Daystar televangelists leave Christian TV network amid child sex abuse scandal

On Sunday, Dallas-based Christian leader Lance Wallnau–a self-described prophet who once claimed that President-elect Donald Trump was chosen by God, defended the Jan. 6 attack, and described Vice President Kamala Harris’s debate performance as “witchcraft"–told his 120,000 X followers in a recorded rant that he has decided to remove The Lance Wallnau Show from Daystar Television Network.

The Roys Report, a Christian media outlet, published a story the very next day revealing that Wallnau is the latest among an increasing number of televangelists who are leaving Daystar TV, as a child sexual abuse scandal continues to divide the family behind the evangelical programming in North Texas. Evangelical pastor Jesse Duplantis of New Orleans as well as Christian leaders Hank and Brenda Kunneman of Nebraska have recently announced they were exiting Daystar. The story also noted that PowerPoint Ministries, the program featuring Pastor Jack Graham of Prestonwood Church in Plano, Texas, has been removed from the Daystar site.

These high-profile departures come after Daystar, which has more than 100 TV stations across the country, denied a sexual assault allegation from the granddaughter of the family company's founder, Joni Lamb.

Daystar confirmed that the televangelists mentioned were not returning to the network this year, though the statement made no mention the scandal.

"The Daystar Network carries approximately 100 third party programmers," Daystar told Chron via email on Tuesday. "Historically, every year Daystar has experienced a turnover of a small percentage of its programmers for business and economic reasons unique to their ministries. This year is consistent with past years. As a rule, Daystar does not comment on its internal dealings with programmers. Nonetheless, Daystar can confirm that Jack Graham, Jesse Duplantis, Lance Wallnau, Hank and Brenda Kunneman did not renew for 2025. Our information indicates these non-renewals were made for reasons totally unrelated to Daystar. Most of them have confirmed this publicly."

Marcus and Joni Lamb co-founded Daystar in the 1990s. Marcus served as the CEO until his death in 2021 at age 64, just weeks after contracting COVID-19. (He apparently opposed vaccinations, and Daystar famously ran interviews with anti-vaccine skeptics at the height of the pandemic.) Their son Jonathan has cited religious objections against his mother's 2023 remarriage to Dr. Doug Weiss. Joni is now the CEO of Daystar, which is registered as a church with the IRS and continues to run shows from popular pastors including Houston's Joel Osteen and Dallas-based Bishop T.D. Jakes.

The Roys Report broke the story Nov. 20 after Lamb's granddaughter allegedly told her parents, Jonathan and Suzy Lamb, that she had been sexually abused by a male relative and Daystar employee between 2020 and 2021. The couple alleged that Joni and her late husband Marcus tried to protect the family member accused of the abuse and that they never contacted the authorities. Instead, Jonathan and Suzy said that Daystar opted for an internal investigation of the allegations, which "concluded with no wrongdoing found nor evidence provided that corroborates the allegation," per an official statement from the network to The Roys Report.

The Dallas Morning News published an article two days later about Daystar firing Jonathan. The founder's son said that he'd been removed from both the network's board and from his role as vice president in 2023 after refusing to sign a nondisclosure agreement. He claimed that Daystar put him on a performance improvement plan in April 2024 and assigned him to lead the network's cafe, facilities, and distribution departments. Daystar told the newspaper that Jonathan had failed to comply with his performance improvement plan and had since "engaged in a smear campaign using false allegations against Daystar and its leadership."

"Based on a clear and documented pattern, it is clear this smear campaign is the result of Jonathan not being designated as the future President of Daystar following the untimely death of Daystar's founder, Marcus Lamb," asserted the TV network.

A December article in the Dallas Morning News reported that amidst the controversy, Baruch Korman's Bible-teaching show LoveIsrael and Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson's Laura-Lynn Live at the Eagle’s Nest were parting ways with Daystar. “I could no longer be a part of it [the network],” Thompson told the outlet at the time.

“The reason that we have to speak on this is because [Christian leaders are] silent,” Thompson added. “This kingdom of money and power has an entire network to speak for themselves and defend themselves, while this little girl does not have that.”

In a Jan. 2 YouTube video, Duplantis, a 75-year-old leader within the Charismatic Christian movement, shared that the Lord told him to exit Daystar in September, but he elected to wait until his contract wrapped at the end of the year. Duplantis made sure to specify that he didn't leave "because of what's going on at Daystar —the scandal, or whatever we want to call it."

“I like Joni Lamb. I like Doug Weiss. I like Susie. I like Jonathan,” Duplantis explained. “I knew them kids before—I met them when they were little Lambs. I like that granddaughter. I don’t know what’s happening. I’m shocked. And I don’t think you do too. There’s a lot of accusation, innuendo. It’s gonna eventually come out. And I asked the Lord about it. He said, ‘That’s my business, and I’ll take care of it.’”

Wallnau appeared to broadcast his message via phone this past weekend from the Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, comparing the Daystar child sex abuse scandal to "a spirit of strife" and criticizing individuals commenting on the situation. "If you're not burdened and broken-hearted over what's happening at Daystar, you should shut up." Wallnau said in response to one X follower's comment that suggested he’d left the network "for economic reasons primarily."

Colleyville police, based in the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, have informed the Dallas Morning News that they have reopened an investigation into the allegations by Jonathan and Suzy Lamb. The Colleyville Police Department has not responded to requests for comment.