SHOCKWAVES IN CHRISTENDOM: Renounced Pastor Sam Allberry Disqualified from Ministry Over Hidden Same-Sex Relationship

In a stunning and heartbreaking turn of events that has sent tremors through the global evangelical community, prominent pastor, author, and apologist Sam Allberry has been formally disqualified from gospel ministry following revelations of a past same-sex relationship. Allberry—who for years has been one of the most visible voices on faith and sexuality, openly discussing his own struggles with same-sex attraction while holding to traditional Christian teachings—resigned from Immanuel Nashville Church after church elders concluded that his conduct constituted a “serious breach of trust and a failure to walk in a manner worthy of the gospel.” The relationship, which began in 2022, was not disclosed when Allberry was called as a pastor in 2023. Though the relationship had already ended before his appointment, elders initially did not deem it disqualifying—until January 2026, when “new information about this relationship that was not disclosed previously” emerged, prompting a reopened investigation and a unanimous, devastating verdict.

The fallout has been immediate and merciless. The Gospel Coalition (TGC), one of the most influential networks in conservative Christianity, announced that Allberry resigned as a fellow of the Keller Center for Cultural Apologetics and that all of his content has been scrubbed from their website and social media channels. His books—including Is God Anti-Gay?, What God Has to Say About Our Bodies, and Biblical Manhood—now hang in moral and theological limbo as readers and leaders alike grapple with the painful irony of a man who taught on biblical sexuality falling from grace over the very issue he was known to navigate. In a rare note of mercy amid the scandal, Immanuel Church’s elders acknowledged that Allberry has been “repentant, humble, and cooperative” throughout the process, and they expressed hope to eventually “restore him in a spirit of gentleness” to full fellowship. But for now, one of evangelicalism’s most beloved yet controversial figures stands disqualified—a sobering, sensational warning that no platform, no publication, and no pulpit is immune from the fall.