Phil Johnson Responds to Questions on Steven Lawson Scandal, 'What I Said Is True'

Grace Community Church (GCC) executive director Phil Johnson recently shared new details concerning the woman whom Dr. Steven Lawson had a five-year relationship with, resulting in his termination as lead pastor of Trinity Bible Church in Dallas, Texas, and from his roles in the ministries he was associated with. Casey Staats, a longtime listener of Lawson's and supporter of Ligonier Ministries, where Lawson served as a teaching fellow, accused Johnson of lying about the woman Lawson was having an affair with. The relationship lasted for five years until her father found out about it. The girl's family was reportedly close with Lawson.

In a post last month, which has since been deleted at the request of the elders at Trinity Bible Church of Dallas, Johnson said that the woman "is not a member of his church. In fact, she lives in a different state nowhere close to any of the ministries Steve served."

Staats, however, accused Johnson of lying about his aforementioned comments, Church Leaders reports.

"It seems maybe you weren't telling the truth here," Staats publicly asked Johnson on X, posting an image of Lawson sitting during a church service next to the young woman with whom Lawson reportedly had an affair. "This picture was scrubbed from the Crossroads IG, but word on the street is this is the girl who was nowhere close to Steve's ministries. Care to confirm or deny?"

"What I said is true," Johnson replied. "If you feel you need more details or a further explanation, contact me directly by email or phone. I'm happy to answer legit questions. I'm not interested in using X to amplify an ugly scandal."

Staats and Johnson later exchanged emails, in which she sent a screenshot of the correspondence to The Roy's Report.

"Hello, I am the woman who posted on X today wanting to know if you were being truthful about Steve's young mistress not being 'close' to any of his ministries. If the young woman in the photo is, in fact, his mistress, she was apparently very close," Staats wrote.

Staats shared that she and her husband have been long-time listeners to and supporters of Lawson through Ligonier Ministries, adding that they are both "saddened and infuriated over [Lawson's] situation!"

"People are desperate for transparency in a world that gets crazier by the day," she added. "Whether GCC knew about this or not, there is MUCH speculation that many there DID know about this and did nothing. Do you want this rumor floating around social media if it's not true??"

In Johnson's response, he said, "What I said is that she does not live close to any of Lawson's ministries. Obviously, given that they were having an affair, they were adjacent to one another at SOME point, so a picture of her sitting next to him doesn't actually nullify the facts of what I said."

He continued, "Grace Church is in Los Angeles. Lawson was preaching at a church in Dallas. The woman Lawson was romancing lives in Washington State. What I said was absolutely true. (You publicly accused me of dishonesty before you even asked for that clarification.)."

Johnson also denied that Lawson's moral failure is a "case of pastoral abuse as defined by Texas law," the state where Lawson pastored. "She was not a parishioner of his. Her family (who live in Orange County, CA, and are members of a church down there) were donors to Lawson's ministry and personal friends with him, and that is how the connection was made."

Besides being an alumni at The Master's University, Johnson revealed that the young woman also attended The Master's College.

"She was also a student at The Master's College during some of the time that they were engaged in this adulterous affair," Johnson clarified, adding, "Her connection with him originally came through her family's relationship with Lawson and had nothing to do with her student status."

"After the scandal broke, I did hear from one Grace Church secretary who told me she had observed some overly familiar behavior between Lawson and his mistress," Johnson said. The secretary witnessed the woman allegedly helping Lawson straighten his tie and comb his hair in public.

Johnson added that the secretary then shared her concerns with an employee of One Passion Ministries, which Lawson himself founded and served as its president, but not with the elders at GCC.

"As far as I can determine," Johnson said. "No one who says they witnessed inappropriate behavior between Lawson and the woman ever brought any concern to our elders."

Johnson contended to Staats that if a "credible testimony is brought forward proving that any of our elders" knew about Lawson's affair and "did nothing," the elder in question would be "dismissed."

"So far, no one has made such a claim," Johnson said. "Unless you count a couple of anonymous posts on X."

In concluding his response to Staats, Johnson told her, "'Rumor[s float] around social media' because people repeat and repost things they have heard on social media or through gossip without actually checking the source. I hope you will take care not to be part of the problem."

Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.