A youth pastor has been dismissed from a North Texas megachurch following allegations that he had “inappropriate contact with a minor” roughly a decade ago. Jerry Nickerson was the youth pastor at the Frisco West campus of Hope Fellowship Church, a non-denominational multisite church.
In a letter to the church, John McKinzie, Hope Fellowship’s lead pastor, said that Nickerson “voluntarily disclosed inappropriate contact with a minor” after he was “unexpectedly confronted about these past incidents.”
McKinzie clarified that the alleged incidents occurred when Nickerson “was an adult volunteer youth leader at a previous church 10 years ago. This incident occurred before his time at Hope Fellowship, and we had no prior knowledge of this situation or any allegations against him.”
“We are not aware of any other incidents. Following his confession, Jerry’s employment with Hope Fellowship was terminated,” McKinzie wrote.
“We are devastated by this news,” McKinzie added. “We believe that this behavior is disqualifying to those in pastoral and leadership positions, and Hope Fellowship is committed to supporting and advocating for victims of abuse.”
McKinzie said that church leadership had no knowledge of these past incidents until Nickerson disclosed them on Jan. 6.
Nickerson’s employment at the church was terminated the same day, according a statement Hope Fellowship emailed to ChurchLeaders.
In his letter, McKinzie said that Nickerson had been background checked at the time he was hired by Hope Fellowship and that church leadership did not know about any allegations against Nickerson when he was brought onto the team.
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McKinzie said that Hope Fellowship had no relationship with the victim, who McKinzie said lived in a “different city.” He added, “We applaud their courage and support them coming forward 10 years later.”