Bernie Madoff, a Wall Street mogul, was arrested earlier this month for defrauding his clients, including a number of charities, of $50 billion. If true, it will rank as the largest fraud case ever. I don’t suppose anyone is that surprised anymore when a powerful figure abuses his or her position for personal gain. And sadly we’ve seen such abuses among church leaders as well.

But The New York Times is reporting on a much smaller case of fraud not coming from a position of power in the church, but from the pew. Bryant Rodriguez, 44, began attending El Camino Church last year. He attended baptism classes, became well connected with the small congregation, and subsequently defrauded members of the church out of $600,000.

The authorities said that Mr. Rodriguez asked…

February 10-13 in San Diego.

Something’s wrong. We pastors are the stewards, the spokespeople, the advocates of a message of hope, life, and peace. And yet so few of us seem to be experiencing these qualities in our own lives. Something’s wrong. In a world saturated with fear, insecurity, and stress, we are to show a different way. And yet those at the center of the church are burning out and leaving ministry at a rate of 1,500 per month. If that’s what’s occurring at the heart of the church, why would anyone on the fringe want to move in closer? I’ve just read an article by two Christian counselors about the soul-killing impact of church ministry on leaders. (The statistic above comes from them.) They note that the pressure to grow the church…

I haven’t seen MTV in years, with no regrets, but I recall a show on the network that impacted me like a train wreck. It was awful, gruesome, and terrible—but I couldn’t look away. “Celebrity Deathmatch” featured clay-animated celebrities in a wrestling ring where they pummeled, grinded, or dismembered each other into a bloody pulp of scarlet Play-Doh. It wasn’t exactly wholesome family entertainment.

We can pick apart the moral depravity of the show (which is all too easy), or we can talk about why it was so popular with the young (which is probably related to its moral depravity). Let’s simply draw this conclusion—the younger generation isn’t enamored with celebrities. They aren’t cultural gods to be worshiped and respected. They’re more like rodeo clowns trying not to be…

While studying for my ordination a few years ago I was required to read Oswald Sanders’ classic book, Spiritual Leadership. I’ve forgotten most of his practical advice about leading a church, but one short section has stayed with me. Sanders talks about the choice pastors face between being a popular leader or an unpopular prophet.

The logic seems rooted in the Old Testament differentiation of these roles. The kings of Israel served as leaders over God’s people. They used their power to pull wires and drive the nation forward. The prophets, on the other hand, served as correctors. They came down from the hills to tell everyone what they were doing wrong. And after being rejected, stoned, and thoroughly despised they returned to the hills. Quoting A.C. Dixon, Sanders…