By Victor Ochieng
Slightly over eight years after Pastor Fred K. Price Jr. took over the leadership of Crenshaw Christian Center from his father, Dr. Frederick K.C. Price, he has decided to throw in the towel over what he terms “personal misjudgments.” He announced his decision to resign on Sunday, leaving his congregation in sheer shock.
The pastor’s resignation message came about a month after he gave himself a sabbatical leave from the ministry. Even though he was quite emotional in the message and even noted that the personal misjudgments were “serious” he fell short of specifying what they really were. He, however, pointed out that the leadership of his 28,000-member church is helping him to correct his mistakes.
“Approximately a month ago I came before you to announce that I would be taking a three-week sabbatical. Well I’m here today to give you an update. I have struggled with,” Price said sluggishly as he went into seconds of emotional bouts, with his wife Angel right next to him, quiet.
“I have struggled with and am correcting and making amends for serious personal misjudgments which have affected my life and my family and which I deeply regret. I have betrayed the trust of God, my family and you my church and for that I am so sorry. Therefore, I’m gonna step down as pastor at this time,” he said even as the congregation went into serious shock.
It was such a shocker that his audience didn’t even want him to finish his statement.
But he pleaded with them to let him finish and explained to them that he would embark on a restoration process “in order to fulfill the call on my life to ministry” and requested that he be given his privacy as he sorted out the issues.
“I have submitted myself to my fathers, our apostles’ plan of restoration, chief among those is I will be attending Sunday service starting next week and throughout the year so that I can hear the Word and be restored in order to fulfill the call on my life to ministry. In closing I would like to ask that you respect my family’s privacy while we work through this personal situation. I thank you all for the support you have given me. As pastor, I love you all and I solicit your prayers during this difficult time,” he ended.
As soon as he finished, the congregation went into shouts of “love you” “God is great, don’t worry about it” and then he walked off the stage amid standing ovation.
Price Jr. took over the reins at the church on March 15, 2009, according to the Los Angeles, California-based church.
The church was founded by his father in 1973 with only 300 members and it’s now grown to close to 30,000 members.
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