When Leaders Fall
This has been one of those difficult weeks for pastors everywhere. This is very true with the ministers that live in North America and in our case, Canada. There have been two more revelations of wrong doing by fellow ministers. Men caught and exposed for the Sin that they have committed.
Just before last weekend, before the Sunday service, a man and his ministry was exposed in the Hamilton, Ontario area. His name is Peter Rigo. Peter is from one of our Pentecostal Assemblies churches so it gets closer to home for me. This is my church as well.
Peter leads an independent church that has some extreme views on the world and in particular – Christianity. One of the many different teachings that are expounded is one that has brought a crisis to different families in the Hamilton area. The young adult children of these families have been encouraged to turn their backs on their parents and family as they follow Christ. Thus the reason for the branding the church as a cult.
You can read about this more extensively at this Link to the CTV Web Page – “The Pied Piper of Hamilton”
Parents kidnapped their own daughter to get her out of the church. This entire expose certainly caught the news media’s attention and a major program was produced – airing just before last weekend.
Many of our folks reacted to this program over the weekend. “What a blight it has cast on our churches!”, was one comment.
Then just after the weekend we began hearing the stories of Rev. Ted Haggard, from Colorado Springs, Colorado. He has been accused of having sexual contacts with a male prostitute and using drugs. One account that I read said that a gay man called into a talk show in the area to let the world know that Ted Haggard was actually “Art” that he was having sex with for the past three years. Ted denied it at first and then admitted to some of it later. It is confusing if you are innocent… and suspicious if you are looking on.
Two articles were sent my way from the Internet news services. One you can read at “Evangelical leader quits, denies male escort's allegations” and the other is found at “Evangelist Admits Meth, Massage, No Sex”.
Honestly I do not know much about Peter Rigo or Ted Haggard. Both men were not part of my life before this past two weeks time. Now they are emblazoned on my mind and heart. They are attached to the church that I love. In fact all churches will be living with this memory for months – if not years to come.
As one church person said to me, “This reminds me of the “Two Jimmys” a few years ago and what we went through with that stuff. It just makes you embarrassed to be called a Christian.”
For those that are younger, that was Jimmy Swaggart and Jimmy Bakker – two Pentecostal pastors that had major problems. In the late 1980s our pastors all had a huge amount of explaining to do when these great men fell.
I want to say this up front… Leaders sin. Leaders sin just like the people that they lead sin. Sin isn’t lessened when you are called to a position or trust or power. Temptation doesn’t just blow away like mist. In fact it may increase all the more from what I know.
The bigger issue is what happens when Leaders fall? How do we care for them and their families? You will notice that Ted Haggard has five children. How are they feeling today? How will they go to school this next week with the great cloud hanging over their heads? How strong is Gayle? Who is Gayle? That is Ted’s wife that he states he is faithful to over all these years.
The men that fall usually recover. So do their spouses. Sometimes they stay together and sometimes they don’t. But they survive. In some cases the children are okay and in others they are not.
Why do I write this today for you to read?
All of these stories that we are bombarded with are about more than what we read. Lives are being torn into about one billion pieces. Some of the lives are only children yet. They haven’t got what it takes to meet this onslaught head on.
My heart is broken today by the devastation that yielding to temptation and sin produces.
We can blame it on Politics, Power and Position as we watch the news accounts. But more than that, I want to point to the heart of men and women that are deceitfully wicked. That is the battle ground that everyone does the greatest war in at any one time.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (NIV)
I have come to realize that above all in my life the battle in the heart is the greatest one that I face from day to day.
Please remember your pastors in prayer. Please remember leaders in prayer as well. We desperately need that prayer and help from God.
Do I anticipate falling? No.
I just know the struggle is greater than anyone else knows.
“God we need your help today. Oh how we need your help.”
~ Pastor Murray ~
Just before last weekend, before the Sunday service, a man and his ministry was exposed in the Hamilton, Ontario area. His name is Peter Rigo. Peter is from one of our Pentecostal Assemblies churches so it gets closer to home for me. This is my church as well.
Peter leads an independent church that has some extreme views on the world and in particular – Christianity. One of the many different teachings that are expounded is one that has brought a crisis to different families in the Hamilton area. The young adult children of these families have been encouraged to turn their backs on their parents and family as they follow Christ. Thus the reason for the branding the church as a cult.
You can read about this more extensively at this Link to the CTV Web Page – “The Pied Piper of Hamilton”
Parents kidnapped their own daughter to get her out of the church. This entire expose certainly caught the news media’s attention and a major program was produced – airing just before last weekend.
Many of our folks reacted to this program over the weekend. “What a blight it has cast on our churches!”, was one comment.
Then just after the weekend we began hearing the stories of Rev. Ted Haggard, from Colorado Springs, Colorado. He has been accused of having sexual contacts with a male prostitute and using drugs. One account that I read said that a gay man called into a talk show in the area to let the world know that Ted Haggard was actually “Art” that he was having sex with for the past three years. Ted denied it at first and then admitted to some of it later. It is confusing if you are innocent… and suspicious if you are looking on.
Two articles were sent my way from the Internet news services. One you can read at “Evangelical leader quits, denies male escort's allegations” and the other is found at “Evangelist Admits Meth, Massage, No Sex”.
Honestly I do not know much about Peter Rigo or Ted Haggard. Both men were not part of my life before this past two weeks time. Now they are emblazoned on my mind and heart. They are attached to the church that I love. In fact all churches will be living with this memory for months – if not years to come.
As one church person said to me, “This reminds me of the “Two Jimmys” a few years ago and what we went through with that stuff. It just makes you embarrassed to be called a Christian.”
For those that are younger, that was Jimmy Swaggart and Jimmy Bakker – two Pentecostal pastors that had major problems. In the late 1980s our pastors all had a huge amount of explaining to do when these great men fell.
I want to say this up front… Leaders sin. Leaders sin just like the people that they lead sin. Sin isn’t lessened when you are called to a position or trust or power. Temptation doesn’t just blow away like mist. In fact it may increase all the more from what I know.
The bigger issue is what happens when Leaders fall? How do we care for them and their families? You will notice that Ted Haggard has five children. How are they feeling today? How will they go to school this next week with the great cloud hanging over their heads? How strong is Gayle? Who is Gayle? That is Ted’s wife that he states he is faithful to over all these years.
The men that fall usually recover. So do their spouses. Sometimes they stay together and sometimes they don’t. But they survive. In some cases the children are okay and in others they are not.
Why do I write this today for you to read?
All of these stories that we are bombarded with are about more than what we read. Lives are being torn into about one billion pieces. Some of the lives are only children yet. They haven’t got what it takes to meet this onslaught head on.
My heart is broken today by the devastation that yielding to temptation and sin produces.
We can blame it on Politics, Power and Position as we watch the news accounts. But more than that, I want to point to the heart of men and women that are deceitfully wicked. That is the battle ground that everyone does the greatest war in at any one time.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (NIV)
I have come to realize that above all in my life the battle in the heart is the greatest one that I face from day to day.
Please remember your pastors in prayer. Please remember leaders in prayer as well. We desperately need that prayer and help from God.
Do I anticipate falling? No.
I just know the struggle is greater than anyone else knows.
“God we need your help today. Oh how we need your help.”
~ Pastor Murray ~
posted by Murray Lincoln at
Saturday, November 04, 2006
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