All the King’s Men
In Mobile, Alabama, Steve Lawson is a legend.
When he was ousted from a large church in 2003 for his views on Calvinism (in the Deep South TULIP is a four-lettered word), about 400 people left with him. That group of young reformers met in a warehouse and called Lawson to be their pastor. Christ Fellowship Baptist Church was born. Sixteen years later, I found myself in the front pew of that church, listening to him preach at my installation service to be appointed pastor of that flock. I had to pinch myself. I felt like Elisha inheriting a mantle, desperately begging God for the double measure of grace it would take for me to fill the shoes of this titan.
Many of our members were saved or were introduced to the doctrines of grace, under Lawson’s ministry. He was instrumental in convincing me of God’s call on my life to move from Africa to Mobile. My Jeep’s license plate is an homage to his influence on me: XP0SITR. And we all love him. All that to say, while the world is reeling from the news, the vertigo feels particularly pronounced in our dear flock.
It’s been a week now. I have sat quietly and listened to Job’s companions theorizing on YouTube and Facebook. And there is one recurring issue in these online opinions that I would like to address: the critique of the official statements.
I get why there is a craving for more information. Most of us are bewildered believers desperate to make sense of something that apparently defies reasonable explanation; more specifics would certainly help with that. Others are merely gossip-mongers cough-julie-cough salivating for prurient details to use as clickbait or to satisfy their morbid curiosity. They feel entitled to more information, frustrated that they aren’t insiders. Still others, who badly want to believe the best, are just clinging to some hope that all of this is some kind of misunderstanding or overreaction that might allow an exoneration of a hero they genuinely hold dear.
My church office shares a wall with the current president of OnePassion Ministries, a man I am privileged to call my, and my family’s, best friend. The men who lead Trinity Bible Church and OnePassion Ministries are godly and wise. They love the Lord’s glory, his church, and his word, and they love Steve Lawson and his family. They are committed to obeying the biblical mandates for ministry, for rebuke of elders, and for exposing sin. And they are simultaneously responsible for giving guidance on the godly responses of their local churches, affected family members, students, institutions, conferences, publishers, donors, and countless other affected parties, including both of those whose sin detonated this bomb.
When Humpty Dumpty had a great fall, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men were commissioned to pick up the pieces. Before we judge the success or failure of their efforts to put things back together again, the difficulty of the task needs to be factored in. The king’s men didn’t push anyone off the wall, they’re the ones assessing the mess. Let’s step back and let them work.
There is a more difference between a quarterback and an armchair quarterback than just the armchair. The men dealing with this are not just on the field, dealing with real people they know personally, they also possess the training, experience, relationships, and inside knowledge that no one with a YouTube channel has.
Overnight, they were summoned to thread a needle, walking a tightrope, in the eye of a hurricane that was about to tear through the world, all the while, like Atlas, bearing the weight of the Evangelical world on their backs. I’ve never seen anything like it. This is stress that would crush most people.
So, when Eliphaz, Bildad, or Zophar take to Facebook and YouTube to play spiritual pundit, opining about what was omitted or worded ambiguously or otherwise failed to satisfy their curiosity, it probably calls for no more than an eye-roll.
Some do it more graciously and respectfully than others. It was surreal to see Allie Stuckey analyze sentences and parse words, which I had a small part in crafting, for her half-million followers. It felt like watching a Greek professor grade my translation efforts. But she was measured and fair, and she appeared to appreciate the difficulty of the task.
As for the wording of the statements… the phalanx of Facebook fact-checkers should surely recognize that, like with vomiting, stuff comes out in waves. It takes a while to be sure it’s all out.
Releasing a statement immediately, even before all the details are known, shows a commitment to the light as opposed to the darkness of cover-ups (Eph 5:11). Before another donor writes a check or a publisher signs off on a book proposal, or a conference venue receives a deposit, the news was announced. This demonstrates the great integrity of the small circle of people who knew. The wording was chosen that included only what was known, but allowed space for more to be included, if more came out later.
“Inappropriate” is a word that can be narrowed to include more details later, while avoiding premature overreaction. The same goes for “indefinitely” as opposed to “permanently.” And “towards repentance” acknowledges that it is humanly impossible to tell the difference between regret, remorse, and repentance without some passage of time. Would Eliphaz and Bildad have preferred a six-month or year-long delay in the announcement so that the statement could have contained all pertinent details and evaluations of repentance? Doubtful.
When Humpty Dumpty falls, the focus is on him and all the king’s men. But is anyone paying any attention to the wall? How did it get to be so high, and how did anyone get up there, with no ropes or safety net? How do our spiritual leaders end up in a position where they are exposed to Satan’s snipers, to their own headiness, breathing the rarefied air of celebrity?
In South Africa, we have a proverb: when you find a turtle on a fencepole, you know one thing for certain: he didn’t put himself there.
Perhaps, we can rethink the effect it has on the spiritual life of a preacher, to be hoisted onto a pedestal.
I know there have (rightly) been numerous calls to pray for our fallen comrade, Steve Lawson, and his family, and for the woman who must surely be overwhelmed by the sense of responsibility her part has had on the Evangelical community, for the believers, churches, seminaries, ministries, and conferences that are affected. But I humbly ask that we add another group to our lists: the men who are doing their level best to honor Christ, help Lawson, and shepherd the families, ministries, and churches most keenly affected. No one asked for this job. No one anticipated this mess. They can’t be perfect and we can’t help them, except to pray to our King that he will use them to build his kingdom. So please, join me as we pray for all the King’s men.