Reporting the Truth.
Restoring the Church.
By Mark A. Kellner
Paul Tremblay, a former financial stewardship pastor at Southall Church in Tennessee, is charged with stealing more than $350,000 from the church. (Photo courtesy of Williamson County Sheriff’s Office)
A former “financial stewardship pastor” at a Williamson County, Tennessee, church has been indicted on a felony theft charge after investigators said he took more than $350,000 in church funds.
Sheriff’s deputies arrested Paul Leo Tremblay, 58, of White House, Tennessee, on Sept. 10 and booked him into the Williamson County Criminal Justice Center, where his bond was set at $75,000, according to media reports.
The sheriff’s office opened its investigation in August 2025 after church personnel at Southall Church reported suspected theft of funds. Detectives determined Tremblay “allegedly took the funds for personal benefit during his nine years of employment,” WSMV-TV Ch. 4, an NBC affiliate, reported.
Tremblay was employed at the church from 2017 through 2025, most recently serving as the church’s financial stewardship pastor, according to the sheriff’s office. The church’s personnel web page currently does not list such a position.
A Williamson County grand jury indicted Tremblay on Sept. 3, a little more than a year after the church first contacted authorities, on a charge of “theft of property valued at $250,000 or more.” Sheriff’s deputies arrested him a week later.Southall Church in Franklin, Tennessee, formerly known as Grace Chapel. (Photo courtesy of social media)
Tremblay is scheduled to appear in Williamson County Circuit Court on Sept. 30.
None of the news reports included a statement from Southall Church responding to the charge, and no attorney representing Tremblay was identified.
Roys Report (RR) has contacted the sheriff’s office and Southall Church requesting comment.
The sheriff’s office did not say in the reports how the funds were allegedly taken, what the money was allegedly used for beyond Tremblay’s “personal benefit,” nor whether any of the money has been recovered.
This is not the first time Southall Church has made headlines. Under its former name of Grace Chapel, services were disrupted in 2021 when Sarah Berger, wife of church founder Steve Berger, seized a microphone and accused the Rev. Rob Rogers of “sinning against my husband.”
Rogers later said he regretted the difficult transition from Berger’s leadership to his role as senior pastor.
Mark A. Kellner is a reporter based in Mesquite, Nevada. He most recently covered statewide elections for the New York Post and was for three years the Faith & Family Reporter for The Washington Times. Mark is a graduate of the University of the Cumberlands and also attended Boston University’s College of Communication.
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