i met him a few times. so sad. many are hurt. many are stunned. i am not actually surprised. not because i know ted so well, but because i have seen the state of church leadership in our nation over 32 years of ministry. prayers and a broken heart for his family and the many sincere believers at new life church. another black eye for the church in our culture. we all suffer when one of our "celebrities" has his scandalous sins exposed.
maybe our problem is that we have created a paradigm of spirituality that promotes our church leaders to celebrity status in the first place--yea, i think we have. let's repent. the false power of image projection and the price tag on image management--ugh. there is not only a lust for sex, forbidden "highs", and money, but for power. it's not true spiritual power that comes from an intimate friendship with the trinity, but a fleshly counterfeit "love of power"--and a terrible abuse of God's gifts and callings. we've confused a legitimate longing and prayer for the Spirit's power with an illegitimate lust for and use of personality and organizational power that sometimes looks and feels like it could only come from God alone--we are so gullable. men can do some amazing things far removed from God's pleasure. some church leaders (especially, and tragically, of the "charismatic" brand) set up their organizations in such a way that they are allowed to act like little kings and don't genuinely share the authority of leadership with their co-workers. the outside accountability system worked fairly well in this crisis (at least initially), but what about a greater accountability and sharing of power with those with whom we live and work every day. maybe there would be fewer crises--although even the very best "systems" can be "cheated on".
how come a man who admittedly stuggled with controlling lower passions for his whole adult life had so much drive to lead "evanglicalism" in america? i think that we sometimes are wrongly pressured by our culture and the sicknesses in our souls to imagine that God wants us to do more than He is actually calling us or any one group of us to accomplish. we become infected with an inflated sense of self-importance. we can inadvertantly get beyond the radius of God's grace for us and the pressures mount from many sides. people often get to the "top" and realize that it doesn't make them any happier in God or in life. they sometimes commit "professional suicide" and maybe even subconsciously want to get caught in their compromises. their souls are unsatisfied with the thrills of noteriety and large budgets and they are sorely tempted to indulge in juicier illegal thrills.
ted has humbly confessed to, at least, some of his sins. (unfortunately, my experience is that busted leaders confess to about 60% of their sins, so they don't have to confess the other 40%.) will ted stay on the course of restoration that others will outline for him to follow--i pray so--and may Jesus be gracious to him and his family. most fallen church leaders (and, by the way, ted fell quite some time ago--it's just that we've now discovered it so.) whom i have seen come under discipline have eventually "bolted" and found other groups who are more than williing to prematurely deliver them from the "unjust" restraints of the original disciplining body. time will tell if ted has truly humbled himself or if he is feigning humility--he's a smart guy and he knows the right things to say. i pray he will live in the light of God his master...me too...U2.
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