Trailblazin Ministries Blog

Faith

Gifted, But Disqualified

Written by LaRosa Johnson
Friday, 26 October 2007
Filed under: Faith, Ministry

Last night, while my wife and I were driving home from work, we had a discussion about ministry and the number of prominent pastors who have had their name in the news lately for something negative. Of course, much of this is played out in the media and a lot gets taken out of context, so I will leave that open for debate. But nevertheless, the media's portrayal of these matters bears no significance on the acts that these pastors and/or ministers were accused of doing; the fact of the matter is this: they did it, and they got caught. We're going to leave it at that, but the question that came as a result of hearing about such things is this: when do you become disqualified for your position of leadership? That was the question that my wife and I ended up discussing in much detail.

The first thing that we looked at was what the Word had to say concerning the qualifications for an elder/deacon/overseer, which we can find in 1 Timothy 3:1-15.

1 Timothy 3:1-15 (NASB) - 1 It is a trustworthy statement: if any man aspires to the office of overseer , it is a fine work he desires to do.2 An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,3 not addicted to wine or pugnacious, but gentle, peaceable, free from the love of money.4 He must be one who manages his own household well, keeping his children under control with all dignity5 (but if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?),6 and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation incurred by the devil.7 And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

8 Deacons likewise must be men of dignity, not double -tongued, or addicted to much wine or fond of sordid gain,9 but holding to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.10 These men must also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons if they are beyond reproach.11 Women must likewise be dignified, not malicious gossips, but temperate, faithful in all things.12 Deacons must be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households.13 For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a high standing and great confidence in the faith that is in Christ Jesus.

14 I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long;15 but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.

Here we see that the first seven verses deal with the qualifications for an overseer (synonymous with pastor, bishop, or elder), of which there are many. In verses 8 to 13 we find the qualifications for deacons, and then 14 to 15 give us the purpose for such qualifications. From the jump, we can see that these are some pretty hefty guidelines to follow, and there is a perfectly good reason for that. The reason: because there are a lot of people who aren't called to do this! To be a minister or pastor, you really have to be an upright man of God who is walking in holiness. Of course, sin is a given because we all still slip up, but these qualifications are non-negotiable; you cannot mess up in these areas. What happens if you slip up in one of those areas? Simply put, you're disqualified. For how long? Permanently!

Yes, it is a permanent disqualification! Let me qualify this by saying that you do not lose the gift (or even become exempt from using it), but you do lose this office or position of leadership for life. Why? Because there is no way in the world that you can possibly make yourself qualified again because you are no longer above reproach and have abused the trust of those whom you were leading. There is no period of "time away" or "time off" that can bring you out of reproach or restore the trust that you were given.

If this is the case, why do so many pastors feel that they can blatantly fall into sin in one of the above outlined areas and think they can return to ministry after a period of time off? For example, it is fact that one particular pastor has had numerous children outside of wedlock while in his pastoral role, and paternity has been proven in the Maryland courts. There is no way around it, he cheated on his wife, abused the trust of church members (by having children by them), and so on. That is a clear violation of being "a husband of one wife" (i.e. honoring your wife and being a one woman man) and being above reproach. What did this pastor do in response to this? He stepped down for a period, but ultimately resumed his role as senior pastor. Why?! Dude, you've disqualified yourself, you should be nobody's pastor! And he isn't the only pastor to have been in this situation and who did the exact same thing.

What about being free from the love of money? There are too many names to name here, but you can tell just by looking at them, the number of pastors and ministers who appear to glorify money more than they do the Lord. For example, the pastor that I just spoke of has a church website that currently uses the front of a BMW (?) for its splash page, and then the inside of the car as the primary image for the content of the website. What is that all about?! Or what about those who feel that they need $200,000 to build a "prayer room" while they are currently living on land with multiple houses that is worth $4+ million (and soon to be foreclosed on) and writing with pens that cost $5,000? Yeah, you can just tell that they love money. Why are they still in their ministry position?

Furthermore, there are those pastors who feel the need to physically abuse their wives. Didn't qualifications include being peaceable and gentle?! There's no excuse for that, and no way in the world this kind of person should still be in leadership.

After much discussion with my wife, I came to the conclusion that it all boiled down to two things: 1) pride, and 2) power. First, nobody wants to admit that they are wrong or that they have messed up, especially not to a congregation full of people who have put their trust in them. They want to feel that they are invincible and untouchable. Secondly, they want the power. That is why they refuse to permanently step down from their ministry position; they don't want to give up the power, control and prestige that they have amassed as a result of being in that position in the ministry. Both of those are the wrong reason to be in ministry in the first place, as all should be done to the glory and honor of God. It's both funny and painful to know that this is going on and that they are picking and choosing what they want to obey in Scripture. It's also sad because these are the same ones who seem to have the greatest following behind them, as well as be the ones with the most unsound teachings.

Yes, it is a sad day in Christianity. I just pray that there are those out there who heed every word of Scripture and not just pick and choose what they want to hear. I also pray that there would be more pastors and deacons raised up who would be able to fulfill these qualifications without fail, and lead the body of Christ to a deeper and greater relationship with their Father in heaven. That is also what I pray for myself, as I aspire to this position in ministry; I pray that I can remain steadfast and qualified for ministry. As James says in James 3:1, "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment." There was a reason for saying that, I fear for the judgment that these individuals will incur.