New York City’s Fount Church Pastor Josh Kelsey, who has been accused of $1.4 million in questionable spending, has resigned.

The megachurch’s board, which recently said it cleared Kelsey of deliberate wrongdoing, told Roys Report (RR) about his resignation today. The statement, which the board sent to RR through an external public relations firm, praised Kelsey’s leadership.

“The Board wishes to express its sincere gratitude to Josh for his thirteen years of faithful leadership, vision and service in founding and building Fount Church,” the statement said.

One board member resigned and left the church in March. Flavia Mendonca, who also worked as a manager overseeing audits, told RR she felt church leaders cared more about optics than accountability.

“One of the reasons (my family) left was we were not fully comfortable anymore with what we were seeing behind the scenes,” Mendonca told RR.

In its statement, the Fount board didn’t explain about a process to find a replacement pastor. RR emailed the PR firm for further clarification on this but the firm didn’t immediately respond.

The New York City church is facing another transition. Kelsey founded Fount in 2013. At the time he was pastoring in a C3 Church Global congregation in Sydney. But according to Fount’s website, he believed God was calling him to start a similar church in New York. He planted Fount — also a part of the Australian-based C3 Church Global church planting movement — by initially hosting dinner parties. It soon grew to church services throughout New York, then to Berlin and Paris, which are now independent churches.

Fount left C3 last year, RR previously reported. Now Fount is joining Kingdomcity, a self-described “global Christian church movement,” founded by Australian attorney-turned-pastor Mark Varughese. Board member and Fount Pastor Olusegun Olujide made the announcement at Fount’s July 5 church service.

“We are just so thankful for Pastor Josh and Georgie for sowing their hearts out into New York City, but … what they have done is just a seed,” Olujide said. “Now Kingdom City (is) going to come in with their covering and leadership, and God’s going to take that seed and He’s going to increase it to the whole of New York City.”

The board’s statement to RR gave few details on this arrangement.

“Fount also confirms that it is working to bring the church under the oversight of a larger, established global church movement to strengthen its long-term leadership and sustainability,” the board stated. “Further details will be announced once those arrangements are finalised (sic).”

RR asked Fount’s public relations firm for information on new oversight and accountability. 

Josh Kelsey could not be reached for comment either.

Board member resigned

In January, a leaked preliminary review by the auditing firm CapinCrouse flagged unapproved expenses on the Kelseys’ church credit card, RR previously reported. The expenses included almost $30,000 spent on personal flights, $3,500 on alcohol, and more than $9,000 on surfing.

Mendonca was one of Fount’s newest board members, elected by the congregation on Jan. 11 to the office of treasurer. One of the first orders of business for the board was to hire an auditor, the board president previously stated. Finding fault with the CapinCrouse report, the newly elected board hired Dentons, a multinational law firm.

On April 6, board president Frank Wheatley sent RR a six-page summary of findings, written by the board, that cleared the Kelseys of wrongdoing. This summary referenced but didn’t link to a 455-page investigative report from Dentons. 

According to the board, the report says the pastoral couple didn’t misspend anywhere near the $1.4 million attributed to them; rather a range of church employees and volunteers incurred the expenses.

What the board didn’t disclose to RR at that time was that Mendonca had tried to resign in February, citing accountability concerns.

Her Feb. 2 resignation letter states she couldn’t fully provide financial oversight.

“Due to current circumstances and limitations that prevent me from exercising the full financial oversight and independent governance required by my role, I can no longer fulfill my fiduciary duties,” she wrote.

She told RR that other board members seemed more focused on clearing Kelsey’s name and“moving forward,” than holding anyone accountable for possible misspending.

“I was not comfortable with the framing of the communications,” she told RR. “That’s not the right way to do it. You have to hold people accountable for what they did.”

She said she was often the only board member raising concerns about the wisdom of some expenses.

“You think I hate Pastor Josh, but I don’t,” Mendonca said.

In her resignation letter, Mendonca gave the board a parting word.

“I also advise that the board focus the effort in implementing bylaws, policies and procedures considering internal controls,” she wrote.

The board asked Mendonca to stay longer to continue working on policies and procedures, and she delayed her resignation to March 24.

Mendonca told RR she never saw a copy of the full audit because by the time it was ready, she was on her way out.

Though the church promptly removed her email access after her March 24 resignation, she said, it kept her name on the website as a board member until April 9. This date was three days after the board had sent RR a summary clearing the Kelseys of wrongdoing. The church removed her name, Mendonca told RR, only after her husband sent the entire board a request. 

RR emailed Wheatley, the board president, for comment. He didn’t immediately respond.

The official board statement mentioned no concerns about Kelsey. It said he will remain in Australia full-time. He was living mostly there for the past several months, citing health concerns in his extended family, RR previously reported. Sometimes he would fly to New York to preach.

“Through his commitment, countless lives have been impacted,” the board stated. “(The board) fully supports Josh and his family as they begin this new season and thanks him for the lasting legacy he leaves.”

Mendonca told RR she left Fount wishing it would build a foundation of transparency moving forward.

She added, “How can you build trust without being clear and transparent?”

NOTE: This story has been updated to include a statement received from Fount NYC

Rebecca Hopkins is a journalist based in Colorado.