The Adventures of Matthew 18 in a Mega

The Adventures of Matthew 18 in a Mega Church: It's enough to make you scream.

Cast:
Senior Pastor’s Appointments Secretary (SPAS)
(Reports to his administrative assistant)
Mid Level Church Staffer (MLCS)

Scene Set up: Mid level staffer was astonished to hear the Senior Pastor make some inappropriate remarks at a staff retreat during a small group sharing time. He knows he should discuss this with the pastor in private. Here is his attempt to practice Matthew 18 from one Brother in Christ to another at a 20,000 member mega church. The leadership of the church constantly tells staffers to use Matthew 18 in dealing with conflict or offense by a brother. At this point, Mid Level Staffer draws up his courage to meet with his ‘Brother in Christ’ to implement Matthew 18.


Scene:



(Phone rings in Senior Pastor’s office)

SPAS: Pastor ______ ‘s office, this is Victoria, how may I help you?

MLCS: Uh...Hi Victoria, this Mike Green calling for Pastor ____. Is he in?

SPAS: What was your name again, sir? (Clicking on computerized membership file)

MLCS: Uh…Mike Green, I am downstairs on the 3rd floor in Media Relations.

SPAS: So, you are a STAFFER?

MLCS: Er...yes, ma’m…is..is...the Pastor in?

SPAS: Mike, is your boss Tom Frank, Director of Media Relations?

MLCS: Uh…yes, well...no... ma’m…my direct supervisor is Todd Bellow, he is the Artistic Facilitator.

SPAS: Mike, why are you calling Pastor _____?

MLCS: Er...W..Well ma’m that is kind of per...personal. Is there a better time for me to call him?
SPAS: Mike, have you discussed this situation with Todd Bellow first?

MLCS: Well, ...uh…no ma’m…it does not really concern him.

SPAS: Mike, I really think you should go through the chain. Does Todd know you are calling the Senior Pastor?

MLCS: See, ma’m, this does not concern Todd. It is of a very personal nature.

SPAS: Oh, I see. Let me get you a number to call. Hold on just a minute...

(waiting)

SPAS: Ok, here we are. You need to call extension 332 and ask for Bob Teal. He can help you.

MLCS: Bob Teal? I don’t know a Bob Teal. Wh..who is that?

SPAS: He is one of the best counselors we have here. You know we have counselors who deal only with the church staff and their personal problems. He is a wonderful man and would be more than happy to help you.

MLCS: I…I …uh…really don’t need a counselor. I…I just wanted to talk with the Pastor about something personal…between he and I.

SPAS: Mike, do you have any idea how busy Pastor____ is? What if every single staffer here wanted some of his time? Would he ever be able to get anything done? Mike, really! Call your boss about this and if what you want to discuss with Pastor_____ is of urgency, then I am sure it can be sent up the chain and dealt with. Have a wonderful rest of the day! Bye.

Question: Is the Pastor of this church a Brother in Christ to the staff person? Does Matthew 18 apply?

Matthew 18

15 "If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Don't Lose Heart? How About We Return To Our First Love?

Dr. Beam has written an opinion piece over at the Christian Post that is truly amazing. He is all worried that the scandalabras coming out of the right wing are going to keep us home on election day. These scandals could elect Hillary or Obama and bring us worse scandals! It comes down to this very serious choice: Right wing scandals or left wing scandals with more social spending.

Mr. Beam starts out warning us of the secret Plan B of the left (The same secret Plan B they have used for the last 60 years):

“If you are a self-defined conservative evangelical the Left is counting on you. They are counting you for one of two things. First, they hope you will be so discouraged by the recent spate of moral failures by high profile Republicans that you will chose to stay out of the 2008 race for president. For those of you who decide to rise above the discouragement the Left has a plan B. It involves confusing the moral issues by pushing life and gender issues to the back burner while elevating environmental and health care issues.”

NO! They wouldn't dare! Ok, seriously, since when did they NOT have a Plan B? Since when did they NOT push their issues? What else is new? Big snore.
Dr. Beam assumes we are discouraged by the all the scandals and is challenging us to ‘rise above the discouragement’. Please. Give me a break. He probably also believes we are ‘Christian nation’.

Ya know, it seems that when one gets to a certain age, all the scandals run together. Only the names change. In the case of the Kennedy’s, only the first names change. I have heard people describe soap operas this way. You can turn them off for a few years and find that the same stuff is going on except now all the actors have ‘lifts’, tucks and Botox. Washington is a real live soap opera with the same moral DNA as soap opera writers.

Being a political junkie and history nut since I was in diapers, (I came home from grade school and watched the Watergate hearings everyday), I finally made the connection: History really does repeats itself in a million little ways. From the reprobate grandson of Jonathan Edwards, Aaron Burr to Warren Harding to Bill Clinton and now the Duke and Larry.

Beam asks:

“How should evangelical voters view the shortcomings of their leaders?”

First I want to ask him: What exactly is your definition of an evangelical? Ted Haggard?

But since I cannot ask him that I have to ponder his declaration that these are our leaders. Leaders? I thought they served the people? You know, worked for US...the people. (snicker) We all know they are there for themselves…it is not a big secret. These people could not lead me out of a parking lot.

But more importantly, Mr. Beam, we should view their shortcomings as just plain old sin. But, ‘shortcoming’ has a nice ring to it…kind of like ‘mistake’ instead of ‘sin’.

Beam continues,

"We should pray that those who are guilty will turn to God in repentance and be forgiven and restored to a right relationship with Him. We should pray that God would give us wisdom to be able to discern the difference between a genuine fall of a leader and a contrived hatchet job. And we must never allow the moral failures of the few destroy the will of the faithful.”

Shouldn't we pray that ALL turn to God in repentance, even Barney Frank? But I cannot figure out what Dr. Beam means by discerning the difference between a genuine fall of a leader and a contrived hatchet job? Can he be anymore vague? Does he know something he is not sharing?

In any event, if you go and read the article you will see he is not original. Like everyone else explaining away sin, he paints parallels in scripture with King David that are supposed to make us feel better about all forms of debauchery. Ever notice how such moral failures (sin..we call it sin!) always bring out the King David comparisons? There is only one problem: Nathan is missing.

Here is my favorite part because now he is resorting to scare tactics:

“Former President Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, and Bill Clinton have committed themselves to convocation of Baptists to be held in Atlanta in February of 08. The banner they are waving is one of unity at the expense of conviction.”

Here is the 'Right Wing Plan B': Scare us with thoughts of these guys siphoning off evangelical votes! Hum. You may want to go back and check on how many 'so called' evangelicals voted for Clinton...twice.

Dr. Beam, you can try to explain all of these scandals away in the name of political expediency but it won’t help. The emergents and many seekers are going to vote for Hillary or Obama anyway. John McCain will probably endorse Obama to be 'different' and if we are really lucky, Fred Thompson will keep all of it from being a big snorefest for the next few months.

Yes, yes, I am going to vote. I will hold my nose and vote for the most conservative one I can find. But I will need to pull out my rose colored glasses, first.

I finally realized that politics is not the answer. Never was. You want proof? Just take a good long look at us!

The answer should be going back to our first love and praying HE comes quickly.

Third cartoon: Federalist Party attack ad depicts Jefferson as attempting to destroy the Constitution, stopped by God and an American eagle.