Qun Mang

My intent for this question was to get a general answer as to when a pastor should be disqualified from pastoring, at least for a time (I was going to add "or from the church" but that probably cannot be answered as churches may have different bylaws to follow aside from a biblical mandate). I apologize for straying off into "should this particular pastor have been disqualified?" territory. The most specific the question should have asked (if even this) was perhaps if this particular sin (at the time, since repented) might have been cause for disqualification. What led me to asking was a friend on facebook, once in a small group with me many years ago, posting links to a couple op-eds/blog posts (not favorable ones either) about this pastor brought on by recent news. It made me wonder about what should disqualify a pastor outside of sexual sin or theft. Again, my apologies for taking a a little down the road to the personal which of course can then qualify as gossip.

I appreciate everyone's responses. I do know his teaching is still sound and he is transparent about his life. As well, people have testified on him making things right with them. By looking at him now there is no question to me there is no longer a need to step down (if there ever was), but I still wonder about the past- should he have stepped down at the time, especially when it came out that he and the elder board had acted in haste (though they reconciled with the people they had disciplined). Is there a biblical mandate for when a leader must step down even after repentance? Any violation of the requirements for becoming a leader in the first place, or perhaps just when unrepentant? Thanks again. Edit: I suppose that since the church seems to be thriving once again (though some other more prominent names have disappeared) and the teaching seems as solid as ever I guess that would answer the question. If God had told him to step down and he didn't, I would expect to see things spiraling downward by now, either in him, the church, or both.

Just recently a website that was dedicated to exposing and bringing down a pastor of a particular megachurch with many church plants rose from the dead after a few years and gleefully shared news that the pastor was stepping down from his role in the church plants (he is still senior pastor of the main group of churches) for reasons that they say may not have been his own. A friend who is, lets say really disappointed in the pastor, posted this on facebook and one of his comments was that the pastor disqualified himself some years ago and did not step down when he should have. Having attended the church, I do know there was a big issue a few years ago about what I believe was a misunderstanding that caused the elder board to publicly discipline a few men for what they thought the men did when they partnered with this website (I do believe it was only the people who ran the website that were guilty of the issue) but I don't really know all the details. Many people left the church when this happened, and I do know that a year later we were told that they had reconciled, and the pastor had acknowledged his own involvement in the hurt of some people (not just the ones I mentioned, but others as well) and that he had repented. TL;DR: This pastor hurt some people, later reconciled and repented, but some think he should have stepped down as senior pastor when this came out but didn't, and now it's a few years later and he he is still there in the same role. Should he have stepped down in such a situation? Please understand that nothing in this has to do with adultery and he was never accused of such (as far as I know), but this was rather about the way he ran things and (allegedly?) treated some people. If not, what should disqualify a pastor? Thanks.

I first heard of him when someone shared a video on facebook where he overlaid himself just laughing on another video. I don't remember the topic, but it turned me off of ever wanting to see anything else of his. Just so there is no misunderstanding, I am conservative so it's not because of his political views that I was turned off, it was just that video.

The article is from nine months ago- any update on this situation?

never mind

That's what I read at first, too. Then I saw "Swedish" in front and realized what it was. Has to be better than the energy drink I had this morning. I saw a new flavor in the store and thought I would try it. Turns out I should have stuck with my first instinct and left the Cucumber and Lime drink on the shelf...

Derailed train car hits bar named 'DeRailed' in Iowa Note also that the car that tipped over was carrying grain... (click headline to read)

Be sure to let us all know if they do!

Well, maybe. Still unproven and not yet banned. Link: Olympic Athletes Try Zapping Their Brains to Boost Performance A handful of athletes competing at the Summer Olympic Games in Rio next week will arrive having tried to boost their performance using an unconventional (and not-yet-banned) technology: brain stimulation. The technique, called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), involves channeling a tiny current through specific regions of the brain, making neurons in that area more likely to fire. The company behind the technology, San Francisco-based Halo Neuroscience, announced last week that at least five athletes competing in Rio have trained with its brain stimulation device. The opening ceremony for the Games is this Friday. (click headline for full article)

I suppose Bible-believing evangelical fits best, though I have not really called myself anything and neither has my church.

No problem.

And this puts him left of even the ones considered "RINOs" in congress since none of them voted for this.

Video doesn't work for me- When I click on the play button Chrome says "Error loading Youtube. Video ID is invalid" (Godvine doesn't host their own videos?).

No more rights of conscience starting in January 2017 for health professionals if you're pro-life. http://www.sj-r.com/news/20160802/rauner-signs-bill-altering-health-care-right-of-conscience-law Apparently not a single person in congress with an (R) after their name voted for this- strictly a party line vote.

Maybe my profile photo was too intimidating? Well, I exchanged it for another one I found on the internet.

(nm- mods please delete)

From 2012, but news to me... (image and video at link). He also made an OstrichCopter a year later. Bart Jansen, a Dutch artist, turned his dead cat Orville, named after Orville Wright, into a remote-controlled helicopter. The Orvillecopter, which Jansen built with Arjen Beltman, is now on display at the Kunstrai art festival in Amsterdam. Orville’s owner says he loved birds and he can now fly with them, but Patrick Jones just finds it weird. Alice Truong 07.31.13 1:23 PM Remember the man who made a quadcopter out of his dead cat? He managed to get a hold of a dead ostrich to construct the OstrichCopter. By their sheer size, ostriches can't take flight, but the taxidermy-drone hybrid was able to propel the winged creature into the air. Bart Jansen acquired the carcass, which measured about three meters long and weighed 21 kilograms (46 pounds), from an ostrich farm where it died of disease. The idea for OstrichCopter was inspired by an invitation to show OrvilleCopter, named after his cat Orville, at the Zwarte Cross Festival in Netherlands. "I thought it was really funny to make fly a bird that can't [fly]," Jansen told Wired UK. Jansen's strange obsession with dead animals extends beyond drones. He also has an interest in fashion and is currently acquiring more roadkill hedgehogs (in addition to the 19 he already has) for a jacket. <<<Removed Video Link>>> Please post videos in the appropriate Video Forum for approval. God bless, Steve

It’s so hot that horse manure spontaneously caught fire in upstate New York On July 5, an awful smell wafted into the town of Throop, N.Y. Throop is a small village tucked amid the Finger Lakes, a half-hour drive west of Syracuse. In the month leading up to the fumes, the U.S. temperatures had cranked up to record highs, data from the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration show. Throop was not exempt from the summer swelter. Nor did the heat wave stop, continuing to sap the town dry in July. Finger Lakes farmers bemoaned the lack of moisture. “We are just beginning July now, and what is August going to be like? This is nuts,” Jarret Winum, who runs a farm in nearby Stanley, N.Y., with his wife, told the Daily Messenger in early July. “We need rain.” What came instead was the stench. Concerned, residents of Throop called New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation. The department traced the stinking and smoking source, per the DEC’s Wednesday statement, to a “burning pile of horse manure” outside an unnamed Throop stable. The poop had spontaneously combusted. (read more at above link- click title)

Klingon, from Star Trek. What is the creature in yours? (Just kidding, honest!) http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Klingon

He also apparently also intended to sell apparel with his "brand" on it. More criminals like this one please to reduce their population on the street. http://www.geek.com/news/drug-dealer-busted-after-trying-to-trademark-his-dark-web-username-1651159/

We all are or were headed down that wide road. Praise God that He chose to pull some of us onto the narrow road. I confess though that I often feel like one of the goats in Matthew 25.

I wonder though how many judges it will take before the correct judgment is made? There are many judges out there with funny ideas of what is constitutional. By the way, I got this in my Facebook feed. Another post appropriate to this topic is a pic of a little girl holding a sign that reads "Atheism is a temporary condition" followed by part of Phil 2:10-11 "Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord." True.

Good grief. What's next? Government officials are not allowed to attend church? Atheist Sues Pastor for Inviting Mayor, Council Members to Ground Breaking for Church Cross Project CORPUS CHRISTI — A professing atheist has filed a lawsuit against a Texas pastor for allegedly violating the law for inviting the city mayor and council members to the ground breaking ceremony for his church’s project to build what it is heralded as being the largest cross in the Western Hemisphere. (Click headline for full article)