When news of the arrest of Christian music mogul Jeff Berry for child sexual assault broke in October of 2019, his connection to the Abilene area was a main focus of the story. He was known for having been one of the founders of the widely popular Grace Bible Study at Hardin-Simmons University back in the early 1990’s. I was intrigued to find out that Matt Chandler’s ‘career’ took off here, as well as some other well-known names in the evangelical sphere.
About a week after the story broke, I received this very cryptic email:
I wasn’t sure what to make of it at first, but since then I’ve been doing some ‘digging’ and what I’ve discovered is quite interesting.
Grace Bible Study - The Beginning
In 1993, a young pastor by the name of Steve Hardin was serving as a youth pastor at Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, TX. He felt God was calling him to return to Abilene, to his alma mater – Hardin-Simmons University – and start a ministry for college students. He packed up his young family and headed west, with no sure plan in place, other than he had a vision and he was sure it would all work out when he got there.
And it did.
In the fall of 1993, Steve made arrangements with University Baptist Church to use their auditorium, and Grace Bible Study was born. They held their first meeting in January of 1994, with about 80 students in attendance.
According to this Baptist Standard article, a fellow Hardin-Simmons graduate joined him – an international economics teacher by the name of Jeff Berry. Jeff, an Abilene native, was living in Waco at the time & teaching at Baylor University. He was also attending Lou Giglio’s ‘Choice Bible Study.’ He decided, however, to make a career change and moved back to Abilene to lead worship at Grace. Before long, the weekly Grace Bible Study was bursting at the seams as students from not only Hardin-Simmons came, but also students from Abilene Christian University and McMurray College. There were a lot of future pastors that went to that bible study in the 1990’s, and almost all of them went to Hardin-Simmons. A lot of those names you would probably recognize. (Brady Traywick, Chris Kennedy, Luke Norsworthy, Jeremy Kirles)
Who Is Steve Hardin?
Steve Hardin is a native of the North Texas area, who graduated from Bryan Adams High School. He went on to attend college at Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene where he earned a B.A. in Psychology and then a Master of Divinity from SWTBS in Fort Worth. He is currently serving as the White Rock Campus pastor at Lake Pointe Church, which interestingly enough, was the church he grew up in, when it used to be Lakeside Baptist. (Lake Pointe rescued the struggling church in 2017 and converted to one of its campuses)
HISTORY
Steve had previously worked at Lake Pointe Church in the early 1990’s, as a youth pastor, before starting the popular Grace Bible Study in Abilene in 1994. He also served as interim pastor of Beltway Park Baptist Church from 1997-98, before moving back to Dallas and becoming a teaching pastor at First Baptist Church of Dallas in 1999. He served there until 2008, then joined the staff of The Village Church, where he served until 2018 as the Northway Campus Pastor.
His ministry career has not been without controversy. In 2015, he was one of The Village Church pastors involved in the Karen Root (Hinkley) debacle, and was accused of pressuring Karen to submit to church authority. Karen provided the texts and emails to prove it. This was all detailed in Amy Smith’s Watchkeep blog here and here. Amy received follow-up from her readers as a result of those posts, and several people reported that Steve was heavy-handed and abusive while serving as a pastor at The Village Church.
I also wrote about Steve in one of my own posts, ‘From Recovery to Abuse: Part II‘. He was one of the pastors assigned to Alison’s ‘church discipline process‘. If you have not read her story, I encourage you to do so. It’s quite alarming.
Jeff Berry
Jeff Berry, an Abilene native, is a 1986 graduate of Hardin-Simmons University. He went on to earn a MBA in Economics from Baylor University in 1989, and then joined the teaching staff. In 1993, Steve Hardin invited him to return to Abilene to lead worship at Grace Bible Study. He left Waco, where he was serving at Woodway Baptist Church, and started a new music company, Crosswind Ministries (under which he also operated Reality Weekends for youth). Berry led worship at Grace Bible Study for 11 years. At some point during this time span, Berry was on staff at Pioneer Drive Baptist Church. (approx 1994-?)
From 2004-2007, Berry lived in the Dallas area and served as the worship pastor at The Heights Baptist Church in Richardson, while also serving as an adjunct professor at Dallas Baptist University, teaching music business.
During this time he was the also leader for the Jeff Berry Band. He was still working with his other ministry, Reality Weekends, according to this Baptist News article:
“His ministry also included Reality Weekends, an intensive discipleship weekend for students, including one in 2003 in Germany for children of missionaries living in Europe.”
In 2007, Berry moved to Nashville and partnered with Centricity Music, moving into artist management. In 2017, he launched his own artist management company, Courage Management. He helped develop the careers of notable artists such as Lauren Daigle and country group High Valley. He was also an adjunct professor at Belmont University.
He and his wife Anna divorced in 2018. He resided in Nashville until his arrest. .
ARREST
On October 14, 2019, Berry was arrested in Williamson County, TN for the charges of Fugitive of Justice and Indecency With a Child By Contact. The alleged indecency assaults took place in Texas in the mid 1990’s, while he was working for Pioneer Drive Baptist Church in Abilene and a second victim came forward to report abuse while Berry led worship at a First Baptist Church of Abilene youth camp. Berry was extradited to Abilene on October 25, 2019. He remains free on bail. According to a search on the Taylor County website, a hearing was supposed to take place on January 30th for a Plea Setting, but it has now been postponed until the middle of March.
Matt Chandler
Matt Chandler is the most notable of the Grace Bible Study alumni.
Born in Seattle, WA, Matt’s family moved often due to the fact that his father was in the military. He graduated from Texas City high school in 1993. After graduation he worked at Pine Drive Christian School as a janitor and then as a youth minister at a small baptist church in La Marque, TX. Chandler then moved to Abilene to attend Hardin-Simmons University, where he began attending the Grace Bible Study, led by Steve Hardin.
In this transcript from a TVC sermon dated 1/27/2008, Steve Hardin recalls what happened when Matt Chandler asked him if he could start teaching at Grace Bible Study,
“And then there was a kid who was a tall, good looking, loud, wild, smart guy from a southeast town in Texas named Matt Chandler. And Matt just popped on the scene and was so crazy, man. You think he’s something now, you should have seen him raw and right out of the chute then. He was brand new converted to Christ, came to Abilene not knowing what God was going to do with him other than that there was a calling on his life. And he came to me one Thursday night after Grace Bible study and said, “Man, I want to do what you do.” “Really? You want to do what I do?” “Yeah, I want to be on a platform and I want to be used of the Lord.” “Really? Well let me tell you, that’s just a little penny ante part of what I do. If you want to do what I do, I’ll tell you what. Come every Thursday at noon and you sit down and you keep your mouth shut for a year and you let the word of God just be poured into your life in discipleship and you just sit there and learn about the doctrines of grace, you learn about how God has worked in election and predestination, you learn about how God works in our lives to admonish us and grow us and to use us and to humble us and to crush us, you learn about the sovereignty of God, you keep your mouth shut and then you come back on Fridays and help me as a janitor at this place. Because it’s not all standing in front of people; it’s about cleaning up wrappers that college kids like you leave on the floor on Thursday nights. And that’s what I do, I clean this place up on Friday. So you show up and ante up, and we might see that God might use you one day.”
Obviously Chandler did his time, and Steve Hardin passed the baton to Matt to teach at Grace, because the weekly bible study launched his preaching career.
Chandler graduated from Hardin-Simmons in 1999 with a Bible degree and then worked at Beltway Park Baptist Church. After two attempts to attend seminary, Chandler decided he had the necessary education to pursue ministry full-time, and started a non-profit called Waiting Room Ministries, with Shane Barnard (of the band Shane & Shane).
Chandler also spent time as an itinerant preacher, which he refers to in this TVC sermon dated 5/12/19.
in 2002, at the urging of a woman who sat on the board of his non-profit organization, Chandler applied for the job of lead pastor of Highland Village Baptist Church in Flower Mound, TX – now known as The Village Church.
In addition to being the lead pastor of TVC, Matt is also the president of the Acts29 Network & was on the ERLC Leadership Council until January 2020, when his name & bio suddenly disappeared from their website.
Incidents Involving Matt Chandler at The Village Church
In recent years, Matt Chandler and The Village Church have been involved in a number of high profile incidents. I referenced the 2015 incident earlier in my post (under ‘Who Is Steve Hardin?), and in 2019 it became publicized that Chandler and TVC were in the midst of a child sexual abuse cover-up, which has now resulted in a civil suit being filed against The Village Church by the victim & her family.
In late 2019, another case of child sexual abuse at a TVC campus was revealed.
There is also growing suspicion that The Village Church is encouraging women to return to abusive husbands, and that there are a reported 16 complaints against a counselor & TVC employee, Jason Holleman, who was also involved in (and reprimanded for) the Karen Hinkley discipline case.
Connections to Jeff Berry or Grace Bible Study
Leighton Flowers
According to a TVC sermon that Steven Hardin preached in Jan 2008, he mentions Leighton Flowers was one of the students that attended Grace Bible Study back in the 1990’s. He graduated from Hardin-Simmons University in 1997.
Leighton previously held positions in youth evangelism for the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
Leighton is currently the Evangelism Lead for Texas Baptists.
Wes Hamilton
According to this Baptist Standard article from 2001, Wes served as the youth evangelist for over 25 of Jeff Berry’s ‘Reality Weekends’, Berry’s discipleship ministry to youth. He also officiated Berry’s wedding to his wife Anna.
Wes previously served as a teaching pastor at Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, TX and is now the lead pastor of Hulen Street Church in Fort Worth.
According to this comment on Berry’s blog, Wes also served with Matt Chandler during his itinerant preaching (summer of 2001}
JR Vassar
JR Vassar served alongside Jeff Berry as a youth pastor at BGC youth events. Like Wes Hamilton, he was previously a teaching pastor at Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall, TX, and is now the lead pastor of Church at the Cross in Grapevine, TX.
Matt Chandler wrote the forward to JR’s book ‘Glory Hunger‘ and they did a video series together on RightNow Media titled ‘Work as Worship‘. He has also been a guest speaker at The Village Church.
You may be wondering how all of these people are connected?
Through Jeff Berry and his ministry to youth.
Leighton Flowers was employed with the BGCT youth evangelism team when Berry was serving along side JR Vassar and Wes Hamilton at SBC youth events. Berry also led worship while traveling with Matt Chandler during Chandler’s itinerant preaching days.
Pioneer Drive & Beltway Park Baptist Church
Pioneer Drive Baptist Church is where Jeff Berry was employed when he allegedly sexually abused a 14 year old boy in 1994. Berry’s parents still attend this church. The church’s pastor, Stan Allcorn, came under fire in October 2019 for statements he made following Berry’s arrest.
Beltway Park Baptist Church, which started in 1985, is a church plant of Pioneer Drive Baptist Church. Steve Hardin and Matt Chandler were both employed at Beltway Park.
Other Ministries
In addition to the youth Reality Weekends and other youth-related ministries that Berry participated in, he also led worship at the very popular Falls Creek Baptist Encampment from 2000 – 2006. Oklahoma state Senator James Lankford is the director of Falls Creek.
The Jeff Berry Band has performed as the worship band at hundreds of youth camps over the span of at least 3 decades.
Jeff Berry also worked for World Vision Artists, a non-profit global humanitarian program that provides relief to children all over the world.
What Does All Of This Mean?
In this online news article from Fox 17 Nashville, which obtained Berry’s divorce documents , Berry’s ex-wife “accused Jeff Berry of moving to various churches as a music leader and “molesting under-age boys over the years.”
Jeff Berry’s career has given him a lot of access to young people. He has even started ministries just to work with youth. He is also VERY well connected in Southern Baptist circles, and has served alongside many well-known pastors (which I referenced above) while involved in youth ministry.
Surprisingly, there has only been radio-silence from Berry’s well-connected evangelical friends, since his arrest. WHY?
When Berry was arrested in October of 2019, he was attending and serving at Rolling Hills Community Church in Franklin, TN. A concerned member reached out to me yesterday because the church has been noticeably low key concerning Berry’s arrest, and they are additionally concerned about possible victims at Rolling Hills:
I asked this member if they could forward me the email that was sent out to the members:
Mentioned LASTLY at the bottom of this email is the arrest of one of their prominent members, Jeff Berry – for a child sex crime.
I have also been informed that Jeff Berry’s involvement at Rolling Hills Community Church was much more than the church is communicating to the public. This is very concerning. On the church’s FB page, he is mentioned as a volunteer who served at a youth camp:
I followed up with this member and asked if there were any appeals from the church to ask for any possible victims to come forward, and they responded and said to their knowledge, there was not. I find this VERY concerning, since he was volunteering at youth camps.
I have also spoken to Jeff Berry’s ex-wife Anna, and she can confirm that Rolling Hills Community Church is in fact downplaying Berry’s role at the church, in what she believes is the church’s attempt to minimize their risk and involvement in this situation. She has made the following statement for this blog:
“I can confirm that the RHCC pastor (Jeff Simmons) and staff knew about everything a year or more before the arrest (while Jeff was under investigation). The victims family reached out and told the pastor, but Jeff was still allowed to lead worship. They (victim’s family) had to contact him 3 separate times (over the course of a year) and ask to speak to the church board before they finally stopped using Jeff for worship. The church totally supported Jeff and kept it hushed – while me and my kids were shunned. When I spoke to the pastor I was criticized for filing for divorce. Because I filed I was told I could not continue to teach Sunday school. He told me I needed to forgive him and remain married.”
Rumors
I was also informed that there have been rumors circulating for some time concerning Jeff Berry. Rumors that involve abuse of underage boys and college-aged young men. No one is talking about these rumors, however, especially those who knew Berry the best. The people who worked with him at FBC Woodway, Pioneer Drive Baptist, The Heights Baptist Church, Rolling Hills Community Church, as well as those who worked with him at Grace Bible Study, spent many summers traveling with him to youth camps, or serving along side him in churches nationally and internationally.
People know, and they aren’t talking.
I am appealing to anyone out there that has information on Jeff Berry to please contact me, or if you are a victim or have knowledge that he has abused someone, please contact law enforcement.
If you have any information regarding Jeff Berry, Please contact me
All names and information will be anonymous/confidential
Wow, this is a great post. What a weird email, that’s good digging. I dug into Waiting Room Ministries, and the bizarre Christianese word salad in the link you posted. Here’s an old Matt Chandler sermon where mentions this nonprofit, not by name, that he started with Shane and Shane: https://www.tvcresources.net/resource-library/sermons/the-beginning-of-the-church Here’s an old Relevant magazine that interviews Shane and Shane, it says it provides “accountability and fellowship”: https://issuu.com/relevantmagazine/docs/issue19_marapr06-web Read this interview snippet for yourself, they started it to “model simplicity in their lives” but they also draw a salary from it, and paid for someone’s hip replacement?: http://thechristianpulse.com/2018/06/13/shane-and-shane/ So… Read more »