Heart

Since I posted about the pastor stepping down at my previous church, I know another friend who talked to his church on Sunday about his struggle with pornography some years ago. He, and the church, have processed it really well. It's out there; keeping it in secrecy does not help. I'm happy to see it confessed and handled so well in this church. I heard later this afternoon that a youth pastor stepped down in a big church down the road due to a moral lapse. Last year, the senior pastor stepped down for the same reason. At lunch, Ed and I were talking about some of this and then got into some of our misfires at Richview. Different topic, yet somewhat related. It hit me today that we have done a lot of work in a lot of programs, but when the program finished (say, a program to encourage gift-based ministry, for instance), nothing changed because the heart had never changed. Closer to home, I realize that some heart issues have been affecting me over the past year. I'm not talking about major sin as much as I am passion. Real change always begins as an inside job. It's affected by the junk we're hiding and even the stuff we're not hiding, but that is bogging us down. Programs and tasks never change people, although it's often where we want to start. It all starts with the heart. Watch the heart. And don't forget to dance.

Comments

[Arthur]

Isn't amazing that we are so concerned about what other people think, and yet we do not consider what our Heavenly Father thinks? We think nothing of making fools of ourselves when the Maple Leafs score the winning goal, but when a soul enters the Kingdom we are so restrained; so prim and proper. We clap when the "fat lady sings", but dare not clap for Joy in church. Shame.

[Randall]

I think that's one of the things that bugs me most about bringing some "life changing" kinds of fad programing into the chuch. It's an excuse for many pastors because they don't know what to do to help their church change deep within itself. We only fluff around the edges. The deep spiritual work can be long hard work. But if the cycles of sin will be broken, we need to do that stuff. Keep doin it Darryl!

[scott]

it's hard to dance from the pulpit. people say they want you to be real but they really don't. they secretly hope their minister will not struggle with the same sins they do, and for some reason they are shocked when we do. i am the only graduate from my college still in the ministry. i am old enough to have watched a long line of friends bail. many for sexual and financial reasons. they have no one they can confess too, no one who will love unconditionally. they fear for their jobs and their hearts, they lie though they don't want to. i've been doing this for many years and have maybe 2 or 3 people i can trust implicitly. it's often a lonely road, a trail of self-imposed hypocracy. and by the way, ALL men struggle with the power of pornography. anyone who tells you different is selling something.

[Arthur]

Darryl, I don't know if I've ever told you before how much I appreciate the openness and honesty you display in your BLOG. That you struggle with the same questions and concerns that many of the rest of us have just demonstrates to me that you are "real" and human. That you are not afraid to admit that you do not have all the answers; that you are also still searching and questioning, demonstrates your integrity. I admire and respect you all the more for having the courage to be so open. God Bless you, Bro.