Josh Benner

Tag: church scandal

  • Megachurch pastor takes leave of absence for inappropriate online relationship

    Influential megachurch pastor Matt Chandler announced yesterday that he was being placed on leave as a result of an online social media relationship.

    We shouldn’t jump to conclusions. And the more facts we get about this situation, the better. But I am a believer that when popular ministry figures acknowledge (as Chandler does) or are credibly accused of potentially disqualifying sins, that people should be investigated. We have created a culture where it is appealing to become an influential pastor. It brings money, fame, and power. The character of these individuals does matter. 

    Chandler’s story

    One of the peculiarities of the revelation of Chandler’s leave of absence is that he was allowed to announce it to the church. This also allowed him to get out ahead of the controversy and give his own narrative. 

    Chandler begins with his series of events, “Several months ago, a woman approached me outside here in the foyer. She had some concerns for how I was DM’ing on Instagram with a friend of hers. I didn’t think I had done anything wrong in that. My wife knew that, her husband knew that. And yet, there were a couple of things that she said that were disorienting to me.” 

    Chandler says he immediately contacted the church’s lead pastor, Josh Patterson as well as the chairman of their elder board. He said he went home and told his wife about the exchange and that the elder board looked into it. Chandler says “We cannot be a church where anyone is above the Scriptures and above the high heavenly call into Christ Jesus.” 

    He says that the elder board had some concerns but that the conversations were not romantic or sexual but that the conversations were “unguarded and unwise” and that the concerns were “really about frequency and familiarity” and language Chandler had used which was “coarse and foolish.” 

    Because of Chandler’s inability to see what he was in was probably revealing some “unhealth” in him, but that he agreed with the board’s decision to put him on a leave of absence. 

    Chandler again thanks the elders for holding him accountable saying “do you know how easy it would have been to make it nothing and just let me not address whatever this is?”  

    Commentary

    I think this is part of the problem with Chandler being able to speak in this situation. Even if I take his statement at face value. He starts off by talking about how his wife and the other lady’s husband knew about the conversations (minimizing the issue). He didn’t think they were doing anything inappropriate. 

    Plus the wording of his statement is vague. It was unguarded and unwise but it wasn’t romantic. It was coarse and foolish but it wasn’t sexual. 

    So what was it?! What did he say that was so bad that he got put on leave? The really striking phrase to me is “do you know how easy it would have been to make it nothing and just let me not address whatever this is?” I feel like that could almost have a double meaning, but perhaps that’s me being cynical.. 

    So you have Chandler speaking and saying he hadn’t thought it was a big deal but he is also totally respecting the decision of the board (to suspend him for something that is totally undefined and unclear). 

    It makes it look like the Village has the highest elder standards of any church in America! Their standards are so high that they would even suspend a rockstar pastor without it even being an overtly, obviously, disqualifying sin. 

    Do they have the highest standards? Time will tell. 

    The church’s story

    According to a statement from the church who had commissioned an investigation in to Chandler’s texting, emails, and social media, they said that the messages were not “romantic or sexual in nature” but that “the frequency and familiarity of the messages crossed a line. They revealed that Matt did not use language appropriate for a pastor” 

    The church’s statement agrees with Chandler that “the messages were not romantic or sexual in nature, the frequency and familiarity of the messages crossed a line.”

    The best possible light

    I think that the best possible light, and what I hope is the reality is that Chandler made some mistakes and that the church is holding him accountable. That’s how it’s being framed. The church has crafted a narrative of how they want things to appear. 

    If it’s all true, then yes, the Village could be looked at as a model of pastoral standards, ministerial integrity, and Biblically restorative discipline. Again, I hope that’s the case. But for now, all we have is their side of the story. 

    The worst possible light 

    There are no shortage of skeptics out there who want to assume the worst, to assume that there’s much more under the surface, that this is just the tip of the iceberg. Sadly, that is something we’ve seen before with ministry scandals. 

    If it’s the worst case scenario, it would be another fall from grace from another popular pastor. And it would be a sad day for me, someone who’s always really appreciated Chandler’s ministry. In my early 20s, Chandler’s sermons were a major influence on my faith. I had never heard anyone preach like him before. He was engaging and matter of fact. He was funny. I found his sermons smart without being pretentious. I felt like he wasn’t afraid to address the gritty and difficult parts of life, while painting a beautiful picture of what living life for Jesus could be like. For all of those reasons, I again say with sincerity, that I hope that everything he and his church have said is true. If it’s true, I hope they also have a healthy process for restoration and that he can eventually be restored to ministry and to continue to do the work he’s done for nearly two decades at the Village which has blessed so many across the world. 

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  • Late evangelist Ravi Zacharias found to have committed sexual misconduct

    Ravi Zacharias was widely considered the greatest Christian apologist of the past generation. Zacharias died in May at the age of 74 after a brief battle with cancer. In recent months, accounts of a scandal which arose during his lifetime have again resurfaced.

    Background

    In December of 2017, Christianity Today ran an article where Zacharias was interviewed regarding a lawsuit settlement with a Canadian woman whom Zacharias had claimed sent her unsolicited and sexually explicit photos of herself. Zacharias had claimed that the couple had attempted to extort money from Zacharias.

    This summer, there were also new reports of multiple episodes of sexual misconduct from massage therapists at spas co-owned by Zacharias. Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), an evangelistic organization founded by the late Zacharias announced an external investigation into his conduct. While the investigation is still ongoing, RZIM issued an update yesterday.

    In the statement, RZIM said:
    The interim investigation update indicates this assessment of Ravi’s behavior to be true—that he did indeed engage in sexual misconduct. This misconduct is deeply troubling and wholly inconsistent with the man Ravi Zacharias presented both publicly and privately to so many over more than four decades of public ministry. We are heartbroken at learning this but feel it necessary to be transparent and to inform our staff, donors, and supporters at this time, even while the investigation continues. We will speak more comprehensively to all concerned after the completion of the investigation.

    There can be a lot of responses for people who were fans and supporters of Ravi. For some, anger. For some, disbelief. But one thing that people should not feel is pity for Ravi. I know it can be tempting to think “he doesn’t have a chance to defend himself.” That’s not true. I think to Ravi’s handling of sexual misconduct allegations made during his lifetime. He was the one who got ahead of that story and made himself out to be the victim.

    There are actual victims of this misconduct, and even though Ravi is deceased, the truth still matters. There’s a popular and successful ministry that bears his name, and the misconduct of its founder matters.

    I loved the ministry and teachings of Ravi Zacharias. It was a great joy to be able to meet him when he visited my seminary. The fact that people like him went to Trinity influenced why I chose that seminary. I take no joy in these claims be substantiated. But when Christian leaders fall, it should be Christians who also lead the charge for what is right.

    I do think that we should appreciate RZIM acknowledging his misconduct. They also commissioned the investigation which found the wrongdoing. We don’t know if there were people in the ministry who may have known more about his misconduct and did nothing. But the organization is doing the right thing now and admitting to claims which could have a catastrophic impact on the livelihood of the ministry.

    How should people who loved Ravi’s ministry respond?

    If you’re someone like me who benefited from the teaching of Ravi Zacharias, what do you do? Do you burn any of his books you have? Do you ignore the accusations and assume he was righteous?

    We all do sin and fall short of the glory of God. And that includes our teachers. They too are imperfect. But when a scandal comes to light, that doesn’t mean that everything they ever taught or believed was wrong. There are certainly no shortage of Biblical figures who fell into major areas of sin. David comes to mind and the affair he had with Bathsheba. We still read the Psalms.

    David repented during his lifetime. For people who lead churches, Christian universities, and powerful ministries, there is often so much institutional effort to save face and to keep money coming in that there’s always a temptation to want to ignore or bury sin and scandal.

    But here’s a key difference. If the allegations against Ravi are true, not only did he never publicly repent nor acknowledge his sexual misconduct, he actually worked to control and obfuscate the narrative.

    I write so much about these scandals when they happen because too many Christians want to act as if there’s some righteousness in pretending that these things don’t happen.

    And the desire to turn a blind eye to sin is the same attitude which allows these people to continue to to real harm a they become powerful figures within ministries.

    Truth matters and truth is worth knowing. We shouldn’t make excuses for people. But as Christians, within churches, we must hold leaders accountable. But Ravi wasn’t a pastor! We must also have expectations for those who influence our thinking and theology, of those who write the songs we listen to and the books we read. Of those who we recommend to others, who’s YouTube videos we watch, and who we reference in conversations.

    So how should Christians and people who loved Ravi respond? I think we appreciate the impact that they had in our lives. You can’t just forget everything a great teacher ever taught you. And I’m not suggesting that everything he ever said or taught is now bad. But I also don’t think we should look to people who led double lives and never owned up to their sins in their lifetime for our Spiritual nourishment. There are too many other Godly teachers.

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