A wise leader does not wait for God to send a messenger to uncover his or her sin.
He spoke only a few words and I knew something was wrong…desperately wrong. When my phone rang and I saw who it was, I was happy. Ken (not his real name) was a faithful friend and pastor of a local church in our community. I had known him for about a decade and I respected him greatly.
“Can I come over to your office and talk?” he asked. I let him know my schedule was full, but maybe we could set up a lunch the next week. With a stern voice he responded, “I have to come over and talk to you right now.”
My heart sank and I could feel a knot forming in my stomach. I cleared my schedule and awaited his arrival. When he walked into my office, he was without his normal smile and energy. He walked to a chair in the corner and sat down. He never made eye contact.
“I made a mistake…a big one. It could cost me my ministry, my marriage, and maybe my family.” Over the next hour we talked, prayed, and cried together. The specifics of his crash are not relevant for this blog, but he was absolutely right. The series of decisions he had made and the actions he had taken cost him his ministry. By God’s grace, his marriage did not end. But for five years he invested a great deal of time and energy in rebuilding trust and restoring love.
What struck me as I watched my friend and his family journey through almost five years of hellish pain and struggle was that he could have avoided it all with a few simple decisions. I am not saying these decisions would have been easy, but they are quite simple. Here are some ways a Christian leader can make a decision to save his or her ministry before he or she loses it.
Have at least one faithful mentor who will keep you accountable.
In James 5:16 we read, ...
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