Divorced Pastors & Deacons? (post #3 of 3)

Posted on July 6, 2018 by russellmckinney

I closed the previous post by promising to present cases for both sides of this argument. So, I might as well go ahead and jump right into that. I’ll start with the scriptural case for a divorced man serving as a pastor or a deacon. Then I’ll offer the scriptural case against such a situation. Ready? Here we go.

The Case For a Divorced Man Serving As a Pastor or a Deacon

Potential Evidence #1: In Ephesians 4:11, Paul says that God has given “gifts” to the church and these “gifts” are in actuality spiritually gifted people: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers. This means that an authentically God-called pastor is a man who has the spiritual gift of pastoring. Well, since the indwelling Holy Spirit is the one who imparts the spiritual gift to the Christian (1 Corinthians 12:7-11), and since the Spirit indwells the Christian until the Christian’s actualized day of redemption (Ephesians 4:30), it stands to reason that the God-called pastor never loses the spiritual gift of pastoring.

As for deacons, there is no spiritual gift of deaconship, but the word “deacon” comes from the Greek word diakonos, which means “servant.” Ideally, then, a deacon would be a man who has either the spiritual gift of “ministry” (Romans 12:7) or the spiritual gift of “helps” (1 Corinthians 12:28). If the office of deacon began with the story found in Acts 6:1-7 — as most commentators believe  — we see these two spiritual gifts on display in the first group of deacons.   

Potential Evidence #2: The epistle of 1 John is written to Christians, not lost people. And what does the epistle tell us about any and all sin in the life of the Christian? 1 John 1:9 says: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (N.K.J.V.).

Clearly, this promise applies to sin that is associated with a man’s divorce, remarriage, etc. Therefore, the question that can be asked is, “If God forgives the man of all sin, is it fair for a church to take sin that God has forgiven and hold it against the man when it comes to him serving as a pastor or a deacon?” That might be a fair question.

Potential Evidence #3: The qualification “the husband of one wife” is only one of a lengthy list of moral and spiritual qualifications that should be met by a pastor or a deacon. In regards to the pastor, the other qualifications that Paul names in 1 Timothy 3:1-7 and Titus 1:5-9 are as follows: (all of these from the N.K.J.V.): “blameless,” “temperate,” “sober-minded,” “of good behavior,” “hospitable,” “able to teach,” “not given to wine,” “not violent,” “not greedy for money,” gentle,” “not quarrelsome,” “not covetous,” “one who rules his own house well,” “having his children in submission with all reverence,” “not a novice,” “must have a good testimony among those who are outside” (meaning outside the church), “having faithful children not accused of dissipation (debauchery) or insubordination,” “not self-willed,” “not quick tempered,” “a lover of what is good,” “just,” “holy,” and “self-controlled.”

In regards to the deacon, the other qualifications that Paul names in 1 Timothy 3:8-13 are as follows (all of these from the N.K.J.V.): “reverent,” “not double-tongued,” “not given to much wine,” “not greedy for money,” “holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience,” “tested,” “being found blameless,” “ruling their children and their own houses well,” “their wives must be reverent,” “(their wives must be) “not slanderers,” (their wives must be) “temperate,” and (their wives must be) “faithful in all things.”

I’ve taken the time to list every one of these other qualifications because the point needs to be made that Paul didn’t single out “the husband of one wife” from all the other qualifications. He didn’t write that qualification in bold letters. He didn’t underline it. He didn’t make it the one deal-breaker on the lists.

Truth be told, there are men — married men who have never been divorced — who are serving as pastors and deacons who miss the mark by a wide margin regarding some of these other qualifications. For example, a man’s marriage might be fine but his children might be spiritual disasters. Or, he might be eaten up with a greed for money or have a real problem with alcohol. So, why do we ignore the other qualifications and come down like thunder on candidates who have been divorced?

Okay, that covers the scriptural case for a divorced man serving as a pastor or a deacon. Now let’s look at the scriptural case against such a situation. Just as I offered four pieces of scriptural evidence for the first case, I’ll offer four for the contradictory case.

The Case For a Divorced Man Not Serving As a Pastor or a Deacon

Potential Evidence #1: In Paul’s description of the qualifications for a pastor, he says that a pastor should be a man “who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence” (1 Timothy 3:4). He then offers some parenthetical commentary on that qualification by adding: “(for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?)” (N.K.J.V.). Similarly, he says of deacons: “…ruling their children and their own houses well” (1 Timothy 3:12, N.K.J.V.).

In light of this qualification, it might be argued that a divorce, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it, shows that a man has had trouble in ruling his own house well and is therefore unqualified to serve as a pastor or a deacon. For example, how likely is it that a couple who are experiencing marital difficulties will seek counsel from a man whose own marriage ended in divorce? It’s no more likely than parents with disobedient children seeking counsel from a father whose own children are rebels.

Potential Evidence #2: The Bible does teach that the husband is the head of the home (Ephesians 5:22-24; 1 Corinthians 11:3; 1 Peter 3:1; Genesis 3:16), but what needs to be understood is that headship is about responsibilities rather than rights. So, while a husband might delegate certain roles in the marriage (handling the finances, picking out the furniture, etc.), what God won’t allow him to do is delegate the responsibility of the overall health and welfare of the marriage. And what does this principle of the husband’s headship have to do with divorced pastors and deacons? The answer is that it might be applied to the circumstances of any divorce, no matter which spouse had the greater part in causing the divorce.

The Bible’s classic example of the responsibility of the husband’s headship is the story of Adam and Eve. Even though Eve was the one who first ate the forbidden fruit and in so doing crippled the couple’s marriage, when God came looking for them He specifically called to Adam and asked, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9). Why did He ask for Adam? He did it because in God’s eyes it’s the husband who first has to answer for any marriage problems that occur on his watch. You see, even if the wife is the one who commits the sin, the question can be asked, “What did the husband do or not do that led her to that course of action?” That is the price of headship.

In Adam’s marriage, apparently what he didn’t do was adequately teach Eve the one law of the Garden of Eden. That law was: Don’t eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What many people don’t realize is that Eve hadn’t been created yet when God imparted that law to Adam. Genesis chapter 2 is the chapter that goes into the most detail about the couple’s creation, and in that chapter Eden’s one law is given in verses 15-17. That’s noteworthy because Eve isn’t created until verses 21-22. Therefore, evidently, God left it up to Adam to teach the law to Eve.

Surely Adam carried out that duty, but somehow he didn’t do a thorough enough job with it. As evidence of this, we see that when Satan (speaking through the serpent) questioned Eve about the law, she couldn’t even quote it correctly. Concerning the fruit, she added in “nor shall you touch it” (Genesis 3:3). That was the world’s first case of adding something to the word of God, and it was an indicator that Adam hadn’t done an ideal job in teaching his wife Eden’s law. Even though his failure didn’t rise to the level of sin, it did help create an atmosphere in his marriage by which sin could more easily enter into the picture.

Potential Evidence #3: Sin that has been confessed, repented of, and forgiven by God can still carry lasting earthly consequences. When David sinned by committing adultery with Bathsheba and having her husband, Uriah, killed (2 Samuel 11:1-27), God forgave David of the sin (2 Samuel 12:13). That didn’t mean, though, that David’s sin didn’t bear lasting consequences. For one thing, God raised up adversity that plagued David and his family until his death (2 Samuel 12:10-12). For another, the baby boy that was conceived from David’s first night with Bathsheba died shortly after being born (2 Samuel 12:14-23).

Along the same lines, let’s say that a pastor has an affair with his church secretary. The affair causes the man’s marriage to end in divorce and the whole scandal becomes very public. Can that pastor confess his sin, repent of it, and receive God’s forgiveness for it? Absolutely. But what he can’t do is put the genie back in the bottle of him meeting the qualification about having a good testimony (reputation) among those who are outside the church.

Proverbs 6:33 touches upon this when it says of an adulterer: “Wounds and dishonor he will get, And his reproach will not be wiped away” (N.K.J.V., emphasis mine). If that last part sounds ominous, it’s because it is. Just ask David. As he found out, the reproach of some sins sticks with you long after you receive forgiveness for the sin and are restored back to right fellowship with God.

Based upon all this, in the situation of a divorced man — particularly one whose sin was the cause of his divorce — it doesn’t automatically follow that him receiving God’s forgiveness of his sin makes him eligible to serve as a pastor or a deacon. You say, “But God forgave the sin.” He did, but the issue isn’t whether or not God will forgive sin. He will. The issue isn’t even whether or not God can still use that man in His service. He can. The issue is whether or not that man is qualified to fill the specific role of pastor or deacon. That’s another question altogether.

Potential Evidence #4: In 1 Corinthians 9:27, Paul says, “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (N.K.J.V.). There is much debate as to why Paul had to guard his self-discipline so closely. Perhaps it was to guard himself against committing the sin of sexual immorality that he mentions in 1 Corinthians 6:18. Nevertheless, regardless of what Paul feared about how he might become disqualified from the ministry, the important lesson that we can glean from his words is that he did think it was possible for him to actually become disqualified (“a castaway,” K.J.V.).

Here again we aren’t talking about a man not being able to do anything in God’s service. We are talking about him holding specific titles in the church. For Paul, he could have become disqualified from serving as an apostle, a prophet, an evangelist, a pastor, or a teacher (Ephesians 4:11). For the divorced men of today, it might be them becoming disqualified as pastors or deacons. At least that’s one plausible interpretation.

Now, as I head for home with this post and this series, let me say that I’m not the czar of pastors or deacons and don’t want to come off sounding like I am. What I’ve tried to do in this series is draw attention to a controversial, complex, and (let’s just say it) downright emotional issue in our churches and present the various facets of that issue. Like most of you, I don’t enjoy having to deal with this stuff. In my case, though, I’m a pastor who sometimes has the responsibility of helping ordain new preachers and deacons. Consequently, I don’t have the luxury of just saying, “Oh, I don’t want to think about that. Let someone else figure it all out.” No, I am that someone else.

Rest assured that I haven’t written these posts to “get” anyone. My own house has far too much glass to it for me to be throwing rocks at anyone. I’m just trying to live up to the standard that Paul spoke of during his speech to the elders (pastors) of Ephesus. He said, “For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27, N.K.J.V., emphasis mine). Sometimes that whole counsel isn’t easy to declare, but it still needs to be declared. We can only wish that it was always easier to interpret and we were always in 100% agreement as to its interpretation and application.

Posted in Adultery, Church, Deacons, Divorce, Divorce & Remarriage, God's Work, Husbands, Marriage, Ministry, Parenting, Pastors, Preaching, Series: "Divorced Pastors & Deacons?" | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Divorced Pastors & Deacons? (post #2 of 3)

Posted on July 4, 2018 by russellmckinney

This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife… (1 Timothy 3:1-2, N.K.J.V.)

For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you — if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife… (Titus 1:5-6)

Let deacons be the husbands of one wife… (1 Timothy 3:12, N.K.J.V.)

You’ll note that the New King James translation uses the terms “bishop,” “elders,” and “deacons” in these passages. I’ll begin, then, by explaining that the New Testament uses “bishop,” “elder,” “pastor,” and “shepherd” interchangeably (1 Timothy 3:1-2; Titus 1:5-7; Ephesians 4:11; 1 Peter 5:1-4; Acts 20:17-28). Each of these terms refers to the office called “pastor” in Baptist circles. As for the term “deacon,” there is a consistency of usage in the New Testament.

With this understood, we come now to the much debated phrase “the husband of one wife” in each of our text references. If a church doesn’t allow a divorced man to serve as a pastor or a deacon, that’s the piece of scripture that gets used to do the disqualifying. But what does the phrase really mean? Historically, it has been interpreted in at least five ways. Let’s examine each one.

#1: Some take the phrase to mean that a pastor or a deacon must be a married man, no single guys allowed. Even though some devout Christians staunchly hold to this interpretation, the fact is that it contradicts multiple passages of scripture. For example, Jesus spoke of single men who purposely choose to remain single and celibate for the sake of the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 19:12). Are we to believe that such men aren’t qualified to serve as pastors or deacons? Likewise, Paul himself was single (even though it’s possible he was a widower), and yet apparently he played the role of pastor in Ephesus for over two years (Acts 19:1-10). Actually, when we get right down to it, he played the role of founding pastor to each church that he began during his missionary travels.

Furthermore, Paul sung the praises of the single life in regards to Christian service. He even went so far as to encourage unmarried Christians to remain single, with the only codicil being that if they couldn’t practice self control sexually, they should get married (1 Corinthians 7:7-9). As he described the situation, the unmarried person has the opportunity to care exclusively for “the things of the Lord” but the married person, by necessity, has to also care for a spouse (1 Corinthians 7:32-34).

For that matter, if we interpret the phrase “the husband of one wife” to mean that a pastor or a deacon must be married, consistency of interpretation requires us to additionally mandate that the man must have children (1 Timothy 3:4,12; Titus 1:6). Also, if Paul’s purpose was merely to convey that a pastor or a deacon must be married, why did he add in the word “one” to the phrase “the husband of one wife”? All he had to say was that the man should be “a husband.”

#2: Some take the phrase to mean that if a pastor’s first wife or a deacon’s first wife dies, the widower must never remarry. Many of the earliest commentators (2nd and 3rd century) favored this interpretation, but the glaring problem is that it stands against what Paul teaches about such a remarriage in Romans 7:1-3, 1 Timothy 5:14, and 1 Corinthians 7:1-9, 26-28, and 39-40. Also, Abraham remarried after the death of Sarah, and God blessed that second marriage (Genesis 25:1-4). Admittedly, Abraham didn’t live in the New Testament age and certainly wasn’t a pastor or a deacon, but his second marriage does seem to provide us with a scriptural example of God’s opinion of a widower or a widow remarrying.

Genesis 2:18 might also apply here. In that verse, God says, “It is not good that man should be alone…” Paul’s harsh words in 1 Timothy 4:1-3 might come into play, too. There, he condemns certain false teachers of his day who were actually forbidding marriage. And then there is Hebrews 13:4, which says: “Marriage is honorable among all…” Presumably, that word “all” would include widowers, even widowed pastors and deacons.

#3: Some take the phrase to be a cultural prohibition against polygamy. While this interpretation might seem to make sense on the surface, upon closer inspection we find that it really doesn’t hold water. Yes, polygamy was often practiced among the people of the Old Testament era (even the Jews), and, yes, the practice did continue among certain races in the New Testament era. But that’s where the interpretation falls apart because polygamy was decidedly not common in the Roman empire which served as the setting for the pages of the New Testament. Much to the contrary, monogamy was one of the distinguishing features of both the Roman empire and the Greek empire that so heavily influenced the Romans.

Because of this it’s not surprising that there is no scriptural indication whatsoever that polygamy was any kind of a problem among the Christians of the early churches. Many commentators even point out that a polygamist wouldn’t have been granted membership status in an early church congregation, let alone be afforded the option of serving as a pastor or a deacon. Why, then, would Paul waste time and words condemning an irrelevant practice?

For another thing, just as Paul uses the phrase “the husband of one wife” in our text passages, he uses the similar phrase “the wife of one husband” in 1 Timothy 5:9. And yet the phrase there cannot refer to a woman being married to multiple husbands at the same time because that option was historically never available to women. This proves that when he talks about “the husband of one wife” or “the wife of one husband,” he’s not talking about polygamy.

#4: Some take the phrase to simply mean “one wife at a time. ” This interpretation is lent credence by the fact that the original Greek behind the phrase literally means “a one-woman man.” The interpretation is also easy to apply and doesn’t kick up much dust because it allows for a man who is a divorcee to hold the office of pastor or deacon even if he is remarried. The interpretation, however, is not without its problems.

One of them is that it sets a very low bar in regards to application. In the most liberal cases, a man could be on his third or fourth marriage and yet still be qualified to be a pastor or a deacon as long as things were going well with his latest marriage. Frankly, such a low bar seems incompatible with the other spiritually lofty qualifications Paul lists in 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:1-9. Those other qualifications certainly don’t sound as if he is describing a lowered standard for a potential candidate’s marital status.

An even greater problem with the interpretation is that it doesn’t address what Jesus taught about the adultery that is created when a man remarries in the wake of an unscriptural divorce. Did you know that the judge downtown can’t truly grant a God-approved divorce? Oh, sure, he can grant a legal divorce, but legal isn’t the same as being approved by God. Jesus said of marriage, “…what God has joined together, let not man separate” (Matthew 19:6). This means that a husband and a wife remain married in the eyes of God until He grants the divorce. It naturally follows, then, that if an earthly divorce takes place apart from God-sanctioned grounds, the first spouse to remarry after that earthly divorce becomes an adulterer regardless of who he or she marries (Mark 10:11-12; Luke 16:18; Romans 7:1-3).      

And just what is an unscriptural divorce? It’s one that doesn’t meet either of God’s two requirements for divorce. Jesus gave us the first of those requirements, and Paul gave us the other one.

We’ll start with Jesus. He taught that sexual sin (the Greek word porneia) perpetrated against the wronged spouse is God-approved grounds for divorce (Matthew 5:31-32; 19:9). The New King James translation translates porneia as “sexual immorality.” The old King James translation translates it as “fornication.” It is from porneia that we get our English word “pornography.”

The New Testament Greek uses porneia as an umbrella term to refer to any type of sexual sin. The list includes premarital sex (1 Corinthians 7:2), adultery (John 8:41), incest (1 Corinthians 5:1), and homosexuality (Jude verse 7, where ekporneuo is used as a strengthened form of porneia). This means that when one spouse sins against another spouse in some type of porneia way, the wronged spouse has God-approved grounds to get a divorce. Furthermore, in such cases the wronged spouse can marry again without marrying into adultery (1 Corinthians 7:27-28).

Now let’s get to what Paul taught on the subject. He added in that if a non-Christian spouse voluntarily leaves a Christian spouse, God will grant the Christian spouse a divorce (1 Corinthians 7:12-15). Of course, such a union is an “unequal yoke” anyway (2 Corinthians 6:14-18), but unequal yokes do occur. It was especially a problem in the days of the early churches as one spouse would convert to Christianity while the other spouse would remain unconverted.

The upshot of all this is that interpreting the qualification “the husband of one wife” to mean “one wife at a time” can potentially open up a Pandora’s box of problems for not only the divorced man but also his church. What were the circumstances of the man’s divorce? Was the divorce approved of God? Is the man remarried? Even if the divorce was approved by God, was the remarriage God’s will for the man’s life? These are all legitimate questions.

#5: Some take the phrase to mean that a divorced man, regardless of the reasons for his divorce and regardless of whether or not he remarries, should not serve as a pastor or a deacon. As I mentioned in the previous post, this was the stereotypical interpretation used by most Baptist churches, especially conservative ones, for a long time. These churches viewed remarriage by a widower to be acceptable and not grounds for disqualification as a pastor or a deacon, but a divorce cast major suspicion upon a man’s spiritual resume, and a remarriage following a divorce was a death knell for his potential as a pastor or a deacon.

But is this 5th interpretation really what Paul had in mind? Well, the interpretation’s strength is that it covers more of the scriptural bases than any of the other other four. That’s a strong point in its favor. Also, it errs on the side of caution, and that’s another point in its favor. Let’s face it, anytime we are dealing with a controversial, debatable topic from scripture, we can do a lot worse than erring on the side of caution in how we apply it.

On the other hand, though, the interpretation does have one weakness: It doesn’t make any allowance for either of those two God-approved grounds for divorce. If Jesus and Paul had not specifically named those two grounds, I would have no hesitancy about fully embracing this 5th interpretation and running with it. But I have to admit that those two grounds do give me pause. They make me ask, “If God has granted a man a divorce and perhaps even approved a remarriage for him, does that by implication show that He has wiped the slate clean in regards to the man serving as a pastor or a deacon?”

That’s the question I will attempt to address in my next post, which will be the last post in this series. I’ll first list some of the scriptural reasons that could seemingly be used to allow a divorced man to serve as a pastor or a deacon. Then I’ll list some of the scriptural reasons that could seemingly be used to keep him from playing either role. In other words, I’ll try to present both sides of the argument. That’s the best way I know to provide a fair hearing all the way around for everybody. So until then, I’ll ask you to once more stay tuned.

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Divorced Pastors & Deacons? (post #1 of 3)

Posted on July 2, 2018 by russellmckinney

My home church, Mckinney Cove Baptist, licensed me to preach in October of 1992, and I was formally ordained into the ministry in February of 1993. Since that time I have seen many changes in regards to how Baptist churches function. No change, however, has been more marked than the change in standards for who can serve as either a pastor or a deacon in a Baptist church. Specifically, I’m talking about the issue of divorced men serving in those roles.

I can’t speak as an expert on all Baptist churches of all sizes across the globe, but I can certainly do so with expertise regarding the smallish, rural, “country” churches of my area. In 1993, the only such churches that would allow a divorced man to fulfill the role of pastor or deacon were the moderate/liberal churches that leaned left on matters of theology and the interpretation of certain passages. As for the conservative churches, they just didn’t roll that way.

Then came the Charles Stanley situation. In case you don’t know, Charles Stanley is the longtime pastor of First Baptist Church of Atlanta, Georgia. He is a two-time President of the Southern Baptist Convention, and his television/radio/internet ministry, In Touch, reaches millions of people each day. He’s also a bestselling author who has written many dozens of books, more than I could even begin to name. Suffice is to say that a whole bunch of Baptists have loved Charles Stanley for a long time.

In 1992, Stanley and his wife, Anna, separated after having been married since 1958. Even though Anna hadn’t been attending church with Charles for some time, the separation came as a shock to many church members. A few months later, in June of 1993, Anna officially filed for divorce. Not long afterward, though, the scandal was temporarily lessened when she agreed to amend the filing and seek reconciliation of the marriage. In the meantime, Charles continued unabated in his role as the pastor of First Baptist, Atlanta.

Despite sincere attempts at reconciliation, however, Anna again filed for divorce in March of 1995. In an open letter to the church, she said, “Charles, in effect, abandoned our marriage. He chose his priorities, and I have not been one of them.” At this point Charles told his congregation that if the divorce ever became final he would resign as pastor. However, the church’s 38-member board of deacons — by a vote of 35 to 3 — recommended that the congregation keep Stanley on as pastor. In October of 1995, nearly 90% of approximately 5,000 members of the church voted to accept the deacon board’s recommendation, which in effect placed the ongoing decision to resign or not to resign in Stanley’s hands.

But there was no quick resolution, either way, in sight for the scandal. What followed were several more years of work toward the reconciliation of the marriage, not to mention more legal wrangling done by the lawyers involved. As more and more time passed, though, it became increasingly obvious that the marriage was going to end in divorce. Ultimately, this prompted the managers of the Moody Radio Network in Atlanta to go ahead and take Stanley’s daily In Touch broadcast off the air, even as Stanley continued on as the pastor of First Baptist, Atlanta.

It was also during this time that a rift of separation occurred between Charles and his popular son, Andy. Andy had originally joined the staff of First Baptist, Atlanta, as a Youth Minister, but over the years it had become generally assumed that Charles was grooming him to be his successor at the church. While this announcement of succession was never publicly stated, it was the logical assumption considering that Charles often broadcast Andy’s pulpit sermons from the church on his In Touch broadcasts. In addition to these broadcasts, Charles had also appointed Andy as the pastor of First Baptist’s satellite campus, which opened its doors on Easter Sunday of 1992. Within two months, that campus boasted 2,000 members.

As the separation/divorce scandal continued to unfold, Charles was shocked to learn that Andy agreed with the many notable Baptist pastors who felt that Charles should either resign as pastor or at least take a lengthy hiatus to devote himself to the restoration of his marriage. What Andy really wanted his father to do was go to the pulpit and read a letter of resignation, thus giving the church the choice of either accepting the resignation or rejecting it. Andy believed that the church would reject the resignation and that the gesture by Charles would bring some much needed decompression to the whole situation.

Charles, for his part, viewed Andy’s suggestion as more or less a treasonous betrayal. According to a CNN article that was published in 2012, Charles told Andy during a highly charged meeting between the two, “Andy, you have joined my enemies, and I’m your father.” In that same article, Charles assessed that difficult period of his life by saying, “I felt like this was a huge battle, and if Andy had been in a huge battle…you’d have to crawl over me to get to him, no matter what. I didn’t feel like he did that.”

It certainly didn’t help matters that Andy’s satellite campus was starting to outdraw Charles’ congregation, so much so that Andy’s staff actually asked First Baptist, Atlanta, to give them the satellite campus’ property outright so that the new congregation could become autonomous. But Charles rejected that idea, with his reasons being that the satellite campus had been his idea in the first place and that the campus wouldn’t have done nearly so well out of the gate if it hadn’t been backed by First Baptist’s money.

And so how did Andy respond to Charles’ negative reaction to his suggestion that Charles offer his resignation to the church and let the members decide what to do with it? He left not only First Baptist, Atlanta, but also the satellite campus. He walked away with no church, no salary, and no health benefits. He did, however, still have his famous name, his preaching ability, and his pastoral gifting. So, in 1995, shortly after his departure, he and a small group of other young pastors founded North Point Community Church. In the years since, that church has become one of the largest churches in America (much larger than First Baptist, Atlanta) and has multiple campuses of its own.

Finally, in May of 2000, the divorce between Charles and Anna Stanley became official and legal. The big question now was, “Would Charles resign as pastor?” He answered it by announcing to the congregation that God had told him, “You keep doing what I called you to until I tell you to stop.” Stanley took that word as God’s permission to continue serving as the pastor of the church. As things turned out, that decision sat well with the vast majority of the church because they wanted Charles to remain as pastor anyway. Their only stipulation was that he should never remarry as long as Anna was alive.

It is now 2018, Charles Stanley is 85 years old, and he continues to serve as the pastor of First Baptist, Atlanta. He’s served in that role for over 47 years, 18 of them coming after his divorce became official. He has never remarried (even though Anna died in 2014) and many of the people who now listen to his sermons have no idea that he is divorced. Even among those who do, it’s not that big a deal to them. In December of 2017, he presented a pastoral plan of succession to First Baptist, Atlanta, and the church approved the plan. It stated that Senior Associate Pastor Anthony George will assume the role of Senior Pastor of the church at “such time in the future, known only to God, that Dr. Stanley ceases to be the Senior Pastor of the church.”

Now, as I begin to wrap up this post, let me say that my purpose in writing it has been simply to present the facts of the Stanley divorce rather than render any personal opinion about it. I chose to hone in on that specific divorce because it is far and away the most famous one from the ministerial circles of my own denomination, the Southern Baptist Convention. Truth be told, I’m not sure if Stanley’s divorce and continued pastorate paved the way for the others that would follow or if his just happened to be the firstfruits of a trend that was bound to inevitably rise with or without him. In other words, was the Stanley divorce and continued pastorate an enabler that gave other divorced pastors and their churches an excuse to break away from the stereotypical Baptist standard? Or was it merely one prominent example of how the old standard was already beginning to slip in Baptist circles? My guess is that it was some of both.

Either way, what is undeniable is that in the years since I was first ordained into the ministry there has been a significant change in the attitude toward not only divorced pastors but also divorced deacons. Summing up that change, divorce isn’t nearly the deal-breaker it used to be. Still, the question that needs to be asked is the one that many Christians don’t want to touch with a ten-foot pole: “Is God truly on board with this new attitude?” Ah, now you’re on a subject, and it’s one that we’ll look at the pros and cons of in the next couple of posts. So stay tuned.

Posted in Church, Deacons, Divorce, Marriage, Ministry, Pastors, Series: "Divorced Pastors & Deacons?" | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

“Christian Verses” Podcast: Psalm 90:12

Posted on June 30, 2018 by russellmckinney

The verse says: “So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom” (N.K.J.V.). Numbering your days equates to using them wisely by filling them with the things God would have you to do. It’s the opposite of playing “trivial pursuit” with your life or constantly chasing your own desires. In this week’s podcast Malcolm and I discuss how the Christian can fulfill Psalm 90:12. We talk about how the demands of society work against the idea of living each day to the fullest, and we identify a way to counteract those demands. We also look to Jesus as the ultimate example of the one who counted His days by doing the things that made His days count. Here’s the link:

https://soundcloud.com/user-185243867/make-every-day-countcv2018022

Posted in "Christian Verses" podcast, God's Will, Human Life, Priorities | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Going Backward in Life

Posted on June 29, 2018 by russellmckinney

“But this I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’ Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, followed the counsels and dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.” (Jeremiah 7:23-24, N.K.J.V.)

I’d had my driver’s license only a few weeks when I suffered my first wreck. And what was I doing when I wrecked? Going backward.

My dad, my brother, and I were in our family’s Buick Regal and late for a church-league softball game. We’d gotten about a half mile down the road when I realized that I’d forgotten my glove. So, rather than turn the car around like a normal person would do, I just threw the thing into reverse and set about to back all the way home. To this day, I have no earthly idea why I did that. My dad, who was in the passenger’s seat, just kept asking, “What are you doing, Russell? What are you doing, Russell?” My brother, who was in the back seat, pulled the old “duck and cover” move in the floorboard.

I hadn’t gotten very far into my adventure when the car started swerving. That should have been my cue that my plan of attack was a poor one. Undeterred, though, I just kept going, even picking up momentum, like the guy who hears he’s going the wrong way and doubles his speed. And I continued to pick up speed, like a runaway locomotive, right up until the moment I lost control of the car and put it into the ditch off to my right. I still remember my dad having to crawl out by way of the driver’s door because his door was pinned shut. To say that he wasn’t happy with me would be a sizable understatement.

Our text passage caused me to recall that story as the verses speak of going backward rather than forward. Through the prophet Jeremiah, God tells the people of Judah, “Because your forefathers did not obey My commandments but instead followed their own ideas and desires, they went backward and not forward.” Isn’t that interesting? Here these people were, trying to progress and make themselves better by implementing their own logic and ideas, when in reality that logic and those ideas caused them to regress and become worse.

Even today many people think of God’s word as being old fashioned, archaic, outdated, and irrelevant to these modern times. These people say, “We’ve got to get away from the old standards of the Bible so that we can embrace bold, new ideas for this bold, new age. That’s the only way we can move society forward.” But the truth is that anyone who follows the counsels and dictates of their own heart rather than those of God’s word actually goes backward in life. It’s God who is the forward thinker, not us. And when we ignore His word and follow our own thinking, we barrel in reverse toward an inevitable wreck in an inevitable ditch.

Posted in Backsliding, Bible Study, Choices, Coming Judgment, Counsel, Decisions, Depravity, Desires, Disobedience, Faithfulness, God's Guidance, God's Will, God's Word, Man's Freewill, Obedience, Personal, Personal Holiness, Rebellion, Scripture, Sin, The Bible, Trusting In God, Truth | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Can You Trust Your Work?

Posted on June 27, 2018 by russellmckinney

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10, N.K.J.V.)

It is said that Napoleon once ordered a coat of mail. (Mail is a steel mesh kind of armor in which metal rings are linked together and worn over the top half of the body to protect the chest.) When the artisan completed the armor, he hand-delivered it to Napoleon. To the artisan’s surprise, though, Napoleon promptly ordered him to put the armor on himself. Then Napoleon took a pistol and fired several shots at the armor. Fortunately for the artisan, his work stood true, after which Napoleon rewarded him with a large fee.

I have no idea whether or not this story is actually true, but it certainly conveys a valuable spiritual lesson to every Christian. That lesson is: As we do our work for Christ, we should make sure our work is high-grade quality. Anything done for the King of Kings demands nothing less.

As for the testing of our work, well, each Christian will surely have his or her moment standing before the King for examination. Have you heard of the Judgment Seat of Christ? Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:10 tell us that every Christian must appear before that judgment in heaven, and 1 Corinthians 3:13-15 explains that the judgment will somehow involve fire. Worthy work will come through the fire unscathed and be rewarded with heavenly reward, while unworthy work will be obliterated by the fire and fail to merit heavenly reward.

We Christians are so busy, aren’t we? We spend our days and nights running here and there, doing this and that, trying to carve out our various niches in life. But will everything we are doing withstand the fire of the heavenly Judgment Seat of Christ? Ah, there’s the question. No doubt the sad truth is that we shouldn’t be doing some of the things we are doing, and we aren’t doing a good enough job with some of the things we should be doing.

Christian, my purpose in writing this post is simple. I want you to slow down long enough to ask yourself, “When it comes to serving Jesus, am I doing the work I’m supposed to be doing? And am I doing that work in a worthy manner?” You see, your work isn’t my work and my work isn’t your work, but make no mistake, the Lord has work that He wants each of us to do.

The ideal, of course, is each Christian doing the right work in the right way. All such work will ultimately be rewarded handsomely in heaven. But if we are doing either the wrong work or the right work in a slipshod manner, we needn’t expect any heavenly reward for it. While the fire of the Judgment Seat of Christ can’t create a lost salvation, it can and will create a loss of some eternal rewards. That’s why you need to get this right, Christian. Neither your life nor your salvation is depending upon it, but the number of eternal rewards you will one day receive definitely is.

Posted in Backsliding, Commitment, Discernment, Discipleship, Doing Good, Eternal Security, Eternity, Faithfulness, God's Will, God's Work, Heaven, Individuality, Ministry, Obedience, Priorities, Reward, Sanctification, Service, Sowing and Reaping, The Judgment Seat of Christ, Work | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Man Who Couldn’t Sort Potatoes

Posted on June 25, 2018 by russellmckinney

A farmer hired a man to work for him. The worker’s first job was to paint the barn. The farmer said, “The job should take you about three days.” To the farmer’s surprise, however, the worker finished the job in one day.

Next the farmer gave the worker the job of cutting firewood. Since the supply of wood had gotten low, the job was a big one, even bigger than painting the barn. The farmer said, “I figure this job will take you about four days.” To the farmer’s surprise, however, the worker completed the job in a day and a half.

The next job that needed doing was sorting a large pile of potatoes. The farmer told the worker, “I want you to arrange these potatoes into three piles: seed potatoes, food for the hogs, and potatoes that are good enough to sell. This is easy work. It shouldn’t take long at all.” But when the farmer checked on the worker a few hours later the worker had barely begun the job. The farmer said, “What’s the problem here? You finished those first two jobs so quickly that I assumed you’d knock this one out in no time.” The worker said, “The problem is that I’m a hard worker but I can’t make decisions!”

Do you find that you have a lot in common with that worker? Do you have trouble making decisions? If so, then allow me to share some Bible passages with you. As you read these let the truth found in them wash over you. And what is that truth? It’s that God will help you to make the right decisions if you will seek Him, His wisdom, and His plan for your life. Here are the passages:

  • Who are those who fear the Lord? He will show them the path they should choose. (Psalm 25:12, N.L.T.)
  • The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.” (Psalm 32:8, N.L.T.)
  • Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. (Proverbs 3:5-6, N.K.J.V.)
  • Your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” Whenever you turn to the right hand Or whenever you turn to the left.” (Isaiah 30:21, N.K.J.V.)
  • If you need wisdom — if you want to know what God wants you to do — ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. (James 1:5-6, N.L.T.)
Posted in Choices, Decisions, Discernment, God's Guidance, God's Will, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

“Christian Verses” Podcast: Psalm 16:11

Posted on June 24, 2018 by russellmckinney

Quick question: How much joy do you have? A second quick question: Even if you think you have some joy, would other people say that you do? In this week’s podcast Malcolm and I take Psalm 16:11 and use it as the basis for a discussion on the subject of joy. Joy isn’t the same thing as happiness. It isn’t the same thing as pleasure, either. No, joy is its own separate, unique thing. Learn more about it the podcast. Here’s the link:

https://soundcloud.com/user-185243867/the-emotion-of-joycv2018021

Posted in "Christian Verses" podcast, Joy | Leave a comment

“This Is Good!”

Posted on June 23, 2018 by russellmckinney

A king in Africa had a close friend who had a habit of looking at any situation and proclaiming, “This is good!” One day, as the two were hunting, the friend had the job of loading the king’s gun. Unfortunately, something went wrong in the loading process and the king’s thumb was blown off by backfire when he fired the gun. The friend looked at the king’s mangled hand and said, “This is good!” The king, as would be expected, couldn’t have disagreed more. He said, “No, this is NOT good!” and promptly had his friend imprisoned.

A year later the king went hunting again, and this time he dared venture into a dangerous area known to be occupied by cannibals. But the gamble cost him severely as a cannibal tribe captured him, took him to their village, tied him to a stake, and began to build a fire underneath him. It was then, however, that they noticed that he was missing his thumb. Being superstitious, they labeled him “damaged goods” not worthy to be eaten and immediately released him.

On his return trip home, the king recalled the events that had caused him to lose his thumb and started feeling remorse about how he had treated his old friend. Upon arriving safely home, he made his way to the site of the friend’s imprisonment to order the man’s release. After setting him free, the king said to him, “You were right that it was good that my thumb was blown off.” Then he told his friend the harrowing tail of his close call with the cannibals. He finished by saying, “So, you see, I shouldn’t have had you imprisoned. It was very bad of me to do that.” But the friend, in typical fashion, said, “No, this is good!” The king asked, “What do you mean? How can you being imprisoned wrongly be GOOD?” To that the friend replied, “If I had not been imprisoned, I would have been with you on the hunting trip.”

Even though this isn’t a Bible story, it does illustrate the Biblical truth that God is sovereign enough to take even bad things and use them to accomplish great good. Death, diseases, sicknesses, accidents, divorces, family problems, loss of employment, financial troubles, etc. are decidedly NOT good. No one is saying they are. The lesson, though, is that God can bring good out of all of them.

It’s been said that God never wastes anything because He knows how to use everything in His service. Well, that’s true, and it even includes bad things. So, here’s a helpful spiritual exercise for you to do: Think about any bad thing that has happened to you, and then spend some time honestly assessing the fallout from that thing and giving God credit for the good that He has brought out of it. If you will do this exercise, I think you’ll find that the good is there. Our problem is that we rarely take the time to look for it.

Posted in Adversity, Attitude, Balance, Comfort, Complaining, Contentment, Death, Decisions, Depression, Disappointment, Discernment, Divorce, Divorce & Remarriage, Doubt, Encouragement, Faith, Fear, Friendship, God's Foreknowledge, God's Omniscience, God's Provision, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, Grace, Persecution, Perseverance, Problems, Restoration, Sickness, Suffering, Thankfulness, Trials, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Being a Godsend

Posted on June 20, 2018 by russellmckinney

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:9-10, N.K.J.V.)

An article in the USA Today newspaper told the story of a couple who boarded TWA flight 265 in New York to fly to Orlando for a trip to Disney World. Thirty minutes into the flight the woman, who was almost seven months pregnant, doubled over in pain and began bleeding. She was going into premature labor.

A doctor was badly needed and fortunately there was an internist from Long Island, New York, on the flight. He volunteered his services and with his help the woman soon gave birth to a boy. But the baby was in trouble. The umbilical cord was wrapped tightly around his neck and he wasn’t breathing. The lack of oxygen had already turned his face blue.

At this point, two paramedics volunteered to help, and one of them just happened to specialize in infant respiratory procedures. He asked if anyone had a straw because he planned to use it to suction fluid from the baby’s lungs. Unfortunately, the plane didn’t stock straws and so there were none to be found.

However, a flight attendant happened to remember that she had a straw left over from a juice box she had brought on board. That straw was quickly located, and the paramedic inserted it into the baby’s lungs as his fellow paramedic administered CPR to the child. While they were doing all that, the internist used a passenger’s shoelace to tie off the umbilical cord.

Four minutes passed as the three men worked feverishly to save the lifeless baby. Then, at last, the child whimpered. Shortly afterward the child was breathing on its own. Cheers went up all over the plane as it was announced that the little boy was fine. The parents named the boy Matthew, which means “Godsent” or “Gift from the Lord.” According to the father, the people on board the plane “were all Godsends.”

This true story is a perfect example of how God meets peoples’ needs through other people. Rather than send down angels from heaven to deliver that baby, He orchestrated events to have an internist and two paramedics on board that flight. Rather than cause a straw to miraculously appear out of thin air, He arranged things so that a flight attendant could carry it on board that airplane.

So, my question to you right now is: Who do you know that has a need that God could meet by using you as His Godsend? People with needs are everywhere. We just have to start looking a little more closely and listening a little more intently to find them.

Posted in Doing Good, Friendship, Giving, God's Provision, God's Sovereignty, God's Work, Influence, Ministry, Missions, Money, Needs, Obedience, Problems, Service, Stewardship | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment