WEST CHESTER TOWNSHIP, Ohio — New Life Chapel, the West Chester megachurch that Lonnie Snell co-founded, fired its senior pastor on October 23 after an internal investigation that the church says found he engaged in sexual misconduct with a subordinate, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.
The Enquirer’s reporting is based on a statement the church posted late Friday on its website and Instagram account. In that statement, as reported by The Enquirer, the church said Snell was fired because of conduct involving a person “of consensual age and development,” and provided no other details about that person, the allegations, or the investigation itself.
The Enquirer reported that church officials did not respond to its calls and emails seeking comment, and that the church’s statement was not signed by any church official. In the statement, church officials promised transparency about the investigation while asking members to rally behind the church as it moves on from Snell and to avoid rumors and speculation about his departure, The Enquirer reported.
Snell was not an outside hire — he helped build the congregation he has now left. The Enquirer reported Snell is a co-founder of New Life Chapel, which began offering services in 2010, and that his professional profile describes him as a graduate of Thomas More College and Cincinnati Christian University. He preached at New Life as recently as October 18, according to recordings of services available on the church’s website that The Enquirer reviewed — less than a week before his firing.
The timing adds a second layer for the congregation: the dismissal comes as the church is preparing to expand its West Chester campus, a project The Enquirer noted is featured on New Life’s own website. A founding pastor’s sudden removal, in the middle of a growth push, leaves the church explaining a leadership change and a building campaign at the same time.
On the legal side, there is — so far — nothing public. The Enquirer reported that a check of Butler County court records on Friday showed no charges against Snell, and the church’s statement did not say whether authorities outside the church were involved in the investigation. Nothing in the church’s statement, as reported, alleges a crime; it describes an internal finding about conduct with a subordinate.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What we know comes from the church’s own statement via The Cincinnati Enquirer: Snell was fired October 23; the church says an investigation found sexual misconduct with a subordinate who was of consensual age; no charges appeared in Butler County court records as of Friday; and Snell preached as recently as October 18. What we’re still waiting on: any statement from Snell himself, the identity of interim leadership for Sunday services, and whether the church releases the further detail its transparency promise suggested. Southwest Ohio readers can also follow the week’s other Cincinnati-area developments in our coverage of Kroger’s plan for 110 new stores by 2029 and Cooper’s Kitchen bringing a German-inspired menu to Carillon Brewing Co.
For members, the practical questions arrive immediately, whatever the church says next: who occupies the pulpit in the coming Sundays, whether the campus-expansion campaign continues on its published timeline, and how much of the investigation the church chooses to describe beyond its first unsigned statement. The Enquirer’s account makes clear how thin the public record still is — a firing date, a single quoted phrase about the person involved, and a promise of transparency that has not yet produced names, timelines or findings. Until the church or Snell adds to that record, the story of one of West Chester’s largest congregations is a story of a founder removed in a week, explained in a paragraph.
The episode also fits a pattern congregations across the Cincinnati suburbs have faced before: a fast-growing church, a founding pastor with a long public record of sermons, and an internal process that ends in a sudden, unsigned announcement. What separates cases is what follows — whether the promised transparency produces a fuller accounting, and whether the congregation’s giving and attendance hold through an expansion campaign that was planned around the founder’s leadership. None of that can be known from one statement, and The Enquirer reported the church offered nothing further when asked.
What happens next will play out in public view: how New Life Chapel handles its next services and its campus-expansion plans without its founding pastor, and whether Snell or the church adds anything beyond the unsigned statement. NewsForce247 will update this story if either does.