In the spirit of a John the Baptizer he came. And like a prophet, he sometimes ruffled religious feathers and did not fit into the spirit of the age. He made his own trail, and the Lord opened the way before him.
Henry Blackaby, this modest, unassuming preacher became a great tool in the hand of the Lord. In my opinion, in the last 25-50 years of Southern Baptist life, I believe four men had the greatest significance, and all in very different ways. Charles Stanley, Paige Patterson, Albert Mohler, and Canadian-born Henry Blackaby all shaped Baptists in deep and varying forms.
The prophet Elijah introduced himself in light of his relationship with the Most High God: "As the LORD of hosts lives, before whom I stand . . ." ( 1 Kings 18:15 ESV).
Henry learned to stand before the Lord. As he did, people became small and his God loomed large. Consequently, he often did not fit into religious cookie cutters, he cared nothing for denominational politics, an d he avoided manipulation and slick-looking machinations. Unafraid of controversy and unwilling to pander to popularity, he sought to be an authentic representative of the God before whom he walked.
Calling people to repent of their sins and half-hearted devotion, he taught of a real, personal, and practical love-relationship with Jesus Christ. Henry experienced the deep waters of intercessory prayer, revival and spiritual awakening, and a closeness to the Spirit of God.
Charles Stanley once said that he knew no one who had been as used of God to orient Southern Baptist preachers to the Holy Spirit as much as Ms. Bertha Smith - the last several decades of her life. After experiencing tremendous moves of the Spirit of God in China, Bertha sensed a commission from God upon her missionary retirement to "go home and tell" - spending the rest of her life testifying of genuine revival and spiritual awakening and of the place of the Holy Spirit in the lives of believers.
It has been my theory for years that, when Ms. Bertha died in 1988, the spiritual mantle of orienting Baptists to the work of the Holy Spirit then transferred to Henry Blackaby, whose infamous study, Experiencing God: Knowing and Doing the Will of God, was first published by Lifeway in 1990. The workbook sold more than 8 million copies in more than 75 languages. At one point, it was estimated that 1/2 of the students entering Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, said they sensed a call to go to seminary while studying Experiencing God.
The power of Blackaby's influence flowed out of his intimacy with the Lord. I heard H. B. London, head of Focus on the Family's ministry to pastors at the time, interview Blackaby years ago. London asked him how he, a busy pastor, learned to spend time alone with God.
Blackaby shared that as a young pastor, he often hurried through his devotional time - until the day the Lord gave him an arresting word. He said the Lord whispered to him, "Henry, you are rushing Me." Henry repented, and from then on, he ordered his life so that he could spend unhurried time in His Presence.
The Blackaby grandchildren stand at his funeral
Henry believed God was able and ready to speak to and guide the believer individually - and he taught countless others how to walk in that reality. He was a man who walked by faith, trusting in the Lord's promises - and showed the way for others to do likewise.
One of his most common teachings was of the "crisis of faith." He wrote, "When God invites you to join Him in His work, He has a God-sized assignment for you. You will quickly realize you cannot do what He is asking on your own. If God doesn't help you, you will fail. This is the crisis of belief when you must decide whether to believe God for what He wants to do through you" (EG Unit 7 Day 1).
My wife and I have gone through more copies of his EG workbooks than I can remember - all the way back to the original 1990 black and orange cover one from the Baptist Sunday School Board. The original video recordings of him standing in front of a huge orange paper-board, making marks with a big black marker, are in my opinion the richest ones he ever recorded. In his typical, unassuming way, he simply gave testimony of his Lord. My wife and I enjoyed sitting at his feet in 1999 at Ridgecrest Conference Center at the North American Mission Board's "On Mission" summer conference.
Four mountains of men who shaped my life all died within a thirteen-month span. I suppose that goes
with being fifty-something.
In recent
years, my wife and I commented several times, “You realize that people our age are
the ones in charge and running things?” The adults who were in charge and in
their forties to sixties when I was a child and teenager are now in their last
quarter of a century and graduating to heaven one by one.
Shannon
Harris, a blogger, writes, “A special kind of pain is felt when your mentor’s
time on earth is through.” We remember significant conversations, lessons, and
nuggets of wisdom they shared. Memories from their lives, which resonated with
value, begin to feel out of reach. And those who loomed larger than life –
almost immortal to us – show their mortality.
The Worshiping Pastor
Pastor Jack Hayford passed peacefully in his sleep in early January of 2023. Christianity
Today magazine once dubbed him “The Pentecostal Gold Standard.”A world-renown leader, he pastored The Church
on the Way in Van Nuys, California, eventually became Chancellor of The Kings
College and Seminary, and wrote over 400 worship songs, including the popular
chorus, “Majesty.” His radio and book ministry took his practical Bible
teaching, heart for authentic worship, and love for the kingdom of God into the
homes of countless Christians.
I benefited greatly from his preaching-teaching, his authenticity and vulnerability, and his ministry of writing. For three decades I listened to him and read many of his books, like Manifest Presence, The Key to Everything, The Spirit-Formed Life, and Blessing Your Children. I vividly remember his message from Exodus 3 at the Atlanta 1995 Promise Keepers event, when he had every man get on his knees in the arena.
Pastor
Jack’s emphasis on integrity – first learned when his mother asked him to
answer her question “with Jesus in the room” - his presence as a bridge-builder
in the Body of Christ, and his passion to experience Christ intimately made him
a shepherd of shepherds across denominational lines. My wife and I traveled once
to the Billy Graham Training Center at the Cove to spend a weekend under his
teaching.
Moose loved
to fish for men, and life was his fishing pond. Whether on the job, at the
grocery store, or in church. His signature line was, "Can I ask you a
personal question? Do you know if you died today, you would you go to
heaven?" And then, often using a "Steps to Peace with God"
gospel track, he told them about King Jesus who died on the cross for their
sins.
During my
college days, he and I met every couple of months. I'd drive from Clinton to
Greenville and meet him for lunch at Stax Omega.
We talked about life, the Lord, and our struggles - things that matter. That's what
mentoring is. Spending time with someone, connecting over important things,
listening, helping them grow and learn. Moose trusted God. His faith was
consistent.
The last
time I visited his house he lay in a Hospice bed. His body frail but his
mind bright, he quoted Scripture after Scripture to me, telling me how he was
learning to trust God, and sharing how he led one of the hospital nurses to
faith in Jesus Christ a few weeks before. Moose asked me about my wife and three
children - all by name. He talked about my father, who had been gone for
fifteen years.
He got out
his IPhone and said, "Ooooooh. I have to share with you what I read in my
quiet time this morning. I read it in the Message and I've never seen it say it
quite like this." He proceeded to read his morning reading to me. The last
several years, I could expect a daily email sent to several dozen people
outlining the notes from his daily Bible reading.
He told me,
"We've been through a lot, buddy." That time was probably the only
one he ever ended our conversation without, "Call me if you need me."
The Consummate Bible Teacher
Then in
April, Charles Stanley, pastor of First Baptist Atlanta, Georgia, died. I tuned
into his ministry as a freshman in college, listening to the InTouch radio
broadcast. Attending a liberal religious college, which jettisoned the
authority of Scripture and basic evangelical theology, his preaching helped
anchor me in eternal truths.
My first
year of school, I picked up his book, How to Listen to God, which
had a shaping influence on my nineteen-year-old life. The first of more than
two dozen of his books I would eventually read, I experienced his practical
teaching that drew deeply from the Bible but also was illustrated with personal
experiences. In that book I would find what was one of his constant
exhortations: develop a lifestyle of meditating on the Word of God, expecting
Him to guide you.
I first
learned to preach from listening to radio teachers like Stanley. His winsome,
conversational style combined with practical exhortations and challenges to
trust God marked his teaching.
I met Dr.
Stanley only once quickly at a book signing in Atlanta. After waiting in line, I
said, “Dr. Stanley, thank you for teaching me about intimacy with God.” He
stopped, lowered his pen, and stared directly into my eyes. Then he
emphatically said, “That is the most important thing!”
The Encouraging Eagle
And then on
January 21 of this year, my friend and business mentor Dan Miller left this
earth. Dan’s books and podcast helped open the door for me, and many others, to
become entrepreneurs, explore nontraditional work, and challenge conventional
thinking about work opportunities.
Dan wrote, “Putting
yourself in the driver’s seat requires creating a clear sense of where you want
to go. A clear plan of action will separate you from 97 percent of the people
you meet.”
Creating the 48 Days Eagle Community, he mentored modern entrepreneurs, which he called eagle-preneurs, to create the life they want, building their work around their life.
He modeled
for many businesspeople how important it is to balance your life with both
faith in God and making deep deposits in your family relationships. As he often
said, “Success is more than a job.”
When we lose
mentors, sometimes we grieve the lessons we’ll never learn from them. And then we
realize we can cling to their God, embrace the same unchanging truths they
believed and practiced, and make the world a better place by shining our light
and investing in others – one person at a time.
It was a
moment I’ve never forgotten. Driving home from a frustrating day at the church
office, I listened to Crown Financial Ministries interview a career coach
on their radio broadcast. Dan Miller was promoting his book, 48 Days to the
Work You Love. As I listened, it was like this man was speaking directly to me.
He was speaking my language, like he had been reading my mail.
For several
years, I’d wrestled with vocational angst. I gradually realized numerous
desires shouted within me to use my gifts and pursue interests outside of the
scope of what we consider traditional church ministry. And, I wanted to find
ways to make money and prosper outside of the limitations of depending on a fulltime
church salary to provide for my growing family.
In the years
since then, I’ve come to realize many pastors and ministry leaders wade through
similar struggles. My friends Les Hughes and Jon Sanders, both pastors, have an
entire business, EntrePastors,
dedicated to helping pastors realize that following God's calling into ministry
doesn't mean you have to live a life of scarcity and meagerness. They share, “We
believe God is a God of abundance who gave you multiple talents to build and
serve His Kingdom. By using ALL of your God-given talents, you take better care
of yourself and your family, and become a better pastor in the process.”
But at the time
I was wading through those questions alone, learning to work through the needed
mindset changes, personal assessment, and exploration of possibilities.
Dan
Miller was the first person I heard – outside of my own head and heart – that affirmed
my struggle and gave me hope that there was a positive path forward.
As I reflect
on Dan’s life-message, coaching, and writings, so many words come to mind. Here’s
just a few of those that impacted me.
Understanding
Divine Calling
Remembering
the happiest times in your life and the times when you felt most fulfilled are
better indicators of your calling than just knowing what you have the ability
to do.
You can have
different careers at different points in your life. Conversely, two or three
different careers can all support one’s calling.
The word
vocation comes from the Latin word vocare, which means “to call.” It suggests
that you are listening for something that is calling out to you – something that
is particular for you. A Calling is something you have to listen for, attuning
yourself to the message. Vocation then is not so much pursuing a goal as it is
listening for a voice.
Never
separate your work from your worship. See what you do during the week as a form
of worship. Remember, you are in full-time service, doing what God has called
you to do if you’ve engaged your unique skills, your personality and your
dreams and passions.
In 2022 I sent Dan this eagle carving I found at Dollywood. He posted this picture in the Eagles Community and said,
"Thanks so much for this awesome Eagle, Rhett Wilson, Sr. I love the natural wood colors and the kind expression of the eagle. I'll find a prime place in my office for this new addition!"
Mastering
Motivation
It’s tough
to make good choices at eighteen that will be meaningful at forty-five.
Your only
security is knowing what you do well. Knowing your areas of competence will give
you freedom amid corporate politics and unexpected layoffs.
Our culture
glamorizes being under time pressure.
Work doesn’t
have to drain the energy from your life. You can have work that resonates with
your soul and draws you into a deeper, more intimate relationship with God.
Learn from
any failure. See it as a stepping stone toward the success you ultimately want.
Exploring
Opportunities
Your best
opportunity may not look like your last job.
The
opportunities in today’s work environment are endless. You can change course
several times in a lifetime without feeling like you’re derailed or starting
over, if you have a sense of calling to act as a consistent compass.
Your work
must integrate your skills, your personality tendencies, and your interests.
The more you know and understand about yourself and match that up with your
business direction, the more you exponentially increase your chances for success.
Many people
are finding that it makes more sense to use this model [of nontraditional work]
than to attempt to find the one right job that provides all their needs. One of
the hottest terms for creating a work life today is “multiple streams of income.”
You may have two or three things that are creating income for you, rather than
only one all-important job.
Taking
Action
Putting yourself
in the driver’s seat requires creating a clear sense of where you want to go.
A clear plan
of action will separate you from 97 percent of the people you meet. Everyone
has dreams, but very few ever turn those into goals.
If you are
in a negative environment – one that causes you pain and anguish - maybe its
time to take a fresh look at yourself, define where you want to be, and develop
a clear plan of action to get there.
In the years
following that introduction to Dan Miller, I would read and re-read and re-read
his books, 48
Days to the Work You Love, No More Dreaded
Mondays, andAn Understanding
Heart. Hours of my time were invested listening to his podcast, consistently
rated in the top ½ percent of the top 1% of all business podcasts, and his
audio course from NightingaleConant, Dream Job, which was rated their #3
most popular audio course.
He opened
the door for me to explore and benefit from the world of motivational speakers,
authors, and coaches in the business and motivational world. Today, people like
Zig Ziglar, Brian Tracy, Napolean Hill, Earl Nightengale, Og Mandino, Andy
Andrews, Jim Rohn, Bob Proctor, and Russell Conwell line my shelves and audio
library.
Dan
introduced me to the world of modern entrepreneurs, guys in the mid-stream of
life learning to pivot and create multiple streams of income in this rapidly
changing world and economy. He knew remote work was cool years before COVID. He
assured me my questions were valid, my desires to experience more, good, and
that challenging my mindset in some traditional areas was wise.
Success
if More than a Job
Miller
modeled for many businesspeople how important it is to balance your life with
both faith in God and making deep deposits in your family relationships. As he
often said, “Success is more than a job.”
It was a
long time before I’d realize how many other people he had helped in similar
journeys. The more I became familiar with this world of new entrepreneurs, or
eagles as he called them, the more I heard stories like my own.
In the years
since that Crown radio broadcast, I followed my interest and passion in
writing, developing that skill. I became a published freelance author, landing bylines
in numerous print and online publications well-known in the evangelical world.
I wrote for newspapers, magazines, devotionals, online news sources, compilation
books, and more. I worked as Senior Writer for the Billy Graham Evangelistic
Association and started my own company, Hendrix Communications. I also serve as
Senior Communications Director for Leighton Ford Ministries. And I dove into bivocational
ministry, which is actually how the apostle Paul often operated.
I considered
it quite an honor when Dan endorsed my first solo book last year, The 7 Ps of Prayer: A Simple Method to Pray for Your Family. Here was a man who considers Dave
Ramsey his best friend and participated in a men’s small group for more than a
decade with high-achievers Ramsey and Michael Hyatt. Yet Dan always saw value
in the person standing in front of him.
On December
19 last year, I received a personal email from Dan, thanking me for a 7 Ps coin
I had mailed to him for Christmas. He told me of his recent diagnosis of Stage
IV cancer with an expectation of less than six months to live. He wrote, “Totally
out of the blue – no warning until I had some abdominal pain two weeks ago. . .
. I’m savoring the time with my precious wife, children, and grandchildren. And
the opportunity to live out all those wonderful principles I’ve been teaching
all these years. Thanks for your support and friendship.”
Many people in the entrepreneurial world were shocked, saddened, and grieved over this
news. Dan had the ability and warmth to make you feel loved, appreciated, and
valued. And his life and teachings helped so many of us pursue and create work
that is fulfilling, meaningful, and profitable. Dan challenged us to “plan our
work around our life, rather than planning our life around our work.” He taught
us to find the sweet spot where work and play become indistinguishable.
The Eagles Community received word last week
that Dan passed away from this earth on Sunday night, January 21. He had shared
with his followers that he was looking forward to his spiritual transformation.
The Eagle
has flown. Thank you, Dan. You will be missed.
Click here to listen to one of Dan's 48 Days podcasts when he responds to an email of mine. Through this podcast I got connected to Jon Sanders and Les Hughes of EntrePastors.
"If you love deeply, you're going to get hurt badly." - C. S. Lewis
It was one
of the oddest seasons of our lives.
Just a few
months later, I would write that in twenty-five years of marriage and thirty of working for churches, we’ve never experienced such middle school girl drama
normalized among adults.
Sometimes,
when you're in the middle of a dysfunctional situation, it can become easy to
think the dysfunctional behavior is actually normative or healthy and that
healthy behavior is abnormal. Particularly if the one displaying abnormal
behavior insists their way is correct.
My wife served for five years as the Director of Music Ministries at her home church. My children participated there. Most of that season, I served as a bivocational pastor at another area church. When she was hired, the church was in decline. The former senior pastor resigned about six weeks after she started. In the five years of her tenure, the church steadied and slowly began growing again. The current senior pastor often referred to Tracey as the church's favorite staff member. She was well-loved, as was our family. And she loved serving them and working with the musicians to create great music.
For two
years, our youngest son and the pastor’s oldest son clashed. Both Alpha
males, they didn’t get along great, and they both had a habit of running their mouths too much. Tracey and I had no expectation of
their ever being great friends. We had numerous conversations within our family
where we advised, “In the real world, you don’t have to be great friends with
everybody. You will likely have a few close friends. You do, however, have to
be able to live at peace with others. And many times that comes down to bearing
with each other – and letting each other be.”
On a few
occasions, at the insistence of the pastor and his wife, the fathers sat
down with the boys and talked things out. As time went along, it become
apparent to Tracey and me that the pastor and his wife had different
expectations of how this should play out than did we. Tracey I have
discovered through the years that many times, unnecessary conflict can be avoided when we don’t
fan the flame, insist on our own way, and instead agree to disagree with other people
over non-essential matters. Instead of setting the record straight we can simply let things go.
We've also seen on more than one occasion the dynamics that take place when an insecure person feels threatened by people they can't control. I've told congregations for years, It's very important that we learn to take the right things seriously. Take the Lord and His Word seriously. Take the Holy Spirit, the Great Commandment, and the Great Commission seriously. But please, please do not take yourself too seriously!
At the end
of an exhausting day of Vacation Bible School a couple of years ago, the pastor
and his wife confronted Tracey as she left the church that night, insisting
they have a meeting immediately. Tracey suggested they wait, but they would not
have it. Supposedly, our son had said something derogatory about their son, and
the mother was livid. One or two days later, this led to me and our son having
to meet with the pastor and his son. During that meeting, the pastor accused
our son of saying some very specific things – and promised to follow up
the meeting with investigation.
After several days of asking youth face to
face, he – and we – could not find one person to confirm the accusation. At
that point, the pastor accused our daughter of foul play. Supposedly, she, who
was a college student, was intimidating people in the youth group online and
warning them to not tell the pastor what he wanted to hear. He asked me to
research all of her online accounts, which I did. Again, we found nothing, and
my daughter laughed at his accusations.
During the
same week of VBS, my wife and the pastor’s wife had an unpleasant confrontation
as did the pastor’s wife and my youngest son. This led to an insistence by the
pastor and his wife that the four of us sit down together. That two-hour
meeting was probably the most miserable one my wife or I have ever endured.
When we left the meeting, my wife and I walked into her office, and I said
“Both of our families cannot stay here. I’ve seen this before, and it will not
work unless the Lord significantly intervenes.” It was becoming very clear that the pastor and his wife were not going to agree to disagree and give us space. That was July.
From then
until December, my wife began regularly hearing from the senior pastor things
like, “I need you and my wife to be on good terms. I need you to meet with her.
She doesn’t feel loved by you. My life is much better when my wife is not
upset. I need you two to be able to sit down and take the Lord’s Supper
together.” This went on and on. We told each other numerous times, "I cannot imagine any other work situation where your boss tells you that one of your job expectations is to make his wife feel good."
During part of this time, I worked for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. I told Tracey that BGEA would never put up with such nonsense - nor would most professional places of employment. Unfortunately, many churches are not known for being run well internally, and this was no exception.
My wife
would respond to the pastor by saying things like, “I am good with your wife.I would have no problem sitting down and
taking the Lord’s Supper with her. She and I have never been best friends, and
I don’t have any expectation of our being best friends. We disagree over some
parenting issues, and Rhett and I made it clear in our meeting last July that
it was ok with us for the two sets of parents to agree to disagree and move
on.”
But some
people will not let you move on if you do not agree with them and submit to them. Their deep need for praise and admiration won't respect your boundaries.
Middle
School Drama
The pastor
insisted my wife meet his wife in September for a long, miserable, 2+ hour
meeting. Tracey painfully listened to her tell all kinds of things she (Tracey) had done
wrong – and how she did not feel loved by Tracey. And, as was the case in our
July meeting, Tracey owned her part ("I’m sure I could respond better, I’m sorry
for any way I have offended you, etc.") – but the pastor’s wife owned no wrong
on her own account.
The rest of
that year, Tracey continued hearing every few weeks that the pastor needed Tracey to show love to his wife. It was obvious that we were living on two
different spectrums.
I can't begin to count the times our son would come home over a two-year period and tell us something the pastor's son had said negative about him. Over and over, we would say, "Son, just let it go. It's not worth always trying to correct a wrong."
One day, in
mid to late fall, the pastor left a note on Tracey's desk that he had set up a
meeting for her and the chairman of the Personnel Team to talk the next day. He
claimed that “our families are not in unity right now and it stems from” his
wife and my wife coupled with his son and our son.
In the
meeting, Tracey rebutted every accusation leveled against her by the pastor.
When the meeting was over, the chairman came to her office and said that it
sounded to him like Tracey had done what she needed to do to maintain a good
relationship with the pastor’s wife.
The
harassment was something my wife and son endured for months, and it continued
growing. My wife described it numerous times as feeling like we were in a witch
hunt.
Too Much
Stress
For the
previous two years, my wife experienced growing stress at church related to
the pastor. When the church hired him, she and I had serious reservations. He
had very little administrative experience – other than leading youth groups.
And we later found out he had been asked to leave at least one of his former churches. When
you’ve been in church work for thirty years, you’ve seen the same patterns
surface in different settings. This wasn’t our first rodeo. We knew the angst a
charismatic leader can cause internally for a staff when he or she is lacking
in administrative ability.
For much of those two years, Tracey regularly come home stressed. It was normal for her
to arrive and say, “He is driving me crazy.” About a year earlier, I just
about begged her to go to several of the key lay leaders for help. She refused
again and again, saying, “I can’t do that. It will split the church. It will
come down to who is for me and who is for him, and I can’t do that to the
church.” Not long after our family eventually left the church, she told me, “I
can’t believe I kept my mouth shut for so long trying to protect those people.”
By the fall
of 2022, we knew that she – and our family – could not keep this up for long.
She could not continue dealing with the stress of the inner-functionings of the
church. And our family could not keep enduring
this unhealthy yo-yo cycle of the pastor and his wife challenging our family.
And, no one in our immediate family was satisfied nor comfortable with the
pastor’s preaching. Our daughter had already informed us that she would not be
back to the church after December. Our oldest son, a college student was frustrated with the pastor every time he came home. My mother, who had considered moving to the
town, later told me that one of the main reasons she did not is that she knew
she could not listen to him preach weekly. He was regularly ill-prepared, shot at the hip, and had what one seminary professor calls "loosey-goosey" theology on several issues that concerned us.
The biggest example of the latter occurred on a Maundy Thursday service, when he explained how God the Father really did not turn his back on His Son at the cross - despite what 2000 years of Christian theology says. No, in fact, God the Father was "hugging" him in the darkness, which shows how he hugs us and doesn't forsake us in our dark times. Great example of a true application - but terribly theology. That's what theologians and pastors call isogesis - when you make a passage say what you want it to say.
I was greatly alarmed when I heard that message. In retrospect, we probably should have begun an exit then. But like the frog in the kettle, you keep hoping the water will cool down, which it does not. When someone gets their theology of the cross wrong, it is very likely they will be loose and fast with many other things.
One solid couple left the church that year. The husband was seminary trained, and they were very concerned about the pastor's preaching, among other things. We later found out that he had challenged the pastor on more than one occasion about his sermon preparation. Another couple who had been in pastoral ministry left not long after our family eventually did. That man later told me that on his best days, the pastor's sermons were a 6 out of 10, but most of his sermons were a 3. Tracey and I concurred. And as the old saying goes, "When there's a fog in the pulpit, there's a mist in the pew."
Our youngest son was
to graduate in May of 2023, and Tracey kept saying, “I’ve got to make it until
he graduates, and then I can resign.” She did not want to rock any boats or
create a stir. She told me repeatedly, “I want to ride off into the sunset.” The main reason was that her parents had attended this church for about
twenty-five years. Her sister’s family regularly participated, as did her other
sister’s daughter. This was their family’s church, and she wanted to protect
it. And she wanted her family to be able to remain at the church after she
left.
Tracey and I had both been careful the previous two years to share our concerns about the church and pastor with almost no one. There was no system in place for any staff member beside the pastor to be heard. We did not even share with her family our growing concerns until the last three or four months of our family's time there.
The
Battle of the Band
In January,
my son and two of his friends were asked by the youth pastor to form a band for a
children’s event at the church. All three are talented musicians. They were excited and began preparing, throwing themselves into the project. Then,
suddenly, they were told by the youth pastor that he – instead of them – would
be leading - and that he was bringing in the pastor’s son to play as well. He would choose the music, not them. Because the youth pastor is not skilled musically, they thought this was odd. Our son and his two friends were very disappointed and deflated that they were not allowed to lead. Tracey and I knew there were machinations and chess moves going on behind the scenes.
Then, the
youth pastor told my son and the pastor’s son that they needed to sit down to
try and work out their relationship. I texted the youth pastor and told him I
did not think that was a good idea and I nixed it. There was no pressing reason
to continue popping this zit. But, I’m sure at this point the youth pastor was
getting an earful from someone else.
A few days
later, the pastor insisted to my wife that our two sons get together - in spite of what I had clearly said. His son
needed to get some things off of his chest. Feeling pressured and coerced, she
agreed, though she told the pastor she did not think it was a good idea. As
soon as I heard about it several hours later, I knew it was a bad idea. There
was no wise, mature reason to keep trying keep pressing this issue.
In this
confrontational meeting, in which I have no doubt the two young men both ran their mouths, the pastor’s son challenged my son – and my son’s two
best friends – to a fight in the parking lot after band practice that night. He told my son that he knew he could whoop all three of them.
In
the heat of the moment, my son agreed. That night after band practice, my son
came to his senses and drove straight home. He and his two friends came into
our den, and he said to me, “Dad, I need to tell you something.” He told us all
about it, which was the right thing to do. (That is called repentance, a changing of mind and direction.) While the three of them were telling
us about the challenge to fight, the pastor’s son tried to call my son and one
of his friends. Then he texted my son and said, “Coast is clear” – meaning he
was at the church and everyone else had left. I told the three boys, “Do not
respond to him.”
Two days
later, I called the pastor and said we needed to talk about what happened. He
told me that everything was my son’s fault, that if my son would not run his
mouth then his son would not respond that way. When I told him, “Your son
challenged my son to a fight. My son made the right choice. He changed his
mind, did not follow through, and came home and told his parents.” The pastor’s
reply was, “That’s right. My son expects people to be men of their word. Your
son should have kept his word.”
At
that point, I knew we were walking in the twilight zone. Numerous times during the last several months Tracey worked at the church, she and I would summize the situation by saying to each other, "It's like middle schoolers are in charge."
Henry Cloud has helped many Christians learn how to not be controlled by other people. He writes in his book, Safe People: How to Find Relationships that are Good for You and Avoid those that Aren't, "Love withers and dies without separateness. It's simply impossible to connect if you are not free to disagree. That kind of love is compliance and people-pleasing. It is not real love.
The opposite of separateness is enmeshment. Enmeshing relationships are those in which one person is swallowed up in the needs of another. In enmeshment, one person feels threatened by the individuality of the other, and actively seeks to control the other by intimidating or manipulating him."
Talking with the pastor that morning was another strong confirmation to me that we were in an unhealthy enmeshment.
Two hours
later, an older gentleman from the church called me and said, “I have been
asked to serve as a mediator between you and your son and the pastor and his
son.” So, it appeared the pastor had called someone
else, complained about how awful the Wilsons were being, and asked for
intervention.
I agreed to
bring my son to that man’s house that night for the three of us to meet, which was a mistake.
Sincere
but Misguided
I agreed to
go for one reason – I respected the older gentleman, who I will
call Jack. Now, the role of a mediator is to listen to two
sides of a situation and then attempt to bring the two sides together or offer solutions. That is
not what we experienced.
Instead, my
son and I were guilty before proven innocent. He accused us all of kind of
things, told me how I was fueling this disagreement, and even told my son that
he might be responsible for a church split. (One thing you should never – ever
- put on a 17-year old. And how can a
17-year-old split a church?) Once, when I was about to clarify something our
son had said, Jack looked at me, raised his hand in a stop motion, and
declared, ‘I am speaking to him. I will deal with you next.”
It took me
months to wade through that experience with Jack. In retrospect, I don’t doubt
his sincerity – or his desire to protect church unity. However, what he
practiced was not in any way mediation – nor helpful. In hindsight, I should
not have agreed to the meeting. Or, in the middle of the meeting I should have
stopped it and said, “This is over. We are going home.”
It was sadly
but painfully obvious that we were now in an unhealthy situation with political moves, and we were playing with a deck stacked against us. Leaving his house that night, I knew our
time at the church was over.I would not have our family staying in such a
toxic, erratic environment. I just did not know when my wife needed to resign.
Two or three
weeks later, after Jack met with the pastor and his son, the pastor texted
me, asking for a meeting between he, my wife, and me. We reluctantly agreed. At
that meeting, he told us he needed to apologize for all kind of things. He
had a long list, including apologizing for making our lives miserable the last
several months. He told us how he recognized Tracey and I had age and maturity that he and his wife needed and that he hoped we could help them.
We told him that we wanted to help him succeed in his ministry. But we also tried to make it clear to him, though, in the spirit of Henry Cloud’s
Boundaries series, that it was not Tracey’s job to make his wife feel good. Nor should her boss expect her to do so. And, we made it clear that we would not stay at the church if the harassments continued.
When we
left, we were somewhat hopeful for change - but were not holding our breaths.
Providentially, Tracey then had two weeks off, which the church gave to her after her
serving them for five years. It had been such a stressful year,
she badly needed the time to decompress and allow the Lord to fill her. The end
of her sabbatical coincided with the beginning of the Asbury Revival, taking
place at the campus of Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky. For years,
testimonies from the 1970s Asbury Revival had inspired us, so we decided
spontaneously to go one night. We spent three hours in Hughes Auditorium and
returned to campus the next day. The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association's Decision Magazine even used one of my photographs as the cover of their edition covering the revival.
Driving home on Friday, we shared with each other that
during our time at Asbury we individually sensed confirmation from the Lord
that it was indeed time for Tracey to resign. That was Friday.
Sparrows
and Birds
On Monday or
Tuesday of the next week, a picture surfaced of my son and one of his best
friends in a posed shot “shooting the bird.” That’s the middle finger! The
previous summer, on a youth trip, the two of them were sitting next to each
other on a bus. Someone turned around with a camera and said something like, “Do
something crazy.” They decided to shoot the bird simultaneously and the picture
was taken. The picture surfaced that week.
Now, I don’t
recommend anyone going around shooting the middle finger. However, I’ll be the
first to admit that I'm awfully glad cell phones and digital technology were
not around when I was a teenager or college student. There was a whole lot of
foolishness I engaged in that could have been captured by a cell phone! Like when I spray-painted a street in our neighborhood the night that the Furman University Paladins won the national championship in football. Can I
get an amen?
So, the
youth pastor found out about the picture and told my wife the two
young men would be permanently kicked off of the youth band. (Remember this was
about a month after the pastor’s son challenged the other three band members to
a fight - and tried to follow through.) My wife, who was technically in charge of the youth band, said,
“Absolutely not.” This led to a power struggle, and the youth pastor went to
the senior pastor. Together, they agreed the boys would be kicked off.
We heard
later that the story changed. A few weeks later they told people they did
not intend to permanently kick them off but just for a week of two. That was
not what was communicated to Tracey.
Reflecting
on that decision, I’ve remembered the words of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.,
former Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court: “The young man
knows the rules, but the old man knows the exceptions.”
Tracey told
the pastor, “I will resign over this. I am not doing this to those boys.”
Of course,
her words were said in the context of all of the drama that had gone on the
previous year. We later agreed, “It was just a matter of time. If it had not
been this incident, it would have been something else. This 'bird' picture was simply
the nail they needed to hang our son on. We’ve seen the writing on the
wall for months. It’s time to leave.”
It was one
of the most grace-less actions of church leadership I’ve ever witnessed in over
thirty years. But, it was par for the course, and there was more to come.
Rick Renner writes, "One of the most difficult moments in life is when you realize one season has ended, and the time is right for you to move on to the next season." It had become loud and clear to us, after months of growing harassments from the pastor and his wife, that we were not in a healthy environment for our family.
Tracey came
home that night, and we wrote a resignation, which she submitted the next day.
We were later told that the pastor contacted a church leader the night before she resigned and warned him she may resign. The leader walked him through some detailed instructions about how to try and give her options - like giving a week off immediately to think and pray, among other things. When Tracey walked in his office and resigned the next morning, none of that was mentioned.
She gave a two-week notice, wanting to prepare the choir and musicians for her absence. It takes a lot of behind-the-scene details to make a large music ministry happen. She wanted to leave well, leave the musicians in good hands, and enjoy celebrating with them what they had accomplished together. She had no desire to air any dirty laundry.
Punitive
and Unnecessary
But oh, how
quickly the waves change. One big lesson we learned through this ordeal was this:
There are people who tell you how much they love you when you are meeting a
need in their lives. But when you are no longer meeting that need, they have no
use for you anymore.
On Saturday
morning, Tracey was informed by the chairman of the Personnel Team that her
resignation was accepted, she was immediately relieved of her duties, she could
not resign to the church in person, she could not return to church in any
leadership capacity, and that she would be paid through her two-week notice.
Tracey
begged him to not follow through with that line of action. It was punitive,
unnecessary, and decided by two people: the senior pastor and him. After her
pleading, he agreed to allow her to meet the choir in person on Sunday evening
and tell them goodbye.
Now, in
church work, how you allow a staff member to leave is very, very important. It's important for the church to be able to have a healthy ending. It is
important for the staff person and their family to have some good closure. It
is important for everybody involved to have time to hug each other, say thank
you, and wish each other well. It is simply foolish to not do so.
At the
church I currently pastor, we, for example, had a staff member resign last
year. When he did, I told our chairman of deacons, “We are going to celebrate
him as he leaves and make this healthy for everybody.” We collected letters of
thanksgiving for he and his wife. We threw them an appreciation banquet and
gave people the opportunity to say nice things about them publicly. We honored
them on their last Sunday and asked everyone to come to the altar and pray over
them. And we paid him a three-month severance, to help them as they moved
forward. I would be happy to run into him anywhere, and I think he would me.
That’s just how it’s done.
After the Personnel Team and pastor's knee-jerk reaction, my wife was
crushed. After five years of giving herself to those people, they were
discarding her like a used soft drink bottle.And
the pastor did not have the character to honor her as she left.Tracey, her
parents, and a sister and I went to the church on Saturday and completely
cleaned out her office.
Tracey emailed the choir a few days later a "goodbye" email. In it, she told them, "I’m resigning not because I don’t love you.I wish I could take each face, cup it in my hands and tell you that “I Love you” to each person.Choir, Band & Tech are faithful, fun and fairly easy to lead!You are loving and generous in so many ways."
Church Politics
The
Personnel chairman made a vague announcement to the church that she had
resigned, giving no explanation, which was foolish. We then heard of one couple
who thought either I or Tracey had an affair. Another woman assumed Tracey was
dying of cancer. And one man from the choir came to Tracey after receiving her
explanation and said, “Oh, thank you. I was worried Rhett had done something.”
That’s what happens when resignations are handled incorrectly.
I know how
church politics work, and I know that this was a matter of, “We might have a
church split on our hands and have to do whatever we must to keep the ship from
sinking.”
It's likely happened more than 10,000 times in church after church or ministry after ministry. When a crack appears, the powers that be attempt a bold move towards "unity" and solidarity, rallying behind the fearless leader, even if the emperor - or system - is wearing no clothes. It's textbook, unfortunately, for how many systems deal with anxiety.
One church
member texted me, “This is 100% silencing.”
Allowing an
employee (who gave her life to your church for five years) to serve out their
notice does three things:
1)It allows the person leaving and
their family to leave on a good note with some healthy closure.
2)It allows the church to end the
relationship on a positive note – even if there has been disagreement in the
process. The church should have a Sunday to celebrate the staff member leaving,
allow people to thank them, give them a gift. That’s just how it’s done.
3)When there are disagreements fueling
the resignation, when you allow the person to serve out their notice and
celebrate them as they leave, it does not raise red flags and questions that
the church leadership then has to deal with.
Tracey
repeatedly asked for help in a terribly stressful situation. And she kept her
mouth shut for almost two years, internalizing it, trying to keep her integrity
and protect the church.
The pastor
and chair of Personnel should have helped the church celebrate her five years.
Instead, they dismissed her two days after she resigned and responded to her
like she was a villain. She said she felt like she should wear an orange
jumpsuit to church. In our 25 years of marriage, and almost 30 years of
working for churches, that was the single most disgraceful and hurtful thing
ever done to our family.
She had
enjoyed a great relationship with the children’s minister for several years. Tracey invested
deeply in her as a mentor. She later said that she treated her like one of our
own children. After Tracey resigned, she never heard once from her. That is a
resounding example of an unhealthy system.
As Martin Luther King, Jr., once said, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
Tracey cried
herself to sleep numerous forthcoming nights. She waded through all the normal
cycle of feelings when you have been mistreated – feelings of vulnerability,
not being protected, being unnecessarily exposed.
We received
multiple emails and letters from church members – and later from people outside
of the church - deeply grieved over Tracey’s leaving – and over how the few in
leadership had slammed the door behind her.
One choir
member almost immediately emailed Tracey after receiving her resignation email,
they had witnessed the “dirty underbelly” of church leadership before: “I
guess I thought I could just put my head in the sand and ignore such things.
But here we are, watching and experiencing a dear Sister go through what you
have gone through. I admire the way you continued, even while you were going
through this, to be your sunny self so that few if any knew anything was going
on at all. We really are sad that you weren't allowed to make the announcement
to us personally and that you were not allowed to give your notice . .
. Anyway, for us, we will miss being part of the music, but most of all we will
miss you.”
And another:
“This is the hardest kind of thing when a church acts out of its
character. It wounds so many.”
We especially appreciated this one:
"I'm so sad and heartsick and am upset by the way you have been treated. I went through a similar situation some years ago. I was a musician at a church for years. The new pastor couldn't deal with the success of the choir and music director. He made it impossible to continue. . . . It just hurts to see the church acting like the world."
And we
received numerous contacts from people outside of the church, like the two
following:
“I'm so
sorry to hear these latest details and the pain Tracey & you are
experiencing. ‘Command and control’ type of leadership in churches causes
great harm. As a friend of mine says, ‘What you don't own, will own you’...
and it causes great pain.
My love
and prayers are with you. In my own very similar moments, the words of
Joseph were a great comfort, ‘What you intended for evil (or simply
mishandled), God used for good’ (Gen. 50:20). Even with leaders' wrong
choices, God provided an escape from a toxic situation which I should have left
much early... though it was still very painful for me for a long time. I
trust that the Lord will bring peace and healing, and eventually open a new
chapter after freeing Tracey from a toxic environment.” - MS
"And another: “A dysfunctional system always finds a scapegoat for its pain.” -KF
“I’m so
sorry Tracey is going through this. She must be devastated especially after
trying so hard to leave in a good way. I am praying for Tracey to trust the
Lord as He unfolds the next steps for her.” - CJ
So then, three months before our youngest son graduated from high school, our family found ourselves making important decisions to keep ourselves from further collateral damage.
“Victims
of spiritual abuse must experience a break-through barrier in order to move
forward. This
barrier describes the point when they are confronted with the truth that the
system is abusive and they must decide to leave the abusive church. An
authoritarian pastor will perpetuate the myth that there is never a legitimate
reason to leave that church. Those who do leave do so without his blessing.
Mike Fehlauer shares pointedly,
If you find yourself needing to leave an abusive and controlling church, you
need to realize that many times it will bring attacks against your character. If
you discover that you are in an abusive or unhealthy church and must make the
decision to leave, it will be one of the most difficult challenges you will ever
face. How you leave will determine and affect the condition of your heart.
When someone decides that the best decision for their well-being is to leave a toxic church, system, or work environment, they must break through the barrier in spite of the risks. They
will be attacked. They will be maligned by others in public and in private.
They will lose friends. They will lose their church. They will experience a
death, leaving one season of life for another. They will experience emotions
and hurts similar to that of a divorce. But they must break through the barrier
in order to move forward toward healing.”
We decided to leave, and we have never regretted it. When the pain of staying becomes greater than the pain of leaving, you know you must. The back cover of Gary Thomas' When to Walk Away: Finding Freedom from Toxic People, says . . .
"As
Christians, we often feel the guilt and responsibility of meeting the needs of
unhealthy people in our lives. Whether a sibling, parent, spouse, coworker, or
friend, toxic people frequently seek to frustrate our life's calling. While
you're seeking first God's kingdom, they're seeking first to distract your
focus and delay your work.
Instead of
attempting the impossible task of mollifying toxic people, it's time we
dedicate our energy to a more worthwhile effort: completing the work God has
given us by investing in reliable people. It's only when we learn to say no to
bad patterns that we can say yes to the good work God has planned for us."
Tracey’s
entire family left the church. Every one. After my parents left their home
church of twenty-five years during a horrible church split a quarter of a century earlier, never did I think my wife’s parents would have to
go through a similar set of circumstances. If the pastor and Personnel Team
had responded to her resignation appropriately – rather than reactively – her
parents and other family members could have remained at the church. But not
with this slap in the face. When asked if they would remain, one of her parents
replied, “Would you stay if they had done that to your child?”
Forgiveness is granted, but trust is earned.
Arterburn and Felton wrote in their groundbreaking book, Toxic Faith, about the "outcast" of the system - the persons willing to speak up, rock the boat, and challenge the unhealthy system. They write, "When
outcasts surface, they are identified as troublemakers and pushed out of the
system as soon as possible.” The outcasts are unimpressed by position or title;
they see through the delusion and are willing to suffer great personal loss in
order to make a stand and leave the system. Unfortunately, these outcasts will
be discredited by the leadership immediately through the process called
labeling. Even if they are long-time supporters of the church, the leadership
will be glad to see them leave.
We prayed
for our children – especially our youngest – that they would not blame God for
the wrongful actions of a few people. That this experience would not cause them
to distance themselves from church. And, we had many conversations where we
said, “What you experienced here is not wise, healthy, nor God-honoring.” It’s
given us the opportunity to have long talks about leadership, emotional
maturity, and dealing with insecure people.
Allow the Notes to Pass
In the past
year, we have tried to remember the reality of the pause in symphonies. Anthony
De Mello said, “Do you want to enjoy a symphony? Don’t hold on to a few bars of
the music. Don’t hold on to a couple of notes. Let them pass, let them flow.
The whole enjoyment of a symphony lies in your readiness to allow the notes to
pass.”
My friend
and mentor Dan Miller wrote, “The darkness of winter and the new birth of
spring, the feelings of happiness and the misery of despair, the state of
waking and sleeping, these divergent forces all complement each other,
resulting in a richness that gives life its true depth.
Without the
struggle of metamorphosis, there is no butterfly. In what we consider
adversity, there is the opportunity to discover something that will separate us
from the competition. We can then use what we’ve learned to create something so
extraordinary that people can’t help but talk about it, recommend, and choose
it. I want my life to be a symphony, not a reprise.”
We’ve waded through shock, hurt,
anger and disappointment. In my own study of spiritual abuse years ago, I discovered that people mistreated by religious establishments often journey through similar feelings as those who endured sexual abuse. There are layers of negative emotions to wade through when a person or persons in leadership, who should have been trustworthy, misuse that authority.
We've worked through layers of forgiveness, asking the Lord to bless those who hurt us.
We prayed, embraced solitude, consistently practiced our spiritual disciplines, and talked with concerned friends. We read Anne Graham Lotz' Wounded by God's People, Ken Blue's Healing Spiritual Abuse, and Chuck DeGroat's When Narcissism Comes to Church.We found a lot of support from the Funderburk clan, who were all affected deeply.
Thomas Moore wrote, Come, ye disconsolate, where'er ye languish; Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel. Here bring your wounded hearts, here tell your anguish; Earth has no sorrows that heaven cannot heal.
"Several years ago, our family walked through a season of loss. We'd invested deeply in a community and an endeavor that we could no longer continue in. It wasn't cancer, but there was no cure to what was ailing us. It wasn't divorce, but the parting was painful. It wasn't death, but we said our goodbye [well, we weren't exactly allowed to]. Our family's journey with God had seen mountain and valleys, but nothing had stung like this particular season of sadness, confusion, and a sudden detour in the road we were so sure God had placed us on."
Slowly, we regained our breath - and slowly our song began to return.
We’ve also moved forward with new connections, opportunities, and
ideas. Tracey enjoyed several months of nannying last summer for little
children. She assumed the role of the music director at the church I pastor. Once again, we have enjoyed going to church together – and serving at church
together. And she has blessed many people this year as the Choral Director at
our local high school, which is also her alma mater. They hired her on the spot at her first interview. Her choirs at school and church love her!
As previously mentioned, many years
ago, my parents and their friends experienced an unwelcome change due to the
unhealthy leadership of their senior pastor. Several hundred people eventually
left the church. The pastor at the next church they joined, where my mother
remains twenty-five years later, told them, "I don't know what happened at
that church, but everyone who comes here from there comes hurting deeply."
That
experience motivated me to spend years studying the subject of what is called
spiritual abuse, when mistreatment occurs within the church under pastoral or
lay leadership. I discovered a repertoire of authors and books on the subject.
I completed my own doctoral research with a thesis entitled "Moving
Forward: The Factors that Make People Resilient from Spiritual Abuse in
Southern Baptist Churches."
Several
years ago, I outlined a book based on my research - a book I called "Hurt
by the Church, but Healed by Jesus." However, I filed it to let it
"percolate." After taking a reprise, I’m finishing my book, Hurt
by the Church, Healed by Jesus. Now with some fresh, personal
illustrations, I hope it will be a help to other people groping through similar
situations.
Oh, and we
decided to make a family joke out of shooting the bird. We now say that when
someone shoots the bird, it reminds us that Jesus said, “Aren't two sparrows
sold for a penny? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's
consent. But even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So don't be
afraid therefore; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:29–31,
HCSB).
That’s
taking lemons and making lemonade – and keeping our sense of humor!
When the church hurts you, please remember that there's a big difference in the Christians who hurt you - and the God who keeps you. Continue trusting in Him and growing. There is hope and healing in Jesus.
"They would have swallowed us alive . . . . The waters would have engulfed us; a torrent would have overwhelmed us. Yes, the raging waters of their fury would have overwhelmed our very lives. Praise the LORD, who did not let their teeth tear us apart! We escaped like a bird from a hunter's trap. . . . Our help is from the LORD, who made heaven and earth" (Psalm 124:3-8, NLT).
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