I been away for a couple of days so I just found out about Michael Guglielmucci’s deception surrounding his terminal illness.  This, to me, is a devastating situation.  This not only affects Micheal, his family, his church, but also the entire Body of Christ at large.  While Ted Haggard’s fall significantly impacted Christians around the world, there is something about this that cuts deeper.  His actions were incredibly intentional, planned, methodically deceptive, and predatory.  Having lost a brother and a father to terminal cancer, I can sympathize with the thousands of people who found hope in Michael’s circumstances and now feel incredibly betrayed.  I must confess, I am angry.  Not in a way that wishes vengeance or is void of compassion for Michael and his family.  Rather, it is a righteous anger that is appropriate for this degree of violation.  Forgiveness is given.  However, the Body of Christ must handle this with integrity and consistency.  I’m encouraged by what I’ve read so far regarding how his church is holding him accountable for his actions and exercising compassionate discipline.  

Now it has just come out that Michael has been addicted to porn since the age of 12.  His family and church are left ravaged by the revelation of so many years of a double-life.  I can only imagine how much of a tortured soul Michael must have been over these years.  I do not look at this situation with contempt but rather I see it as a wake-up call for all leaders in the Body of Christ.  All of us can put ourselves in a position to become vulnerable through compromise, isolation, and placing our trust in anything or anyone other than God.  This certainly is making me take inventory of my life to see if there is anything that could potentially undermine my integrity, values, and commitment to Christ.  However, I need to remind myself that it shouldn’t take a tragic situation such as this to motivate such scrutiny. 

I had someone stop by my office to ask me if I thought the song “Healer” really was authentic and God inspired in light of the circumstances.  My response was “truth is truth”.  The message of that song is, without question, inspired by the truth of scripture.  We must make the distinction between the veracity of the message and veracity of the messenger.  Unfortunately, we can so taint the message through our sinful actions that people may never be able to break free of associating the compromise with the truth.  The truth has not changed but the lens through which people view it has been dramatically altered.  This is how souls are lost and lives are destroyed.  

Michael is part of the Body of Christ and therefore, we must choose to respond with righteousness, compassion, and authenticity.  My prayer at this time is this:

1.  Complete revelation of the truth and everything brought into the light.

2.  Wisdom, discernment, and grace for the church leaders directly involved.

3.  Wisdom, discernment, and grace for the legal authorities involved.

4.  Peace, compassion, and strength for Michael’s wife, family, parents and friends and that they would grieve with a Godly sorrow and be protected from hopelessness and depression.

5.  Provision for Michael’s family in the coming weeks and months.

5.  Hope, peace, and protection for Edge Church International during this vulnerable season.  

6.  A new revelation of hope for all who were inspired to believe for healing through the message of Michael’s song and ministry.  

7.  Finally, that Michael may truly discover the Healer and find healing and restoration in mind, body, and spirit.

AdelaideNow… Fake illness preacher Michael Guglielmucci told to go to police.

Disgraced pastor Michael Guglielmucci a porn addict | The Australian.

Strengths Finder 2.0

I’m usually not big on personality or assessment tests.  But I have to say I’m impressed with this one.  I love the premise of this book as it states that you can’t be whatever you want to be.  Rather, you are supposed to become the best that you were created to be.  We are always working on our weaknesses rather than capitalizing on our strengths.  While this concept is not new to me, I sure wish I had learned about it before I spent 10 years pursuing a classical music career.  I spent so many years developing and training a skill that had significant limitations.  Had I realized earlier what my true strengths were, I could have saved a whole lot of money and been a little further down the road doing what I was supposed to be doing.  But God has a way of redeeming the time and correcting our course when we take our little trips down crackpipe lane.  

The premise of the book is there are 34 themes; patterns of thought, feeling, and behavior that can be usefully utilized.  Out of these themes, there are five that surface as being the strongest and most dominant.  Our pastoral team is in the process of taking the test to see how we compliment each other and better work together.  This should be interesting.  Apparently, mine turned out to be:  

1.  Responsibility

2.  Command

3.  Competition

4.  Activator

5.  Strategic

Now I must confess that I enjoy the hyper-masculine overtones of this list.  However No. 3 was a little bit of a surprise.  I never really considered myself competitive.  The only thing I’ve ever asked is for the slow and incompetent to do what I tell them and get out of my way.  The fact that this is on my list is a little concerning since I’m on pastoral team and categorically this is considered sin!  I’m sure this is just eluding to my commitment to compete against and defeat the forces of darkness.  That makes sense . . . right?

This is an article I wrote for New Man eMagazine pertaining to men’s role in mentoring those who struggle with homosexuality.  

New Man eMagazine Vol 15 No 29.