Rising Star in Presbyterian Church Apologizes for Adultery
After confessing to an extramarital affair, the senior pastor of one of Greensboro, North Carolina’s largest churches has been put on paid leave.
According to the News and Record, Reggie Weaver—widely considered a rising star in the Presbyterian denomination—signed on as senior pastor just nine months ago. Weaver and his wife, Ashley-Anne Masters, are getting divorced.
“I have violated my ordination vows and my wedding vows,” Weaver, 33, wrote in a letter to his congregation at Westminster Presbyterian Church. “I am sorry and I ask your forgiveness.”
The paper reports one church member saying reactions were of sadness and forgiveness. Whether the denomination’s forgiveness extends to reinstatement remains to be seen.
“In some ways, it’s like a death,” Bill Leonard, a professor at Wake Forest University’s School of Divinity, told the paper. “It’s a whole grief process—not only in their sadness over someone they love and admired but someone they trusted. It’s very tragic for him, his family and the congregation.”
