The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Chris Brooks, formerly a youth pastor at Abba’s House in Hixon, Tennessee, and an Evangelical evangelist, stands accused of physically assaulting his wife.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports:
A Chattanooga-area evangelist was arrested last week after being accused of grabbing his wife by the neck and choking her during a fight.
Chris Brooks, 47, who served as a youth pastor at the Hixson church Abba’s House before turning to independent evangelism, faces a domestic assault charge stemming from the alleged January fight with his wife, Davi Brooks, 50, who was a partner in an evangelism ministry.
Through their Ooltewah-based Chris Brooks Ministries, Chris and Davi Brooks have traveled around the nation speaking at churches and have amassed about 18,000 Facebook followers.
The alleged Jan. 16 assault was not reported to law enforcement for about a month, according to court records.
During the in-between period, the couple appeared together on Facebook Live to announce a worn-out Chris Brooks would take a 30-day sabbatical and that Davi Brooks would continue the ministry during that period.
Chris Brooks left their residence following the assault, but his wife remained afraid of him, according to a sworn affidavit from law enforcement in support of his arrest.
In late February, she and their daughter, a witness to the fight, reported it to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office, whose deputies arrested Chris Brooks on Feb. 21 on a charge of domestic assault. A Hamilton County court clerk said by phone Wednesday he was released on $1,500 bond, and records show he is scheduled to appear in court April 13.
….
Chris Brooks has ties to Dustin Spillers, [please see Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Youth Pastor Dustin Spillers Accused of Child Molestation] a former Abba’s House volunteer and PTA president who was arrested in January after being accused of child molestation in Georgia. Spillers’ attorney filed a motion for a bond Jan. 18, but jail records show Spillers remains in the Troup County Detention Center, and a Troup County court clerk said by phone Wednesday that Spillers has still not been formally charged.
Spillers has attended multiple other churches in recent years, most recently City Church Chattanooga, where, according to the pastor there, he played keys in the band.
Before that, however, Spillers volunteered at Abba’s House over about seven years, where he assisted Chris Brooks, then he was a youth pastor there, with worship and religious matters, Abba’s House Director of Communications Julie Harding told the Chattanooga Times Free Press following Spillers’ arrest.
She said Spillers left Abba’s House in 2015.
Chris Brooks resigned from the church the next year, said Abba’s House Executive Pastor Ken Hartley in an email statement Wednesday.
“Abba’s House does not have any contact or association with Mr. Christopher Brooks,” he said.
Hartley did not answer several questions directed to Abba’s House, such as whether Brooks went through a background check prior to his employment as a youth pastor at the church. If such a check was completed, it might have turned up a troubled past.
….
On Jan. 16, Chris and Davi Brooks got in a fight about his phone and its contents, the court affidavit said. During the argument, he grabbed her by her neck, choking her and lifting her off the ground, the affidavit said.
Their daughter heard the argument and ran into the room to find her father releasing her mother, who fell to the floor, the affidavit said.
Chris Brooks ran from the house into the crawlspace, where he remained for a while, the affidavit said, before emerging and promising things would get better.
In the subsequent days, Chris and Davi Brooks together continued to post daily devotion videos on Facebook, greeting viewers from around the country, inviting them to share it with others and discussing various religious themes.
So began the video Feb. 7, before Chris Brooks ceded the floor to his wife, who pulled up some notes and consulted scriptural passages about the idea of rest.
“My husband needs some real rest,” she said. “He’s been going nonstop for years. Guys, he really needs a break.”
She discussed the rigors of the evangelistic life, the constant traveling, the loneliness.
Her husband elaborated, noting that he was not trying to complain but simply state the facts. Whereas some pastors get pastor appreciation month, the evangelist gets little encouragement, he said.
“The evangelist has to encourage himself,” he said.
His wife laughed and said it was very true.
“There is a situation taking place right now where I feel like I need to step back,” Chris Brooks said.
He pledged to reevaluate the ministry and its direction, and in the meantime, they were canceling scheduled engagements. His wife rubbed his back, and he told the audience he was hurting spiritually and mentally.
“It’s hard guys,” he said, getting emotional, and thanked the viewers. He asked them to pray for them and continue to watch Davi’s videos.
“She’s got some amazing words,” he said. “She’s got some great insight.”
….
In the coming days, Davi Brooks hosted her own videos, about true happiness, about the role of God in turning one’s life around.
On Feb. 17, she and her daughter went to the Hamilton County East annex and told law enforcement her husband had assaulted her, court records said.
A letter on the Chris Brooks Ministries website says:
n January 2023, Chris Brooks announced a brief sabbatical from ministry. After much prayer and Godly counsel, the Chris Brooks Ministries, Inc Board of Directors has resolved to cease all CBM ministry operations to allow Chris to enter into a time of healing and restoration.
We understand this news will come as a shock to our supporters and friends, as Chris has been an influential voice to many of you over the years. But let us also remember, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” 1 John 1:8-9. We ask that your prayers and love for Chris do not cease, but rather increase in the days ahead, that he would find healing and redemption in Christ Jesus. And we ask for your continued prayers and community support of Davi and Faith as they navigate their own journeys of healing.
For questions pertaining to any outstanding appointments or recurring giving, please reach out to the CBM Team at xxxxxxxx.
May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
Chris Brooks Ministries Board of Directors
Ah yes, 1 John 1:9. The gift that keeps on giving. Brooks’ website has been scrubbed of everything except this letter.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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I’m sure others will make the same observation. Mrs Brookes has probably been subjected to domestic violence for a long time, this wasn’t a completely-out-of-character-one-time-never-to-be-repeated-momentary-loss-of-control. This latest incident was just the last straw and finally she and daughter got the courage to report it – knowing how much harm that would do to their super-duper ‘evangelistic ministry.’
Matilda–After reading this post, I had the sense that Mrs. Brookes made excuses for the way he treated her because she had been so beaten down, psychologically as well as physically–until, as you put it, “the last straw.”
Sadly, for too long, too many men have gotten away for everything up to and including murder because the women internalized the abuse, as they were trained to do. And nothing will lubricate the path for psychological blows’ path into a person’s psyche is the authority such men are granted because of their perceived proximity to God.
Yeah,it may be that the wife,Davi, was raised by a violent father,who abused HER mother,so it was kind of normal to put up with it. I’m glad for her and her daughter that they did something proactive about the situation. It wouldn’t be long before choking became punching,you know. He looks like a White supremacist anyway. You can see the violence in his face. I bet his dad was also violent. Abuse cycles have to be ended by us,who suffered it. I hope they can shut down the abuse cycle. Not sweep it under the rug, or justify it. Since that’s what often happens .