The Fall of Christian Leaders

June 19, 2024-

This is a sad week for evangelical Christians. It is interesting that the sad news comes from the Dallas, Texas area. Two widely respected Christian leaders have been removed from their positions as pastors due to personal life mistakes. Mistakes pastors should never make. Mistakes a Christian should never make.  

Tony Evans was pastor at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. This is a church he started in his home many years ago. Two weeks ago, he revealed to the church leadership he had committed a mistake, a sin, several years ago. He agreed to a period of “restoration” under the authority of other Christian leaders. The church nor Tony Evans gave any other specific information about what his indiscretion was and said they would not be discussing it any further. 

This past week we hear that Robert Morris, pastor of Gateway Church based in Southlake, Texas abused a 12-year-old girl starting in 1981 and this crime lasted for four years. Robert Morris was married at the time. After this four-year period, Morris submitted to spiritual leaders and spiritual authorities for a period of two years and then was reinstated as a pastor. Gateway elders have now issued a statement they were not aware the “young lady” who Morris had molested was 12 years old. He had disclosed to the leadership his inappropriate behavior, but they were not aware it was actually a crime he had committed. The statute of limitations has expired on this event and Morris will not be criminally charged. 

We have two renowned pastors who are guilty of committing sins but continued to preach in the church. These two pastors are very good at preaching and teaching and that is key to their popularity and their ability to build large churches of thousands. This is yet another lesson for Christians to learn about Christian leaders. We cannot allow ourselves to become overly focused on the personality in the pulpits. We must concentrate on the message we hear and the message we read in the Bible.  

Many are sad today because of these two men’s failures. I understand that. Again, as Christians, who are we following? Are we following Jesus Christ or are we following Robert Morris or Tony Evans?  

I am concerned about the people attending the churches these two men pastored. Are they still following Jesus Christ today or are they reconsidering their Christianity because of the failure of these two men? If one listens to past sermons by these two men or read what they have written in many books, one will see solid Bible teaching. Are the Bible lessons the important part of their work or is it the person writing it? Does the person writing or speaking discredit the message of Christ? For many people, it will discredit the church in its entirety and that is what is so sad about Christian men who know what is right and what is wrong. They have hurt the church of Jesus Christ for many non-believers and even some believers, but those people do not have the foundation in Jesus Christ himself and in the Bible. That should be their greater concern in this situation. Their focus should be on Jesus Christ, not Tony Evans or Robert Morris. 

Many people will leave both churches because of the mistakes of the leaders. I pray they will find another Bible-teaching church to grow spiritually. Some will leave Christianity altogether. In these instances, Satan wins a victory. We need to acknowledge there is a spiritual battle at work here also. These men have allowed the church to be diminished which is Satan’s hope all along. 

Christians who are not formal leaders in their own fellowships need to tread carefully in their criticism of these two men and even the churches involved. The spiritual battle is real, and we need to respect that and know that many will be tempted to the point of committing a crime in order to denigrate the church. We need to not only pray Jesus Christ will care for those two fellowships but that He will care for us and keep us safe from the many temptations that pepper people today. This is a time for Christians to be very careful and depend on Jesus Christ and not become part of the crowd who will be throwing the many stones at the church of Jesus Christ because of these two leaders’ sins. 

The woman abused by Robert Morris is now in her fifties. In 2005, she had asked for $50,000 for counseling costs but she was only offered $25,000 with the requirement to sign a non-disclosure agreement. I am sure her quality of life has been compromised by her abuse by Robert Morris. We need to remember her as we pray also. She cannot be a forgotten part of the story and what this may have done to her life. As Christians, we have much to consider in these two stories and we have much to mention as we pray for the many people who are now impacted by these men’s sins. We need to also pray for ourselves so we can be strong when Satan works to compromise our lives.