After the Fall
Richard Exley
God has a long history of redeeming our sinful failures, of turning our worst blunders into opportunities for personal growth and spiritual development.
— Richard Exley
The voice on the other end of the line was desperate. In a shaky, emotion-filled voice, the wife of a minister and mother of four confessed her adultery.
"I don't know why I'm calling you," she stammered, "except I read your book, and I thought maybe you could help me."
I began to reply, but she plowed ahead, "But I'm not sure I want help. I love Brad. He's so understanding, so caring, not like my husband who takes me for granted."
I listened for the better part of an hour while she poured out her story of a marriage undermined by the demands of ministry that won her husband's affections. She had inadvertently begun spending time with a younger man who was just a friend. Nothing more. Suddenly she was "in love." Now she was torn between her family and her lover. Her husband was growing suspicious, and her allconsuming guilt enveloped her.
Following the release of my book, Perils of Power: Immorality in the Ministry (Honor Books), I began receiving calls like this and visits from fallen ministers and their spouses. Although their circumstances differed, they all shared at least one thing in common — devastation.
In every case, I found myself face to face with immorality's tragic consequences. A pastor ensnared by adultery, or some other moral failure, usually loses his position, his income, and often his residence. (Since I've worked only with male ministers, I write of the experience of male pastors and their wives.) Not infrequently, he is forced to leave the very community that should be giving him emotional support. He will be asked to confess publicly and resign ...
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