By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Tuesday, February 10, 2026Assemblies of God Executive Presbyter Rod Loy | YouTube/First NLR
Editor’s note: This article contains graphic details of alleged sexual abuse.
Assemblies of God Executive Presbyter Rod Loy, who also leads one of the denomination’s largest congregations, has stepped aside from his role and will face an investigation following a recent lawsuit from a former member who claims he sexually abused her for 20 years, beginning when she was 16.
“Rod Loy has voluntarily stepped aside from his duties as an executive presbyter during the district’s investigation,” the national office of the Assemblies of God told The Christian Post in a statement Monday.
An executive presbyter in the Assemblies of God is one of 21 members on the denomination’s national Executive Presbytery board. These high-level leaders function as policymakers and governing officials for the denomination. They oversee doctrinal integrity, fellowship policies, and regional matters, including ordained leadership and are elected to four-year terms.
Loy, who has been the senior pastor of First Assembly of God in North Little Rock, Arkansas, since 2001, was elected as the Gulf-area executive presbyter in August 2023. His church was ranked as the third-largest Assemblies of God congregation in the United States, with more than 16,500 members in 2017, according to official denomination records. First Assembly of God has also helped to plant more than 1,350 churches in 63 nations.
The claims of abuse are detailed in a civil lawsuit filed by 45-year-old Suzanne Lander in the Circuit Court of Pulaski County, Arkansas, on Jan. 26.
Lander names Loy and First Assembly of God in North Little Rock as defendants. Through her attorneys, Keith L. Langston and Basyle ‘Boz’ Tchividjian — a grandson of the late evangelist Billy Graham — Lander accuses Loy of sexual assault and battery, and the tort of outrage.
“Defendant Loy’s conduct was extreme and outrageous, beyond all possible bounds of decency, and utterly intolerable in a civilized community. Defendant Loy exploited his position as a trusted spiritual leader to systematically groom, manipulate, and sexually abuse a vulnerable sixteen-year-old girl who had survived years of parental sexual abuse and trafficking,” the lawsuit claims. “Defendant Loy used religious teachings and scripture to convince Plaintiff that God wanted her to submit to his sexual demands, telling her repeatedly that performing sexual acts pleased God and made her better in God’s eyes.”
Lander alleges that “only months” after she began attending the church as a teenager in 1996, Loy, who was then serving as executive pastor, “initiated sexual abuse.”
“Defendant Loy had previously demonstrated physical affection through hugging, which Plaintiff had never experienced before. Defendant Loy then began using a Nintendo gaming controller to touch Plaintiff’s genitalia over her clothing,” the complaint states. “Defendant Loy soon progressed to using his hands to touch Plaintiff’s genitalia over her clothing and then to putting his hands inside her clothing and rubbing his genitalia on her while she watched television in his home.”
Lander alleged that Loy told her that God wanted her to please him sexually and used Scriptures like Hebrews 13:17 to get her to comply: “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”
The lawsuit alleges that Loy’s abuse of Lander spanned from 1996 to 2016, including while she was married. She alleges that from 1996 to 1998, when she was still a minor, Loy “forced her to perform oral sex, performed oral sex on her, and raped her in multiple locations: his church office, the storage closet, nursery, Junior Super Church Room, church parking lot, and his home.”
“Defendant Loy consistently told Plaintiff: ‘God wants you to have sex with me because I am your pastor.’”
Lander alleges that she was controlled by her pastor for the first 18 years of her adult life, and that he continued to leverage control over her life even after she got married and had children. The lawsuit claims Lander was finally able to escape Loy’s control after she and her family moved to Jonesboro in 2016.
She claims she only realized she had suffered abuse after she started therapy three years ago for “complex PTSD, severe anxiety, depression, and neurological impairment.”
“Prior to this therapeutic breakthrough, Plaintiff’s ability to perceive the abuse as abuse — rather than as what Defendant told her it was — had been destroyed by years of spiritual manipulation, psychological conditioning, and the unique vulnerabilities created by her traumatic childhood,” the complaint states.
First Assembly of God in North Little Rock did not respond to a request for comment from CP on Monday, but the Arkansas District Assemblies of God told CP they would be investigating the allegations.
“The Arkansas Assemblies of God takes all complaints against our affiliated pastors and credential holders, seriously. Our bylaws, as well as those of the General Council of the Assemblies of God, outline a well-established process in addressing such concerns,” the organization said in a statement.
“Our investigation of the accusations of misconduct will be conducted separately from any lawsuits or information that might surface in the news media. The pattern of our investigation will be the same pattern that is followed for all investigations regarding misconduct which includes conversations with both the accuser and the accused,” they added.
In an appearance during the worship service at his church on Sunday, Loy did not mention the lawsuit, but was welcomed with supportive cheers and clapping from his congregation as he offered prayer and praise to God.
“We trust you, Jesus. Our trust is in You. And thank you that you have always proved faithful and able and capable of our trust. We don’t trust in a weak, powerless God. But we trust in a strong, mighty Savior who still saves and heals and delivers and sets free,” Loy said. “Our trust is in you, Lord. We love you in Jesus’ name.”
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