A bloody, vicious war in Ukraine. China is threatening Taiwan. North Korea is planning another missile test to send a missile into the Sea of Japan. Any one of these, or all three, could evolve into war with the US and our allies. A new contagion is out there called monkey-pox. Inflation is at a forty year high. Gas prices are more than we can bear and diesel is worse. Some states are having pivotable primaries. Our federal government has seemingly lost their collective minds. So much going on! Important things that will change history. And then, the mass murders right here in our nation.

          As distressing as all this is, the various news agencies eat that up. It is their business to report the news. Without news, they have nothing else to do other than manufacture news.

          On Tuesday morning I got up and went through my routine, which includes going onto the Fox News web page and checking on national news. Sometimes I will go to the WOWO 1190 AM page to check on local news, but they really don’t cover Wabash County. Besides, I would be driving to Ft. Wayne later and I would listen to WOWO to get the traffic updates. Whatever local news there was, would be on the radio.

          So, I open the Fox news page and there, right out front with all the horrible things in the world, is a headline about a pastor in Indiana who admitted to adultery. I looked at the story to see if it is a big mega church in Indy with a world renown pastor, or maybe a chaplain at Notre Dame or something. As I waited for the page to load, I ran through my mind as to who or what was so big and so important that it would rate right up there with another city falling to the Russians or inflation getting worse or the latest shooting. The page opened and there was the story. From Warsaw, Indiana. A pretty good sized church, but one doesn’t have to look very far to find others that are bigger. It gave the pastor’s name, and it didn’t ring a bell. My first thought was, Warsaw? Why does someone in Pittsburgh or St. Louis or Albany or Sacramento even care about Warsaw and the things that happen there? National news? Tuesday evening, Marsha called (she is home from the hospital) and said she had read the story on the Yahoo news page and wanted to know if it was the same Warsaw she had been too. What kind of impact does that story have on people outside of Warsaw?

I want to address this story in two ways. Obviously, Christianity is under attack. Just because you don’t personally see it doesn’t mean it isn’t happening. If it were the mayor of Warsaw or the owner of a hardware store or the manager of the Burger King, would we even hear of it in Urbana or Wabash? There is nothing wrong with Warsaw, per se, and I am not taking a shot at the city when I say this, but who would care beyond Kosciusko County? It is very impactful there, but why is it on the national news? Because it involves a pastor and a church and is semi-sensational. A television station in Chicago referred to the pastor as a Spiritual leader in Indiana. Well, I am a Spiritual leader in Indiana too, I suppose. Big deal. I know that there are no Christians in, say, Terre Haute, that have ever heard of me and I doubt there are any in Terre Haute that have heard of the pastor in the story. But, get a little dirt on a Christian, have a video of a tearful confession and all of a sudden it is a story of world-wide importance. The world hates Christians. Jesus said they would and that has come to pass now.

The other thing I want to look at is a major misconception we have as Christians and how and how it allows these things to happen. We associate big ministries with big success. The impressive buildings, the senior pastor’s book deals, the stunning effects during the worship service, the rockin’ Youth group, the support of missions, the creation of an institute, the creation of worship bands……all of these things mean success! Yet, where in the Bible does it talk of large, spreading church campuses? Where does the Bible equate big with great. In Acts Two we have the story of Pentecost. After the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, Peter got up and preached and in verse forty one we see that over three thousand came to Christ! What happened then? Did they start building the biggest church in Israel? Did they make Peter the senior pastor and all the rest of the disciples staff members? Did they start publishing scrolls for everyone to read? No, they went to the towns they were from and started telling people about Jesus.

I am going to share a little secret. When I was in seminary, my mentor, Dr. Leroy Benefield, told me that along the way in the ministry I would encounter females who would offer me anything. I scoffed. “Dr. Benefield, I see this face every morning in the mirror. I know that no females are going to be interested in me. Why, even my wife closes her eyes when she kisses me!” He chuckled, but then he said, “Look at me, Mr. Wade. I am as ugly as a rotted fence post. That has nothing to do with it. In a church situation you will be in a place of importance, you will be put together, you will have ideas and answers. These women see their husbands at their worst, but they will see you at your best. There will be things they can’t talk to their husbands about, but you will sit and listen, and then you will say things that makes everything make sense. Of course they will be drawn to you. DON’T LOSE FOCUS! And then there are teenagers. Their emotions run high and their hormones run hot and their fathers don’t understand them. But you will. You will be able to talk sense to them and they will see in you a hero, DON’T LOSE FOCUS!”

The pastor of the Warsaw church is 65 years old. He has been at that church for 37 years. I don’t know if he started the church or not, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. That was a big deal 37 years ago. He would have been 28 years old at the time. Young, dynamic, full of fire. Ten years later he had a sixteen year old girl, A CHILD, in his office and there he had sex with her. This illegal and illicit affair lasted nine years. Before you start asking what was wrong with that girl, remember, he was the adult. He had led her to this point. Maybe without intent, or maybe with full intention, but she was in love. Once it started, she was emotionally tied to him and he maintained that tie for nine years. I don’t know what ended it, but I do know it was largely a secret, although it seems there were a few who were aware. However, he was their leader. A flawed human, yes, but their leader. And they were having great success under his leadership. Again, I don’t know this for sure, but I imagine he only confessed before his church because it was about to become public knowledge. The brother of the girl was starting to make noise.

I do know how it can come about. I was 27 when a sweet young teen offered herself to me. I was shocked. I was perplexed. What??? Then, Dr. Benefield’s words came back to me. “DON’T LOSE FOCUS!” Over the years their have others, teens and adults. I know how it can happen. I also know it doesn’t have to happen. But you can lose focus. King David saw Bathsheba and desired her and sent some to take her and bring her to him. He had lost focus. He was the king and could do as he pleased. And don’t go saying that this pastor is just human. It definitely can happen, but it doesn’t have to happen.

Now I am going to say something that you may disagree with. That’s OK, but I am still right. Say someone lives in North Manchester and chooses to drive to Warsaw to the church that is now in the news. (there are some who make that drive) Why don’t they come to Urbana to the Yoke? There would be many reasons, but none of those reasons would have anything to do with beliefs or theology. A person goes to a large church because the church offers them something. Music, programs for your children, a coffee bar, (which we sort of have now before Sunday School) an energized service. And most important, the ability to hide from any responsibility. All you have to do is show up and worship the Lord! Everything else is done for you. President Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.” Replace the word ‘country’ with ‘church’ and the saying is good for now. The large church is filled with people who just show up while the Spirit led smaller church is filled with people who show up and after that, they do the work of the Lord.

Big does not mean a church is blessed. It may just mean Satan has prepared it for a great fall so the national news can chew Christians up. I believe a church should strive to do big things in the Lord, BUT NEVER, EVER, LOSE ITS FOCUS!