Stephen Adams Claims Harassment, Stalking, ‘Wicked Slander’
Stephen Adams shared his side of the story in a lengthy Facebook post on March 15. He said he needed to write “for the sake of truth,” as well as for the sake of his family and his good name.
“For more than two years, I have been the target of a campaign of harassment and stalking, accompanied by vile and wicked slander,” wrote Adams. “Think of the worst thing someone in my position could be accused of…And it came from a family whose betrayal makes the matter all the more grievous.”
Adams continued, “For nearly all of 2024, I was secretly and maliciously harassed, stalked, spied upon, defamed, lied about, and slandered—both directly and to close friends, though I was unaware of much of that at the time.”
In January 2025, Adams filed a police report against Stephen and Heidi Nichols, out of “genuine concern for my family and me.” The couple never willingly spoke to church or civil authorities about the allegations, Adams said, and never offered “any shred of evidence” about them. “They cannot,” he added, “because every word of it is false. Categorically false. Wholly false. Wicked slander against an innocent man.”
Adams, who said he could no longer deal with the slander, eventually resigned from Saint Andrew’s “against the wishes of my fellow elders.” Both Adams and the church emphasized that he wasn’t fired or asked to leave.
“My life, and the life of my family, has been turned upside down by a complete fabrication, by a lie,” Adams concluded. He resolved not to live in fear of what other people “may do, say, or think—especially those responsible for this grave wrong against me.”
Saint Andrew’s: ‘We Grieve the Pain This Situation Has Caused’
On March 20, Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Florida, responded to recent strife in a letter to congregants. Stephen Adams, the church’s former youth minister, shared the letter on social media.
Elders at Saint Andrew’s wrote that “former members” (assumed to be Stephen and Heidi Nichols) were excommunicated not because they “raised concerns, but because of their prolonged conduct that disturbed the peace, unity, and purity of the Church.” According to the elders, excommunication “was not a judgment on the underlying charges, but a result of the former members’ willful refusal to submit to the Session’s authority.”
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Although the Nichols said they learned about the suspected abuse in early 2024, Saint Andrew’s said the couple expressed no abuse-related concerns until early 2025. Officials with the Florida Department of Children and Families “determined that the information provided did not meet the legal criteria for a reportable incident of abuse, neglect, or endangerment,” the church said, “so they did not initiate an investigation.”
That matched the church’s experience, elders noted, with “no act, no date, no location” reported to them either. Although Saint Andrew’s had placed Adams on temporary leave when it learned of abuse allegations, the church said it restored him to office after receiving “no credible charges” and “no grounds for further action.”
A key point, the elders added, is that “the former members never voluntarily approached church leadership or filed any complaints with civil authorities themselves. It was Pastor Adams—the person experiencing the hostility—who brought the matter to the elders and law enforcement.”
