Assemblies of God church, Pastor Rod Loy ask court to dismiss sex abuse lawsuit

Editor's note: This article contains graphic details of alleged sexual abuse 

Assemblies of God Executive Presbyter Rod Loy and the First Assembly of God in North Little Rock, Arkansas, have asked the Circuit Court of Pulaski County to dismiss a recent lawsuit from a former member who claims Loy sexually abused her for 20 years, beginning when she was 16, and continuing after she was married.

In their 12-page response to 45-year-old Suzanne Lander’s January complaint, Loy and First Assembly of God in North Little Rock said they “vehemently deny” her claims of sexual abuse and accuse her of fabricating the complaint as part of a “smear campaign.”

“Pleading affirmatively, plaintiff never reported any allegation of abuse by Pastor Loy to the Church or law enforcement, and Pastor Loy has never before been accused of or faced allegations of such heinous conduct in his decades of service to the Church and the local community,” the response states. “Plaintiff’s allegations of sexual abuse by Pastor Loy are fabricated in their entirety and part of a ‘smear campaign’ against Pastor Loy and the Church.”

The church and Loy’s response filed on Wednesday pleads “all affirmative defenses as set forth under Rule 12(b) of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure, including the Ecclesiastical Abstention doctrine, which prevents civil courts from deciding disputes that require interpretation of religious doctrine or church governance.

“[D]efendants, Rod Loy and North Little Rock First Assembly of God Church, pray that plaintiff’s Complaint be dismissed with prejudice, that plaintiff take nothing in this action, that defendants recover costs and expenses, and for all other just and proper relief to which defendants may be entitled,” Loy and his megachurch asked the court.

Following Lander’s allegations in January, Loy stepped back from his duties as one of 21 executive presbyters on the Assemblies of God’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.

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,” her complaint alleges. “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 alleges 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.”

In their response to Lander’s claims, Loy and his church say her allegations of “persistent” … “abuse and scriptural manipulation” are “wholly unfounded and undermined” by numerous expressions of support for the Loy family and the church throughout her adulthood, such as a March 18, 2012, email to both Loy and his wife, Cindy.

“Me and Patrick love First Assembly," Lander wrote. "We love what we do. We love our church and our church family. Beyond that, is a love and commitment to the two of you. It's not just a job, you are not just our bosses, you are family and we love nothing more than serving you and spending our lives with you,” the email from Landers to Loy and his wife and copied to her husband states in part.

“We probably don't say it or convey it enough- we love you and are committed to you —  forever. Our prayer has been and always will be something very similar to the words of Elisha … ‘As surely as the Lord lives and as you live, I (we) will not leave you.’”

Lander's lawsuit claims that Loy's abuse 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.”

Lander further claims in her lawsuit that she was controlled by Loy 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 she was finally able to escape Loy’s control after she and her family moved to Jonesboro in 2016.

Loy’s accuser is the wife of Patrick Lander, who served under him as a former student pastor and executive pastor at First Assembly of God in North Little Rock, according to his Facebook page. Patrick Lander later served as campus pastor at First Assembly of God Northeast Arkansas.

Lander claims she only realized she had suffered abuse after she started therapy three years ago for “complex PTSD, severe anxiety, depression, and neurological impairment.”