Media Spokesperson for Todd Bentley, Lynne Breidenbach, told local newspaper Bentley and his wife Shonnah have separated. (TheLedger.com) | Evangelist Todd Bentley, who led a Pentecostal revival in Lakeland from a modest beginning to near-historic proportions, has filed for separation from his wife, a former spokesperson said Monday, and will not return to the ongoing revival.

Lynne Breidenbach, a local woman who had been a media liaison for Bentley during the months-long Florida Outpouring Revival, told The Ledger that Bentley announced to his staff Monday afternoon that he and his wife, Shonnah, had separated. The Bentleys have two daughters and a son, and are Canadian citizens. Under Canadian law, separation is a preliminary step in divorce proceedings, lasting nine months. Breidenbach, who resigned as revival spokesperson Monday, called the news of the separation “very sad.”

Was excessive drinking another reason evangelist Todd Bentley, leader of the Lakeland Florida Revival, stepped down and will divorce wife Shonnah?

On August 15th the board of directors of Bentley’s Fresh Fire Ministries (FFM) said there was an “unhealthy relationship on an emotional level with a female member of his staff.” C. Peter Wagner, California pastors’ Che Ahn, Bill Johnson and others commissioned and prophesied to Bentley in a televised service by God TV and offered “apostolic oversight” to the Lakeland Revival. Events have proven the oversight came to late to save the ‘Florida outpouring’ and Bentley stepped down.

Now The Voice magazine has learned that “excessive drinking” may also have been involved. In a letter to ministry partners John Arnott, founder of Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship and member of Wagner’s International Coalition of Apostles wrote, “Further it has now come out that there has been some inappropriate behavior, both with excessive drinking and also with a female member of his staff.”

Sadly this story continues to develop.