Jack W. Hayford about TV Christian ministers divorcing?

Question

Jack W. Hayford, on Daystar Texas Christian TV, said that, in his opinion, very high profile Christian ministers who divorce should step back for awhile vs immediately preaching next week's sermon so to speak.

Apparently Jack W. Hayford was hinting at high profile TV Christian ministers such as Juanita Bynum, Bishop Thomas Weeks, and Randy and Paula White.

Jack W. Hayford said that Christian ministers in leadership should ideally have a code of ethics which is a little different than how divorce may be looked at in the ~ celebrity camps of ~ Hollywood, sports, etc.

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Apparently parts of the Protestant world are like parts of the European Catholic world where events such as child crimes/whatever are too often overlooked/made light of aka the Non-Profit Religious Business As Usual continues. Parts of the moderate Islamic world also tend to ignore/make light of the extremist/terrorist actions of extreme Islam aka the Non-Profit Religious Business As Usual continues.

Answer 1

I agree with Jack.

I think time off should be taken even by Pastors who aren't on TV every week.

And when a Pastor ruins his own marriage due to his own intentional sin, and refuses to repent, that should disqualify that Pastor from every being a Pastor again.

Ditto for a Pastor who divorces his wife for a non Biblical reason or who is divorced by his wife and she has a Biblical reason.

Pastors need to be good role models and certain actions can disqualify a person from Pastoral ministry for the rest of their lives.

Obviously this needs to be looked at on a case by case basis.

I say all this as a Pastor who has been thru a divorce.

My wife divorced me for a non Biblical reason.

In fact, I had a Biblical reason to divorce her and I choose not to divorce her and choose to forgive her sin and work on making our marriage work.

Eventually she divorced me for a non Biblical reason.

Even though I was the innocent party, I took several years off from full time active ministry.

Pastor Art

Answer 2

In my church (American Baptist) a minister (or deacon) who gets a divorce would no longer be qualified to hold that office.

They take "the husband of one wife" passage in Timothy (or is it Titus?) very literally to mean one wife ever (not one wife at a time). I believe they do make exceptions for widowers, but might have a problem if the remarriage seemed in any way scandalous or "too soon".

Read the book of Timothy and Titus for some Biblical insight on qualifications of church leaders. It's also one of the places where we get Biblical basis for NOT ordaining women or homosexuals.

My husband has struggled with accepting this teaching--he and I found each other after we had each been the injured party in bad 1st marriages. He is a wonderful strong Christian with true qualities of a servant leader, and would love to serve as a deacon. However, just the fact that this would be controversial to the congregation and not all would accept it or respect him in this position makes it impossible.
So we look for other ways to serve Him in the church.

I can't believe that a congregation or a TV audience or whatever could still have confidence and respect for a minister in the midst of a personal crisis such as this----if you hold yourself up as a minister or leader and especially if your position reaches the level of celebrity--God expects you to be "above reproach". How can we expect an unbelieving world to think our faith has any substance to it if we our conduct and behavior looks the same as our worldly culture??

We always have to put our faith in God not in men, and when serving the Lord it is always better to connect to a local congregation where you can see how it is being run than to support some televangelism ministry where you have no voice/control. Follow your sincere Christian heart and keep an eye on the $$ and use spiritual discernment. The maddest Jesus ever got was at "religious people" trying to make a buck off God. I think there are still plenty of "moneychangers in the temple" around today.

Answer 3

Paula White and Juanita Bynum are false prophets to begin with, and that's the reason they should be taken off the air.

Answer 4

Scripture gives a description of what a church leader should be like (1Timothy 3:2-6,12);
‘... now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect. If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church? He must not be a recent convert ...
A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well.

Answer 5

If one wants to put someone else dow; there will be evidence top support it. (Romans 3:23). The truer benchmark for us is to foegive the person in this life!!! Yes, there will come times to alter the relationship, but 'we Americans' presently tend to overdo things, especially in our current microwave society.

Answer 6

I agree with him wholeheartedly........a pastor should step down if he gets a divorce.

What kind of a message would the pastor be sending to his flock if he just continued on as if nothing happened?

Answer 7

god only hate divorce sometimes, if a christian minister needs a divorce, there is always a loophole in scripture to get em off the hook

Answer 8

Jack W. Hayford, no comment.

God divorced Israel.

Answer 9

They're ministers of what? In whose government?

Answer 10

how about john hagee. he was with a baptist church but was screwing his secretary. so he got kicked out of the baptist church, divorced his wife, married his secretary, and started his own "church" where he spends most of his time condeming other people and other religions (including many Christian denominations by name).