employs "best practices," such as "background checks, regular training, and various security protocols," which are "informed and shaped through ongoing work with external experts."
"We remain committed to serving as a refuge for the broken and suffering to receive the hope of the gospel," the statement adds.
While the purported rough draft of The Village Church Denton's public statement to the church said they had no current staff members with a history of sexual abuse at the time, it noted that Steve Chandler confessed to child sex abuse crimes before his hiring as the custodian of The Village Church Denton Campus — a position he held from 2007 -2012.
The Village Church's record on protecting children previously came under fire in 2019 after former Village Church members Christi Braggs and her husband, Matt, alleged in a report in The New York Times that former Village Church children's minister Matthew Tonne sexually abused their daughter when she was about 11 at a church camp in 2012.
And even though the church leaders categorically stated in their 2019 response that they would not hire someone at the church with a history of child sex abuse in their past, they explained why they hired Steve Chandler.
The draft stated that he was following an accountability plan, which included counseling, and had voluntarily come forward about his crime, which was not detailed.
"The only exception to this we are aware of, in the entire history of our staff here in Denton dating back to 2007, is our brother Steve Chandler, who served as the custodian of the Denton Campus from 2007 -2012," the draft reads.
"Steve himself made us aware of his history through sharing his testimony of God's transforming grace in his life," the draft added. "Steve first shared his testimony publicly with members of The Village Church in Highland Village through the Recovery Ministry, before he was hired on staff. Steve's testimony included him vulnerably sharing many of his past sins, including his past sin of child sexual abuse 40 years ago. A sin and crime Steve had first voluntarily confessed to the District Attorney and court of law 40 years ago."
Though he felt The Village Church Denton's statement to the congregation in 2019 was sufficient, the former elder board chairman now believes it wasn't.
"When we actually shared with the congregation, it was clear that the primary purpose was to make sure that the congregation knew that (Steve) was 'restored' and had overcome these struggles," Chris said on the podcast. "The fact that that was the main thing that was communicated in the statement goes to show there wasn't a ton of concern for potential victims."
Chris claimed that the church engaged in significant self-protection. He eventually resigned from the board, and his wife, who worked in the church's nursery, joined him in no longer attending.
"We will probably never again in our lives have the same church-as-everything type of attitude," Anna noted. "People live and they learn, and we've learned some really hard lessons."
At the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Birmingham, Alabama, in 2019, Chandler said in a video clip shared with CP that the church was doing the best it could when it comes to addressing sexual abuse.
"We are an imperfect church with imperfect people," Matt Chandler said. "I make mistakes. I am painfully aware of my limitations, of the weaknesses of The Village Church, of our failures. They are numerous. I don't think I'm naïve to that."
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