Evangelist Todd Bentley, who last week unofficially left the Lakeland Outpouring to continue similar meetings around the world, announced to his staff yesterday that he and his wife, Shonnah, are separating. According to the Lakeland Ledger, Bentley filed for separation despite the couple having been in marriage counseling for several months. Bentley and his wife, who have three children, are Canadian citizens and under Canadian law are required to go through a nine-month separation period prior to divorce. On Bentley’s ministry’s Web site, a letter written by the Fresh Fire Ministries board of directors stated that “there has been no sexual immorality on the part of either Todd or Shonnah, nor has there ever been. Undoubtedly the pressures and the burden of the Outpouring, which approaches 144 days on Aug. 23, have helped to create an atmosphere of fatigue and stress that has exacerbated existing issues in their relationship. We wish to stress however, that the Outpouring is not ‘to blame’ for the current chain of events and that in effect we have no interest in blaming anyone, but rather we deeply covet your prayers for Todd and Shonnah and for Fresh Fire Ministries during this time.” [religion.theledger.com, 8/11/08; freshfire.ca, 8/12/08]