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For many of you, part of your Sunday morning was spent at the church of your choice. After the selections of the various choirs, announcements, offerings, more announcements, being told to hug three people, you spend the next hour or so listening to this “great man (pronounced “mand“–depending where you are from) of God” expound on a Word from the Lord. From time to time he may pause to acknowledge the presence of his wife (the first lady) who is usually sitting somewhere in the front surrounded by her attendants. I have attended quite a few churches where the pastor is surrounded by bodyguards (many of which are equipped with ear pieces and are professionally trained in self-defense) who will nudge anyone away that comes close to this “man of God”.

To this day I STILL do not get the bodyguards. I mean, when was the last time you saw your pastor get rushed by some would-be assassin? Did Jesus hav-…..awwww nevermind!

While all the fanfare that usually surrounds the pastor and first lady may leave you with the immpression of marital bliss, the following studies tell us a very different story…

George Barna of Barna Research (a research organizations that specializes in collecting statistical data on churches) concluded that the divorce rate in the church is on par with the divorce rate outside of the church (source) (FYI: Baptists make up a large percentage of that number).

Why am I bringing all of this up? I guess it is because I have grown very tired of hearing stories on the DL of Pastors, Bishops, Elders, Deacons, etc. who put up one face on Sunday and are the totally opposite on all other days. I know we all screw up from time to time, but their is a such thing as willful actions. Just recently I heard of a story in one town of a well known pastor whose billboards can be seen all around the city (complete with a picture of him sitting down with his smiling wife’s hand on his shoulder–tell me how many times have you seen that type of portrait) admitted to impregnating one of the church workers. From what I understand, the whole thing was seen as “an attack of the devil” against the ministry. This is not the first time I heard stories like this. Oh, and there are the stories of alcoholism, sexual and verbal abuse, mismanagement of church funds, etc., etc., etc. I personally know of people who were molested by members of church leadership when they were children. Today they are adults and are still affected by these memories. As one who has spent years in the ministry, I can tell you that the amount of stories out there are enough to make a person sick. Of course I don’t have to tell you these things–many of you have heard and see this first hand. Despite all of this, somehow folks are able to look over these infractions of God word just because the man can “preach” good.

What about living it?

Fortunately there are clergymen out there who are faithful to their wives, children, congregation, and treat them all with the highest respect. But without a real system of accountability that can effectively root out clergymen “gone wild”, oftentimes bad pastors will eventually find their way to another congregation to mezmerize with their ability to preach.

While most clergymen in this country are citizens with the right to voice their opinion on any issue including politics, I find it quite hypocritical on many levels the effort to mobilize church-goers to “call out” elected officials when they cross the line on moral and social responsibility. With all do respect, when was the last time we saw a press conference called by a group of pastors condemning some of the mess that take place in their own backyards? The truth is, while many of us found it easy to turn our noses up at Catholic priests who were found guilty of child molestation, pastors that do “everything else” under the sun, however the possess the ability to “tear ‘da roof off” in a sermon are oftentimes given a pass on bad behavior . His punishment? A congregation full of people who will just settle on talking about him and his wife for the rest of his tenure at the church while they shout an occasional “Amen” during his sermons. I will not get into the countless number of stories regarding preacher’s kids (PK’s) and how they oftentimes turnout to be some of the biggest offenders in the church.

While I was doing some research for this posting, I came across this recent article that featured some comments of Georgia Pastor, Dr. Crawford Loritts. I thought it was very timely:

While pastors may not be publicly-elected officials, they should held to the same standard that we demand from politicians–honesty and integrity (after all, in most cases the salaries of clergymen are paid by parishioners).While it is important for the church community to voice its opinions on the political front, we are giving ourselves to hypocrisy if we are not addressing the issues within the church with the same (if not greater) tenacity. At some point, the ability to preach ‘da word can no longer serve as a pass for church leadership.

Related Document: “Healthy Marriages in Low-Income African-American Communities” (I’m still thumbing through this document, but it looks pretty interesting)