Bestselling Christian author and Christianity Today podcaster Heather Thompson Day was arrested in Texas last week on charges of intentionally or negligently injuring a child. Her husband, Southwestern Adventist University psychology professor Seth Day, was also arrested Thursday and charged with injuring a child and sexual assault of a child.
Johnson County District Attorney’s Special Investigator Jason W. Buchanan told Roys Report (RR) that the investigation of the Days is “ongoing.”
Heather Thompson Day is facing a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in prison. Seth Day is facing 109 years.
Arrest records and charging documents are not yet available. The prosecutors declined to release additional information.
Johnson County Sheriff’s Office records show the couple was arrested in Keene, a town of about 6,000 roughly 30 miles south of Fort Worth. The Days, both 39, had just moved to the area in June. They were booked into the county jail on Sept. 24, as first reported by Spectrum.
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The district attorney’s office charged Seth Day with the second felony on Sept. 25. According to Texas law, sexual assault of a child is defined as penetration or oral contact with the sexual organs of someone under the age of 17.
A close family friend, speaking on condition of anonymity, told RR that “Heather is as shocked and blindsided as literally everyone else.” The friend would not comment on Seth Day.
The Days have known each other since sixth grade and have been married for more than 15 years. They have three children.
The couple, co-authors of a 2022 book about relational resilience, were released on $100,000 and $350,000 bonds, respectively, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Days did not respond to individual emails from RR requesting comment. They have not mentioned the charges on social media either.
Heather Thompson Day’s weekly inspirational message, “Friday Night Light,” went out — apparently automatically — the day after her arrest.
“Somewhere along the way, Christian formation can make suffering feel spiritually serious while joy feels spiritually frivolous,” she wrote. “But have we learned to receive joy with the same reverence we receive suffering? Because joy is holy too.”
Built an internet following
Heather Thompson Day rose to prominence on social media. A Seventh-day Adventist who taught communications at Colorado Christian University, she went viral with quick stories with clear morals about showing grace, being kind and being vulnerable.
Her Twitter/X following grew to about 50,000 in two years, which attracted the attention of major evangelical publishers. In 2021, she wrote a bestselling book for InterVarsity Press, “It’s Not Your Turn,” and launched a podcast with Christianity Today, “Viral Jesus.”
“She has one of those voices that makes me want to quiet down and listen,” Bible teacher Beth Moore said at the time. “I noticed how willing she was to be vulnerable if it helped others feel less alone.”
On the podcast, Heather Thompson Day interviewed Christian influencers who were “making Jesus go viral.” She spoke about the power and responsibility of a big platform.
“I don’t have the luxury any more of not believing we can change people’s world,” she said. “Because I’ve seen it. I have had countless … messages or letters from people who said, literally, ‘I was done with church until I came across your Twitter.’”
But Heather Thompson Day also acknowledged the temptations and pressures of life on the internet. The podcaster discussed the challenges of not recognizing people’s full humanity online, constantly comparing one’s life to others and feeling pressured to perform.
“I don’t get to just be ‘Heather,'” she said. “I think I’m always on assignment.”
Seth Day also reminded people that appearances can be deceiving, and a public Christian life can be a mask for something darker.
A Seventh-day Adventist youth pastor who went back to school to become a psychology professor, much of Seth Day’s work focuses on grief, trauma and learned helplessness. In his sections of “I’ll See You Tomorrow,” which the Days co-wrote, Seth Day explained how people get trapped by their trauma and often live lives of deception.
“There are two sides to everyone we meet,” he said. “The person we see at the workplace or church may have a completely different side. … I have two sides.”
There is no indication that Seth Day has ever previously been accused of sexual misconduct. Liz Kirkland, spokeswoman for the Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, told RR there were no allegations of any kind made against Seth Day while he was a pastor.
“There’s literally nothing in his file,” Kirkland said, “except, I think, a recommendation letter from when he was hired.”
Seth Day left full-time ministry in 2021 and went to graduate school, where he earned a degree in educational psychology.
He has been suspended from his faculty position at Southwestern Adventist University. The school said it is fully cooperating with authorities.
Fans and followers shocked
Online, fans of Heather Thompson Day and people who had worked with her over the years expressed shock and horror.
“This is awful,” one person wrote on Threads.
Another said, “I felt like I had been punched in the chest. My hands are still shaking.”
Christianity Today quickly removed all episodes of Heather Thompson Day’s podcast from its website Tuesday, something the magazine has not done for others accused of misconduct.
Many of Heather Thompson Day’s followers said they were upset that they were so upset — even after so many prominent leaders have been caught in scandal.
“I’m trying to figure out how to healthily engage my cynicism,” wrote Jenai Auman, an author who studies spiritual formation. “And I’m still trying to figure out how to metabolize all the rage and grief flooding my body.”
Sarah Bessey, author of “Jesus Feminist” and a forthcoming book about loving the world “even when it breaks your heart,” commented that she was struggling to take in news about the allegations.
“No matter how many times I say I won’t be surprised again, here I am: shocked and shaken,” she wrote. “How do we keep processing the unprocessable?”
Correction: A previous version of this article misstated then name of the organization that first broke the story. The news was reported first by Spectrum magazine. This story has been updated with a statement from the Rocky Mountain Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
Daniel Silliman is senior reporter/editor at Roys Report. He began his two decades in journalism covering crime in Atlanta and has since led major investigations into abuse and misconduct in Christian contexts. Daniel and his wife live in Johnson City, Tennessee.
8 Responses
I am shocked by the allegations. But I want to say I appreciate Daniel noting CT’s double standard when it comes to abuse accusations.
Yes, indeed worth pointing out.
But I disagree with the implication that Philip Yancey faces “abuse accusations”. He admitted a consensual extra-marital affair. That is absolutely hurtful, damaging and wrong.
But I would very strongly see that as in very different category to child sex abuse, and (in the case of the Ravi Zacharias comparator) exploitation of sex workers and vulnerable women.
“Viral Jesus.”
Seeing as harming children is all the rage right now in both a contingent of the churches and the culture (Lindsay Clancy and MomTok, Assemblies of God and the SBC, etc.), I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
Lord, when will it end?
Why would CT remove the contents?! Unless it was blasphemy that was not a good thing. Innocent until proven guilty. I m actually surprised that they had a strong following knowing they are Adventist which in my opinion is not part of mainstream evangelicalism.
Certainly a bit odd to me that the article implies equivalence of charges involving child sex abuse with admission of a consensual extra-marital affair (Yancey). I’d be surprised if any reader thought those were on the same level.
The comparison to Ravi Zacharias seems more apposite, it’s somewhat more surprising that they’ve kept his piece up.
Without lessening the seriousness of the allegations Daniel here reports, I always cling to the “innocent until proven guilty” understanding. It then seems there may be two interlinked burdens of proving at this point: one that the husband sexually abused a child; two (I speculate) that the wife had knowledge of this abusing by her husband. These two burdens are likely to involve differing types of evidence and differing prosecution argument. So a degree of complexity may attach to processing these allegations across any fair trial.
I think there’s a lot to consider about pulling published material.
But CT still has a couple written pieces by HTD up. Guest articles and excerpts from her books I guess.
The podcast she did was pulled. But that was material produced by CT in house.
Is that a distinction worth making?
The type of Yancey and Zacharias pieces that CT still has up, HTD has comparable pieces that have not been taken down.
For my part, I’d prefer online pieces to not be taken down. And certainly not silently and without explanation as so many websites and online magazines do. TGC, Ligonier, CT (all orgs I like btw) silently remove content all the time.
Better to keep the material up there. It is part of a historical record. But run an explanatory note at the top about the present condition of the author’s reputation. Perhaps with a link to an article detailing their “downfall”.
I remember this being the policy of the wonderful website Mere Orthodoxy. They didn’t take down pieces by Brandon Meeks when he was found to be a fabulist about his life and credentials. But they stated why they wouldn’t and had a clarifying note about Meeks. That struck me as much more honest and transparent policy for an online publisher.
Is it possible that we could pass legislation banning the use of the words ‘vulnerable’, ‘transparency’, ‘journey’ and ‘season’ in the church?