The picture you see at the top of this post is of five of my undergraduate friends and me who all worked as local church interns in the panhandle of Florida back in the fall of 2001 (I am the thinner-than-now, nerdy guy in glasses one in from the right). A group of young men, by the way, with a sincere passion for the ministry that led us all in different directions including the guy holding the birthday cake who is now faithfully serving the Inuit people in a fly-in only region of Canada. As I look at this photo for the first time in a couple of decades, I recognize today much more than then that it is not how we start but how we finish that matters most. Will we be faithful until the end? How can we with the testimony of Jesus and his local church at stake?

In the light of the continual failures of church leaders in our world including another round of recent news, are you broken, disillusioned, or even-like me-scared stiff that we could be next? (I just got word of another dear brother’s failure that will soon be public knowledge.) As Voddie Baucham recently preached, “The wisest man in the Bible fell into sexual sin, the strongest man in the Bible fell to sexual sin, and the godliest man in the Bible fell to sexual sin. For me to think I’m above falling into this sin (on any other for that matter) is to think that I’m wiser than Solomon, stronger than Samson, and godlier than King David.“

We have two choices: we can pile on those who have already fallen with snarky, condescending comments or we can follow Paul’s instruction to Timothy, “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee” (1 Ti. 4:16). I choose the second option and here are practical ways that I am daily pushing back against my sabotaging flesh to keep serving Jesus in the ministry for the long haul:

  1. Writing a physical journal entry and social media post everyday from my personal time in the Word to keep me tangibly and publicly accountable.
  2. Sustaining a vibrant prayer life that not only keeps me from egregious sin but helps me constructively process the stress, anxiety, and burnout that otherwise compel me to find carnal coping mechanisms.
  3. Including a reference to my wife and the husband of any woman not my wife with whom I am engaged in necessary conversation (text, DM, etc.). (Example: “Heidi and I will be praying for you and your husband regarding…”) (This protects me from any overly “familiar” interaction-as Matt Chandler put it.)
  4. Maintaining my physical wellbeing through a healthy diet, regular exercise, and consistent-every-night-of-the-week sleep cycle. (This physical discipline helps support a lifestyle that embraces spiritual discipline as well…the opposite is equally true.)
  5. Praying in person or over the phone if I am out of town with my wife every night before bed. (Nate Pickowicz tweeted recently, “A pastor belongs at home every night, sleeping next to his wife. It’s time to kill the conference circuit.” While a pastor can sin just as easily at home as abroad, we are fools to not stay soulfully connected with our wife no matter where we are geographically or otherwise.)
  6. Investing regularly in personal and professional development (books, podcasts, conferences, etc.) to avoid lazy, lethargic ruts.
  7. Protecting margin in my schedule that is refreshing but structured-include a nonnegotiable sabbath every Thursday. (Resting must involve intentionally defining what I will do/not do or the flesh will fill in the gaps…especially when we are tired.)
  8. Making sure that Jesus is the hero of the stories that I tell, not me and mine. (This includes regularly being willing to share self deprecating and even “I am a bit of an idiot” stories to counter my ego and the put-the-pastor-on-a-pedestal tendency of others.)
  9. Being a faithful part of a small group in which I am held accountable as just one-of, not the “super spiritual guru.”
  10. Having mutual accountability with one of my sons on every device that I own to protect against pornography and/or inappropriate relationships online. (For us, “Accountable 2 You” has worked best.)
  11. Focusing upon quality mornings in the Spirit versus undisciplined evenings in the flesh…early to bed and early to rise. (No matter our schedules, Heidi and I go to bed together…staying up without our spouse is a ticking time bomb for our flesh.)
  12. Reminding myself that those “in my camp” can fall just as easily as those in another-this protects me from distancing myself from the struggles of those I otherwise tend to demonize. (As Solzhenitsyn reminds us, “the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being.”)
  13. Investing in relationships with mentors and peers outside of my immediate local church context-especially with those who demonstrative mutually shared confidentiality and initiative.
  14. Processing stress and ministry hurt, not in a suppressed or private way that is corrosive but in a vulnerable way with the other leaders (staff, deacons, elders) in the church.
  15. Serving in menial tasks that go unnoticed by others and that check my motives for continuing in the ministry. (Jim Collins recently said that a great test of whether we are the right kind of leader is, “Do you take responsibility in that area of importance for which you will get no credit?”)
  16. Working to hate my sin more than I hate the different way of sinning in others.
  17. Giving unqualified permission to those closest to me (wife, sons, church leaders, friends) to confront/challenge me if they see any of these above disciplines slipping in my life.

Above is a picture of Don Sisk, being recently recognized at the Spiritual Leadership Conference in Lancaster California for 70 years of faithful ministry…a milestone that is, yes, a tribute to the grace of God but also to an intentional, vigilant walk on his part. May God grant us the moral fortitude to choose to not just be a part of the first picture in this post but a part of this one far off in the future for most of us…where the percentage of perseverance needs to be, for sake of Christ’s name, more than 1 (second photo) in 6 (first photo). If you are wanting a more comprehensive charge to receive and share with others, here’s an insightful one from another aging-with-faithfulness leader, Albert Mohler, to his seminary students/faculty.

For those who are not just sobered by the fact that they could fail morally but are actively digressing in secret…at least for the moment, may I extend the loving, direct challenge of Heath Lambert that I just heard at a conference in Jacksonville: “When you feel the reverberations of stabbing pain go through your heart every time you encounter the exposure of sin in the life of another pastor, it is absolutely crucial for you to know the difference between fear and repentance. Both fear and repentance can create discomfort, but they lead in very different directions. Fear leads toward denial, pride, cover-up, and—eventually—shame and exposure. Repentance leads towards Jesus, loving him more than you love your sin, and a determination to honor him in your actions even when that is hard.” Don’t compound your wrong by wrongly handling it/hiding it, no matter how much easier or justified it feels in the immediate. For the repentant-leaning ones, please reach out to me if I can be of help, not as judge but as a fellow sufferer/sinner, in all that needs refined and restored in your life.

1 Co 9:27 “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.”