Brady Boyd, senior pastor at New Life Church in Colorado Springs for nearly 18 years, has resigned, according to three employees, each who asked not to be named to protect their jobs.

Associate Senior Pastor Daniel Grothe has been named interim, sources said. In addition to his pastoral work, Grothe is described on New Life Church’s website as being a speaker, drummer and author of two books.

Congregants will learn more on Sunday about Boyd’s departure and what’s ahead for New Life, according to Blake Cataldo, an executive pastor.

The church’s elders will release a statement then, he said.

The evangelical megachurch headquartered on Voyager Parkway in northeastern Colorado Springs has more than 15,000 members in eight congregations across El Paso County.

Grothe did not respond to an email seeking comments about the situation. The Gazette left a phone message and a text for Boyd, who also did not reply to a request for an interview.

Boyd has come under scrutiny after allegations surfaced in court documents that were recently presented in a lawsuit filed in Texas, claiming Boyd had known about sexual encounters with a minor by his previous boss, Robert Morris.

Morris, who founded Gateway Church near Dallas in 2000, resigned a year ago after admitting to “inappropriate sexual behavior” in the 1980s, following a public announcement by the victim, Cindy Clemishire, who was 12 years old at the time the alleged abuse began.

Morris is facing five criminal charges related to sexual contact with a child but also is suing his former church in a dispute over his retirement benefits. Materials presented in the latter case state that Boyd was aware of emails and other communication about the situation involving Morris.

But Boyd told congregants on June 8, observed in many Christian churches as Pentecost, marking Jesus’ imparting of the Holy Spirit on his disciples, that he learned of the issue for the first time upon Morris’ public confession last year.

Boyd said he had been “shocked” to hear about it.

A few other local pastors told The Gazette earlier this week that they had reason to believe that Boyd was lying about what he knew, and they called for an investigation into the matter.

The circumstances surrounding this week’s departure of Boyd are unclear.

He’s the church’s second senior pastor to leave in a cloud of moral uncertainty. New Life Church’s founder, Ted Haggard, relinquished his position in November 2006 as head of the church he started, after a male prostitute said publicly that he and Haggard had been having sexual relations for three years and that Haggard had been using crystal methamphetamine. Haggard denied the claims.

New accusations about Haggard surfaced in 2022, when several minors and adults told The Gazette that Haggard had continued his illicit behavior of drug use and sexual contact with males, after he started a new church in Colorado Springs. Haggard denied those claims as well.

Boyd helped Morris grow Gateway Church and studied under him. When Boyd left to take the top job at New Life, Morris served as an overseer for New Life and would be a guest preacher, former members of New Life said.