Pastor Tim Forgy Allegedly Kept Abuse a Secret for 15 Years Before Ending His Own Life
On May 20th, 2025, Pastor Timothy Forgy – associate pastor and financial director of Liberty Baptist Church in North Carolina – died by suicide.
For days after his death, there was silence.
No statements. No news stories. No arrests.
So I started asking questions.
In the absence of police reports or media coverage, I reached out directly to Liberty Baptist Church’s leadership.
Pastor Scott Gray – Timothy Forgy’s brother-in-law – responded personally. He agreed to a phone call.
In that conversation, Pastor Gray confirmed what many had suspected: an accusation of abuse, involving a teenage girl in Texas roughly 15 years ago, had surfaced on the very same day Forgy took his own life.
At that point, I needed to know more.
So on June 13th, I contacted the leadership of Emmanuel Baptist Church in Longview, Texas – where the alleged abuse occurred.
Emmanuel Baptist Church is no stranger to controversy.
Before it rebranded, it was known as Longview Baptist Temple—a church with a long and troubling legacy.
Its former pastor, Bob Gray Sr., was closely connected to well-known figures in the Independent Fundamental Baptist movement—including Pastor David Baker and Pastor David Hyles—both of whom have been implicated in serious abuse scandals.
In 2005, the church’s academy principal, Russell Thomas Hirner, was convicted of sexual assault and indecency with a child. There were four known victims.
Bob Gray II took over the church in 2009, and began slowly making moves to shift the direction of the ministry.
In 2019, the church changed its name to Emmanuel Baptist – in an attempt to distance itself from its toxic past. That same year, Bob Gray II publicly condemned his own father’s support of known abuser Cameron Giovanelli.
Still, many former members remain skeptical.
To them, a name change doesn’t erase a culture, and some think the church’s Independent Baptist roots are enough to make it untrustworthy.
When I spoke with Pastor Bob Gray II, I voiced my own concerns about the pattern of silence and cover-up that seems to persist in so many IFB churches, and explained that I, too, default to skepticism when digging into these stories.
To his credit, he didn’t dodge the topic.
“I will stand up and raise my right hand and testify that – yes. Yes, covering up, switching people from church to church – there are brethren that are totally guilty of that. Even the ones that you’ve exposed... they made their own bed. They shot themselves in the foot. They should have done the right thing.”
He added:
“My style has always been – I want to be as gracious as I can, but not abandon truth.”
When we began discussing the Forgy situation, he described how it came to light as a a "pebble in a pond." It started with something small and obscure, but it made waves that had a big impact.
It all started with a Facebook post.
A member of Emmanuel Baptist Church had shared a simple invite to the ministry’s Easter services. However, the post ignited what Gray called a “firestorm” of comments.
Commenters – some of them former members – started questioning why anyone would attend.
Buried in the thread, was a short comment alluding to a predatory former principal. It was barely more than a passing quip.
But Gray noticed.
And even though it was only a rumor… he says he took it seriously.
“I was like – he has to be held accountable. I mean, even so much so that, just based on a rumor, I booked a ticket to go to North Carolina. Just based on a rumor.”
He continued,
“Because this is wrong. And if this rumor is even a tenth true – it doesn’t matter. You’ve got to be held accountable for your actions. Although he was my brother-in-law, and he worked here – family doesn’t get a free pass on bad behavior.”
He reflected on the wider problem inside IFB circles:
“I can’t speak for any other Independent Baptist pastor. I’ve got some good friends that do the right thing – and then I have people I’ve distanced myself from because they don’t. And I don’t want anything to do with that.
I love my heritage. I love my doctrine. But, like any society, there’s always that part of the society that I don’t want anything to do with.”
Gray said that after reading that comment, he also started reaching out to the alleged victim.
“We texted back and forth to find the time to talk. The victim had not told her husband. Nor her family.”
That Sunday afternoon, he had a meeting with the victim and her husband.
He says that after a lengthy converesation, he told her the right thing to do was for her to go and file a report.
The next day, Pastor Gray boarded his flight to North Carolina, with the expressed goal of going to go see Tim and tell him to turn himself in. From there, Gray said things “dominoed quickly.”
According to Gray, Forgy had no warning.
“Nobody knew anything until I showed up. Nobody knew I was headed to North Carolina on that Monday morning. When I showed up, it was totally unannounced. Because here’s why – I truly wanted right to be done. And I didn’t want anybody fooling with the process.”
Once Forgy was aware Gray was in the area and realized why, he took his life.
"Tim answered the allegations by his actions.”
There are many who still believe there is more to the story, but Gray says he’s spoken to police and with the victim, and has shared what he can with his church.
“When you work with people – like with the victim here – you don’t have the liberty to tell all the juicy gossip. And so when you don’t have the liberty to do that, people assume you’re covering something up. But I’m not at liberty to tell you all the juicy gossip.”
He emphasized that despite what people might think, he wants to handle this correctly.
“Is there still somebody in [the IFB] there that’s willing to do the right thing? And the answer for me is yes. Yes – I’m willing to do the right thing.”
If you have information relating to this story, please contact the appropriate law enforcement officials.
Ngl, that indeed sounds like a monumental cover up by the pastor. I wonder what Jimmy Hinton thinks about this scenario? And honestly, I would rather hear from the victim than this pastor. I mean, why the visit? Seems so unnecessary. If you were a pastor, wouldn't you rather contact the victim personally over the phone or email first, and not waste money and time visiting in person? I honestly believe he might have been trying to warn his BIL trying to convince him to get away or something. My spidey senses are tingling-- and not in a good way! Sure, one could hope that he's a good guy, but it just looks suspicious all over the place the way he dealt with this. Again, I'd like to hear from the victim on this whole situation. Hopefully she doesn't feel threatened or intimidated from coming forward to share what she's been through and raise awareness.