I’ll be uncharacteristically brief, here. While the whole universe is speculating about what lessons Republicans or Democrats ought to learn from Roy Moore’s loss in Alabama, I’d like to turn the conversation away from politics and ask what lessons we who are pastors and other church leaders can learn? Instead of a list, I’ll offer this one:
If you are in leadership in a church and are secretly involved in sexual or financial sin, please step away from your leadership position immediately. If Roy Moore had not run for Jeff Sessions’s seat, Luther Strange would’ve won the seat in a cakewalk. If Roy Moore had promised to resign upon being elected, he would have won and another Republican would eventually have occupied his seat. His staying in the race until the end meant that a loss for him became a loss for the entire party that he represented.
Similarly, if you leave your leadership position in a church right away, it will cost you no more now than it will cost you when the (INEVITABLE) discovery of your sin forces you out later. If you wait until you are discovered, in addition to your loss, you will inflict great damage upon your church as well. So, if you are the pastor or church leader who is covering up your own secret sin, why not resolve that 2018 is the year that you will step aside in the interests of God’s flock?
