With disbelief and a heavy heart, we add the name Ravi Zacharias to the list of names of Christian leaders who have fallen morally. How tragic to have a man so well known for his intellect and persuasive handling of God’s truth in the arena of apologetics, to now be stained with sexual scandal. It is heart-wrenching to think a man we so admired could be capable of what he did, and it is anguishing to think of what fear and torment his victims had to experience and now live with.
We are again reminded that Christ is the cornerstone of our faith, not any one Christian man or woman we admire or look up to.
What do we do during times like this? What does our mind and heart need to engage in when navigating the pain of these situations? Sometimes passing on a good resource is better than creating new content. That is what I will do here. I commend this article from The Gospel Coalition for you to read and reflect on. The author of the post gives us 10 good ways to navigate grievous moments like these when Christian leaders hurt others and fall from their influential status.
As you read through these, which one is the easiest for you to do and which one is the most difficult? I encourage you to have a conversation with another Christian friend around the answer to those questions.
As a Christian leader, I plead with you to keep your pastors and ministry leaders in regular prayer. There are a lot of ways to pray for us, but if I had to summarize how you could pray in one word, I would say “Integrity.” Integrity will cover most of the areas we need prayed for most – our personal relationships with God, our families, our choices, and our ministries. Will you pause for a minute now and pray for your pastors and ministry leaders to have integrity? Will you commit to do so on a regular basis so that the name of Christ will be glorified, and that we will be leaders who help others and not hurt them.
Live new,
Chad Allen
