NEW ALBANY — The head pastor of a megachurch under investigation for links to alleged sex crimes preached Sunday about applying lessons found in the Bible as a way to weather storms.
“All hell is breaking loose out there … but truth will prevail,” said Gary Keesee, pastor of Faith Life Church, during one of three services at the church’s New Albany site along Beech Road.
Keesee leads Faith Life Church and its more than 3,000 members with his wife, Dendra Keesee. She took office in January as a Knox County commissioner.
The Licking County Sheriff’s Office is leading an investigation into alleged sexual abuse spanning years and involving multiple juvenile girls.
According to documents from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, allegations include assault and attempted assault; inappropriate relationships with young girls; inappropriate texting; and “grooming.”
The investigation, authorities have said, will include interviews with Gary and Drenda Keesee and some of their family members.
No one has been charged in the investigation.
Though Gary Keesee spoke in general terms to his hundreds of congregants on Sunday, he declined to speak to a reporter afterward about ongoing allegations.
He said he and Drenda Keesee would only speak to the media through the couple’s attorney. She happened to be in Florida on Sunday.
“There’s another side,” he said. “And the truth will come out.”
The Keesees, through their attorney — Katie Taber — have said Faith Life Church is aware of the “serious allegations concerning past conduct involving a member of our church leaders’ family,” but that none of the allegations are against Gary and Drenda Keesee or any other pastors of the church.
The church
Faith Life Church, founded in the 1990s, describes itself as a “multi-cultural and multi-generational, family church, whose mission is to share the Good News of the Gospel and the principles of the Kingdom of God.”
Its main campus totals 44,000 square feet and is located on 34 acres along Beech Road in New Albany’s International Business Park.
Inside, the church is divided into two main wings.
One of them includes the entrance, peppered with smiling volunteers who greet service goers as they enter the lobby. In the middle of the lobby, there is a circular welcome kiosk. Nearby on Sunday morning, there were tables with freshly brewed coffee.
Down the hall, beyond the welcome kiosk, is the church’s book store. It sells copies of the pastors’ dozens of book titles, other media and apparel. Beside the store is another kiosk, which is designated for youth check-in. Beside the youth kiosk is Beech House cafe, which sells drinks and pastries.
The sanctuary is labeled as the “auditorium.” The room is filled with hundreds of cushioned seats. The backs of them all include a card with a QR code and a message: “Scan for a free gift.” The gift is a copy of one of Gary Keesee’s books.
The building’s second floor contain offices and meeting rooms.
The Beech Road campus is one of three that are part of the church. Another is located in Powell, which doubles as a K-12 school.
The third is a “remote” campus located along Shadley Valley Road in Knox County. The church bought that property — formerly known as Camp McPherson — for $1.7 million in August 2023, according to county real estate records.
The Beech Road campus, built in 2008, is the church’s main site. It hosts three services, beginning at 9 a.m., 10:30 a.m. and noon, on Sunday. It also hosts a 6:30 p.m. service on Saturday.
The 10:30 a.m. service is streamed live to Youtube and the feed is broadcast at the church’s remote site in Knox County, where members gather to watch the service from afar.
A ‘family issue’
Several members on the snowy Sunday declined to comment on the ongoing investigation involving their church.
One woman, who said she had attended services since 2020, said she hadn’t heard anything about the situation.
Marcus Fuller of Grove City said he has been attending Faith Life Church “off and on” since 2011.
“Until I find out some hard facts, I’m just going to keep continuing to come here,” he said. Fuller characterized the situation as a “family issue.”
“Some stuff, we don’t need to know,” he said. “Whoever’s involved — let it be between them and let God judge.”
At the end of each service, Drenda Keesee shares some words and a prayer. On Sunday, the Knox County commissioner asked God to forgive “those who hurt us.”
“Those who know us know what they say are not true,” she said. Drenda Keesee was not available for comment on Sunday after the noon service.
An online petition created Saturday calls for her resignation. It purports to have gathered 558 signatures as of Sunday evening.
The creator of the petition, Janis Comstock-Jones, identified Drenda Keesee as someone “protecting adults accused of sexual abuse and workplace child abuse.”
Comstock-Jones said one of the abusers is a “close family member who has targeted not only another family member, but also multiple young female victims.”
“Faith Life Church, under Keesee’s oversight, has also been implicated in the cover-ups of these grievous acts,” she wrote, adding a request for the commissioner’s resignation.
Comstock-Jones was not immediately available for comment.
Drenda Keesee was elected to a Knox County commissioner’s seat in November and took office in January.
She attended a Feb. 11 commissioners’ meeting, her first attendance at the public hearings since allegations involving her church surfaced on Feb. 3.
Keesee did not attend the Feb. 4 meeting, citing her desire to avoid disrupting the meeting in light of recent posts about her family on social media. She also did not attend the Feb. 6 session.
