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I have been around many leaders.\u00a0 Some I\u2019ve worked with, some I\u2019ve interviewed, and some are friends.\u00a0 All are human, yet the ones willing to speak tough truths, especially within their own organizations or companies, is sadly too small.<\/strong><\/p>\n The tragic and sordid stories about Mark Driscoll have been tough to digest. As discouraging as those have been, it is the overwhelming silence of men in Christian leadership I find most disheartening. \u00a0Carl Trueman has written many important pieces on this topic, and recently penned \u201cMark Driscoll\u2019s Problem, and Ours.\u201d\u00a0 The pieces Carl started writing late last year for Ref 21 were never mentioned on any of the big blogger sites.\u00a0 Carl\u2019s recent piece in First Things <\/i>now has over four thousand Facebook postings. \u00a0Any popular Reformed bloggers or tweeters linking to it? \u00a0None that I have found.<\/strong><\/p>\n With respect to the leaders, I was hoping for at least one to say they were talking to Driscoll, but felt it inappropriate to divulge the specifics. \u00a0And then to ask for our prayers. \u00a0I am amazed that no one did that. \u00a0It would have quelled much of the controversy. Not all of it to be sure, but much of it.<\/strong><\/p>\n More candidly, I imagine there might be someone who could honestly say one of the following:<\/strong><\/p>\n I was pragmatic and it simply clouded my better judgment.<\/strong><\/p>\n I did not want to be the first to speak, so kept waiting. \u00a0It turns out everyone decided to wait. \u00a0Plus, I remember John MacArthur as a lone voice raising concerns about Driscoll\u2019s approach, and he got marginalized for speaking up. \u00a0The price of speaking up, especially within one\u2019s own organization, is costly, and I simply didn\u2019t want to pay it.<\/strong><\/p>\n I protected my theological tribe, even when I had nagging doubts it was the right thing to do.<\/strong><\/p>\n I lacked courage. I feared man more than God. Fearing man is definitely a snare.<\/strong><\/p>\n I got snookered into simply \u201cbelieving the best\u201d because Mark Driscoll is orthodox in doctrine. \u00a0I then remembered a lesson from church history: The Apostolic Fathers were as concerned about schismatics as they were about heretics. \u00a0Schismatics can be thoroughly orthodox in their doctrine, but still destructive to the church.<\/strong><\/p>\n I wanted to be buddies with other leaders in the Gospel Coalition and T4G so did not want to step on their toes. \u00a0I am painfully aware of how idolatrous that became.<\/strong><\/p>\n Finally, let it be known that the author of this piece is a sinner. He has learned, and is learning, that no criticism is free from self-serving motives. \u00a0We live in a fallen world and take our own corruption wherever we go. \u00a0But our sin should never be an excuse for failing to embark on the messy, yet important task of calling others to repentance. \u00a0We model the glorious and godly tension in Gal. 6:1 when we do so.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have been around many leaders.\u00a0 Some I\u2019ve worked with, some I\u2019ve interviewed, and some are friends.\u00a0 All are human, yet the ones willing to speak tough truths, especially within their own organizations or companies, is sadly too small. The tragic and sordid stories about Mark Driscoll have been tough to digest. As discouraging as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3622","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-leadership"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3622","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3622"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3622\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3627,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3622\/revisions\/3627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3622"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3622"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3622"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}