by | Sep 4, 2015 | Uncategorized
The Bible’s teaching about returning fallen ministers to the pulpit.
“Genuine forgiveness does not necessarily imply restoration to leadership,” former CT editor Kenneth Kantzer once wrote after the moral failure of several prominent evangelical leaders. Yet the impulse to link forgiveness with restoration to ministry remains strong. Here two pastor-theologians argue for the importance of keeping separate the restoration to the body of Christ and restoration to pastoral leadership.
The North American church is seriously vexed by the question, “What shall we do with an adulterous pastor?” Over the past decade, the church has been repeatedly staggered by revelations of immoral conduct by some of its most respected leaders. How do we respond to those who have sexually fallen and disgraced themselves, shamed their families, and debased their office?
The typical pattern goes like this: The pastor is accused and convicted of sexual sin. He confesses his sin, often with profound sorrow. His church or denominational superiors prescribe a few months, or often one year, in which time he is encouraged to obtain professional counsel. Then he is restored to his former office, sometimes in another location. He is commonly regarded as a “wounded healer,” one who now knows what it means to fall, to experience the grace of God profoundly.
While each situation must be handled with pastoral wisdom, and some fallen pastors indeed might someday be restored to leadership, we believe this increasingly common scenario is both biblically incorrect and profoundly harmful to the well-being of the fallen pastor, his marriage, and the church of Jesus Christ. Our Lord Jesus was tempted in all points just as we are, yet it was his testing, not any failure, that made him strong. …
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by | Sep 2, 2015 | Uncategorized
The star of family classics as ‘That Darn Cat’ and ‘The Love Bug’ had converted to Christianity after a drunk-driving accident.
Update 9/2/2015: Dean Jones died yesterday at age 84. This interview originally appeared September 22, 2009.
People assume Dean Jones has had the perfect life. He was a Disney icon, the beloved star of such films as That Darn Cat, Blackbeard’s Ghost and The Love Bug. He had more money than he knew what to do with and spent it on lavish homes, fast Italian sports cars, and exotic vacations.
And women. Each night a different Hollywood starlet could be found on his arm—and just as often in his bed. Out of the spotlight, Jones’ life was far from perfect. In fact, he was living a lie.
For years he had deceived himself into believing that the Hollywood lifestyle would satisfy him, but it had only left him depressed and suicidal. He addictively sought the comforting roar of audience approval, but such pursuits had only shattered his first marriage (which ended in divorce) and alienated him from his children. He began to see life as a pointless exercise in futility, to be managed by copious amounts of alcohol and a parade of affairs.
According to his autobiography, Under Running Laughter, Jones heard a voice in his spirit one evening, saying his lifestyle “will never satisfy you.” He started thinking: Could I continue to deceive myself into believing that whatever vacuum existed within me would be filled in the future by more and bigger portions of that I’d consumed in the past?
Later, after a drunk-driving accident almost claimed his life, Jones reached his breaking point. Though he’d grown up in a religious home and even briefly attended Asbury, a Christian college in Kentucky, Jones had rejected the faith of his family. After his near-death accident, he was ready to stop running from …
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