If Oprah Winfrey was a theologian (well, she is of sorts as we all are. . . not orthodox though), I imagine her running through her studio audience enthusiastically yelling, “You’re a sinner! You’re a sinner! I’m a sinner! We’re all sinners!” Sinners we are all. . . That’s certain for sure. This reality is carried cleary through Scripture from Genesis 3 to the end of Revelation. This week I was reminded of human depravity while reading Chapters 6 and 7 of Paul’s Letter to the Romans. Time spent with the evening news hammered the reality home again, as it does each and every night. But ultimately, it’s my looks in the mirror – literal and figurative – that reveal an unmistakable default setting that has made me the “Oh, what a wretched man I am.”
I will admit that early on in my life and ministry it was much easier to point the accusing finger at the occasional well-known Christian leader who was exposed as a moral failure. It was easier to see the sinful nature in others, rather than in myself. I think back to the scandals that rocked the high-profile TV ministries of guys like Jimmy Swaggart and Jim Bakker. “Of course . . . not at all surprising,” so many of us thought at the time. These guys seemed more concerned about celebrity influence and building a faithful and money-giving following than about embracing and living out the life of faithful discipleship and moral integrity. While that might in fact be true, little did we grieve their failures, the damage those failures left in their wake, or even the fact that if we are not on a state of high personal alert, “there but for the grace of God go I.”
I think differently about these matters now. I hope that age, wisdom, maturity, and experience (though certainly not at all complete or perfect) have all played a role in a couple of responses when guys named Zacharias, Yancey, Lawson, and so many others make the news.
First, I’m sad but not shocked or suprised. These things happen. They happened to the man after God’s own heart. . . and they happen to men and women today. If you’ve ever logged on to “The Roys Report”, you know just how prevalant moral failure is for the well-known in the church, along with the not-so-well-known.
Second, I consider myself. You see, if you ever get to the point where you think you are somehow above this kind of stuff (“I would NEVER do that!”), well, it’s that kind of ignorance and arrogance that puts you one step closer to becoming a news story yourself. Several years ago when Tic Long asked me to do a seminar at The National Youth Workers Convention on “Wisdom for a Young Youth Worker,” one of the last points I made was all about borders and boundaries in ministry. I told them, “You are just one bad decision from seeing your name in the paper.” Of course, that shouldn’t be the ultimate deterrent. It is our deisre to be faithful and obedient to God that should motivate us. It should be our desire to bring honor and glory to Him and Him alone that instills our desire to be obedient. As I was finishing up my slide show for that seminar, I needed one last image for the title slide. I googled “Christian youth pastor” or something similar. About a third of the photos that popped up were mug shots. Sobering. And over the years, there have been many who have fallen who I personally know.
Over the course of the last few months, several of us have been going back and forth regarding what to do with the teaching, writings, and resources – so much of it so helpful and so good – that fill the back-catalog of so many high profile Christian leaders who have failed morally. What is the proper balance of grace and truth? What is true repentance, forgiveness, and restoration? What about the truths they communicated before and perhaps even during their fall into sin? What about the victims? How do we best protect them? What about accountability? Can someone go back into ministry? Or, is disqualification always in order? Is each case the same? What do we tell our children and teens? What lessons can I take from this to safeguard myself from falling off the knife’s edge into sin?
Well, we finally dove in to have that conversation at least at an entry level. My good friend Duffy Robbins (he and I talk about this stuff all the time), along with our CPYU Research Fellows Jason Engle and Kerry Trunfio hopped into the conversation as well. Our goal was to think together out loud, perhaps coming to some helpful conclusions that would put us on the path to answering all the aforementioned questions well.
I invite you to take the time to listen in to this latest edition of our Youth Culture Matters podcast, embedded below.
And so we pray, “Lord, save us from ourselves.”