Wow, great article. I had a chance to hear and later converse a bit with Sally when she came to my company for a seminar on the church. I was impressed with her candor, honesty, insight, and huzpah!
From someone who has a bit of an addictive personality (and I don't mean people are addicted to me!), and a church leader, this speaks to me.

I know that Sally has written out of the pain of her own experience. But, again, I must caution against painting the pastorate with such broad strokes of the philosophical brush. I still believe that these cases of moral failure are the tragic exception ... not the norm. Pastors are, most assuredly, under more intense attack by the Enemy. Being men, some will fail and sin. But not all pastors are addicts and/or moral crashes waiting to happen.

I'm more than a bit concerned about the tone on many blogs (even this one) since the Haggard incident. The church must be careful not to indict all of its pastors because of the moral failures of a tragic few.

A few short thoughts:

I disagree with Geoff's comment that these cases are the unfortunate exception to a norm of pastoral moral fidelity. Morgenthaler's insights are on target, and we cannot abandon a strong doctrine of original sin. Paul himself claimed to be the "chief of sinners," and if we begin to think we are bullet proof, the dangers are greater than we realize.

Is there a systematic error into which the modern church has slipped, namely that we follow and rely upon an "all in one" pastor (I am sure there is a fascinating historical study relating to the many dynamic Christian leaders throughout the centuries contributing to the concept of an 'uber-Christian' as the job description and MO of every Protestant pastorate). Has the church forgotten its true head, being Christ? Have we stripped the believers of their roles as ministering disciples? Do we need a gradual overhaul, turning the power of ministry over from a few to the many?

In short: We need to free the pastor from unrealistic expectations and empower the full body of believers to begin living and leading as history-changing Christ followers.

I agree for the most part with Sally. I was part of an evangelical church movement in San Diego CA for 13 years. In that time I saw 1 pastor in the area of the same movement return to herion, one assistant pastor return to herion, 1 youth pastor from our church return to drugs and 2 of our worship leaders in sexually immoral relationships outside of their marriages. Many of these men preached on a soapbox of their wild pasts. Many of them appeared right-on, sold out for the Lord God fearing men, but they still had old behavior going on their hearts and at times their attitudes. I think they were in part flattered and held up high on a pedestales and part of them were exhausted. Part of them were so terrified of letting people down they hid their true feelings when they needed help. This was prideful behavior and it in some cases led to sin which was perhaps old behavior that felt good. I know this to be the fact, I was a former drug addict who sang in praise and worship and everyone looked up to me. When my husband got sick with brain cancer, did and I was hurting, did I turn to others for help? No, I escaped back in to old behavior I am ashamed to say. But I did confess and return to the fold 3 months before he went home. praise God!

blessings, Sheila

Very good article and very true. I appreciate Sally M's writing this out of much pain.

A very wise minister told me many years ago: "The best thing a minister can do for his church is for him to deal with his own 'stuff'"
This advice has been very important to me.

How tragic when a "trainwreck" occurs in someone's ministry in part becasuse this person was not dealing with old wounds, addictions, and whatever else needs the redemptive work of Christ. (Not to mention some confession, some godly therapy, etc.)

Yes Jesse!! --we need to free churches from man centered religion. It is all about the Pastor in so many churches and not all about Jesus. Often times this "pastor -centered" worship borders on a form of idolatry. Maybe it is God's mercy that he shows us our human weaknesses.

Only a person who has been there deeply can cut down to the deeper issues. I think we should not ignore the message here. People talk about temptation, this is how temptation gets started and leads to the demise of yet another pastor.

There is another side to this the church. What toll Ted Haggard will have on New Life Church is unknown. People may have statistical estimations but there are deeper and unquantifiable aspects as well. I know I am in a church that had such a fall out. The previous pastor did not leave in moral failure but there was some failure. The precise aspect of the failure I do not know and it does not matter. What I deal with is the parishioners I have. Some of whom have been hurt deeply.

The fallout of such failures is real and larger than the pundits realize. We must seize what knowledge we can to confront the problem. We pastors need to be true to the person God made us to be, not the person who the world wants us to be. God's design is perfect, the world and its leadership models are creating failures more often than we realize.

Sometimes I wonder if there is something in the nature of "professional ministry" that disproportionally attracts the addictive personality (i.e., people like me). There has to be something a litte askew in the mind of a person willing to step into this role that carries with it such high expectations and such little support and empathy!

All the more reason to "watch your life closely," and to have others helping watch with you.

Ministry doesn't fuel addictive behavior. LIFE fuels addictive behavior.

I am concerned about my pastors and other church leaders who become caught in a success-driven, corporate CEO method of church management, with its attendant alienation, fatique and lack of accountability (how can you confess to someone you're competing against?). But how does this effect female pastors? Are sexual sins and addiction nonissues for women in ministry, or are our demons dressed in different clothing? It would be interesting to hear what plagues women in practical ministry.

I have rarely heard anyone talk about what to me has become self-evident. The article stresses that the way we "do church" can lead to addictive behavior, but why do we fail to acknowledge that those who have tendencies toward addictive behavior are often the very ones who are attracted to ministry in the first place? How many come to faith and then enter religious vocations to escape the guilt of sin, particularly sexual sin and secret lives of shame? Why do we not deal with this more thoroughly at the outset, with profound discipleship following conversion and more intense personal examination of seminary and ministry candidates? Instead we regularly allow people with "iceberg" lives to enter ministry with deadly secrets under the surface that just continue to grow in the cold waters of superficial Christianity and church life.

I'm part of a recovery group for sexual addiction, and 3 of the ten or so men in the group are in visible leadership/pastoral positions in their churches. All of us are regular church attenders.

I urge you all not to decieve yourself into thinking that this is not a common problem in the church or even in church leadership/the pastorate.

I am responding to danutz who wondered about female pastors and their stuff. I am a female pastor of women at my church. I definitely struggle ! I am visionary and very much a people-person. The approval of man/woman is an idol I too have been guilty of serving! I think the problem with women is that the things they turn to are easily accepted in the church; such as food or performance. I "used" these drugs to stifle my pain of feeling rejected and "not enough". God took me through a 4 year season in the desert; stripping me of all ministry opportunities so I could see how I was letting what people thought of me rule my life. (It is my natural bent so it is something I must walk very consciously of). However, the truth set me free, and now I live aware of my lack, my weaknesses and daily crying out for His grace to be perfected in my weakness!

While I can see the point of the brother who wrote that pastors should deal with their "stuff" before they enter the pastorate, sadly this would not solve the problem. Dealing with the pain of daily rejection, criticism, and not being allowed to be human (i.e., make mistakes) drives us to irresponsible and sinful behavior if we're not careful.

I was forced to resign after over six years as pastor of a small church. I was not involved in sinful behavior. I had groups of pastors and laymen whom I met with to keep me accountable spiritually, mentally, and physically. My problem - I'm human, and so is my family. Our family has gone through a seriously difficult stretch for the past over three years. My wife was diagnosed with an incurable heart condition that will eventually kill her. Then I was diagnosed with a much less serious heart problem (kept under control with medication). Both of my grandmothers died within four months of each other. I was betrayed by a friend. I lost my favorite uncle to prostate cancer and three months after that my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Two months later, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and the process of going through surgeries, complications and recoveries has been difficult.

During this time we received minimal support from our church. A few folks supported us, but the attitude that the rest portrayed was "live with it." So since I spent some time trying to deal with these issues emotionally (and not doing very well) and help my family do the same, I wasn't quite as attentive to my congregation. I still worked many hours. I still got the job done. I still was there for surgeries and tough times. But it wasn't good enough.
American churches have got to give their pastors permission to be human, to make mistakes, to feel, to hurt, to work through the pain of going through life - AND SUPPORT THEM THROUGH THE PROCESS. Until that happens, pastors will always be particularly vulnerable to temptation.

Very powerful stuff here. Yes pastors are sinful people just as those in the pews, but pastors need to honestly before God let the crosss have its way in them. Then they can be the pastor the Lord intended.

With a ministry to Christian leaders for the past 25 years, it has been a sincere and vital partnership to encourage men and women and couples to spend an intensive with Michael Cusick at Restoring the Soul.com. He has been an amazing tool of God in lives plagued with what Sally writes about. He offices in Littleton, CO.

The verse comes to mind that says "if we say that we have no sin, then we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us." Christ told Peter that sin is crouching at his door. Epehsians tells us not to give the enemy a foothold. My question is where is the support group that upholds the "man of God"? I believe that Sally's article is true in many cases. Not all, but many. I am saddened when men such as Ted Haggard fall. Situations like this challenge my thinking to wonder is accountability only an after thought, or can we have men and women, deacon boards, or elders who can collectively obtain a mutual submission status with the Pastor that creates a level of accountability before hand? Churches in America are nonprofit organizations- Is there a written code developed that would support mutual accountability and how it should work between board and pastor? Maybe the ability to map out steps for a pastor to follow when trouble arises, or how elders can confront pastors when speculating there is a need for concern. I heard jack Hayford say in a conference, that because of the men in his church standing and supporting him, his marriage and commitment to Christ was maintained. I think that maybe the way we handle accountability needs to be redefined.

After reading the article "My secret struggle" I would like to add to my previous comments. The writer realised the very nature of the gospel through the support group he attended. My interpretation of his story is that his breakthrough began when he discovered in His heart who God really was (Christian conversion?).
This is the Word of the cross. It is a word of revelation of who we are and of who God is. We live as little god's trying to control our own destiny. Pleasure, possessions and position are the expressions of our idolatry. We focus on sexual issues but is a minister who uses his giftedness to accumulate wealth a better person that a minister struggling with homosexual thoughts? A millionaire minister is, in my opinion, one whose idolatry is expressed in their possessions.
The cross reveals our idolary as shameful; declares us guilty, and reveals our nakedness. It reveals the righteous God who punishes sin, but it also reveals the God of love and grace who bestows mercy and forgiveness on those who come to Him believing in who He is.
It is from here that freedom comes.
This is not psychobabble but the power of the event of the cross and the God of the cross to bring true lasting freedom.
It is not easy because death to self is to commit suicide in one sense to receive a new life. it is war against our own flesh.
I pray we become people of the cross.

Excellent article. Church, please listen to the things it addresses. A guy I knew turned to a homosexual lifestyle after many years as a married minister and family man. Since he could remember, he had struggled with this desire and there was no one he could tell, not even his wife. She herself had been abused as a young girl in church, never received healing from it and so was not very responsive to physical intimacy in marriage. Eventually he gave himself over to it and now believes it's of God and has left his family. If these issues had been brought to light and prayed through rather than being shoved under the rug of keeping up appearances, how might the outcomes have been different? We must permit people, whether in ministry, OR men and women, in our marriages, to be real and to speak of what is tempting them or even has lured them into a snare. We need to build strong bonds of trust wuth people and agape them in God's power and according to His will so they are able to come and find healing and hope, not beat them under the table for being tempted or having sinned.

Before I became a pastor, I took extensive psychological tests, in addition to having a great theological education. As fallen people, however, pastors, or ministers in professional ministry, fall under the same "human condition" as others in leadership, with the added stresses and pressures of pastoral ministry. If you are a female pastor or minister, sexism and possibly racism, if you are also of color, are added to the mix. But the greatest temptation of the pastor or minister in professional ministry, in my view, is the temptation to think its about you.
Pride goes before a fall, and whomever exalts himself or herself will be in danger of falling into sin, of whatever kind. Our spiritual task as pastors or ministers is to remember whose we are, to pray and seek the prayers of our congregations and others, and to be committed first to God who saved us and called us, and can see us through the inevitable trials.I still wouldn't take nothing for my journey for the privilege of serving Jesus Christ, despite some hardships, heartaches and mistakes.

excellent article - personal experience from the spouses perspective agrees with what you say.
the addiction can be to power over people which churches can encourage when they put a pastor on a pedestal - and power as we know corrupts.I've watched as a potentially powerful man of God threw it all away by power abuse and sexual misconduct.

In the section under "success" Sally highlights the Pastor's pull towards the megachurch mecca. However, there is another side to this story -- the tendency of Church Board members to force out a capable pastor with various gifts, but who has not delivered "success" or whose "flaws" have become "too familiar" and therefore someone else is desired.

Oftentimes in the process leading up to the inevitable "forcing out" the pastor loses his or her sense of emotional safety and the permission to be human, and subsequently crafts a "false front" to survive. This living with the false front becomes a real burden and often leads some leaders to find release in secret unhealthy and even sinful patterns. While the individual leader is ultimately responsible for their own issues, this pastoral life daily reality is common in the vast majority of churches. Yet I have rarely ever seen any denomination or organization responsible for a group of churches address this with local church boards or congregations. We keep trying to fix the pastors, but rarely examine the inherent issues within the environment they serve.

Thank you Sally, for at least a starting point in raising these issues.

We are all laboring under the wrong premise.
When did we start making our protestant pastors mini-popes? I do not believe that God ever wanted pastors to be kings of the congregation. Nor should there be one senior pastor, its all set up to fail.
We should have the teaching pastor, the shepherd pastor, the restoration pastor, the worship pastor, and none of these people should get paid.
YES, none should get paid. That quickly purifies motives, no top position, no money.
Viola! We would have a more effective church and much more humble people doing ministry. No one would be laboring under the illusion that they "own" the church, and the people who attend. And the devil wouldn't be taking down entire churches by taking out one guy. We need a real reformation, turning upside down this man-centered institutional church. Sorry if this sounds foreign,
but we have been doing the "traditions of men" for church
and don't even have the slightest idea how to stop.