Abe Hardesty

Abe.Hardesty@independentmail.com

About 2,000 members made the warm walk across the NewSpring Church parking lot in Anderson for each worship service Sunday morning.

Few were fully braced for the news that awaited: Perry Noble, the only senior pastor the church has known, has been removed from his duties for personal issues related to alcohol by the church's leadership team.

Williamston Town Councilman Rockey Burgess said the news "did come as a shock" in the 9:15 a.m. service, even though recent rumors had prepared him to a degree.

"But the church isn't made up of the preacher, and the church doesn't worship the preacher," he said. "The church is the people who go there, and we all love one another."

By the time members arrived for the 11:15 a.m. service, most seemed better prepared for the announcement from Executive Pastor Shane Duffey.

Early in both worship services, Duffey revealed the well-kept secret that Noble had been fired effective July 1.

Read more: What is the future of NewSpring Church?

Past coverage: Clayton King hired as interim senior pastor of NewSpring Church

In the second session, few in the near-filled lower level of the auditorium showed any visible reaction to the news.

The NewSpring Board of Directors, Duffey said, made "a difficult and painful decision" to remove Noble, adding that the founder was "no longer qualified to serve as pastor" at the state's largest church.

Duffey said the termination came after Noble "had made unfortunate choices and decisions that have caused much concern" among board members, who had confronted Noble more than once in recent months about his alcohol use and his "posture toward marriage."

Noble, who in recent years has openly discussed bouts with depression, did not appear to be at the church Sunday morning. Duffey read a statement in which Noble expressed remorse and a plan to "immediately seek spiritual guidance."

Noble said he "will no longer be pastor on July 1," indicating his statement had been written at least 10 days earlier.

"I wish this were a joke, and part of a sermon illustration," Noble said in the statement regarding his termination, "but it is true."

The revelation came as the megachurch, which boasts more than 30,000 members in 17 cities in South Carolina, is in the final stage of two expansions.

In the statement, Noble said he "never claimed to be a perfect pastor and never claimed to be a perfect Christian" and confirmed that in the past year, he had "allowed myself to slide into an overuse of alcohol."

He also said the job had "created a strain" on his marriage.

In the statement, Noble said had recently "come to depend on alcohol instead of Jesus." He said there was no infidelity nor abuse in his marriage.

"No one is more disappointed in me than I am in myself," Noble said.

Read more: NewSpring megachurch pastor draws criticism from state Baptist president

Noble also manages a personal blog/website (perrynoble.com) that he used to convey frequent messages about his personal life and Christian topics.

The blog has grown quiet in recent months. Noble made 51 posts in the first three months of 2016 but made only nine in April, six in May, and none in June or July.

Duffey said Noble's wife, Lucretia, was "100 percent behind this decision" to fire Noble.

Clayton King, a NewSpring member, will serve as interim senior pastor, Duffey said.

It was the second emotional jolt in nine months at NewSpring, which in November mourned the murder in Indianapolis of former member Amanda Blackburn.

Brad Cooper, the executive pastor of ministries, provided the primary message Sunday morning after Duffey had opened the service with the major news.

Cooper and Duffey are among four executive staff members of the church, along with Executive Pastor of Campuses Howard Frist and Executive Pastor of Operations Michael Millikin. In each of the 17 cities the church serves, it has a full-time pastor.

Facilities are expected to be complete in the next three months that would add campuses in Powdersville and Clemson.

NewSpring unofficially began in 1998 when Noble, an Anderson native, began holding a Wednesday Bible study at his apartment in Anderson. Within six weeks, the crowd had grown to 150.

On Jan. 16, 2000, 115 people came to the first official Sunday service in the Sullivan Building at Anderson University.

By 2004, NewSpring was building the campus near Concord Road and S.C. 81 North in Anderson's north side. When the 2,460-seat auditorium was completed in 2006, membership soon doubled to 8,000 people.

In 2015, NewSpring's income was more than $64 million, according to an annual report posted on the church website.

NewSpring is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, but leaders of that organization have criticized Noble regarding the church's use of secular music. Noble's messages have also been controversial at times — including one last year in which he said the Ten Commandments were not commandments.

A similar controversy erupted in 2009, when the NewSpring house band opened the Easter service with the rock song "Highway to Hell."

20 Questions: Perry Noble, NewSpring pastor