Posted on 06/20/2016 10:38:20 AM PDT by Gamecock
A former pastor at Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church has been asked to resign as lead pastor of a church he’s served for three years after he refused to agree to its biblical position on homosexuality, fearing it would alienate people in the LGBT community.
Gerald Sharon, the lead pastor at Southwest Church in Indian Wells, California, who spent 11 years at Saddleback Church serving in various leadership roles, was asked to step down from the pastoral role he has served for over three-and-a-half years since he left Saddleback because he now refuses to affirm the church’s position on homosexuality.
On June 8, Sharon submitted his letter of resignation to the church’s board of elders.
Sharon explained in the resignation letter that months earlier, he had asked church leadership to re-examine the the church’s policy on homosexuality, fearing that the church’s condemnation of homosexual actions would make it impossible for members of the LGBT community to feel welcome at the church.
Sharon had called for the church to rescind its document defining the church’s stance on sexuality titled “Homosexuality and Human Sexuality.”
“However, the elders recently sent me a certified letter informing me that they had unanimously affirmed the current position of Southwest Church,” Sharon wrote in his resignation letter. “My heart sank realizing that no homosexual person who would read these documents would truly feel welcome at Southwest Church. And, if the positions held in these papers are followed, they will effectively exclude homosexual individuals from the life of Southwest.”
Sharon explained that the position change that he was hoping the church would embrace was one that is “neither affirming nor condemning homosexuality.” Sharon also wrote that on June 6, the Elders had asked for his resignation because he would not affirm the church’s stance on sexuality.
“I would not join the elders in affirming the aforementioned papers since I believe they will limit the church’s ability to love people where they are,” Sharon explained. “At their request, I am resigning as the lead pastor of Southwest Church.”
He didn’t “resign over the position,” he was “asked to resign. “ There’s a difference.
How in the world does he square that request with scripture? You simply can not. I'm glad the elders affirmed the bible and handed him his papers. This man has no business leading any Christian church.
Finally something good about Saddleback Church.
No, not at all. Homosexuals will be excluding themselves.
Generally speaking The YBPDLN Ping List is published infrequently, however based on the exploits of the megachurch pastors posts can spike for a season. Management will not ping members to every thread addressing megachurch pastors, but will tag articles of interest with the KEYWORD: YBPDLN.
If you would like on or off of this list please FReepmail me.
*YBPDLN=Your Best Purpose Driven Life Now
This was not from Saddleback, it was from Southwest Church in Indian Wells, California.
Sodomites are welcome to repent. Same as idolaters, blasphemers, profaners, murderers, disrespecters, adulterers, coveters, and thieves.
My religious position on homosexuality is very simple. I believe God got it right in scripture. That’s easy for me.
My religious position on murder is similar. I believe God got it right in scripture. That’s easy for me.
From time to time, I encounter an issue on which my personal preference and the clear wording of scripture differ. Again, when that happens, I assume God got it right and I defer to His word. That’s sometimes hard for me, but I trust God.
He can apply at the Episcopal church or United Methodist church which have no problem deleting the parts of the Bible and Jesus’s teachings that don’t fit their only real doctrine, The Doctrine of Diversity. Every kind of sinner is welcomed with open arms, but they are not required to repent, as Jesus requires in the true Christian Church. Repenting may make sinners feel bad about themselves, and Jesus’s added requirement, “Go and sin no more,” is too authoritarian and non-accepting for these false prophets. Look up Jesus’s parable of The Wheat and the Tares if you want to see what he says about false Christians.
Along with.... rustlers, cut throats, murderers, bounty hunters, desperados, mugs, pugs, thugs, nitwits, halfwits, dimwits, vipers, snipers, con men, Indian agents, Mexican bandits, muggers, buggerers, bushwhackers, hornswogglers, horse thieves, bull dykes, train robbers, bank robbers, a##-kickers, ####-kickers and Methodists.
Yea, what a tricky and duplicitous opening paragraph. The guy who used to work at Saddleback was fired by a different church today.
That said, the elders took a tough but correct stance.
And, of course, those guilty of the crimes of murder, armed robbery of citizens, state banks and post offices, the theft of sacred objects, arson in a state prison, perjury, bigamy, deserting his wife and children, inciting prostitution, kidnapping, extortion, receiving stolen goods, selling stolen goods, passing counterfeit money, and, contrary to the laws of this state, using marked cards...
Actually, the UMC officially doesn’t allow homosexual pastors or same-sex marriages.
They also condemn bottled water which alienates the hydrated community
Maybe he should go back to Saddleback - he didn't seem to have any problems there. He could call his new ministry Brokeback at Saddleback.
I’ve got no problem with that. Both the church and the pastor stood by their respective principles. No heroes or villains here. And not really much of a story.
Except the pastor is ignoring the basics of Christianity. You don’t allow people who are actively engaging in sin to be active in the church. Certainly they may attend, but they may not be involved in any active leadership at any level.
” Sharon wrote in his resignation letter. “My heart sank realizing that no homosexual person who would read these documents would truly feel welcome at Southwest Church. And, if the positions held in these papers are followed, they will effectively exclude homosexual individuals from the life of Southwest.”
Not to self: get Rosaria Butterfield's most recent book.
He didn’t “resign over the position,” he was “asked to resign. “
Kind of like being fired, only nicer. I’d prefer to have seen him told his employment was no longer acceptable and to clear out...but I guess they were nicer than I am.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.