A Texas megachurch pastor has stepped down after confessing to “moral failures” — and church leadership has barred congregants from talking about what happened.
Tony Cammarota, who had served as a pastor at the Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, for 17 years, stepped down on July 7 after he “confessed to church leadership of a moral failure,” a letter from the church to congregants read.
“He is deeply remorseful but his sin disqualifies him from serving on our staff as a pastor,” the letter, obtained by church watchdog group watchkeep.org, read.
“After much prayer seeking God’s direction, discussion as leaders, and then talking to Tony we have terminated his employment effective immediately.”
The letter did not provide any details on what Cammarota had done to earn his firing — and invoked Lucifer himself while cautioning churchgoers against talking about it.
“Please guard against giving the devil any foothold for more damage to our church through unnecessary speech and speculation,” the letter read.
“This is a sad day and we don’t want the Devil making it worse through any one of us in the days.”
Stonebriar Community Church, which serves more than 11,000 congregants, did not respond to requests for comment.
Cammarota’s resignation marks the latest pastor to step down from a megachurch in the Dallas-Forth Worth area in recent weeks.
In early June, pastor Tony Evans stepped down after serving nearly 50 years with the Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship — which serves 10,000 members in Dallas — vaguely explaining in a statement that he’d committed no crime but failed to use “righteous judgment in my actions,” according to Baptist News Global.
A week later, pastor Mike Buster resigned after 35 years at the 45,000-member Prestonwood Baptist Church, and denied any wrongdoing.
And just four days after that, longtime pastor of the 100,000 strong Gateway Church, Robert Morris, stepped down following allegations that he’d sexually assaulted a girl over several years, beginning when she was just 12 years old.
