Like Monday morning quarterbacks, we can gather around the water cooler and point out what went horribly wrong with fallen leaders. The first conclusion might be that all who fell were not in accountability relationships. I get that. But if a leader is so blind to their issues, one sees no need for accountability in the first place.
Last week, we considered Ravi Zacharias. He had preached a series of sermons in a church I had attended as a young seminarian. I bought all of the tapes and listened to them over and over and over. Friends and I would talk about some of the sermon stories and illustrations as though we were relishing key football moments of our favorite teams. The guy was a superstar.
So learning of his fall robbed me of some sleep. The next day I searched online, and lost more sleep. I discovered more leaders who had fallen, and some of the lurid details. Do you want to hear the details? (You can take 2-3 Benadryl before bedtime. You should be OK.)
What more can we learn from those who fall?
A Key Discipline
Sometimes just one chapter can make an entire book worth its price. That’s true of the first chapter of Reggie McNeal’s Practicing Greatness: Seven Disciplines of Extraordinary Spiritual Leaders. The very first discipline, McNeal states, is the most critical for any leader: self-awareness.
One can exercise the other six disciplines with military precision, but if you are not aware of your own vulnerabilities and chinks in the armor, your leadership can most certainly be in peril.
OK, I know you want to know the other six:
· Self-Management
· Self-Development
· Mission
· Decision-Making
· Belonging
· Aloneness
(There you go. Good book.)
Being self-aware is essential. It is knowing how you tick and what ticks you off. Even more, it is understanding the wounds and lies of your past which are triggered by those very things which tick you off.
You may or may not have heard of the brilliant scholar John Howard Yoder. I had to read his book The Politics of Jesus in seminary. Some believe it is the best written defense of pacifism.
While he was professor at Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary, there were accusations from nearly 50 women, all claiming he had sexually harassed, abused, or assaulted them. Repeated complaints to then president Marlin Miller were taken seriously. But each time Miller confronted him, Yoder defiantly denied all allegations. A disciplinary committee formed later found similar resistance, with Yoder claiming they were doing the bidding of the “Mennonite women’s posse”.
Eventually resigning from ABMS, he taught at Notre Dame. Some accusations arose there as well. But the predatory actions and the accusations were not publicly acknowledged until nearly two decades after his death.
Have you caught the irony? A respected theologian who championed the cause of pacifism was himself accused of violating women and bullying his investigators.
The insomnia gains further traction when we look at Yoder’s mentor, the towering Swiss theologian Karl Barth. He was a hero of the faith. His writings can easily occupy an entire bookshelf, and they were all aimed at steering the Church away from the liberal subjectivism of the 19th century theologians. He urged Christian scholars and leaders to base their teaching upon the solid ground of scripture and on a historical Jesus. One’s subjective feelings, he argued, were no basis upon which to do theology.
In recent years, it has been revealed that he had a decades-long affair with his personal secretary Charlotte von Kirschbaum. Incredibly, he even convinced his wife to have her move into the house with them.
Mark Galli, former editor of Christianity Today and author of a biography of Barth, was dismayed to find out the recently revealed details of the affair, and especially of Barth’s rationale. He writes:
But it is that very subjectivism that Barth fell into himself, more or less saying that his relationship with von Kirschbaum felt so good, so right, it had to come from God: “It cannot just be the devil’s work,” he wrote Charlotte. “It must have some meaning and a right to live. … I love you and do not see any chance to stop this.’’
Again, note the irony. The one who eschewed subjectivism and urged standing by the teachings of Jesus was swayed by his feelings in his outright disobedience. Could it be his lack of self-awareness led to his downfall? That is, should he have realized his own susceptibility to rationalization and subjectivism?
Fifteen years ago I lost sleep over another fallen hero of mine. David Seamands was a tremendous teacher, preacher, and counselor. His book Healing for Damaged Emotions was foundational for the work of inner healing prayer in my own denomination and beyond. But a few years before his death, he was confronted with an ongoing affair of his own. Though long retired from pastoral ministry, he confessed to this publicly before a congregation he had long pastored and still attended:
"One of the roots of my sin has been the sin of pride," Seamands told Wilmore United Methodist Church on Sunday. "In response to a complaint filed against me of sexual misconduct with an adult female occurring over a number of years, I admit that I have broken my covenantal relationships and have abused the trust of those I have harmed."
For me, this stumbling was particularly troubling. I even grimace to place this in a blog. I don’t view his writings on counseling matters as being hypocritical. My guess is they were birthed out of his own struggles, heartaches, and temptations.
And yet, for someone who knew so much about the inner workings of the heart, how could he not guard his heart more carefully? The irony is deeply disheartening.
And yet his confession makes plain the lack of self-awareness. Pride is insidious. We are all susceptible to its charm. It spawns all manner of rationalizations:
· You can handle this. No accountability needed!
· It won’t get out of hand.
· Given your circumstances, you need and deserve this.
· You’re too valuable to the Kingdom. God won’t let get caught.
OK, so how are you. If you read this at night, you may lose some sleep after all! But first thing in the morning, seek God through the scriptures and prayer. Ask him where you have your own blind spots and deceitful pride. As I stated last week, there, but for the grace of God, go you and I!
In a future post, we will look carefully at how one’s context fosters or allows such abuse of power and crossing of boundaries. Two books will guide my thinking if you want to read along: Lead by Paul David Tripp, and A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture that Resists Abuses of Power and Promotes Healing by Scot McKnight and Laura Barringer.
But next week, back to facing the Wolves.
Just a reminder, sometime this spring I will begin seeking paid subscribers at $5.00 per month. There will always be free articles. But paid subscribers will receive posts on more controversial topics, will be able to leave comments, and will be invited to Zoom meetings for further discussion.