Other "Thinking Drafts" and writing by Keith Drury -- http://www.indwes.edu/tuesday .

Responses to "Pastoral Search Report"

Purporting to be a report of the pastoral search committee, this column listed various Bible characters the committee had rejected for one reason or another, then asked where evangelicals should draw the line in moral failures... beyond which a minister gets tossed out, short of he or she gets help, counseling, discipline and correction, but still holds the job? Your responses:

From: holy3x7@ncats.newaygo.mi.us (Jonathan B. White)
You have done an outstanding job of framing an issue that has bothered me for 20 years: the lack of a comprehensive, objective standard of ethical and moral conduct for clergy. I studied accounting in college and worked with a CPA firm before entering ministry. The accounting profession has a higher standard of professional ethics than does the ministry, a state I have felt is scandalous. I've been in meetings where discipline/restoration was discussed and people seemed to completely miss the point when I observed that a secular counselor violating a counseling relationship would receive stricter discipline than would a pastor, or that a school teacher guilty of improper conduct toward a student would face more severe penalties than would a pastor abusing his position of trust toward a member of the congregation. WE NEED A UNIFORM, STANDARD CODE OF MINISTERIAL ETHICS. Pardon me, I just realized that by Internet standards, I shouted.

Another side of this issue that I find interesting is the degree to which standards which are applied are generational and cultural. Porn is no big deal to many boomers, who grew up with it, but is viewed by many veteran pastors as being as bad as, or worse than, adultery. The older pastors (I know this is an over-generalization) often sympathize with a guy who has committed adultery ("it happens so easily," or "we all know how vulnerable we are," but when it comes to the use of porn they go ballistic. I guess they see it as deeply perverted, while adultery is just something that sometimes happens when people are thrown into close proximity. I know some people who read what I just wrote will feel that I am "soft on porn". I don't think I am, it's just that I find the standard some others hold to be deeply confusing. These issues need to be openly discussed, debated, and a standard arrived at. One thing will prevent that from happening. A standard would be branded as legalism. That is what has happened for the past 20 years whenever someone has tried to establish an objective, uniform standard, rather than a subjective, cultural one. --Jonathan White, Michigan

From: Steve (kwc@intranet.ca)
...a little thought that I wrote to myself about 4 or 5 years ago, seems applicable ...I summarized it, and placed it on my desk. - After studying the Timothy and Titus passages on the qualifications for pastoral leadership ... I came to the conclusion that it could be summarized as follows: Exemplary in character and conduct, in private and in public. Steve

From: DnChristy (DnChristy@aol.com)
from Adam to Jesus all those men had one thing in common... they were broken. --in His grip- derek joshua 1:9

From: "Larry Erlandson" (erl@macatawa.org)
What I liked about your list is how well it illustrated that God uses different kinds of people, in different times and places, to communicate his message to different types of people. He made each of us unique with special abilities for certain types of ministry. --Larry Erlandson

From: "Terry Dawson" (TerryDawson@worldnet.att.net)
Keith, I'd love to read all of your mail on this one. That's a tough question. Perhaps the right answer is that we aren't to be drawing the lines, God is. He has shown grace to each and every one of us for offenses that are so great they were judged with the death penalty. Forgiven initially, He still manages to put aside each and every infraction that follows, for "we have trusted in Him alone for our salvation." The question really is: What would disqualify us to minister before men? For man makes up his own mind and chooses to be ministered to by the likes of the Chuck Colsons, Harold Morrises, Ted Bundys and Terry Dawsons of this world. As a man myself, I would have disqualified all four of those guys -- but not God. I can't find any place in scripture where we'll be disqualified by God, short of blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. How much better for us to be looking for ways to express God's grace to others, rather than ways to draw lines that God's Word doesn't draw. On-going sin and the unrepentant sinner seem to be more the problem, and more the issue, than the severity of a particular sin. ---Terry

From: Wesley McCallum (mccallum@ulster.net)
Somewhere on the line between a "Misdemeanor" and "Felony" offense the backsliding minister needs an accountability partner. A preacher's moral decline snowballs for lack of counsel and confession. A minister's sin escalates within his privatized world. But just who can he turn to? A Superintendent or Bishop is also the judiciary and personnel manager. A local Lay Leader or Deacon can call for a vote of confidence. A fellow pastor will questioned for overstepping his bounds. BRING BACK THE CONFESSIONAL BOOTH before thoughts and mistakes, become actions and sin. - Wes PS... Keith, here's one for you: Should Billy Graham be granting the President absolution for his sins? That's what it looks like.

So what do you think?

To contribute to the thinking on this issue e-mail your response to Tuesday@indwes.edu