Hope Fellowship’s John McKinzie breaks silence

By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Monday, September 22, 2025John McKinzie is the former lead pastor of the multi-campus Hope Fellowship Church in Frisco, Texas. | YouTube/Hope FellowshipA week after his resignation as lead pastor of the multi-campus Hope Fellowship in North Texas due to “sexual sin and moral” failure, John McKinzie has broken his silence with a letter to his congregation, urging them to accept his decision and keep supporting the church.“My actions have disqualified me from spiritual leadership. There is no doubt about that fact. Please respect my decision. This is the right thing for me, my family, and for Hope Fellowship. I ask you to forgive me for violating your trust,” McKinzie said in a letter to the congregation Sunday, read by Angela Linz, who serves as executive and co-interim lead pastor along with Aaron Alexander. “More importantly, I ask you to be committed to Hope and the leadership more than ever before. God has had his hand on this church from the very beginning. And He’s not about to abandon you now,” McKinzie added. “Please pray. Please continue to serve. And please continue to invest so that the mission of Hope can continue like never before. You are in the best hands possible with the leadership and staff of this great church. Please allow them to lead you through the season and fight for unity at every turn.”The reading of McKinzie’s letter was meant to help the congregation process his sudden resignation a week ago after his sins, which were previously unknown to the church, were discovered.Church elders explained in a previous email to members that McKinzie confessed his sins during a meeting with church leadership on Sept. 14. They did not initially provide any details regarding McKinzie’s “sexual sin and moral failure,” but explained that the confession was strong enough to permanently disqualify the married father of four from leadership at the church.Aaron Alexander (L) and Angela Linz (R) are the executive and co-interim lead pastors of Hope Fellowship in North Texas. | YouTube/ANOINTED TVIn a subsequent email to church members last week, which was reviewed by The Christian Post, Linz and Alexander explained that church officials “consulted with local authorities” after learning that McKinzie had engaged in “multiple breaches” of their collective trust but did not engage with any minors during those breaches.“We have become aware that John was responsible for multiple breaches of our collective trust and his pastoral responsibilities, over several years. However, we are unaware of any minors that were involved in these moral failures or any reports that have been made to law enforcement by any of the parties involved,” the co-interim lead pastors said.“Because we are committed to integrity, we have consulted with local authorities. And should we learn of any reportable offenses, we will immediately report them to the proper agencies.”The church leaders also explained why they removed McKinzie’s past sermons from the church’s website.“You may be wondering why past sermons have been removed from our website. To some of you, this might feel like yet another loss. As a staff, we are not trying to erase history. Rather, we are intentionally taking time to center the needs of our staff and our congregation,” the church leaders said in their email to congregants.“We know that these past sermons may be viewed differently, with the fullness of the information we have now. At the time they were preached, we learned key principles from Scripture through John’s messages. But now, we would be viewing these teachings through the lens of current circumstances,” they explained. “Searching for signs of John’s sin in the midst of past messages is not going to lead to our healing. We are choosing to lean into what helps our church heal now.”Contact: leonardo.blair@christianpost.com Follow Leonardo Blair on Twitter: @leoblair Follow Leonardo Blair on Facebook: LeoBlairChristianPost