Top Five DM Blog Posts For 2015
This past year has been a busy year on Divorce Minister. It marks the first full calendar year that Divorce Minister: Taking Adultery Seriously has exited.
Below is a countdown of my top five visited stories for 2015 (only counting posts written this year). These posts received hundreds if not thousands of “hits.”
5. Dangerous Duggar Marital Sex Advice
-Posted October 14th, 2015
This post was a response to some teaching coming from ultra-conservative Michelle Duggar of “19 Kids And Counting” fame. I tackle the (bad) advice she gives to a newlywed Christian wife about sex in marriage. It is a corrective piece for an evangelical sub-culture prone to make fidelity contingent upon a Christian wife meeting her husband’s sexual ‘needs’ always.
4. Mailbag: I am cheating with a married man who is my pastor
-Posted February 27th, 2015
This piece was in regards to a reader who wrote to me seeking advice. In this post, I tackle the sticky wicket from the perspective of helping The Other Woman (OW) in a situation where a pastor is preying on her.
3. Comfort Affairs and Pastor Tullian Tchividjians Tragic Fall
-Posted June 22nd, 2015
This sad post dealt with the moral failure of Rev. Billy Graham’s grandson, Tullian Tchividjian. It was the story of a pastor who succumbed to sexual temptation–i.e. a comfort affair?–while separated from his then wife due to some infidelity issues–reportedly–on her part. Tullian lost his pastorate and was defrocked–rightfully so–for choosing to violate his marriage vows in this way. It was one of the sadder stories this year–though–seeing this man fall.
2. Mark Driscoll, Matt Chandler, and The Village Church Scandal
-Posted May 28th, 2015
This post dealt with the connections between Mark Driscoll’s teachings on divorce and how Karen Hinkley was initially treated in The Village Church Scandal. I point out how Driscoll taught adultery victims–while permitted to divorce–were urged to submit to church authorities or others in making that major life choice. Karen encountered a church leadership that were indignant that she chose to file for annulment after learning of her former “husband’s” long history of pedophilia. The legacy of Mark Driscoll’s teachings or such theology was very alive in that pastoral care debacle with Karen at Matt Chandler’s church, The Village Church. (Chandler later repented and corrected his errors in the situation personally with Karen; however, I never read anything repentant as coming from the pastors who directly mistreated Karen.)
1. Church Discipline Gone Wrong: The Village Church Scandal
-Posted May 24th, 2015.
This was the biggest story coming out of 2015 on DM. Karen Hinkley and her former “husband” Jordan Root were missionaries sent out from The Village Church. Pedophilia was uncovered by Karen on the mission field, and they were called back to the USA. Karen sought to annul her marriage as her “husband’s” pedophilia was undisclosed to her at the time of their wedding. What ensued was a case study of awful divorce theology and epic pastoral care failure on the part of TVC pastors.
As stated above, Pastor Matt Chandler did correct this situation personally, and Karen accepted his apology (along with another leader’s). I am thankful as a fellow brother minister in Christ that they did that. However, this situation remains as a “good” example of how twisted theology on divorce and issues of pastoral control can conspire to create a great mess rife with spiritual abuse.
