I have received information that North Carolina megachurch Elevation Church youth pastor Tim Somers has been fired for alleged sexual abuse that occurred in Texas about 13 years ago. Steven Furtick is the lead pastor of Elevation Church.
Elevation Church allegedly was contacted by Red Oak, Texas police about sexual abuse allegations during his time at Oaks Church in Red Oak. The abuse allegedly took place around the same time frame as abuse by another Oaks Church youth leader, Jerry Nickerson. Nickerson was terminated from his youth pastor position at Hope Fellowship Church in Frisco, Texas in January 2025 after he confessed to inappropriate conduct with a minor while he was a volunteer youth leader at Oaks Church.
Oaks Church is an Assemblies of God church.
I have reached out to Elevation Church to confirm this information. I am waiting for a response.
Update 2/26/25:
Leonardo Blair covered this story at the Christian Post:
An Oaks Church spokesperson confirmed with CP that Somers served as an intern at the church from 2009-2011 and then worked on staff from 2011 to 2013.
Elevation Church also confirmed to CP that Tim Somers has been terminated because of the allegations of abuse and police investigation:
“Recently, allegations were brought forward about Tim Somers’ conduct while serving at a church in Texas approximately 12 years ago,” a spokesperson for Elevation Church told The Christian Post Monday.
“As soon as Elevation learned about these allegations, we reached out to local Texas authorities and immediately placed Tim on leave. No charges have been filed. But Tim understands how impactful these allegations are for his role in ministry and we have agreed he will no longer serve on staff.”
Red Oak police have confirmed that there is an ongoing investigation that involves multiple alleged perpetrators from Oaks Church.
I have received information that suggests that allegations of sexual abuse by Tim Somers were disclosed to Oaks Church about 10 years ago, but it was not reported to law enforcement at the time.
Are there other victims at Elevation Church?
If you or someone you know is a victim or you would like to report allegations of abuse or suspect that a child has been abused, I recommend using the NCMEC cyber tip line via a call or online form: https://www.missingkids.org/gethelpnow/cybertipline