Your Ministry Helper » Social network http://www.yourministryhelper.com tips and solutions for the business side of ministry Fri, 06 Aug 2010 00:27:23 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 The Pastor, The Affair and Social Networks http://www.yourministryhelper.com/the-pastor-the-affair-and-social-networks.html http://www.yourministryhelper.com/the-pastor-the-affair-and-social-networks.html#comments Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:45:38 +0000 Valerie Johnson http://www.yourministryhelper.com/?p=608 globe into computer2 Yesterday there was a lot of tweeting and blogging about a Pastor who resigned after an affair with his assistant.  What made this particularly interesting to me is the power of social networking.  Most of the people who were tweeting and blogging about the pastor had never met him personally.  Like me, they either read his blog and/or followed him on Twitter.  He is very well known among social networking pastors and ministry leaders.

The pastor, himself, wrote a blog post about his resignation and the affair.  His church also posted a copy of an e-mail on their web site that was sent to church members.  All of this says a lot about the power of the Internet and social networking.  Tweeters and bloggers alike, were speaking of the pastor as if they know him.  Most said they were praying for him and his family.  Some were also praying for the woman involved.

If you’re looking for the name of the pastor or a link to his blog, you won’t find it here.  My purpose is not to cast aspersions upon the pastor or the other woman.  My purpose is to emphasize that we no longer live in a bubble and we can’t hide our mistakes or our sins.  This church is in North Georgia in a small town that most people have never heard of.  The pastor involved planted this church five years ago and it has grown to over 1,000 members.  It is the kind of contemporary church that you would not expect to see in a town that is just this side of being called rural.  This pastor had a lot of influence in his community and across the nation.  All because of the Internet and Social Networking.

Christians know that God sees everything we do.  There was a time when we could hide our faults, sins and propensities from each other and thought we were safe.  Eventually our issues might be found out but more than likely, they wouldn’t go any further than our community.  That isn’t the case today.  The Bible tells us that to whom much is given much is expected (Luke 12:48).  To that passage of scripture you might add, “to whom much is given, much will be exposed.”

As we go forward in ministry, we should keep in mind that information (accurate or not) is just a mouse click away.  What we do today, may be posted all over the world within a matter of minutes or hours.  Let’s pray for all of our pastors, ministry leaders, their families and their places of worship.  As my pastor reminded us on Sunday, we are the church – we take it everywhere we go.

A final note – this pastor made a mistake that affects him, his family and his church.  Regardless of his sins, this pastor’s ministry helped bring many people to Christ.  Let’s not penalize his family, friends and church; and let us not negate his positive accomplishments in ministry.

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