TN megachurch in turmoil - pastor blames nakedness with female on food spilled on clothing

[Demovictory9]

When volunteers at Venue Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, arrived at their pastor’s house last November, they were hoping to raise his spirits with a surprise visit. Instead they got a shock: Pastor Tavner Smith alone with a female church employee—her in a towel, him in his boxers.

The charismatic 41-year-old hurried to explain that the two of them had been making chili and hot dogs and gotten food on their clothes, according to one volunteer who was present. But, as the volunteer put it, “I don’t think none of us was that dumb.”


“If she dropped chili on her clothes, why are you in your boxers?” she recalled thinking. “Was y’all like, throwing chili at each other?”

For the volunteer, the scene confirmed something she had long suspected—that Smith, then married with two children, was secretly carrying on an affair with the employee, who was married to another church staffer. Smith has denied any affair took place, but rumors about it have nonetheless led to something out of a daytime soap opera, involving two divorces, one secretly recorded video, and the departure of nearly all the church’s full-time staff.

And former staffers, members, and volunteers told The Daily Beast they are still struggling to come to terms with the maelstrom that left one of the country’s fastest-growing mega churches in shambles.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/hipster-megachurch-in-shambles-over-pastor-s-alleged-affair/ar-AAT1HUO



https://www.alternet.org/2021/12/pastor-tavner-smith/

Several staff members at a megachurch based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, have quit and are speaking out after their lead pastor was allegedly caught on video kissing a woman who is not his wife.

Eight employees resigned from Venue Church last week after confronting Pastor Tavner Smith about rumors he was having an affair with a longtime employee, The Chattanooga Times Free Press reported.


Smith is currently in the process of divorcing his wife. He has three children.

The alleged affair is not the only allegation against Smith. At least one former church member has aired his grievances with Smith in a public Facebook post.

"I was hired by Venue church in its early days to set up its systems and structures and model anything an adult would experience on a Sunday morning. In hind sight I taught the 'Iranians how to make nuclear weapons' I gave a man who had very very bad intentions the ability to make a mega church," former Venue Church employee Colt Chandler Helton wrote.

[Demovictory9]

1. more... pastor is taking time off to spend time with God

the kiss - https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=606677127226070&ref=sharing

https://www.christianpost.com/news/megachurch-pastor-tavner-smith-takes-time-off-after-staffers-quit.html

Pastor Tavner Smith announces time off to spend 'with God' after staffers quit over affair rumors

Weeks after a video surfaced online allegedly showing him kissing a woman who is not his wife and multiple members of his staff quit, Pastor Tavner Smith of Venue Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee, has announced he will take a few weeks off to get counseling and “spend time with God.”

“I’m going to be taking some time to fill up, spend time with God, and get some counseling so I can come back rested, refreshed and ready for the rest of the year,” he wrote in an Instagram post on Jan. 5. “I love you and I’ll see you in February.”

At least eight employees of Smith’s fast-growing congregation reportedly quit working for the church last month after confronting him about the video recorded in North Georgia.

Two former employees and four volunteers or members previously connected to the church told The Chattanooga Times Free Press that the eight employees quit after confronting the pastor about a rumored affair with a church employee.

[Solly Mack]

2. The "It's not what it looks like" stammering of the good and caught.

[cilla4progress]

3. So

Cliche.

SMDH.

[Demovictory9]

4. I know... just about every one of these "charasmatic" megachurch leaders... are shady dudes

[SheilaAnn]

9. I was so hoping this would be about Osteen...n/t

[Demovictory9]

20. Osteen is too smart and rich to be caught by church members in his own house with naked woman

[Initech]

15. Oh yeah, and they are not to be trusted!

[ironflange]

5. Ha ha, hope it was worth it

[dchill]

6. "I don't think none of us was that dumb."

I don't neither.

[Aristus]

17. I caught that, too.

Not much self-awareness there…

[onethatcares]

7. Hiking the Appalacian Trail

might be a bit chilly this time of year.

[Marcuse]

8. He shouldn't have coveted his neighbor's ass.

[MLAA]

10. Good one!

[Girard442]

14. What about the manservant?

[Baitball Blogger]

11. Well, something was too spicy and messy, but it wasn't the chili.

[Girard442]

12. Just once, just once, I would like to hear one of these hypocrites say...

..."Yeah, you caught us f---ing."

[Journeyman]

18. I think the proper term for them is . . .

"practicing begatting."

[Corgigal]

13. I don't

think husbands have figured out that the pastor are the rock stars for the religious sect. I’ve been in a grocery store, with my little boy, and had two women starting physical assaulting each other , over the pastor. Couldn’t help to hear what they were screaming at each other. At my daughters softball team, all the ladies were talking about the new pastor.
In S.C., the women were always running over to the church to do odds and ends. While the hubby sat home and watched football, none the wiser.

This is a known thing in women circles. It still cracks me up.

[usonian]

16. Why the fuss?

He obviously was commanded to feed the naked.

[UTUSN]

19. Hah!1 - there was one of those in my neck of the woods - a mini-church Fundie, in boxers too

with the church secretary in undies, heart attack. Over exercised?!1

[robbob]

21. Mega church/MAGA church

What an abomination unto the lord! 😂