An associate pastor whose vulgar tweets drew criticism last week from two members of the Palo Alto City Council resigned last Tuesday from his position at First Baptist Church.

Gregory Stevens, whom the church had hired in August 2015 to be its Associate Pastor for Faith and Formation and Family Life, agreed to step down one day after his tweets bashing Palo Alto became an issue during the council's discussion about the church's application for a conditional use permit.

The tweets, which were publicly circulated before the May 14 meeting, included ones in which he calls Palo Alto "disgusting" and "elitist," professes his hatred for Palo Alto police and makes fun on seniors in the congregation and states, at one point, "I hate Palo Alto."

Stevens' March tweets came up several times during the long public hearing, with Vice Mayor Eric Filseth calling them "disturbing" and suggesting that parents should consider these public statements in deciding whether to let their children attend church activities. Councilwoman Karen Holman described the tweets as "vile" and suggested that the church needs to do something to address them.

The reaction was swift. The Rev. Rick Mixon, pastor at First Baptist Church, told the Weekly that Stevens' departure was a "mutual parting of ways." The day after the council's May 14 meeting, Mixon had a conversation with Stevens in which they agreed that it was best for Stevens to step down from his position.

Mixon said he reported Stevens' departure to the church council Tuesday. On Sunday, the news was shared with the First Baptist congregation, he said.

"For us, the issues were the inappropriateness of the language in the tweets and any sense that it's representative of the church's position -- which it's not," Mixon said. "We really regret that this happened and apologize for the way in which this all played out.

"It in no way represents who we are as a congregation or who we want to be as a congregation."

Stevens, whose contract was set to expire in August, wrote in an email to the SFGate.com, over the weekend that he tweeted to vent his frustration and acknowledged that he did so "in an unprofessional and often hurtful way." He continued to criticize the city, however.

"I believe Palo Alto is a ghetto of wealth, power and elitist liberalism by proxy, meaning that many community members claim to want to fight for social justice issues, but that desire doesn't translate into action," Stevens wrote, according to SFGate.

Despite the distraction of Stevens' tweets, the council voted 7-2 to grant the church a community use permit that would allow it to function as a "community center" and retain its existing tenants.