JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Association of Related Churches (ARC) responded to a new federal court filing from two local pastors, who accuse the organization of masterminding a conspiracy to take over the church they founded and oust them from their roles.
Stovall and Kerri Weems’ federal filing lists ARC, a non-profit church planting organization, and three other pastors, two of which previously served as overseers of Celebration Church, as defendants in this case.
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The Weems said the defendants wanted to advance their own financial and business interests when they “deliberately targeted Pastor Weems and those closest to him because he rejected their unbridled church growth model.” The filing accuses the defendants of using the church’s incoming senior pastor as an “undisclosed agent” for ARC to carry out their directives.
“We are saddened that Stovall Weems, former pastor of Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida, filed a lawsuit against ARC that included unfounded and inaccurate accusations. We are confident, however, that the truth will ultimately prevail. We respect the judicial process and look forward to addressing these matters in the courtroom,” The Association of Related Churches said in a statement to The Christian Post.
Accusations against church planting organization
ARC is a cooperative of independent churches from various denominations based in Birmingham, Alabama. It consists of churches planted or launched through ARC and churches that invest financially in ARC. It’s one of the largest church planting organizations in the country, helping launch more than one thousand churches since 2000, according to the filing.
ARC was co-founded by Chris Hodges, who is also the founder and senior pastor of Church of the Highlands, one of the largest churches in the United States with more than 60,000 members and 23 campuses, according to the filing. Hodges is also named as a defendant in the Weemses’ federal complaint.
Dino Rizzo, executive director of ARC and associate pastor at Church of the Highlands, is also named as a defendant. Rizzo was an overseer at Celebration Church until September 2021.
The third pastor named as a defendant is John Siebeling, who leads The Life Church in Memphis, Tennessee. He is a founding board member of ARC who also served as an overseer at Celebration Church until September 2021.
The complaint said the defendants used ARC’s significant influence and power as a vehicle to “facilitate and conceal their nefarious scheme.”
“This case arises out of a continuing unlawful conspiracy masterminded by the defendants to protect and expand their church growth business interests and endeavors and the substantial income they generate by destroying Plaintiffs and eliminating them as perceived threats and competitors, which included engineering a takeover at Celebration Church of Jacksonville, Inc. to allow defendants to effectively gain control over its operations and substantial assets, cover up numerous criminal and tortious acts committed in the process, and frame the Weemses for financial crimes they never committed,” the filing reads.
The federal complaint said when churches are planted through ARC, they enter contractual agreements where ARC provides initial loans for the launch. In turn, the church is required to pay 10% of tithes and offerings to ARC until the loan is repaid. After that, the church is required to send ARC an ongoing amount of 2% of its monthly tithes and offerings.
The filing said Celebration Church is not an ARC-planted church, but historically donated approximately $150,000 to $200,000 per year to ARC to benefit church planting operations. The federal complaint states the defendants were “constantly pressuring” Stovall Weems to commit to donating 2% of Celebration Church’s income to ARC for church planting purposes.
“ARC has attained a significant amount of power and influence through its church growth model and church-planting operations, and is able to maintain and expand such power and influence through affiliated entities and ‘partners’ that it heavily encourages its members to use,” the filing reads.
Stovall Weems’ new vision
Stovall Weems said he came to the realization in 2018 that Celebration Church had become too “corporate” and focused on generating attendance and revenue and needed to focus more on mission work and simplifying the church.
“We wanted to help get the enterprise out of the church. I believe that one of the things that really bogs pastors down, and bogs churches down is these mega-churches like Celebration Church was, we become engaged in all of these things,” Weems told News4JAX in January 2023. “In other words, like, we have a huge media department, we have so many facilities, people, it’s almost like a mini construction company. And so it’s all of that HR, and all of that stuff that can begin to clutter what the Jesus designed the church to do, which is minister.”
The federal court filing said Weems realized the corporate “machine” was having significant negative psychological and health impacts on pastors, who needed counseling, guidance, and treatment to recover from the adverse effects of the growth model.
The Weemses developed a new plan that would establish several entities to house and fund Celebration Church’s operations. It included a retreat and outpatient facility for pastoral care, Honey Lake Farms, and adjoining clinic, Honey Lake Clinic. It also would establish NorthStream, a for-profit corporation to provide centralized and shared management services to Celebration Church and other churches. It also created AWKNG, Inc., a hub for ministry programming used at Honey Lake Farms, a theology school, media operations and other endeavors.
The federal complaint said the Weemses’ new vision was antithetical to ARC’s church growth model. Weems said he told the defendants that Celebration Church would only be willing to donate funds to ARC if they were earmarked for missionary work and helping pastors get counseling, guidance, and treatment.
Meanwhile, Weems was working on identifying a pastor who would move into the Senior Pastor role at Celebration so Weems could transition into a Founding Pastor role and focus on missions. The federal complaint said the defendants were aware of this and “seized it as an opportunity to oust Pastor Weems from Celebration Church and plant an ARC-affiliated pastor they knew they could control and who would continue to advance the defendants’ church growth model.”
New leadership
The federal complaint said the defendants identified Tim Timberlake as the candidate to fill this role and Rizzo vouched for him to Weems. The complaint accuses Timberlake of being an “undisclosed agent” for ARC to carry out their directives.
“Unaware of the clandestine agency relationship between defendants and Timberlake and defendants’ planting of Timberlake to advance their conspiracy against Plaintiffs, Pastor Weems moved forward with the Founding Pastor transition plan,” the filing reads.
READ MORE: ‘Your church is OK’: Celebration Church pastor reassures congregation amid legal dispute
Timberlake has been the senior pastor at Celebration Church since 2021 and the church said it’s grown and thrived under his leadership.
Internal investigation into Weems
The legal battle began in early 2022 when attorneys for Celebration Church released findings from an internal investigation into Stovall Weems.
“The single word used most frequently to describe Stovall Weems was ‘narcissist.’ Nearly every witness we interviewed used that specific word,” the report stated.
Attorneys for the church said they interviewed more than 20 current and former senior leadership members, staff, former trustees, other advisors and consultants.
“I have never, ever in my life in 23 years, been accused of being a narcissist. I’ve got problems and issues, and I got to own my own behavior like everybody else,” Weems told News4JAX in January. “But I will tell you what I am not. I am not someone that has no empathy, that is self-absorbed and does not give away power and control. I think you would see from the transition plan, it was just the opposite.”
The report said one witness detailed, often through tears, instances when Weems personally belittled and humiliated them for minor mistakes or misunderstanding Weems’ “inconsistent and confusing directives.”
Another reported that Weems instructed an employee to drive to a liquor store late at night and deliver a bottle of bourbon to his house because he “did not want to be seen purchasing liquor.”
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Another recounted that an employee was instructed to purchase a car for Weems and deliver it to his home. “After the employee delivered the car as demanded, Weems told him to find his own ride home,” the report reads.
The investigation found that many witnesses described “intense personal anguish and pain caused by working for the Weemses.”
The report said since at least 2019, the Weemses’ leadership has been “inconsistent and unbiblical.” It said Stovall Weems’ leadership was “marked by rampant spiritual and emotional abuse, including manipulation, a profound sense of self-importance and selfishness, superiority and entitlement, overbearing and unreasonable demands on employees’ time, a lack of accountability or humility, and demands of absolute loyalty.”
Weems has repeatedly called this a “sham investigation” and part of the plan to remove him from the church.
Eviction case
A separate legal case involves Celebration Church’s efforts to evict the Weemses from the home where they reside on Black Hammock Island in Duval County. The Weemses insist it was part of a retirement package and they are allowed to live there. The church said the Weemses do not have any authority to live at the Shellcracker Road property anymore because Stovall Weems resigned from his positions with the church.
RELATED: Celebration Church issues eviction notice to former pastors who ‘refuse to vacate’
The Weemses initially purchased the home themselves before the church bought it from them. The church has issued multiple eviction notices and said the couple “refuses to vacate.”
What’s next?
The Weemses are asking for the case against ARC to go to trial and for compensation for damages. A separate court hearing is scheduled for early August in Duval County defamation case involving the Weemses and Celebration Church.
The Weemses have launched a new ministry called Awakening Ecclesia, which meets on Sundays in Arlington. Celebration Church continues to operate under Timberlake’s leadership.