Until recently, Corey Turner was the pastor of Neuma Church — an Evangelical megachurch located in Richland, Australia. After it was disclosed that Turner was having sex with one of his fellow pastors, he (and his wife) resigned, giving the following explanation for his adulterous behavior:
Out of sincere respect to those who have known me, trusted me, and been connected in some way to my ministry as a Christian leader over the past 25 years, it’s important that I publicly confess that the recent allegations toward me of my engagement in a morally inappropriate relationship is regrettably true.
Towards the end of 2023 I didn’t sufficiently guard my heart, reach out for help from trusted spiritual fathers, take decisive action or get the necessary rest I needed from the compounding levels of fatigue in my own soul.
In a fog of deception that clouded my emotions and judgement I sinned and compromised my relationship with God, my marriage covenant, my character, and my calling to ministry. I have sinned against God, my family, and the church and I am deeply sorry and repentant for my part in this and ask God and you for forgiveness.
According to Turner, he engaged in “a morally inappropriate relationship.” Not a sinful or adulterous relationship, just an “inappropriate” one. Inappropriate is the word preachers use when they don’t want to call a spade a spade: Turner committed adultery by having sex with a fellow pastor. He sinned against a thrice Holy God, breaking the Law of God.
Turner excuses his immoral behavior by saying that he didn’t “sufficiently guard his heart”; that his thinking was clouded by “the fog of deception.” Guard it from what, exactly? Was not Turner filled with the Holy Ghost? Was he not a child of God? Wasn’t God himself the keeper of his heart? Yet, none of this was enough to keep Turner from shagging a fellow employee. Why is that? To quote Paul Vannaman, a crusty old Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) pastor who was one of my teachers at Midwestern Baptist College, “a stiff prick has no conscience.” Turner wanted what he wanted, regardless of the harm it caused to him, his church, his family, or his fellow adulterer.
I am not the least shocked by the “sin.” Adultery is common among God-called preachers — far more common than most church members know. What bothers me is how offending preachers defend and justify their adultery (or fornication, if they are unmarried). Turner admits that he sinned and hurt his family and Neuma Church, but did you notice his justification for his illicit behavior:
[I didn’t] get the necessary rest I needed from the compounding levels of fatigue in my own soul.
Ah yes, the time-honored excuse for preachers banging someone other than their wives: I was tired, physically weak, or fatigued in my soul — whatever the Hell that means. I’m surprised he didn’t mention low testosterone or B12. Are we really to believe that a “lack of rest” is what led to Turner’s moral failure? I can think of far better excuses: lust, horniness, dissatisfaction with sex life, marital stress/indifference, etc. It would be refreshing if an offending preacher would just admit his “sin” and why he did it.
I suspect Turner’s wife will stand by her man, and a couple years from now, after a season of repentance, reflection, and restoration, the Turners will be back in the ministry. Contrary to what the Bible says and Paul clearly taught on the qualification for being a pastor, rarely does adultery or fornication preclude a man (or woman) from preaching again.
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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