Both Marty Duren, at SBCOutpost
http://www.sbcoutpost.com/2006/08/28/fo ... /#more-378 and Wade Burleson, at address the recent pastoral troubles in Colleyville and West Palm Beach. I do not wish to unfairly criticize either pastor without knowing the full details in both cases (although one may never fully know), but I believe that what has happened in these churches, as well as the ABC-USA church in N.Y. where the female Sunday School teacher was "fired", is illustrative of the problems throughout the evangelical world, particularly in the SBC. We have become enamored with numbers. We have bought into the culture of celebrity. Go to the SBC Convention and see the flock of young (and older) men surrounding some of the celebrity preachers in our convention. I don't have to name names. You know who they are. I am not saying that these men are not Godly men. Please do not mis-understand. However, they are men. And they can be tempted by power and adoration just like anyone else, including me. And they can be blinded by what the world says is success, just like you or me. That's why "dynamic communicators", like the two pastors at Colleyville and WBP, can increase the size of "their" churches and no one will ask any questions about anything else. Those who dare to question are deemed trouble-makers and disgruntled members. That fits so nice
My dad, who passed away four weeks ago, was a deacon in the church where I grew up. It is not a mega-church, but a medium-sized (300-400 in worship) SBC church in central Florida. The same type of situation involving a former pastor happened when my dad was serving as a deacon. He was one of the few who stood up and wanted to hold the pastor accountable for things that were not right. He was labeled a trouble-maker and was marginalized. This happens all the time in too many churches. This happens all too often in the SBC
Pastors are not perfect. But, pastors are to be above reproach, both inside the church and outside the church. When we begin to be more concerned with making true disciples and life-long followers of Christ and less concerned with how many "decisions" and baptisms we can record in a single year, then we will be on our way to church health. But, when we won't even address integrity in church membership within the SBC, I don't see how we can clean up the mess that "success" has wrought. God bless,
