Acts 29 Vice President Removed After Admitting To Extramarital Relationship
The U.S. vice president of Acts 29 has confessed to a “long-term extramarital relationship.” The church planting network removed Tyler Jones from leadership, citing “clear standards of integrity, transparency, and biblical conduct.”
Acts 29 announced Jones’ departure internally on Feb. 25 and confirmed he is no longer employed in an email sent to The Roys Report on Feb. 26.
“This decision follows the disclosure of personal behavior that does not align with our standards of integrity and biblical conduct,” the email said. “We hold our leaders to clear expectations of character and accountability.”
Acts 29 said the “behavior occurred prior to his employment” in September 2022. Leaders of Vintage Church, in Raleigh, North Carolina, where Jones served as lead pastor, told the congregation this week that the “extramarital relationship with a woman” happened sometime after Jones started the church in 2002. The church did not say whether the other person was a member of the church or not.
Acts 29 declined to offer more details or answer further questions. Vintage did not return multiple emails from TRR seeking comment.
In an email to church members, Vintage said Jones confessed in an elders’ meeting on Feb. 18. The elders met “in closed session to deliberate and pray” and then voted to remove Jones from his role, effective immediately.
The church said his conduct was “inconsistent with the biblical qualifications and leadership standards required.”
Acts 29 agreed and terminated Jones’ employment. Internally, the organization described his behavior as an “inappropriate relationship with a woman.”
Jones has been with the church planting organization since 2003. He served “in a myriad of leadership roles,” according to an official bio that is no longer on the Acts 29 website.
Last fall, Jones oversaw the group’s big church planting conference in the Dallas area. On an official podcast, he said the conference would showcase the maturity and focus of the now 27-year-old organization.
“This is truly a moment, in not only what’s happening in the landscape of our country and the globe, but God seems to be sending more and more planters to Acts 29,” Jones said. “I just feel overwhelmed that we get to be a part of this time.”
Network plagued by a history of leaders acting badly
The church planting organization has promised to raise its leadership standards in recent years. In January 2022, then-president Matt Chandler told Christianity Today that Acts 29 was making “a major shift” in its assessment process.
The group was placing a higher priority on humility and healthy relationships.
“We’re trying to organize as best as we can so that we can vet men before they get our sticker on them,” Chandler said. “And then after they’ve been vetted, get them in the kind of community that they might be encouraged or challenged if you start getting red flags.”
Chandler himself was asked to temporarily step down from ministry because of a “red flag” later that year. He told his church in Flower Mound, Texas, that he had an online relationship with a woman. The relationship was not sexual, he said, but his elders deemed it unguarded, unwise and unhealthy.
He was restored to ministry a little less than three months later. Church officials described the process as exemplary but declined to give details.
“To humble ourselves before a living God gives us a shot at peace,” Chandler preached when he returned to the pulpit. “I’ve got a part of this I’ve got to own. It might just be 1%, but that’s my 1%. Forgive me. Now we’ve got a shot at reconciliation.”
Chandler is now the church planting network’s executive chairman.
Other Acts 29 leaders have left and not come back. Co-founder Mark Driscoll was expelled in 2014 for “ungodly and disqualifying behavior.” CEO Steve Timmis was removed in 2020 amid allegations of abusive leadership. The Acts 29 board said at the time that an internal investigation “found evidence that he should be transitioned out of the CEO role immediately.”
Soon after Timmis was removed, several former Acts 29 staff members came forward, saying they were fired after they reported Timmis’ bullying and misuse of power in 2015.
Preached about accountability
Jones was not a high-profile leader of Acts 29. When he appeared on official podcasts, he often said less than other men. He coached many church planters over the years, though, and was considered an expert on the future of church planting.
Jones planted Vintage in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 2002, a year before joining Acts 29 leadership. The church now has four locations in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill.
Jones was still preaching at the church in early February. In one of his last sermons, streamed online, he spoke of the need for accountability.
“Who will help keep me honest in my spiritual growth? Who will hold me accountable?” Jones asked. “Sometimes accountability is always like, um, you’ve done something wrong, like somebody’s correcting you. But what if a brother or sister was in your life and they’re just constantly encouraging you?”
A few weeks later, Jones was gone.
This article was originally published by The Roys Report.
Daniel Silliman is senior reporter/editor at The Roys Report. He began his two decades in journalism covering crime in Atlanta and has since led major investigations into abuse and misconduct in Christian contexts. Daniel and his wife live in Johnson City, Tennessee.