Megachurch pastor committed adultery, viewed porn

By Robert Nolin
Sun Sentinel
April 30, 2014

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/broward/fl-bob-coy-adultery-20140429,0,6052448.story

Sexual adventurism and a penchant for porn is what toppled charismatic Pastor Bob Coy from the leadership of Calvary Chapel, the Fort Lauderdale megachurch he founded nearly 30 years ago, according to another pastor.

"Our former pastor was caught in sin," Outreach Pastor Chet Lowe told a congregation in a 78-minute service earlier this month. "Our pastor, he committed adultery with more than one woman. Our pastor, he committed sexual immorality, habitually, through pornography.

"Rest assured, God will not be mocked."

Coy, 58, resigned April 3 from the 20,000-member church he and his wife Diane founded in 1985. In announcing his departure, the church would only say Coy was guilty of a "moral failing."

But during an April 16 sermon titled "The Fear of God," Lowe discussed Coy's resignation.

"Your pastors have wept," Lowe said. "We have never felt a grief like this."

It was God, he said, who brought Coy's hidden guilt to light. "Your sins will find you out," Lowe said. "Jesus, because he loved him, exposed him publicly."

John Vaughan, director of the Megachurch Research Center in Springfield, Mo., said he too was shocked to hear of Coy's infidelity. "I was really surprised," he said. "I always had a high regard for Bob and his church."

Vaughan said despite a public perception to the contrary, ministers rarely get caught up in sex scandals. "It's not nearly as epidemic as people think it is," he said. "When it happens, it's big news and people extrapolate."

Still, church leaders are as prone as any powerful man to temptation. "There are a lot of beautiful Christian women," Vaughan said. "A pastor, as a man, would have the same kind of temptation as a man anywhere else would."

Neither Coy nor church spokesmen returned calls for comment.

In the past, Coy has openly spoken about using cocaine while in the music business in Detroit and later in Las Vegas, where he worked in a casino with exotic dancers. "I was into sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll," he has said.

Coy has reportedly left the Coral Springs home he shared with his wife and two teenage children.

In his sermon, Lowe preached compassion for Coy. "We love and forgive our former pastor," he said to a cheering audience. "It's now our time to move forward."

Vaughan said despite his flock's forgiveness, it's unlikely Coy will return to the helm of his old church.

"Bob will have a new life," he said, "but it won't be leading Calvary Chapel."