( Just in case you don't know what I'm talking about, Ted was the pastor of an amazing church body called New Life Church in Colorado Springs. 11,000 members there. And he was the head of the National Association of Evangelicals, a rather massive organization here in the States. Apparently he has been buying drugs from a gay prostitute and has been involved in sexually immoral conduct.)
Twice during our years in Kenya we had the joy of hosting groups of young people from New Life who came all the way out to our place among the Maasai to do summer mission work. They were great.
Amid all the grief, I'm thankful that I'm not hearing judgementalism. I just hear a terrible sadness. There are many things to grieve in this situation which we can all see without me pointing them out.
For me, I am mostly sad that it doesn't seem like there was a small group around Ted that all had total access into each other's lives, who asked the hard questions and who fought for each other. Maybe there was a group like this and he was holding out on them. I don't know. But it doesn't appear that way from here.
In all of this, I am thankful for a couple of things. I am thankful for the teammates I have shared life with who are raw and bold with each other. I am thankful that Peter and Tammy, whom we will soon join in Tanzania, are this way too. Not to say that their closeness can totally keep me from sin. I'm sure I can hold out on people if I want to. But at least we value and work toward transparency. Though it's not always comfortable, I am grateful.
And I am thankful for the way it seems that Ted is handling what is going on. You can read his full statement to New Life Church here
I keep thinking that somehow in heaven there is joy as another one of us faces his brokenness.
4 comments:
yah, though these things are sad. maybe they are good to remind us that NO human can be what we need. i dont really get so flustered over these type things, cause we are human....so what do we expect.
it is sad though that it feels like there could have been the lack of intimate community around him to support and fight for his heart.
I read his statement to his church and I too was encouraged by what he had to say. This is such a very sad thing, but we can learn from the way it is being handled...he admitted his sin and blamed no one else, he is being disciplined in a loving manner, and is seeking restoration. I've been very moved by it all...
as we prayed the other night i was thinking, i hope we dont mentally brush him aside or disregard him now. cause even king david screwed up big time and was still the man after God's heart. (not that i know that much about ted hagard to compare him to david)
but i think we christians mentally dismiss people once they have messed up as a leader.
that sux.
yeah we're really good at writing off everything about those who disappoint us. we seem to prefer things black and white.
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