Undercover, Underground

All who listen to me will live in peace and safety, unafraid of harm. Proverbs 1:33

One year ago I almost left the ministry. I wanted to be a difference maker, but a series of events happened that frightened me. In just a few months nearly every national radio Bible teacher I admired and listened to had to step down.

Three had sexual affairs; two were caught in bold-faced lies where documented evidence showed they weren’t really the people they said they were (their résumés were fabricated); two had misappropriated funds; one molested children; and still another was homosexual.

It was such a bad year that at a pastors’ conference for couples, the speaker, Howard Hendricks, shared his disillusionment over the same issue. One of his godly friends in ministry, a man full of integrity, had just died, and Howard prayed as he looked at the headlines, Why did you take my friend, such a good man? Why didn’t you leave him and take some of these other men?

Sam Rima and Gary McIntosh in the book The Dark Side of Leadership, explain: “Most often their ambition has been a subtle and dangerous combination of their own dysfunctional personal needs and a certain measure of their altruistic desire to expand the kingdom of God. However, because ambition is so easily disguised in Christian circles and couched in spiritual language (the need to fulfill the great commission and expand the church), the dysfunctions that drive Christian leaders often go undetected and unchallenged until it is too late.^a

Protect your life and your ministry. Ask a few people to hold your feet to the fire of accountability. The key is you have to listen when they speak up. Then pray God would hound you if you are drifting from him or his principles.