The Prince Turned Pauper
There is no fiercer hell than the failure in a great object.
John Keats Not one of the scores of young couples I have counseled prior to their wedding expected their marriage to fail. Others' maybe, but not theirs. After all, they loved each other. They, of all couples, would stay together. Yet, some have divorced. In the same way, no pastor kneels at ordination — those many hands conferring God's strength — expecting to fail in ministry, or even to stumble. Certainly mistakes are possible. Yes, other pastors have taken a tumble. But not this pastor! No, this one loves the Lord. He is called into ministry. She is gifted by the Spirit. Everything appears promising. Yet just such pastors — devout, earnest, gifted, prayerful — wind up removing their certificate of ordination from the wall and scanning the help-wanted ads in the Sunday paper. They have committed seemingly fatal errors, and their ministry died aborning. Left with a heavy bookshelf and a heavier heart, they wonder, What did I do wrong? Although not all mistakes prove fatal to ministry, every one carries a price tag. Blunders severely limit one's effectiveness. They cause painful setbacks requiring years to remedy. They close doors and dash dreams. They may even dishonor God. No one wants to make mistakes. Yet no one is immune. Pastors and church leaders venture out, and some of them fall hard — some you would least expect. Gordon Weekley was one such pastor. From all indications, Gordon appeared destined to preside as a prince of the church. He was born into a godly home in Atlanta, the heart of the Bible Belt. His home church, First Baptist, was pastored by a statesman of the denomination who later became Gordon's seminary president, "and he had a great influence on ...
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