REDDING (CA)
The Roys Report [Chicago IL]
January 26, 2026
By Daniel Silliman
Bethel Church leaders apologized Sunday for mishandling allegations that prophetic minister Shawn Bolz sexually harassed his staff and used social media to fabricate charismatic “words of knowledge.”
“We did not tell the truth enough, early enough, long enough, or loud enough,” top leaders at the Redding, California, megachurch said in a statement posted online on Jan. 25.
Pastors Bill Johnson, Kris Vallotton and Dann Farrelly dedicated about half of each of the church’s three services to apologies and explanations. They said they tried to deal with the concerns about Bolz privately in 2019 but didn’t think it was their responsibility to say anything publicly. They did not acknowledge any concerns about him or his ministry until allegations started to come out online in early 2025.
The ministers reconsidered their silence amid the furor following charismatic Bible teacher Mike Winger’s 5-hour 50-minute YouTube video, released Jan. 17, detailing the megachurch’s “cover-up culture.”
Kris Vallotton, senior associate leader at the 11,000-member charismatic church known for its emphasis on miracles and widely popular worship music, said he changed his mind late last week.
“I was in this mode of, ‘I don’t know why everyone’s mad at us.’ … Not realizing, like, we’re the ones who put (Bolz) on a global platform,” Vallotton said. “It was our responsibility to tell the people that we told to trust this man, to tell them that we don’t trust this man. And that didn’t happen. And that’s on me.”
Bolz did not work directly for Bethel, but the church had a major role in promoting his ministry and his now-suspect prophetic gifts. Bolz has spoken at the church multiple times in the past decade and joined Bethel ministers at churches around the world.
Bolz also said he was serving under the apostolic authority of Ché Ahn, a megachurch pastor in Pasadena, who is running for governor of California. Ahn in turn has said he is under the apostolic authority of Bethel’s senior leader, Bill Johnson.
‘Not a mistake’
Back in 2019, when charismatic ministers in Europe grew skeptical of Bolz’s prophetic gifts, they investigated and brought their evidence to Bethel leaders, expecting them to take responsibility.
But according to Vallotton’s 20-minute explanation Sunday, Bethel leaders didn’t think they should or could do more than talk to Bolz about the allegations. Vallotton now says the decision not to do more was a serious failure.
“When you don’t even try,” he said, “that’s not a mistake.”
The associate leader also said it’s clear in retrospect that Bethel valued the wrong things and the church’s culture needs to change.
“Leaders who have graced our podium and been promoted by us — we have to care as much about their character as we do about their gift,” Vallotton said. “When we put somebody on stage, we have to care. … We have to care that they have a track record.”
Church leaders insisted that they were not attempting to cover up for Bolz and had no intention of hiding anything. They rejected the idea that Bethel has a “cover-up culture.”
Bethel leaders did not respond to specific allegations they sought to silence potential whistleblowers. In Winger’s video, he shares a screenshot of a text conversation where a man, Spencer Dalton, urges Valloton to speak out.
Vallotton replies, “Do you know for a fact Shawn did this? Are you 100% sure he’s guilty? Have you see the evidence? … As far as I know it’s ‘alleged’ and last I heard, Shawn hasn’t admitted to anything.”
In his video, Winger notes that Vallotton had documented evidence of Bolz’s wrongdoing years earlier. Winger argues there are two possible explanations for Vallotton’s response: “One, a bunch more data came out that made him think, ‘Shawn’s really innocent.’ Or two, you are—you’re doing a bad thing.”
Winger says, based on his review of the evidence, “I think it’s number two. He accuses Johnson of “still wanting to be in Shawn’s corner” and says Vallotton was trying to “fall into line.”
On Sunday, Johnson described his actions as simple carelessness.
“It’s obviously not intentional,” he told the congregation Sunday. “You don’t think through that stuff.”
Johnson, who became a pastor at Bethel in 1996 and led it out of the Assemblies of God in 2006, said it was actually his strengths that got him into trouble when dealing with Bolz. He wanted to help people in trouble too much, he said, showed mercy too much and was too prone to give people favor, “oftentimes far beyond what they deserve.”
Johnson said he was horrified when he learned he had made things worse for the people Bolz hurt. He said he now realizes he has not properly prioritized victims in his pastoral ministry and admitted Sunday he has struggled to know how to minister to them.
“It’s hard because oftentimes they don’t need advice,” Johnson said. “I am repurposing my own heart, my own gift, my own life to give much cleaner attention to the victim as a priority. And then the whole church. And then, of course, the victimizer.”
Johnson told the church he did spent time with one man that Bolz hurt, listening as he relayed “just horrible, sad, sad, sad stuff.”
But afterwards, Johnson still went on TBN to help promote one of Bolz’s books. In the 2023 TV interview, he said Bolz’s book on prayer was incredible and “knowing the life that backs it up adds a power to it.”
On Sunday, Johnson said the decision to publicly endorse Bolz was “absolutely foolish” and “a horrible misjudgment.” He asked the church to forgive him for “anything and everything I have done that would put less value on attending to the hurt and broken people.”
Then congregation applauded when Johnson, appearing to choke back tears, finished after 10 minutes. Several people in the audience shouted, “We love you.”
Promise of increased accountability
According to senior pastor Dann Farrelly, the church will be taking some practical steps to make changes. The staff will implement a new “investigation-confrontation model,” he said, which will include “wider communication when substantiated allegations are brought forth and met with unrepentence.”
Leaders at Bethel will also spend more time training people to discern the difference between words of wisdom revealed by the Holy Spirit and “false words” gleaned off of social media.
Farrelly emphasized that changes would take time. He said the public statement and church service was not meant to close all discussion of Bethel leaders’ mistakes.
“This is the beginning of making things right as we move to increased accountability and transformation,” the statement on the website said. “As you all know, it is not our mistakes or sins that define us, but what our Savior does and how we respond to His amazing grace.”
Winger, the Bible teacher who brought the allegations of cover-up to light on his popular YouTube channel, said on social media he was impressed by the Bethel leaders’ openness and accountability. Yet he still has “some significant concerns” and is praying about “what a good way forward would look like.”