Rick Warren’s Podcast for Pastors and Church Leaders.

Jerry Falwell was one of the giant figures who towered over the 20th century American church. Most people knew him as the founder of the Moral Majority, the face of the Religious Right, and because of some of his more controversial statements, many saw only a caricature of the real man.

The story was never told about his compassionate heart, his gentle spirit, his enormous sense of humor, and the millions he invested in helping the underprivileged. Jerry founded the Elim Home for alcoholics, the Center for tutoring inner city children, the Hope Aglow ministry for prisoners, Liberty Godparent Home for unwed mothers, and literally dozens of other compassion projects to help the poor, the sick, and others in desperate need.

I believe Jerry Falwell’s primary legacy will not be his political leadership, but the church he pastored for 50 years, the university he founded that has produced two generations of leaders, the millions who heard him preach the Good News, the innovations in ministry he introduced, and the thousands of young pastors, like myself, that he constantly encouraged.

Rick

This week we are talking about loneliness in ministry. As a pastor, you need to learn how to have friends and how to be ministered to by others. Joining me on the podcast this week is Pastor Craig Groeschel, Senior Pastor at LifeChurch.TV. Craig wrote the book Confessions of a Pastor and has some great advice on the podcast for pastors to get real with God.

I hope you will listen right now and tune for the next several weeks as we take some time to reconnect with God as pastors. As you will hear in the podcast, it always starts with personal renewal.

As always, after you listen to the podcast be sure to come back here and post a comment to keep the conversation going.

Thanks friend,
Rick

In the wake of any disaster people start to enter a time of rebuilding. As a pastor I suggest you preach from the book of Nehemiah. Start with Nehemiah chapter two… it talks about how rebuilding is harder than building. And then just do the things that Nehemiah did.

Nehemiah chapter four talks about when they were rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem, and half way through they got discouraged and wanted to give up. Fatigue at the half way point is very discouraging. There can be fatigue, frustration, failure, and fear.. all hurt in times of rebuilding. That chapter shows that there was so much trouble. Other people were trying to kill them - they were afraid they couldn’t finish - they felt like failures - and they were tired.

These are the things that you have to counteract in keeping people motivated. You have to teach them to rest their body and to refocus on the Lord.

In today’s world, the church has been marginalized as one of many equal components or even just a slice of the pie as opposed to my career, my kids’ school, soccer, politics and a dozen other things, but the church is not a part of the pie. The church is the family of God which is the only thing that is going to last forever. If the church didn’t exist, nothing else would exist because God created the universe for the purpose of having a family. If he didn’t want a family, none of this other stuff would happen. The church has been marginalized and sidelined over to the side as we have given certain tasks to the government, certain tasks to the media, certain tasks to NGOs, certain tasks to para-church organizations and things like that. I am on a campaign to re-institute the church as the center of the community. Now, there are multiple ways you have to do that, but here are a couple.

One of them is, in your own preaching, you have to magnify the importance of the church. The biggest mistake that a lot of pastors make is they only give a personal application of the text and not a corporate application of the text. There are both. When you talk about loneliness, you talk about people’s loneliness, but you also talk about… and that’s why we have the church because the church was made to connect. It may be just a little aside, but just use the phrase, “and that’s why we have the church.” People say, “I am worried about things” Well, that’s why we have the church because in community we talk about our worries and we help each other with them. People say, “well, I’m depressed.” That’s why we have the church. People talk about problems in society; illiteracy, poverty and disease. Well, that’s why we have the church. The church is the answer because it is Jesus Christ in spiritual form. Jesus was here in physical form. He was in his physical body. Now Jesus is on earth through his spiritual body. The church is Jesus Christ’s spiritual body.

A second way of bring the Church into the center of the community is through doing what Christians least often do and unbelievers most expect us to do, and that is, care for the disadvantaged, the sick, the poor, the lame, the hurt, the underprivileged, the aged, the mentally ill and on and on. It is only through our actions that the church will reclaim its rightful standing in this world … by compassion. We will never preach our way back to the sinner. We will never politic our way back to the sinner. It is interesting that politicians have been very frank about the limitations of politics while Christians are getting more and more into politics. That’s not the way you change society. You change it by changing hearts, and you change hearts through service.

This week I am in New York City with my friends from The Journey Church and Rocky River Community Church discussing how to minister in an urban setting.

This week’s guests:

• Pastor Nelson Searcy is the Lead Pastor / Teaching Pastor at The Journey Church in New York, NY.
• Pastor Kerrick Thomas is the Executive Pastor at The Journey Church in New York, NY.
• Pastor Jason Hatley is the Pastor of Worship Arts at The Journey Church in New York, NY.
• Pastor Roy Mansfield is the Pastor of Spiritual Development at The Journey Church in New York, NY.
• Pastor Jimmy Britt is the Lead Pastor at Rocky River Community Church in Concord, NC.

Click to listen and then be sure to keep the conversation going by posting a comment here on the blog…

Rick

There is no truth without trust and there is no trust without truth. They go together. You trust people because they tell you the truth. But, you also tell the truth to people you trust. So, you cannot have one without the other. I do not have a right to speak into your life unless you trust me first and I have been proven to be trustworthy by being open to truth myself.

Dear Saddleback Member

In 2007, I plan to write you several times to help you understand some of the behind-the-scenes procedures and strategies of our church family. In this letter I want to explain what happens when a staff member at Saddleback must be removed because of some sin.

TAKING THE INITIATIVE (Proverbs 28:13)
If a staff member voluntarily confesses to me, or to our Staff Pastor (Bob Baker), and repents before being found out, Bob or I counsel that person privately. Depending on the violation, they may be allowed to remain on staff while recovering. If a staff member does not take the initiative, they are suspended from staff immediately while the elders consider their situation. If a staff member continues to lie about their sin, they are fired immediately.

WHO IS TOLD? (1 Cor. 5:11-13)
Sin is to be confessed only as widely as it affects others. Private sin requires only private confession to God. Personal sin that involves others requires interpersonal confession to the people involved. Public sins (those that affect a large group of people in our congregation) regrettably must be dealt with publicly as a warning to others. The Bible says that those who teach are held to a greater public accountability because of their visibility to those they teach. (James 3:1, 1 Tim. 5:20)

Children have a fragile faith and often idolize their leaders. Parents should be careful not to talk about fallen staff in front of children so they don’t lose heart. If asked, you should simply say “They resigned,” That’s all children need to know.

RESTORATION (Gal. 6:1)
The goal of church discipline is the restoration of a person’s life, marriage, and possibly ministry. This is hope and prayer, but it is not an automatic conclusion. Our church has a specific restoration process which includes 1) confession and restitution 2) counseling and testing, 3) regular accountability to a group of pastors, 4) prayer, 5) refraining from ministry to focus on maturity, 6) strengthening character and marriage, 7) Bible study and Scripture memorization, and 8) rebuilding and proving credibility. The fallen staff member must humbly cooperate with our restoration process which may last up to a year or longer.

Restoration does not mean being restored to the staff of Saddleback. That would not be best for the former staff member or the volunteer workers in that ministry. We are a high-visibility, fast-moving congregation. After the restoration process is finished, we would want to see that person slowly re-enter ministry in a less visible church with smaller demands. Usually after restoration, the person re-enters a different type of ministry than the one they led before their fall. This is because our most effective ministry always comes out of our own deepest hurts and experiences.

SPIRITUAL AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR THE FAMILY (Gal. 6:2)
Sin always hurts others who are innocent, so we provide spiritual and emotional support to the family of the offender. Depending on the situation, severance pay may be provided so the former staff member can focus 100% on rebuilding his/her life.

OFFERING FORGIVENESS & REBUILDING TRUST (2 Cor. 2:7-8)
Forgiveness and trust are not the same thing. Forgiveness is offered immediately, even before it is asked for, but forgiveness does not remove the consequences of sin. (Gal. 6:7). Leadership is built on trust, and trust must be earned. While trust can be destroyed instantly by a single decision, it takes time and proof of change before anyone can be restored to ministry or leadership. The Bible commands that they be tested first. (1 Tim. 3:10, Philip. 2:22)

DOING ALL THIS IN HUMILITY & LOVE (Eph. 4:2, 1 Cor. 10:12, )
The Bible says “Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love.” It also says, “If you think you are standing strong, be careful, for you, too, may fall into the same sin.” Now is the time to review your own life and marriage. If you haven’t heard the message by Kay and me “Affair-proofing Your Marriage” I strongly recommend you get a copy this weekend.

Satan is always trying to destroy or discourage God’s Flock by defeating the shepherds (pastors). We are a church family and we must stand together with Craig and his family during his restoration process over the next year.

Saddleback is a strong, mature, and healthy church. In past situations like these, our church family has pulled together, rallied, and become even more stronger and committed. We believe in Romans 8:28. I love you and I look forward to seeing you this weekend.

“Pray for us. We have no doubts about what we’re doing or why, but it’s hard going and we need your prayers. All we care about is living well before God.”
Hebrews 13:18 (The Message)

PASTOR RICK

Many of you have asked for a copy of the Saddleback Staff Ten Commandments mentioned in the podcast. Here you go!

1. Thou shalt not go to lunch alone with the opposite sex. *
2. Thou shalt not have the opposite sex pick you up or drive you places when it is just the two of you.*
3. Thou shalt not kiss any attender of the opposite sex or show affection that could be questioned.*
4. Thou shalt not visit the opposite sex alone at home. *
5. Thou shalt not counsel the opposite sex alone at the office, and thou shalt not counsel the opposite sex more than once without that person’s mate. Refer them.
6. Thou shalt not discuss detailed sexual problems with the opposite sex in counseling. Refer them.
7. Thou shalt not discuss your marriage problems with an attender of the opposite sex.
8. Thou shalt be careful in answering emails, instant messages, chatrooms, cards or letters from the opposite sex.
9. Thou shalt make your co-worker your protective ally.
10. Thou shalt pray for the integrity of other staff members.

* The first four do not apply to unmarried staff.

The principles of recovery are really the principles of spiritual growth. We base the recovery program in our church on the beatitudes of Jesus. Those eight beatitudes actually parallel identically and in order the 12 steps in Alcoholics Anonymous.

Everybody is in recovery about something because all have sinned. There are three things I love most about Celebrate Recovery:

1. It is forward-looking. It does not completely dwell in the past. So many therapies keep you stuck in the past. This one says “your past is past, let’s get on with the future.”
2. It has a point of conversion. It is Step Three that says: I recognize that I have to surrender to God.
3. It is practiced in community, because you can’t get well on your own. The persistent temptations and sins in life have to be team-tackled, and you will not get well on your own. I know people who have gone to therapy for years, one on one with a professional, and are not any better than they were before because we were made to grow and to recover in community.

This week we are talking about how to lead your church when a staff member has a moral failure. Joining me on the podcast this week are Pastor Ken Baugh and Pastor John Baker.

As always, after you listen to the podcast be sure to come back here and post a comment to keep the conversation going.

Thanks friend,
rick

[note: comments with actual names or details may be edited]