I play the popular praise chorus “Healer” all the time in my car. I can’t get the tune out of my head. You may know the words:
“I believe You’re my healer
I believe You are all I need
I believe You’re my portion
I believe You’re more than enough for me
Jesus You’re all I need.”
Thousands of churches have been singing the popular worship chorus since Australian youth pastor Michael Guglielmucci wrote it in 2008. The Aussie worship band Hillsong United has made it a global anthem, and it’s especially popular among people battling illness. But the song took on a darker meaning when Guglielmucci admitted it was part of an elaborate hoax he created.
Christians around the world felt shocked and betrayed when the young minister admitted he had faked cancer for two years in a strange ploy to hide his secret pornography addiction. The fiasco became one of the biggest scandals to rock Australia’s Christian community.
In a tearful apology aired on Australian television, Guglielmucci said he faked symptoms and wrote bogus emails from doctors. He sat in waiting rooms alone while his family assumed he was getting treatment. He appeared in church concerts with an oxygen tube in his nose, deceiving thousands of mostly teenage fans into believing he needed a physical healing.
This talented but tormented young man eventually trapped himself in his own deceptive web. Church leaders asked him to confess his lies to the police, since he used the story to raise funds. He was stripped of his ministerial credentials and enrolled in a program offering psychiatric help. Australian church leaders, including pastor Brian Houston of Hillsong Church in Sydney, had to make public statements to calm distraught churchgoers who felt betrayed and in some cases were defrauded of their money.
I can’t begin to imagine the pain that Guglielmucci’s parents feel. (His father is a pastor who read his son’s apology to a stunned congregation outside Adelaide.) I am sure trust was severely damaged among members of Guglielmucci’s family. But how do we respond when a leader fails us like this?
Thankfully, in Guglielmucci’s case, he did not justify his behavior. His apology was read in churches all over Australia. He told a news reporter: “I’m so sorry not just for lying to my friends and family even about a sickness, but I’m sorry for a life of saying I was something when I’m not. From this day on I’m telling the truth.”
This sad drama from Down Under reveals a global problem that the Church must face. It goes much deeper than a porn addiction. It reveals a fundamental lack of integrity. It is the reason we face a serious leadership crisis in today’s Church.
Sound the Alarm
Louisiana pastor Larry Stockstill had a disturbing dream one night in 2008. He saw military trucks and armored vehicles getting information for a surprise strike on an American city. In the dream, Stockstill was alarmed by what he saw; but when he tried to warn a pastor the man ignored him.
Stockstill, pastor of the ten thousand-member Bethany World Prayer Center in Baton Rouge, believes his dream was a prophetic warning about the spiritual condition of our nation. While America is teetering near an economic and political precipice, many American church leaders are going on with their business as usual—without realizing the church is in a state of serious moral crisis.
“I believe we are facing a window of opportunity for repentance,” Stockstill said. “Unless the pastors wake up to avert judgment, there will be judgment on America. If we don’t respond we are going to lose this nation.”
Stockstill says the level of dysfunction among American ministers concerns him because their unhealthiness is then passed down to their congregations. He sees five types of common dysfunction among ministers today, especially in the independent charismatic movement:
• Lack of fathering (no affirmation, encouragement or spiritual covering).
• Lack of correction (no accountability, resulting in pride and moral failure).
• Lack of fruitfulness (no training in evangelism and discipleship, preventing churches from multiplying as they should).
• Lack of healing (many pastors suffer silently because of sins and addictions).
• Lack of teaching (many in ministry today are untaught, resulting in biblically illiterate churches).
You might notice that each of these five areas of lack corresponds to the five essential ministries Jesus gave to the Church, as listed in
Pride, Stockstill says, is a primary reason why so many leaders in the American church have fallen in recent years—including mature spiritual fathers who had years of successful ministry behind them but stumbled in their later years. “You look at leaders in the Bible like Solomon, or like Samson, and you find that years of success can lead a person into pride. When pride comes, it brings a lack of accountability.”
Where Have All the Leaders Gone?
The people of Israel faced a leadership crisis during their sojourn in the wilderness. From morning until evening, dozens of people would line up outside Moses’ tent to ask him to resolve a dispute. When his father-in-law, Jethro, saw the crowds outside his door, he pulled Moses aside and gave him wise advice.
Jethro warned his son-in-law that he would burn out if he continued to govern the nation by himself. He told Moses: “You shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens” (
Jethro could have identified other qualities as prerequisites for leadership. He could have mentioned charisma, sex appeal, preaching ability, musical talent, intellect, organizational skills, business know-how, wealth, pedigree or high ratings in political polls. But none of those are God’s requirements. Jethro mentioned three qualities that we desperately need in the church, as well as in mainstream culture.
1. Leaders who fear God. A person who fears God lives in a continual attitude of reverence—whether he is alone or in front of a crowd. He is aware that God is watching his actions and weighing his words. Because this person cares more about pleasing God than people, he takes God’s moral standards seriously—and he depends on the Holy Spirit to help him make right choices. God, give us leaders who fear You!
2. Leaders who tell the truth. We live in a dishonest culture. The 2007 financial crisis was triggered, in part, by people who lied when they applied for home loans. Bank executives have admitted that mortgages were granted even to people who worked service jobs and yet claimed six-figure salaries. When people who lied about their incomes couldn’t pay their mortgages, they defaulted on their loans and the system imploded. The greedy financial sharks who sold those loans lied, too. God, give us leaders who tell the truth!
3. Leaders who hate dishonest gain. Most of us shook our heads in disgust in 2008 when we heard about Governor Rod Blagojevich’s outlandish bribery scandal. After being arrested for attempting to sell Barack Obama’s Senate seat, the embattled Illinois politician dug in his heels and insisted on appointing the state attorney general to the vacant spot. Blagojevich turned the evening news into a three-ring circus. God, give us leaders who hate dishonest gain!
It’s time for a leadership reformation. True spiritual revival will not come to the American church until we take Jethro’s counsel seriously, removing corrupt leaders from their positions and replacing them with those who match the biblical standard. But how can we begin to enact this kind of godly discipline?
Cowardice, Compromise and the Sin of Eli
No biblical character is more pitiful than Eli, the Levite priest who compromised his ministry and defiled God’s house because he couldn’t bring himself to discipline his two wayward sons. The Bible says Hophni and Phinehas were “worthless men” (
Not only did these men prey on vulnerable women (and engage in sex with them in the very doorway of the house of God), but they also were involved in the worst kind of financial exploitation. They cunningly manipulated people while taking offerings; then they misused the gifts for their own sordid gain.
Even though Eli questioned his sons’ behavior and warned them of the consequences, he did not remove them from their positions. Even though the people in the pews were shocked by Hophni and Phinehas’ sexual escapades and financial shenanigans, Eli let his privileged boys go right on taking offerings and raping parishioners. Year after year he allowed his sons to mock God and infect people with their corruption. This pathetic priest was not only timid but also selfish and undisciplined in his personal life.
What does Eli have to do with us? After all, he lived in Old Testament times, right? There are plenty of charismatic leaders today who have adopted a theology of greasy grace and sloppy holiness. Their sole mantra is, “Mercy.” They say there is no longer any need for church discipline or moral standards in leadership.
All this shows how spineless we’ve become. We are afraid to stand for what is right for fear of seeming intolerant or self-righteous. Among independent charismatic churches in America, we’ve developed a culture that retreats from genuine discipline and makes it easy for disgraced leaders to return to the pulpit without having dealt with their sin. But I don’t see this lax attitude in the apostle Paul, who set high standards of character for all his leaders, blacklisted false teachers and even excommunicated people who continued in immorality.
All this may sound extreme, but extreme sin requires extreme measures. Godly leaders draw lines and enforce moral standards—without becoming self-righteous and unkind. Ungodly leaders, on the other hand, may appear to be nice and compassionate, but they actually are unfaithful to God if they refuse to require their spiritual sons and daughters to follow biblical standards of behavior.
I am making an appeal: It is time for the fathers and mothers of the Church to do their job. We need their rebuke and their rod of correction. If they don’t, the Hophnis and Phineases of our generation will gain the upper hand until God is forced to step in with swift judgment.
Time to Stop the Funny Business
This lack of moral backbone became obvious recently in the city of Baltimore, where a prominent pastor ended up in the newspaper because of his scandalous behavior. Jamal Harrison-Bryant, pastor of Empowerment Temple in Baltimore, was accused of fathering a child out of wedlock. His wife, Gizelle, citing adultery and cruel treatment, filed for divorce in 2009. Yet Harrison-Bryant preached a now-famous sermon in the church in which he used King David’s story of adultery with Bathsheba to defend himself.
“I’m still the man!” he shouted from the pulpit as worshipers stood and cheered. “The anointing on my life is greater than any mistake.” He made it clear that he had no intention of being defrocked or disciplined. To Harrison-Bryant, anointing surpasses character. His total disregard for Christian character is sad enough. What makes the situation worse is that the leaders around him did not demand he step down and get help for his problems. Harrison-Bryant was a part of the African Methodist Episcopal denomination. Yet apparently no one took action against Harrison-Bryant’s sin. Like Eli, they seemed powerless to bring the needed correction.
All this moral failure among leaders today has the average Christian confused. Is there ever a time when leaders are disqualified? Is restoration always immediate? Are we acting like Pharisees if we demand that leaders sit on the bench for a while to recover from their mistakes and prove their character again? It is time for us to restate some obvious rules.
1. There are definite qualifications for Christian leadership. The apostle Paul made it clear there is a litmus test for leaders in the New Testament church. In
Notice that only one of these qualifications (“able to teach”) involves anointing. Paul says nothing about a leader’s ability to prophesy, heal the sick, see visions, talk to angels, raise funds, sing, shout or make people fall on the floor by the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Nor does he mention academic credentials. Character is the key.
2. Those who do not meet these qualifications must step down. If Paul demanded character of his leaders, it stands to reason that those who fail in any of these areas should be removed from office—at least until they regain character quality after a time of rehabilitation. When leaders failed, Paul also recommended that they be strongly rebuked “in the presence of all, so that the rest also will be fearful of sinning” (
3. The church will not thrive if discipline of leaders is neglected. Paul sternly warned Timothy about ordaining any church leader prematurely. He wrote: “Do not lay hands upon anyone too hastily and thereby share responsibility for the sins of others” (
We can’t rewrite the rules. We can’t bypass the consequences, no matter how long they may be delayed. I pray that leaders in the independent sector of the church today will stop all this funny business and restore biblical order.
