Elders at a Louisiana Assemblies of God megachurch told their congregation during a Sunday worship service that the lead pastor's wife carried on a two-year adulterous affair with a married staff member, and that it wasn't her first.

Christina Donley, wife of Cultivation Church lead pastor Matt Donley, and Chris Audibert, a married staff member recently promoted to a pastoral role, were both stripped of all leadership positions after confessing to the relationship. The church's elder board posted a three-page statement on the church's website laying out a detailed timeline of how the affair came to light and what steps the church took in response.

The fallout did not stop with the two people who carried on the affair. Matt Donley and Chris Audibert's wife, Pastor Mara Audibert, were both placed on three months of paid leave, described by the elders as non-disciplinary, to care for themselves, their children, and their families.

A tip from outside the church started the unraveling

The affair did not surface through an internal investigation or a guilty conscience. Someone from outside Cultivation Church raised the allegations first. That person, whom the elders did not identify, did not claim to have directly witnessed the relationship.

Pastor Bryan Bilac, a regional presbyter, a denominational overseer, within the Assemblies of God, approached Matt Donley about the claims. Both Christina Donley and Chris Audibert initially denied everything.

The denials did not hold. On Tuesday, July 14, at approximately 5:00 p.m., Christina Donley admitted directly to her husband that she and Audibert had been involved in an intimate, adulterous relationship. Shortly afterward, Chris Audibert told his own wife the same thing.

The elders convened an emergency meeting the following day. By the time it ended, both Christina Donley and Chris Audibert had been removed from every office and leadership position within Cultivation Church, effective immediately.

The scandal at Cultivation Church is the latest in a pattern of pastoral misconduct stories rattling evangelical congregations. Earlier this year, Pastors for Trump founder Jackson Lahmeyer suspended his congressional campaign after a texting scandal with a former Miss Oklahoma.

Chris Audibert had just been promoted weeks before the confession

The timing of the revelations made the situation worse for the congregation. Chris Audibert and his wife Mara had served together as children's directors at Cultivation Church. Just weeks before the affair became public, in June, the couple had been promoted to pastors overseeing the church's "Greenhouse Churches & Serve Team" initiative.

That promotion meant the church's elder board had elevated a man who was, at that very moment, carrying on a secret affair with the lead pastor's wife. Whether the elders had any reason to suspect the relationship before the outside tip arrived is not addressed in their statement.

The elders told the congregation they understood the weight of what had happened. "We understand that many of you may be experiencing grief, anger, disappointment, confusion, betrayal, and concern," the statement read. "Those emotions are understandable. Trust has been broken, and many questions remain unanswered. We will not minimize the seriousness of what has occurred."

A prior affair in 2022 had been handled quietly, and kept from the elders

The two-year relationship with Audibert was not Christina Donley's first breach of her marriage vows. The elders' statement revealed that in 2022, she had engaged in what the church described as "an inappropriate intimate relationship with another adult female member of the church."

Current church leadership did not know about the 2022 incident until recently. Neither did Assemblies of God denominational leadership. Neither did Pastor Daniel Bankston, who leads the church's Mandeville campus.

The 2022 matter surfaced only after two church members who had known about it met with Matt Donley on April 22 "to request clarification and understanding concerning what disciplinary, counseling, and restorative actions had been taken following that incident," the elders wrote.

A week later, on April 29, Matt Donley met with the elder board. He told them the 2022 situation had been handled based on advice from outside counsel. The steps, as he described them, included Christina stepping away from ministry for a period, marital counseling, accountability measures, reconciliation, and a process aimed at restoring the marriage.

Donley told the elders "that the matter had been addressed within their marriage, that the necessary restorative steps had been taken, and that the incident was behind them." The elders then advised the Donleys to "seek the Lord for wisdom concerning how they might appropriately share a testimony of healing and restoration with the body of Cultivation Church."

Pastoral misconduct scandals have become an unwelcome recurring theme across denominations. In a separate case, author and speaker Sam Allberry resigned from pastoral ministry after admitting to an inappropriate relationship.

That April 29 meeting now looks different in hindsight. At the very moment Matt Donley was assuring the elders that the 2022 affair was resolved and his marriage was restored, Christina Donley was apparently in the middle of a second affair, this one already roughly two years old. The elders accepted his account. Less than three months later, the whole structure collapsed.

Paid leave for the spouses, and an uncertain road ahead

The elders drew a clear line between the two people who carried on the affair and the two spouses left to deal with its consequences. Christina Donley and Chris Audibert were removed outright. Matt Donley and Mara Audibert were placed on paid leave.

"This leave is not disciplinary," the statement said. "It is intended to provide them with the necessary time and space to care for themselves, their children, and their families, and to prayerfully consider what their future will look like."

The elders added: "Our sincere hope is for their complete healing, peace, and restoration."

What happens next at Cultivation Church remains an open question. The elders said they would continue meeting "to determine the appropriate next steps concerning leadership, pastoral care, accountability, ministry stability, governance, and the future direction of Cultivation Church." No specifics were offered.

The church also reminded its members that its identity does not rest on any single leader. "Cultivation Church does not belong to any one pastor, leader, family, or individual," the elders wrote. "The church belongs to Jesus Christ."

That statement of principle will be tested in the weeks ahead. A multi-campus congregation that just lost its lead pastor's wife, a newly promoted staffer, and placed both the lead pastor and another pastor on leave faces a leadership vacuum that no three-page statement can fill.

The case also raises hard questions about how the 2022 affair was handled. The decision to keep it from the elder board and from denominational leadership meant the very people charged with institutional accountability were operating without the full picture. When Matt Donley assured the elders in April that the earlier matter was resolved, they had no independent basis to evaluate that claim. Similar breakdowns in church accountability have surfaced elsewhere, Southern Baptist pastor David Hughey stepped down amid personal turmoil that tested his congregation's trust in its own oversight structures.

Whether the Assemblies of God initiates any formal denominational proceedings beyond Bryan Bilac's initial involvement is unclear. The elders' statement does not address it.

Congregations across the country have watched similar scandals play out with grim regularity. In one of the more disturbing recent cases, a former youth pastor faced criminal charges in his wife's death while allegations of an affair trailed the case.

Churches ask their members to trust leaders with their families, their money, and their faith. When that trust is broken twice by the same person, and the people in charge didn't even know about the first time, the problem isn't just personal sin. It's institutional failure. And institutional failures don't fix themselves with three months of paid leave.