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Pastors Huddle at Clergy Link

Baby boomers will remember where they were when JFK was shot. We all remember where we were when we learned of the September 11 attacks.

“That’s how the news of Ted Haggard hit me,” said Dr. Harry Schaumburg, a featured speaker at the Clergy Link conference and director of Stone Gate Resources outside Denver.

Ministers around the nation, and Colorado especially, were wounded as well when the leading evangelical pastor was entangled in a messy public affair of moral failure.

“It really bothered me and the pastors I pray with regularly,” said Kim Skattum, pastor at Crossroads Church in Thornton, north of Denver, which hosted the event for 170 ministers.

“I went to Promise Keepers and told them that we need to figure out a way to get this above board and get pastors involved in a way to address these issues. We’re discouraged. We need uplift. We need some accountability.”

Promise Keepers drew in the Focus on the Family Pastoral Ministries Department, and a steering team of Denver area pastors soon put the plans for Clergy Link into motion, producing the event in less than five months.

Four themes framed the topics for the day-long gathering: Christ, Cleanse, Challenge and Care.

CHRIST

"And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy." Col. 1:18

David Bryant, founder of Proclaim Hope!, opened the session with a foundational message on the supremacy of Jesus Christ.

“One crisis plagues our churches today: a deficiency in how people see the Christ, seek the Christ, and speak of the Christ.”

Try the “three Sunday test,” Bryant suggested. “Listen to a few of the conversations in the congregation, and see how often Jesus Christ is mentioned. If He is mentioned, determine how often they tell of some wondrous new encounter with the Lord.”

Bryant urged the ministers to saturate themselves and their congregations with a greater understanding and vision of the supremacy of Christ.

CLEANSE

"First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean." Matthew 23:26

Harry Schaumburg pulled no punches in his late morning lesson on sexual purity. His four-point message came from 27 years of pointing people away from sexual sin to restored intimacy with God and others.

Point two – cleansing proceeds with a cry for help. “Pastors do not come forward willingly,” Schaumburg said. But they must know that the consequences of secret sin go far beyond public humiliation.” Schaumburg pointed to the high price of King David’s adultery, as described in II Samuel 12:10-12.

Promise Keepers president and CEO Dr. Tom Fortson observed, "Something must change for us as leaders. I ask you, what are you going to change in response to this message? We must be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, lest we deceive ourselves." (James 1:22)

Singer/songwriter Billy Sprague served as worship leader.

CHALLENGE

The first of two challenges presented to the pastors was a call for mentoring, courtesy of Dave Runyon, associate pastor at Foothills Community Church in Arvada, Colo.

“Although you find it throughout scripture, the apprentice model is completely MIA in today’s churches,” Runyon said. “I’m calling for a movement that involves cross-generational mentoring. Even though most young pastors are not aware of how much they need older men, the thirst for authentic life modeling is deep.

“Come get us!” Runyon pleaded on behalf of young pastors. “Rescue us from this unhealthy system.”

Popular Promise Keepers speaker and chaplain for the Texas A & M football team Rick Rigsby based his exhortation to pastors on the Shunemite woman’s opinion of the prophet Elisha in II Kings 4:9: “I know this is a holy man of God, who passes by us regularly.”

“Sadly, the phrase ‘holy man of God’ has become forgotten in this age. You are not a professional, you are called!” roared Rigsby.

One of Rigsby’s stories pointed to the importance of accountability for ministers. “A fallen leader told me, ‘I spoke into everyone else’s life, but no one was privileged to speak into my life.’”

CARE

Focus on the Family’s vice president of Pastoral Ministries, H. B. London offered the final talk in a compassionate, grave tone. The 70-year old minister seemed to carry with him some of the burdens of his ministry as a pastor to pastors.

“Twenty names involved in moral failure have crossed my desk in the past four weeks. It happens quite regularly,” London said.

“Drilling down into the lives of fallen pastors we find the same three things:

There is no one they’re accountable to.
There are unresolved conflicts at home.
Their intimacy with God is minimal.

“I beg you to examine your hearts and motivations,” London said. “Do whatever you need to do to make things right. And remember, you are my heroes.”

David Bryant returned to the pulpit for a closing time of prayer. Before the ministers dropped to the floor in prayer, Bryant reminded them of John Wesley’s examination of his 18th Century pastors: “Are you so alive with fire that you carry it everywhere you go?”

Pastors Huddle at Clergy Link

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