Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas, said in a letter to congregants that pastor Tony Cammarota expressed remorse, but "his sin disqualifies him from serving."
Texas megachurch pastor Tony Cammarota has been fired after confessing a "moral failure" that disqualifies him from leading worshippers, church officials said.
Cammarota, who had been with the Stonebriar Community Church for 17 years, was removed after expressing deep remorse for an undisclosed "sin," church officials told congregants in a letter that was posted to social media this week by a blogger.
The letter also warned members to ward off the "Devil" by not talking about the incident.
"With a heavy heart we want to inform you of sad and difficult news. On Sunday afternoon July 7th, Pastor Tony Cammarota confessed to church leadership a moral failure. He is deeply remorseful but his sin disqualifies him from serving on our staff as a pastor," the letter said.
"Please guard against giving the Devil any foothold for more damage to our church through unnecessary speech and speculation," the missive advised.
Stonebriar is a non-denominational Christian church with 3,000 weekly worshippers and thousands more viewers online.
Cammarota is the latest Texas megachurch preacher to step down or be fired over allegations of misconduct.
Last month, Gateway pastor Robert Morris, who served as a spiritual adviser to then-President Donald Trump, abruptly resigned after a former parishioner stepped forward to say she was sexually abused by him for years, beginning when she was 12.
Morris has not been criminally charged. His accuser, Cindy Clemishire, is now 54. She says she was 12 and Morris was 21 when he spent Christmas with her family in Texas in 1982. Morris called her into his room, and told her lie down on her back, she told The Wartburg Watch, a website dedicated to survivors of church sexual abuse. Her account of what happened was published in a June article.
Last month, well-known Dallas evangelical pastor Tony Evans also told his shocked followers at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship that he was stepping down over an unnamed "sin" he committed years ago, he said.
He had led the church for 48 years, building it into an international ministry with 10,000 members. Evans said he opened his church in 1976, preaching to 10 people in his living room.
"While I have committed no crime, I did not use righteous judgment in my actions," he said in a resignation letter to the church. "In light of this, I am stepping away from my pastoral duties and am submitting to a healing and restoration process established by the elders."
"This will afford me a needed time of spiritual recovery and healing," he said.
