Elders at the 11,000-member Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas, Texas, announced Sunday that while founder Pastor Tony Evans has been restored to ministry after stepping down more than a year ago due to a sin that was not publicly disclosed, he won't be returning to a staff position or any leadership role.
“Dr. Evans acknowledged in a public statement falling short of God's standard and a need to submit to the church's discipline and restoration process. We are pleased to report that Dr. Evans has fully submitted to the church's discipline and restoration process,” Chris Wheel, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship’s associate pastor of outreach, told the congregation on Sunday.
Wheel said Evans' 12-month restoration programme included counseling with outside non-staff professionals and pastoral mentoring, along with stepping away from pulpit ministry. He said elders were satisfied that Evans demonstrated “evidence of genuine repentance and godly sorrow,” along with “humility and a renewed desire to honor God.”
“In alignment with biblical principles and unanimous affirmation of the elder board, Dr. Evans has successfully completed this restoration journey,” Wheel said. “While he will not be returning in a staff nor leadership role at OCBF, we joyfully look forward to seeing how God uses Dr. Evans' gifts and calling to proclaim the truth of Scripture with clarity and conviction for the strengthening of the body of Christ.”
In June 2024, after 48 years of leading his church, Evans, 75, revealed he fell short of biblical standards a number of years prior, and his failure was serious enough to warrant stepping away from his ministry. Though he did not reveal what the sin was, he was quick to point out that he had not violated secular laws.
"The foundation of our ministry has always been our commitment to the Word of God as the absolute supreme standard of truth to which we are to conform our lives. When we fall short of that standard due to sin, we are required to repent and restore our relationship with God," Evans said in his confession.
"A number of years ago, I fell short of that standard. I am, therefore, required to apply the same biblical standard of repentance and restoration to myself that I have applied to others. I have shared this with my wife, my children, and our church elders, and they have lovingly placed their arms of grace around me," he said. "While I have committed no crime, I did not use righteous judgment in my actions. In light of this, I am stepping away from my pastoral duties and am submitting to a healing and restoration process established by the elders."
It remains unclear if elders and Evans’ family were told the exact nature of his sin. Evans’ son, the Rev. Jonathan Evans, who is expected to be formally confirmed as the megachurch’s new lead pastor soon, said his father only confessed to his family that he had fallen short a few days before sharing it with the church, and he did not share any more than what was disclosed to the church.
“Three days [before the public confession], my dad would call us [his family] and tell us the exact same thing he told you. No more. No less.” Jonathan Evans said during a Father’s Day sermon in 2024.
Oak Cliff Bible Church also did not reveal any additional details about the nature of Evans’ sin.
Wheel cited Lamentations 3:22-23 and Galatians 6:1 as the Scriptures that were used to create the framework for Evans’ discipline.
“Keep watch on yourself lest you too be tempted. Restoration when pursued with gentleness and self-awareness reflects the very character of Christ and safeguards the health of the entire church body. In keeping with this biblical framework, the elder board exercised deliberate and prayerful discretion regarding the timing, the manner of disclosing specific details throughout the restoration process,” he said.
“This was not done to conceal wrongdoing, but rather to uphold the integrity of the process, to protect the dignity of all involved, and prevent unnecessary speculation or sensationalism. Our desire has always been to handle this matter in a way that honors both truth and love [during] Dr. Evans’ discipline and restoration process.”
After the church elders prayed over him and took communion to mark his restoration, Evans also sat with his son for a Q&A, during which his son told him, “Man, I’m proud of you.”
“It's one thing to watch you preach the Word. It's another thing to watch you live under its authority even when it hurts,” Jonathan Evans declared to his father.
Evans then revealed that his restoration felt “bittersweet” because of everything that he had to go through.
“It's certainly bitter when you've done something for 48 years every day, every week, and then you’re no longer doing it. And it's your fault. And that creates a wound in your soul. A wound in the soul that's not easily [healed],” he explained. “And so, I have felt the angst of that, the pain of that, the struggle of that. But I also understand that when you go through something, you have to relate to God in a deeper place. You have to experience him in a deeper way.”
He further explained that the church created a restoration policy to help members and leaders when they fall see church as “a hospital of restoration and not just a place where you go.”
“It's one thing to see a sign that says emergency room. It's another thing to have doctors and nurses and medicine on call when you needed to go there. And so, that was instituted. And over these many years, many people have come through this process. So when it came my turn, I could not apply to others what I was unwilling to apply to myself,” Evans said.
“I had to submit to the very process I helped to install and say, you know what … I need to apply the Word to me as I applied it to everybody else along the way. Because if we're going to be a Bible church, that just can't be a name. You got to come underneath the Bible and underneath the prescribed governance, which are the elders in this case of the local church,” he added.
Evans noted that while church discipline was difficult, he was comforted by the fact that his children did not lose their faith because of his sin, and his son would be continuing his legacy.
“Knowing that there was not just going to be an empty seat but a new chair and that you would be sitting in it made losing my chair durable, manageable, because I know who's in that chair,” he told the new Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship lead pastor.
