Clergy Killers

Back in April of 2012 an article entitled "Silent Clergy Killers" ran in the Huffington Post. I would encourage you to take time to read it.

"Clergy Killers" is also the title of a book by G. Lloyd Rediger. That book was quite helpful to me several years ago during a particularly challenging season in my life.

The author of the Huffington Post article defines "Clergy Killers" as "congregations where a small group of members are so disruptive that no pastor is able to maintain spiritual leadership for long." He continues:

And yet ministers often endure the stresses of these dysfunctional relationships for months, or even years, before eventually being forced out or giving up.

Adding to the strain is the process, which is often shrouded in secrecy. No one -- from denominational officials to church members to the clerics themselves -- wants to acknowledge the failure of a relationship designed to be a sign to the world of mutual love and support.

But new research is providing insights into just how widespread -- and damaging -- these forced terminations can be to clergy.

An online study published in the March issue of the Review of Religious Research found 28 percent of ministers said they had at one time been forced to leave their jobs due to personal attacks and criticism from a small faction of their congregations.

I am one of many pastors who have personal knowledge of this reality as I have written in a series of articles.

Periodically, I will read an article or blog post where the writer tells pastors who have been battered to more-or-less "Shut up and quit your complaining. It's a blessing to be a pastor." Well it certainly is a blessing to be a pastor. I have served on a church staff since I was 21 years old. I know the blessings of pastoral ministry. I have seen and witnessed the most excellent acts of love and service from my fellow Christians. I have been treated with profound kindness more times than I can possibly recount. Throughout my years in pastoral ministry I have known men and women who make it a joy to be a pastor. I love the church of Jesus Christ. I am deeply grateful for the blessing of serving her as a pastor.

I also know that some churches truly are clergy killers. And the research indicates that it is probably worse than we know. This sin is a blight on the church and greatly detrimental to her witness.

It is not really difficult to determine whether your church is a clergy killer. It just requires a bit of painful honesty. Here are a few questions that may help:
1. What is the typical length of tenure for the lead or senior pastors of our church?
2. How many of our pastors have been fired or otherwise forced out?
3. Does our church have good relationships with our former lead or senior pastors? If not, why?
4. Does our church have a reputation for being a difficult place to serve?

Confession and Concern

On Monday evening prior to the official start of the 42nd General Assembly of the PCA a gathering took place called "An Evening of Confessional Concern and Prayer." The purpose to the open event was to address four rather controversial issues facing the PCA: 1) Procedures for dealing with errant Teaching Elders, 2) Insider Movement, 3) Male-only office holders, and 4) Theistic evolution. There was a panel of four men addressing the issues: Sean Lucas, Guy Waters, Rick Phillips, and David Strain. It was an important and helpful gathering characterized by clarity and an irenic spirit. The event concluded with a time of prayer.

You can listen to the audio HERE.

Mortifying Plagiarism

The latest Mortification of Spin: Bully Pulpit is up and running.

The ragtag group of vagabonds takes on the issue of pastoral plagiarism, and as usual pulls no punches. After scoffing at the "manly" Father's Day items Aimee is considering buying for her husband, they get down to the issue. How much can a pastor "borrow" from others before his preaching becomes plagiaristic? This is a weighty topic and an extremely important one for the church today.

Sunday's Sermon

On Sunday I preached Psalm 16. It is entitled "The Sheltered Life" and can be listened to HERE.

Insider Movement(s) and the PCA

The title of this post may be a bit misleading because I have no intention of trying to address this very
dense and conflict-laden subject.

In a week I will be attending my first General Assembly as an ordained teaching elder in the PCA. I am looking forward to it. There will no doubt be some wonderful fellowship and preaching. However, it is also true that the PCA is facing some challenging waters. That is, there are some issues that are currently a source of division within the PCA: theistic evolution, the nature of sanctification, the role of the GA to in settling disputes, and so-called Insider Movements. The later has to do with how we will reach Muslims (and adherents of other religions) for Christ.

There is an article over at Ref21 by William Schweitzer entitled "Is The Insider Movement Really That Bad?" In it, Dr. Schweitzer expresses grave concern over the very influential book by Carl Medearis, Muslims, Christians, and Jesus: Gaining Understanding and Building Relationships.

The book is full of vignettes relating the author's amazing adventures witnessing to Muslims during his tenure in the Middle East. Given the large number of these stories, I was expecting at least some of them to end with the Christian missionary being shouted down if not arrested (after all, such things happen to missionaries working in England). Strangely, none of them do. Not one of his stories-- including the meeting with what Medearis calls the 'cousins' of the Taliban--give the slightest hint of persecution or even mild opposition. The question is, why?

Read the entire article HERE.

Books for Graduates

Recently over at Ref21 I posted a list of recommended books for graduating high school seniors. Each of the titles in this post have my enthusiastic recommendation. There are others that could easily be added to this list, but the following will get us started:

Taking God At His Word by Kevin DeYoung
This title earned my coveted and highly publicized "Most Important Book of the Year Award." Seriously, though, it's a must read and very accessible.

Just Do Something by Kevin DeYoung
Outstanding little book on guidance.

Thriving At College by Alex Chediak
From the Publisher:
"In a nutshell, the book is about how college students can launch into responsible, fruitful adulthood for the glory of God against the backdrop of a young adult culture that often values perpetual adolescence and the avoidance of responsibility. It explores topics such as loving God with all your mind, growing in character and maturity, striving for academic excellence, balancing work and recreation, finding your calling, establishing godly friendships, handling the transition from high school to college, time management, financial discipline, and honoring parents while pursuing functional/economic independence."

The Reason for God by Tim Keller
There is a good reason why this book finds its way onto so many similar lists.

The Secret Thoughts of an Unlikely Convert by Rosaria Champaign Butterfield.
This gem does so many things well. It is a compelling biography of a radical conversion to Christ. It is also an effective explanation of the centrality of the church and God's Word in the life of the believer. Along the way the author presents one of the most effective explanations of biblical sexual ethics you will ever read.

Magnificent Obsession by David Robertson
Robertson is a highly effective and winsome apologist. This book easily serves dual purposes. It helps bolster the faith of the Christian and quite ably points the genuine seeker to Christ.

Reasons Of The Heart by William Edgar
Dr. Edgar is one of the finest apologists out there. This slim volume addresses not only the mind but the longings of the heart.

What's Your Worldview? by James Anderson
From the Publisher:
"Cast in the mold of a classic "Choose Your Own Adventure" story, What's Your Worldview? will guide you toward finding intellectually satisfying answers to life's biggest questions--equipping you to think carefully about not only what you believe but why you believe it and how it impacts the rest of your life."

Rebels Rescued by Brian Cosby
This terrific little book is a clear explanation of and winsome apologetic for the Reformed Faith.

Bully Pulpit

The latest Mortification of Spin: Bully Pulpit is up and running:

The question of women’s roles in the church is as old as the church herself, but in the past ten years the numbers of women teaching theology has skyrocketed. Women teach on blogs, posts, and tweets from all over the world. Is it OK? What is the difference between her work and a non-ordained man’s? Carl, Todd, and Aimee address this topic on today’s Bully Pulpit.

Sunday's Sermon

On Sunday I preached part 15 in our current series through Acts. It is entitled "So The Word of God Spread" (6:1-7) and can be listened to HERE.

Child Sexual Abuse in the Church

Today's episode of Mortification of Spin is dedicated to a sober and timely subject: child sexual abuse in the church. We interview Dr. Diane Langberg who has spent years counseling both victims and church leaders concerning this tragic reality. Among the issues we explore with Dr. Langberg are how ought the church respond to allegations of abuse and what ought the church do with those who have offended.

Sunday's Sermon

On Sunday I preached part 14 in our series through Acts. It is entitled "The Honor of Being Dishonored for Jesus" (Acts 5:33-42). You can listen to it HERE.

Pastor OR Movement Leader: Choose You This Day

Liberate (Tullian Tchividjian's latest vehicle) seems to be morphing rather quickly into a denomination complete with a directory of churches.

Pause for a long sigh...

What is it these days with pastors feeling the need to lead movements? In seeing the Liberate site today, a friend asked me what sadly seems to be an increasingly unthinkable question: "Why can't we just serve our denominations?" Silly man.

I serve a church of around 1,000 souls. That challenge is daunting and most days I don't feel as though I'm doing a very good job. Perhaps my gifts are vastly more miniscule than I previously thought. But how does a man pastor a large church and lead a movement at the same time?

Has not the last 12 months or so tended to prove that pastor/movement leader is not a very good combination?

I write this not to pick on Tullian Tchividjian but as a plea to my fellow pastors. Brothers, shepherd the flock among you. Beware the slough of pride. Take proactive steps to avoid making a name for yourself. Don't trust your motives.

Memorial Day 2014

"A Mighty Battle"

From Fred Zaspel's excellent The Theology of B.B. Warfield:

For nearly a century before Warfield arrived on its faculty, Princeton Seminary had stood out as the scholarly bastion of the historic Reformed faith. And due in large measure to the towering influence of Old Princeton, much of the new liberalizing tendencies in the church had been held back in significant degree. By means of his 2,700 students and his endless literary output, Warfield played an enormous role in this. But the undercurrent was always present, and within a decade after his death, liberal currents of thought would gain prominence in the Presbyterian church and at his beloved Princeton also. Warfield once met the wife of the seminary president J. Ross Stevenson while walking down a Princeton street, and she implored him: “Dr. Warfiled, I hear there is going to be trouble at the General Assembly. Do let us pray for peace.” To this he replied, “I am praying that if they do not do what is right, there may be a mighty battle.”

Making a spectacle of ourselves...

This is what Carl has to say about the latest Mortification of Spin: Bully Pulpit:

In this remarkable age, where emoting in public comes as standard, where all disagreement is taken personally and requires online histrionics, and where the boundaries between public and private have been eroded to all but nothing, we ask about the role of social media in all of this.  We also speculate on the connection between living lives as public, online spectacles on Facebook and Twitter and the nature of pornography.  And we contrast the approach to public and private in the lives of Martin Luther and John Owen.  Not bad for two grumpy old-ish men and a girl in just over ten minutes.

Protecting our little ones

Over at Ref21 I have posted on the ugly reality of child sexual abuse within the church.

It is a wickedness of massive proportions when children are sexually abused. However, when a child is used for the sexual gratification of a spiritual leader within the church the evil passes into the realm of the indescribable. Sadly this particular manifestation of evil has lurked within the walls of the church for generations. It has only been in recent years, however, that the extent of child sexual abuse within the church is beginning to be revealed. What is more, it is becoming clear that Protestants have nothing to brag about. We cannot shake our finger at the Roman Catholic Church as though priests are more susceptible to this sin than are pastors and ministry directors. Child sexual abuse honors no sectarian boundaries.

At the risk of stating the obvious, churches must take pains to protect the children under their care. We are well beyond the days of politely giving so-and-so the benefit of the doubt because he's been working with children for years. Criminal background checks ought to be mandatory for all persons serving in any capacity with children or youth. In the church I serve as Lead Pastor anyone interested in serving among children must submit to a background check. Unwilling? Tough.

Background checks however are not enough. There must be stringent rules restricting adults from being alone with a child for any length of time. "But we know so-and-so." Not as well as you think. There should be cameras in every hallway and, more importantly in every classroom with the data being stored on computer.

Many churches have welcomed into membership those who have offended in the past but have repented and paid their legal debt. Certainly, the church of Jesus Christ has a message of forgiveness and hope for any sinner who repents. However, let us not be so naive and sentimental that we think it is a badge of graciousness to place a repentant offender into a position of ministry with our young ones. They must never be allowed to work with children or youth in any capacity. If you insist on this standard (and you most certainly should) then you will be accused of "not getting the gospel." That's fine. Just keep reminding yourself that someone has to be the grown-up.

Read the rest HERE.

This week's edition of Mortification of Spin (airing Wednesday) will feature a helpful interview we conducted with Dr. Diane Langberg on what churches should do to protect their children from sexual abuse. You will want to listen in on this one.

Sermon Audio

On Sunday I preached part 13 in our current series in Acts. It is entitled "We Must Obey God" and is taken from Acts 5:12-32. You can listen to it HERE.

Battered Pastors (4)

Over at Ref21, I have posted part four in my series on battered pastors. In this latest post I offer the first three of seven exhortations for battered pastors.

All people experience hurt at the hands of others. But we are all also, without exception, the source of hurt. We are all simultaneously receivers and inflictors of pain. This is true of pastors. What pastor believes that he can somehow be insulated from the sorts of pain we inflict upon each other? He is, after all, a sinner called upon to lead other sinners. Parishioners often project upon their pastor a whole set of expectations that no ordinary man can fulfill. As a result, being criticized is an inescapable feature of being a pastor. If you cannot tolerate being criticized then don't be a pastor.

These common sorts of criticisms and pains are not what I have been writing about in this series of posts. Rather, I am seeking to shine a light on the very real problem of toxic followers, those who mob the pastor and seek his downfall. The battered pastors I am writing to and about are competent pastors but have found themselves in churches who, for whatever reason, are pastoral "meat grinders" (I learned that phrase from an elder at a previous church).

At the risk of sounding alarmist, I do believe that the church (in the West at least) is going to see (is seeing?) an increase in the number of churches which batter their pastors. It makes perfect sense. With the demise of the very idea of authority it should not be surprising that more pastors are being driven from their churches. A consumerist church cannot abide a prophetic pastor.

Read the entire post HERE.

Kevin Durant's MVP acceptance speech...

Get mom a good book

Mother's Day is coming up. How about you get mom a good book? Often times when we buy books for women we buy "women's books." Don't misunderstand there are a lot of terrific books written specifically for women. In fact, there are few on my list as you will see. But there are also books on doctrine which would be a blessing for any Christian to read.

Housewife Theologian by Aimee Byrd  
18 Words by J.I. Packer  
True Beauty by Carolyn Mahaney
Holding On To Hope by Nancy Guthrie  
The One Year Book of Hope by Nancy Guthrie
In Christ Alone by Sinclair Ferguson  
Taking God at His Word by Kevin DeYoung 
Treasuring Christ When Your Hands Are Full by Gloria Furman  
Delighting in the Trinity by Michael Reeves 
Treasures in Darkness by Sharon Betters

Donald Sterling and Selective Outrage

Racism is sin. It is a denial of the dignity of all peoples as image-bearers of God. Racism is antithetical to the character of God, to the gospel, and to the mission of the church which anticipates the day when men and women from every nation and race will gather before the throne of the Lamb. On this, there should be no waffling among Christians but only clarity. Racism is an ugly remnant of the fall and should be treated as such.

Racism is front and center in the American consciousness once again thanks to one Donald Sterling, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers whose racially insensitive words were secretly recorded by his girlfriend. The outrage was swift and strong. He was banned from basketball, for life. He will be forced to sell his team. He will never again be able to show his face in public without hearing the jeers of others (and perhaps worse). One member of Congress called Sterling's words, "the most intolerant thing" he had "ever heard." There are some Christians in Syria I'd like him to meet, but that is another topic. The fact is, more Americans know the name Donald Sterling than they do the names of the four Americans murdered in Benghazi. I have not yet heard a call to have Sterling drawn and quartered, but there is still time.

As others have pointed  out, Donald Sterling's racism is not a new revelation. He has a history of bad behavior in this area much worse than private conversations with his girlfriend. It has been overlooked however for his willingness to give large sums of money to the groups able to provide absolution.

This morning in my car the familiar voice of Tom Brokaw took to the air to denounce Sterling as a "jerk." Not the most imaginative descriptor to come from the lips of a veteran news anchor but true nonetheless. He also encouraged parents to "place Sterling on the dinner table" so as to discuss his wrongdoing with their children. Fair enough. Dinner time is a great place for catechesis. It would also be a great opportunity for parents to instruct their children about the destructive sin of adultery. Of course, Brokaw and, as far as I know, none of the other pundits have yet to even raise an eyebrow at the fact that Sterling is an adulterer.

And herein is my problem with the public outrage over Donald Sterling's sin of racism. It is highly selective outrage. Adultery? No problem. Who doesn't have a few girlfriends on the side? But racism? Why, I never! Suddenly, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, a fierce display of public piety has risen among celebrities, politicians, and various other public figures the likes of which we rarely witness. It's quite blinding really. In this one narrow instance, right is right and wrong is wrong. In this one particular moment, sin has made a comeback. And now the wrong must be punished ruthlessly. The racism, that is. Not the adultery. That part's fine.

Donald Sterling is a married man who makes no effort to hide his vastly younger girlfriend. So sure is Sterling of the rightness of adultery that he has no fear of deportation to the Isle of Sinners. And Sterling's critics seem to agree. After all, I'm sure they do not want to judge. "Judge not, lest you be judged," and all that. And yet the judgment upon Sterling has been swift and merciless. He is a moral leper who must be put away lest we behold his hideous condition and thus be corrupted ourselves.

On what basis does a society which winks at adultery and dishonesty and gives whole-hearted approval to homosexuality and abortion now make moral judgments? Particularly odd is the fact that, in Sterling's case, the sin committed was an attitude given voice in a private conversation. It's a sin to be sure (see the first paragraph). I'm just not sure why Sterling's attitudes about Magic Johnson is worse than his public adultery. Certainly it's not because some sins are more popular than others. It couldn't be that.

If you choose to talk to your children about Donald Sterling and the sin of racism (which is a good idea) do not neglect to talk to them also about the sin of adultery. Tell them about broken families and abandoned spouses. Tell them about terrified and angry children. Tell them about the power of promises and the blessings of purity. Tell them about a God who hates divorce but hates adultery even more (Matt 5:32; 19:9). Teach them to honor the promises they may one day make as their lives are joined till death to another. Point out that the bond of marriage is much like the bond between Christ and his church, his beloved bride. Tell them that one day they will likely marry and that marriage will, like all the others, be intended to give witness to the sacrificial love of Jesus. Be sure they know that the sacrifice made near a garbage heap outside Jerusalem was sufficient to cleanse all sinners be they racists or adulterers or hypocrites.