the Proclaim & Defend Podcast

It was news nationwide,

The elders at Trinity Bible Church of Dallas announced this week that lead preacher Steven J. Lawson had been removed from all ministry responsibilities after he confessed to having an "inappropriate relationship" with a woman.

This one was a shocker, and a deep disappointment to many in conservative evangelicalism and fundamentalism. Lawson is the founder and President of OnePassion Ministries, and was a mentor of sorts to many who seek to exposit the word of God faithfully. His connections to Master’s Seminary, Ligonier Ministries, and Reformed Theological Seminary, and all the relationships that go with those connections made the pain run deep.

Such failures (and none of us know the specifics) are not uncommon in ministry and are not exclusive to any camp of believing Christianity. Some ministry philosophies make the temptations greater, but they are still great no matter the crowd with which a minister fellowships. On August 5, the NPR news station for North Texas ran an article entitled, Several North Texas pastors step down, removed from positions amid controversies. The article title was kind. Seven very prominent pastors in just the north Texas area had recently resigned.

This is not a casting stones, blog. Biblical, fundamentalist, Baptists have had their own share of failures. However, the Lawson case reveals that the problem was deeper. Steve Lawson was not actually the pastor of the church where he was the lead preacher. He was not an elder at Trinity or even a member of the church! Because of that, all the church could do when confronted by his impropriety was remove him from all ministry responsibilities. They could not perform any type of church discipline as commanded by the New Testament. He was functioning as a sort of superstar regular guest preacher for the church.

This brings up some important questions that we must address in the 21st-century Bible-believing church world.

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Read the rest of the article here: Holding Pastors Accountable – Proclaim & Defend

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