Megachurch pastor resigns, suit alleges sexual coercion

When megachurch pastor Tyrone Gordon announced January 22 that he was resigning in mid-February from St. Luke Community United Methodist Church—a 6,000-member Dallas congregation that is one of the largest predominantly African-American churches in the U.S.—he gave no reasons except to say that "distractions and factions have arisen."

Dallas area Bishop Earl Bledsoe then said that complaints about Gordon, 53, had come from people inside and outside of the church.

A lawsuit filed February 3, by a pastor, Cameron Jerrod Greer, 26, of Cockrell Hill United Methodist Church in Dallas, alleged that Gordon used his position to coerce Greer and other young men at the church into unwanted sexual encounters. Greer said in an interview with the United Methodist Reporter that he reluctantly filed the suit but felt he had to protect himself and others. "The church sometimes, with its silence, ends up hurting people," Greer said.