By \u00a0Ian M. Giatti.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An Evangelical pastor and author who served at a Nashville church has resigned over allegations he engaged in a relationship with another man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sam Allberry, who served as associate pastor at Immanuel Nashville since 2023, stepped down after church elders released a statement Monday calling Allberry \u201cdisqualified from gospel ministry\u201d for what they described as a \u201cserious breach of trust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the\u00a0statement, the Immanuel elders were first \u201cmade aware that Pastor Sam Allberry engaged in an inappropriate relationship with an adult man in 2022\u201d in the spring of 2024. The board added that while the relationship \u201cconcluded\u201d before Allberry joined the staff at Immanuel in 2023, the church launched a \u201cthorough investigation\u201d and found Allberry\u2019s conduct was \u201cunwise\u201d but \u201cdid not rise to the level of disqualification.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The church received \u201cnew information\u201d in January that it says \u201chad not been disclosed previously,\u201d which triggered a reopening of the investigation. Following that inquiry, the Immanuel elders said, \u201cwhile the relationship did not go as far as it could have, Sam\u2019s conduct constituted a serious breach of trust and a failure to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel. The elders are unanimous in their decision that Sam is currently disqualified from gospel ministry.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allberry agreed with the findings and resigned from his position at Immanuel Church, according to the elders\u2019 statement, which described him as \u201crepentant, humble, and cooperative.” The statement expressed optimism that Allberry can be restored to full fellowship in the church.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The statement cited Galatians 6:1, which reads: \u201cBrothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe elders continue to care for Sam as a brother in Christ and member of Immanuel,\u201d the statement added. \u201cWe will continue to support Sam and the other party with counseling, and we are determined insofar as we are able to \u2018restore him in a spirit of gentleness\u2019 to full fellowship in the church.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Allberry, who grew up in England, is the author of several books, including Is God Anti-Gay?<\/em> (2023), Why Does God Care Who I Sleep With?<\/em> (2020) and the 2023 children\u2019s book God\u2019s Signpost: How Marriage Points Us to God\u2019s Love<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He served on staff at Immanuel with lead pastor T.J. Tims and assistant pastor Barnabas Piper, the son of Evangelical pastor and author John Piper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The announcement came a day after The Gospel Coalition (TGC)\u00a0said\u00a0Allberry resigned as a fellow of the Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics upon learning of his \u201cinappropriate relationship with another man a few years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition, TGC said it \u201cbegan to remove all of [Allberry\u2019s] content from our website and other content channels,\u201d including a 2022\u00a0podcast\u00a0titled \u201cSexual Identity and Loving Our Neighbor,\u201d in which Allberry spoke on a panel about \u201chaving experienced same-sex attraction\u201d and \u201cengaging in conversations with others around the confrontational and controversial topics of sexuality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Allberry\u2019s work was also\u00a0scrubbed\u00a0from Piper\u2019s Desiring God website as of Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By \u00a0Ian M. Giatti. An Evangelical pastor and author who served at a Nashville church has resigned over allegations he engaged in a relationship with another man. Sam Allberry, who served as associate pastor at Immanuel Nashville since 2023, stepped down after church elders released a statement Monday calling Allberry \u201cdisqualified from gospel ministry\u201d for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[40],"tags":[119,110,117,200,179],"coauthors":[976],"class_list":{"0":"post-12747","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-faith","8":"tag-bible","9":"tag-christianity","10":"tag-church","11":"tag-god","12":"tag-usa"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Sam-Allberry.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12749,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12747\/revisions\/12749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12747"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cvnznews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=12747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}