Elevation Church Fires Youth Pastor Tim Somers over Past Misconduct Allegations
Elevation Church, the multi-campus megachurch led by Pastor Steven Furtick in North Carolina, announced that Youth Pastor Tim Somers was fired after he was alleged of engaging in inappropriate conduct with former students at Oaks Church in Texas, where he served as an intern and staff member over a decade ago.
Speaking with The Christian Post, a spokesperson from Elevation said, "Recently, allegations were brought forward about Tim Somers' conduct while serving at a church in Texas approximately 12 years ago."
"As soon as Elevation learned about these allegations, we reached out to local Texas authorities and immediately placed Tim on leave. No charges have been filed. But Tim understands how impactful these allegations are for his role in ministry, and we have agreed he will no longer serve on staff."
Red Oaks Police Department Chief of Police Garland Wolf confirmed in a statement to CP on Monday Somers has not been charged yet, but he has been named in their ongoing investigation of "serious allegations that can or will impact a person's life for many years."
"We are still attempting to narrow down the timeline of events, the actual location of the offense(s), who may have been involved as suspects, and who may have been involved as victims. Further, the investigation is being conducted to determine what and if anything occurred on church property or in the jurisdiction of Red Oak, Texas," Wolf said.
As confirmed to CP by an Oaks Church spokesperson, Somers served as an intern at the church from 2009-2011 and then worked on staff from 2011 to 2013. Last Thursday, survivor advocate Amy Smith reported that Elevation Chuch terminated Somers for allegations of sexual abuse.
In related news last month, Hope Fellowship's Frisco West Campus fired a student pastor, Jerry Nickerson, who confessed to engaging in "inappropriate contact with a minor" 10 years ago at Oaks Church.
"This week, we became aware of a situation that was disclosed by a former youth ministry intern who served at Oaks Church," lead pastors Chris and Cara Railey said in an email to the church.
"[T]his former intern, who was serving as youth pastor at another church, disclosed to that church's leadership that he had inappropriate contact with a minor who attended Oaks Youth at the time," the email continued. "To ensure the matter is properly investigated, we quickly reported the matter to the Red Oak Police Department."
The pastors further elaborated on the matter during a worship service on Jan. 19.
"We were devastated to learn this. Since that time (Nickerson's confession), additional students have come forward to share their experiences from the same time period approximately 10 years ago. The experiences they shared with us range from inappropriate text messages to inappropriate contact between youth leaders and youth students and we immediately reported this to the authorities," Cara Railey said. "To the Red Oak Police Department, we are very grateful for the thoroughness and the dedication that the police department has shown as we've given them this information.
Photo Credit: ©Facebook/Tim Somers
Originally published February 26, 2025.
