Founding pastor of Journey Fort Worth Church in Texas, Alonzo Diego Fuller, says he will only partially step away from the pulpit due to financial constraints, after denying recent allegations that he sexually assaulted a former parishioner.
Speaking at a new location with his congregation last Sunday, Fuller, who previously stated he would continue to fulfill his pulpit duties while the allegations against him are being investigated, explained that he will continue writing all the messages for church services, but he will not be the one delivering them each Sunday out of respect for survivors of sexual assault.
“Some Sundays you’ll see me preaching and some not. And I just want to be upfront with you about that because I’m trying to be sensitive in this season. Even though I’m innocent, I also understand that there are people who have been triggered by situations like this,” Fuller explained to his congregants.
“People have [gone] through pain and they went through trauma in this situation. And maybe for them, seeing me speak every single week could be very heavy on their life. I hear that, and I get that. And I want to just use wisdom in this season. There’s a time to speak. There’s a time just to shut up,” the embattled pastor continued. “Seeing me speak every week, it also could just hurt the body of Christ.”
Fuller says he agrees, “to a certain degree,” that his presence at the pulpit while fighting the allegations can be triggering for some sexual assault survivors, but the church cannot afford to pay for a new pastor to preach each week, and there are enough ministers in the church to do the job.
“Here’s the truth. We are a young church, two years old. We’re still raising up leaders. We’re still growing. We don’t have the budget to bring in speakers every single week. We don’t have the luxury of having a staff on rotation. We don’t,” he said. “And the truth is, people don’t always know our situation for this house. They just see something in the headlines.”
Court records cited by The Dallas Morning News said Fuller, 39, was booked into the Tarrant County jail on Sept. 1 on a second-degree felony charge of sexual assault. The crime is alleged to have taken place in June. He was released the same day on a $40,000 bond.
Fuller told his congregants that he was arrested on Aug. 31 during the church’s online service by a group of 20 law enforcement officers, including members of SWAT. He said after he was booked, he planned to tell the church before the arrest became public knowledge, but the news media beat him to it, and he had been crying over the scandal all week.
“Sorry I didn’t get a chance to tell you first. They sent it out fast, and I was like, boy, they be moving quick. This was shared hundreds … thousands of time [sic] on every news article,” he said of his mug shot, which he also shared with the church while quipping that “I still look good.”
While urging the church to support him and his family in prayer as they face the allegations, the Journey Fort Worth Church pastor admitted that he is a flawed human being trying to serve God, but maintains that he did not sexually assault anyone.
“If you’re looking for a perfect pastor, I am not your boy. I am human. I am flawed and I’m still being shaped by God every single day,” he said. “But I will say again, the allegations made towards me in this case are absolutely not true.”
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