NORTH LITTLE ROCK (AR)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
February 5, 2026
By Ann Marie Shambaugh
Note: This story contains details of child sex abuse.
A Texas woman says the pastor of the largest Assemblies of God church in Arkansas sexually abused her for years, starting when she was a teen.
Georgetown, Texas, resident Suzanne Lander filed suit against North Little Rock First Assembly of God Church (First NLR) and its lead pastor, Rodney Loy, on Jan. 26.
Lander claims that Loy began grooming her in 1996 shortly after she began attending the church. He was an executive pastor at the time. She was 16 and had recently “encountered God for the first time” at the church. She says she was previously a victim of parental sex trafficking and abuse.
According to the suit, Loy took Lander shopping for dresses, watched her model them, and began attending her basketball games. He then began inviting her over to his home to play Nintendo while “positioning himself as a father figure.”
Lander claims that in the fall of 1996, Loy touched her genitalia while they played video games or watched television, first over and then under her clothing. The suit states that the abuse escalated over the next two years, with Loy forcing Lander to perform oral sex in his office and raping her in his home and at the church.
“Defendant Loy told Plaintiff that God expected her to allow him to rape her and that followers of Jesus performed sexual acts for the men who were their spiritual leaders,” the suit states. “As her first pastor and spiritual leader, Defendant Loy left Plaintiff confused and unable to recognize the abuse or challenge his authority.”
Loy continued to abuse and manipulate Landers when she became an adult, according to the suit, maintaining “control over her life, her marriage, and her children.” The suit says she “escaped Defendant Loy’s control” in 2016 by moving to Jonesboro with her family.
The lawsuit accuses First NLR of failing to protect Lander from Loy, who “publicly employed a pattern of surrounding himself with minor female congregants, particularly those from vulnerable backgrounds.”
It also states that Loy referred to young girls as his “projects” and did not follow church rules regarding male staff member interactions with females.
“Defendant Church maintained a culture of authoritarian leadership in which questioning Defendant Loy was not tolerated,” the suit says. “Defendant Loy controlled staff members’ personal lives to an extreme degree. This authoritarian culture directly enabled Defendant Loy to control and silence Plaintiff for two decades.”
Lander is seeking damages for physical pain, mental anguish, emotional distress, medical expenses, loss of earning capacity and loss of enjoyment of life. She is also seeking punitive damages and a jury trial.
The suit was filed in advance of a Jan. 31 deadline under Arkansas law that temporarily suspended the statute of limitations for childhood sexual assault claims, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. An appeals court struck down the law in 2025, but the state’s Supreme Court is reviewing the decision.
Arkansas law allows victims of childhood sexual abuse to file a lawsuit within three years of discovering the effect of the injury or condition attributable to the abuse.
Lander’s suit states that she recently realized through therapy how Loy’s abuse contributed to the frequency and severity of her seizures, complex PTSD, severe anxiety and other conditions.
Her marriage to the church’s associate student pastor, Patrick Lander, and the couple’s 2016 transfer to a branch church, helped her gain some distance from her abuser, according to the Democrat-Gazette.
Boz Tchividjian, an attorney representing Lander and a grandson of the late evangelist Billy Graham, said it is time for the church to be held accountable.
“After decades of abuse, betrayal, and unfathomable trauma, Suzi Lander has taken a courageous step forward to hold her perpetrator — and the church that empowered and enabled him — accountable,” Tchividjian said in a statement. “By filing this lawsuit, she is making clear that they will no longer escape responsibility, and that the truth will finally be brought to light.”
The Roys Report (TRR) contacted First NLR to request a comment from Loy and the church. The board of directors pointed to a Feb. 3 statement posted on the church website.
“The church leadership takes accusations of this nature extremely seriously,” the church statement says. “Upon initially hearing of such an allegation, the church board launched an external investigation which found nothing to substantiate the claims. We just became aware that a lawsuit was filed by the accuser. Pastor Rod and our church board vehemently deny these claims. We are prepared to defend this accusation, and we ask for your prayers and patience during this difficult time for both the accused and the person making such an allegation.”
According to the First NLR website, Loy and his wife, Cindy, have worked in full-time pastoral ministry for more than 30 years. They joined First NLR in 1991 and have served as lead pastors since 2001.