Allegations of cover-ups, threats, and a smear campaign are flying among the family behind Daystar Television Network. The Dallas-area Christian broadcasting empire, which has an estimated yearly revenue of $100 million, was founded in 1993 by Marcus and Joni Lamb.
Until last spring, the couple’s son, Jonathan Lamb, was a Daystar vice president and served on its board. In April 2023, the heir apparent was demoted after refusing to sign a nondisclosure agreement (NDA). Earlier this month he was terminated for not meeting a performance improvement plan (PIP).
Now Jonathan Lamb and his wife, Suzy, are speaking out, saying they’ve been wronged. The couple, who once hosted a show on Daystar, allege that Joni Lamb has tried to cover up the sexual abuse of their daughter—her granddaughter—by an unnamed family member.
In response, Joni Lamb, Daystar’s president, said her son is waging a “failed power struggle” because he wasn’t named president after his father’s 2021 death. Rather than improve his own on-the-job performance, she said, Jonathan is “fabricating a smear campaign.”
Drama at Daystar Television Network
Daystar, which has more than 100 TV stations in the United States and a worldwide presence, is owned by the Word of God Fellowship. Pastors and teachers featured on the network include Joel Osteen, T.D. Jakes, Creflo Dollar, Joyce Meyer, Andrew Wommack, Paula White, and Jim Bakker.
Marcus Lamb, who opposed pandemic shutdowns and coronavirus vaccines, died from COVID-related complications in late 2021 at age 64. According to Jonathan Lamb, his father had chosen him to eventually head Daystar. But in August 2021, amid family strife, a new succession plan emerged, tapping Joni as the network’s next president.
Eight months after Marcus Lamb died, Joni was engaged to Doug Weiss, a sex therapist who had divorced his longtime wife just two months after Marcus’ death. Jonathan and Suzy Lamb reportedly objected on biblical grounds to the June 2023 marriage between Joni Lamb and Doug Weiss.
In a Nov. 25 statement, Joni Lamb said Jonathan’s “disappointment in not getting his way (to be Daystar president) only deepened when I married Doug Weiss, who has been such a blessing to me, the rest of my family, and Daystar.”
“Jonathan’s disappointment escalated to the point where he attempted to blackmail his way into becoming the future President of Daystar,” she said.
Joni Lamb, 64, then shared an email she said is from Jonathan, indicating he would share “harmful or embarrassing” information unless his “future role as President of Daystar” was clearly spelled out. Joni said she has “nothing to hide” and won’t give in to “threats of blackmail.”
In her statement, Joni Lamb said her son rejected her offer of “formal mediation,” giving her “no choice except to speak out.” The Daystar president added she is focusing on sharing Jesus’ love and fighting a “spiritual enemy who seeks to destroy and divide.”
Jonathan and Suzy Lamb: We Won’t Be Silenced
According to Jonathan and Suzy Lamb, around summer 2021, a family member sexually abused their daughter, then 5 years old. The couple recently spoke to investigative journalist Julie Roys, detailing how Marcus and Joni Lamb allegedly tried to cover up the situation.
Jonathan and Suzy said Jonathan’s parents protected the unnamed family member (who has not been charged with a crime). Joni Lamb, they allege, spoke privately with her granddaughter and then ordered the couple to “drop everything.” At one point, Joni even blamed the girl for being naked while changing her clothes, Jonathan and Suzy alleged.
Although Jonathan and Suzy made a police report, the couple said their daughter was too traumatized to talk, so the case was closed.
Jonathan and Suzy said Joni once told the family that while praying, she heard God say the family member was innocent of sexual abuse. Jonathan’s parents also gave the impression that a forensic counselor had cleared the family member, the couple says. When Jonathan and Suzy discovered that wasn’t true, police again became involved and reopened the investigation.
In a statement to Roys, Joni Lamb said an internal investigation found “no wrongdoing” or corroborating evidence against the accused family member and “the matter was resolved more than three years ago.” The accused party’s lawyer said his client denies any wrongdoing and volunteered to take a lie detector test. Doug Weiss, Joni Lamb’s second husband, owns a polygraph company in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Jonathan Lamb said if he had signed an NDA and agreed to refrain from posting about Daystar on social media, he would “basically be in a gag order forever.” On Nov. 15, the deadline for Jonathan to comply with his PIP, Roys contacted Daystar about Jonathan’s allegations of his mother covering up sexual abuse. The next day, Jonathan received a termination letter from Daystar.
On Nov. 20, Jonathan and Suzy Lamb posted a video from an “undisclosed location,” saying they felt unsafe at their house. In the clip, the couple said they’ve been followed and threatened, which left them with “no other option but to go to a journalist” and bring events to light.
“I really felt from the Lord that even though a lot of wrong had been done to me,” said Jonathan, “that I was to stand firm in the position that God had called me to and to not walk away.” His wife urged people to look at the evidence and not judge the situation based on emotions. Citing Scripture, Jonathan Lamb concluded by saying, “I pray that God would do his cleansing work in the body of Christ.”
Suzy Lamb has said she was sexually assaulted in 2017 by an unlicensed chiropractor hired by her in-laws. According to Suzy and Jonathan, his parents covered up that incident too.
Situation Continues to Unfold
Joni Lamb indicated she is taking “legal steps” to defend herself. On Nov. 27, Roys posted that she received “a demand for a retraction” of her article about the scandal. Roys also published audio of various parties in the dispute, including marriage expert Jimmy Evans telling Jonathan Lamb to submit to his mother’s God-given authority.
Also on Nov. 27, Canadian speaker and author Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson announced she is removing her show from Daystar, due to a “deep crack in the foundation” of the network. The unanimous decision brings her “great sadness and personal angst,” she said.
Before going into details about the situation at Daystar, Thompson cited “numerous ethical deficits and, most importantly, the failure of senior executives—and in this case, parents—to properly align with their son and daughter-in-law, who had sincere, rational, and earnest concerns that their child had been molested by a family member.”
Daystar has experienced scandal in the past. After the pandemic, the network repaid almost $4 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans after news broke that the Lambs purchased a private jet for their “working vacations.”
In 2010, Marcus and Joni Lamb went public with news of his past affair, indicating they were being blackmailed over it.
ChurchLeaders reached out to Joni Lamb and Jonathan Lamb for additional comments and will update this article with any replies. This is a developing story.
Church Leaders
