There are many people who lived under strong legalism for many years in our former church. There were so many rules it was hard to enjoy life, but that has all changed now for the better. The people who have left are thriving and we are very happy. The sad thing is, for all those years many good people were trying to live by every single rule only to find out the leaders were living a double life. There was nepotism, lies, money issues, mistreatment of members and staff, promises made that were never kept, and to top it off the youth pastor recently went to prison on federal sex charges.
Sometimes when people have been in an extremely controlling situation, they have to learn all over again how to live life and be themselves. This is true for church situations, job situations, bad marriages, and other types of relationships gone bad.
This is a great song that encourages you to enjoy your life and not let someone else control you and rob you of your freedom.....
5 comments :
Excellent points. Great posts this month.
GW, Thanks for the comment!
What is up with the youth pastor going to prison? I was reading along and that one made me go whoa, wait a minute, WHAT???
To Anonymous,
It has taken me a few days to think about how I wanted to respond to your question. This is a delicate topic because I would never want to say something that would hurt the victim. I have refrained from speaking of these events on my blog for that reason, although they have been a huge factor in the hundreds of people who left our church. The way things were handled, lied about, and are continuing to be lied about, have been devastating to many. I said all that to say, this was no little thing even though I seemed to just throw that piece of info in the other day.
So, to get to your question...
This was the pastor's son, youth pastor, and executive pastor of the church. He is married with two children and he had a long term relationship with a minor who was in the church youth group. He plead guilty to federal sex charges and is now serving 5 years in prison. That's all I will say.
Thank God this courageous young lady came forth to expose things that had gone on. It has been devastating to her and her family, but she is doing well and moving forward with her life.
This was just one of many things that we realized had gone on while we were living by their code of perfection. This happens many times in controlling churches. There are rules and guidelines for the people of the church while certain leaders do whatever they want. When people find out that their leaders have lived a double life it shatters trust. The sad thing is, some people aren't able to ever trust again because in many cases pastors and other leaders in the church are the most trusted individuals in people's lives.
Set free,
Typical for these money-hungry, preachers. They think they are entitled to everything - even the women in the church. In this case though sounds like it was a child. Too sad! Glad you are speaking out and trying in some small way to put a stop to this insanity.
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