John McKinzie, the former lead pastor of a Collin County megachurch, has resigned after confessing to a pattern of consensual “sexual sin,” according to a Tuesday email his church shared with The Dallas Morning News.

Aaron Alexander, co-interim lead pastor at Hope Fellowship Church, shared the email and a frequently asked questions page with The News and said the church was “devastated.”

“John admitted to sexual sin and to a pattern of consensual behavior that made him unfit to continue in his role as pastor,” according to the FAQ page. The church said McKinzie confessed in a Sunday meeting with church leadership. The church is not sharing more details “out of respect for the privacy of those involved,” according to its email to congregants.

“John’s behavior was a disqualification for a restoration to pastoral leadership at Hope,” according to the FAQ page.

Two calls to McKinzie’s cell number returned an error message saying that “the subscriber you have dialed is not in service.” The News had previously spoken with him at the number. McKinzie is no longer listed as lead pastor on the website of Hope Fellowship, which he founded in 2000 with his wife, Melissa McKinzie. She did not immediately respond to an attempt to reach her by phone and email.

In January, Hope Fellowship told congregants and the media that it had removed a student pastor after the pastor allegedly confessed to inappropriate contact with a minor. The church has campuses in Frisco, McKinney and Prosper. McKinzie told The News in January that the church sees an average weekly attendance of between 8,000 and 9,000 people.

In January, the church released an email to congregants and an FAQ page about its former student pastor. The email, signed by McKinzie, alleged that the terminated student pastor had disclosed that he had inappropriate contact 10 years ago with a minor at a previous church where he volunteered.

Oaks Church in Red Oak told its congregants in an email, which it shared with The News, that it had reported the matter to the Red Oak Police Department. The department’s public information officer, Lt. Jason Esquibel, said in January that the department had received a report and had begun a preliminary investigation.

Hope Fellowship’s Tuesday email to congregants said no one on staff had prior knowledge of McKinzie’s “moral failure.”

“We know you may be experiencing a swirl of emotions — sorrow, confusion, anger, or even disbelief,” said the email, which was signed by the church’s leadership, its board and elders. “We grieve not only the sin itself but also the pain and disappointment this brings to our church family and community.”

The email said guest teachers and staff pastors will help with preaching duties in McKinzie’s absence.

In a February interview about the problem of abuse in the church, McKinzie said Hope Fellowship aimed to be “as transparent as possible” after it removed a student pastor in January.

He said he had learned from the way other local churches handled the abuse and sexual scandals that have plagued D-FW churches of late. “There’s no question that the circumstances of the last few months of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex shaped our decisions in transparency,” he said.

Truth matters, McKinzie previously said, and not only for a church and its congregants. “It matters,” he said, “to a world that’s watching.”