I didn’t know of Matt Pitt before his name hit the news this week – he was a relatively high profile youth worker/evangelist in the South who was arrested this week for impersonating a police officer. While the details of this sensational story are hard to resist, I found several excerpts of this All Alabama article stunning to read as a warning about some of the pitfalls in our profession. Lots of clarity here for each of us to consider in our own ministry lives. Not going to give it a lot of commentary, I think it kind of speaks for itself:
Another ex-board member who asked not to be named said of Pitt and his closest advisers, “They took their eyes off Jesus. I believe there were great possibilities. I believe people were helped. I never looked at Matt as a rock star. I saw an opportunity to win the lost. In the beginning Jesus was foremost… God is not going to be mocked.”Dawson regrets that Pitt didn’t have more guidance for his ministry.
[..]“We need to make sure we have accountability in our lives,” Dawson said. “No one’s a Lone Ranger.”
Dawson said he wished he could have helped Pitt. “I personally tried to reach out to him, and I couldn’t get any response,” Dawson said. “You have to be humble. You have to be accountable. In order to be accountable, you have to want to be accountable. We want it to be a microwave, but in spiritual growth it has to simmer awhile. No one should be smiling. We should all be brokenhearted.”
[..]
Dawson said he hopes that Pitt can be restored as a person, if his platform for ministry is not. “This is a tragedy and we shouldn’t throw stones,” Dawson said. “There are millions of stars in the sky and the one that gets attention is the falling one.”
JG
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