The Reminder We Shouldn't Need

That whole Judy Dabler scandal that Christianity Today​ broke yesterday in a bombshell report? I’m one of those who experienced her spiritual abuse at a church I attended long ago. As a survivor-turned-pastor, I wrote my thoughts over on Open for Business on what we can learn from this and other such scandals…

The lesson every Christian needs to internalize is this: listen. Each of us is responsible for our brothers and sisters in Christ. If they are hurting, listen. If seemingly untoward things happen, don’t make excuses. And, don’t — I repeat, don’t — believe the lie that “these are just minor things” that will hurt the Church’s reputation if we blow them “out of proportion.” That lie still smells of the sulfur of its place of origin.

Christians, we can do better for God’s Glory.

National Whistleblower Day

It is apparently #NationalWhistleblowerDay and so it was fitting that Facebook served up this old status “memory” of mine from this day 12 years ago:

[Timothy] is thankful God comes along for the ride in adversity.

2009 was an incredibly hard year (understatement of understatements). That “adversity” I referred to was finding myself in the storm trying to stand against the onslaught of a spiritually abusive leader (see the related posts I’ve attached to this entry). Unfortunately I’ve encountered others since and I’ve met an awful lot of people who have been hurt by such leaders. Pray for those who are facing such things now. May we all stand against the abuse of power in the Church that is Jesus’s and His alone.

God does come along for the ride. He is with us and I pray that everyone who might feel alone — maybe someone reading this tonight — might know that God does this and He never sides with abuse.

Zippy Episode 4

The Spirit Throughout

Jason Kettinger and I packed a LOT into this episode of Zippy the Wonder Snail. 🏁🐌🏁 Hope you’ll zip along with us as we touch on some very important topics!

The Snail returns! 🏁🐌🏁 Timothy and Jason zip through topics hopeful (the #HolySpirit is with us!) and challenging (#ChurchToo and the need to stand against abuse in the church) alike. This packed episode also include a Facebook versus Twitter discussion, social media for #prayer, and a brief #EndTimes discussion. #UpperRoomDiscourse #RussellMoore #ERLC #SpiritualAbuse #OlivetDiscourse

How to Heal from Fraudulent Pastors

A great piece on an important topic from my friend Adam Smith. We need to talk about these things more as Christians for the sake of protecting Jesus’s bride, the Church, and those who form it.

A couple of weeks ago I tried to relocate an article about pastors that I had previously read. As I typed the words “Pastors are” into Google’s search bar, I was struck by the top suggested searches, particularly the first one. It read, “Pastors are frauds.”

As I read those words, it was a reminder that there are many silent-sufferers among us who have experienced great pain at the hands of fraudulent pastors. That shouldn’t surprise us, as we have seen the downfall of many prominent evangelical pastors and Catholic priests in recent years. Similarly, ample research exists, and enough stories have been told, that we should not be too surprised to learn about the presence of fraudulent pastors in our local churches either. It is simply far too common.