Another One?
Bob Hyatt
July 7, 2025

Another Christian in the Public Eye Stumbles and Falls...

Another month, another scandal. The parade of pastors, ministry leaders, authors and CCM musicians caught in scandals of their own making seems endless.


I have no interest in pointing out all the many specks in my (mostly) brothers' eyes when I have enough planks of my own. I simply want to say, from the perspective of helping to lead a relational network of leaders, that it doesn't have to be this way. Not that we'll ever get to a place were leaders don't sin... of course not. But could we ever get to the place where leaders are able to own their temptations and even their failings and deal with issues before they blow up, shipwrecking their ministries, their lives and marriages, and often the faith of countless others?


I pray that we can.


But to get there, we'd need to see something we don't see a lot of these days: radical honesty and transparency, supernatural grace, and over it all an uncommon courage.


We don't see all the times when leaders are able to interrupt the cycle of sin and destructive behavior, so we really can't say how well we are doing as a church in being honest and transparent with each other, how well we're doing at showing a supernatural, Jesus-like amount of grace, and how often we're courageous enough to have the kinds of conversations where those qualities can show up and make a difference. We just see the cases where apparently one or more of those things was absent, where the shipwreck wasn't averted. But seeing that, we can say with assurance: we could do better.


And doing better begins when we all admit: It could happen to us. There but for God's grace go I. And beyond just admitting that it could happen to us, developing the relational guardrails that will keep our churches, our families, and our own lives and callings out of the ditch.


Here's what that looks like:

  1. Having someone in your life you can talk to with complete honesty... and actually talking to them.

Ministry is lonely. You need someone you can talk to beyond those in your direct ministry context. If it's a friend, fine- but know that the temptation to present a false-self with friends, and even your spouse is great. The temptation is to be vulnerable enough to appear real, but not so vulnerable that you feel like you are letting them down, losing their respect, or in some way jeopardizing your relationship. If you have someone that you feel you could tell anything to, then by all means, do so. Start easy- confess what you are tempted to do. Confess the small sins. Tell the story of big sins from a couple of decades ago. Work towards radical honesty and transparency. Test the waters for supernatural grace. And in doing so, begin to develop the uncommon courage you will need at the lowest point in your life before you reach the lowest point in your life.

If you don't feel like you have any relationships that could hold that kind confession, pay someone. A counselor, a spiritual director... someone whose job it is to listen compassionately, and offer hope, encouragement, and occasionally the kick in the pants you will need.


    2. Having a group of others leaders in similar contexts, with similar struggles, and journeying with them over the long haul.

The benefits of having a group of people who over time become a group of friends, who track with us month after month, celebrating and mourning with us season after season can't be overstated. It's knowing that even if we aren't necessarily sharing everything, we're developing those muscles of honesty and transparency, learning how to listen compassionately and with a non-judgmental spirit, and building a bench of folks we could call upon when we're in crisis. (And if you feel like you don't necessarily need that, think of it this way: someone else probably needs it from you.)


Do you have these things in your life? If so, good. I'm confident that whatever you might face, you have in others a provision from God that will see you through- something that will carry you through the small failures and keep you from the life-changing ones. 


If you don't, here's my offer. The staff of the Ecclesia Network is here. We've seen and heard it all. I'd be surprised if you could confess anything that would truly shock any of us. The whole reason we are here is to partner with and equip you. If you need to talk, get on my calendar. If you need to set up something more long term, we can provide that or connect you with someone who can.

Join a Leader's Circle. We have a good number of them going, but we're far from seeing every leader in Ecclesia connected in a regular, relational way with others. We'll have some new ones starting soon- so if you want in, just let me know.


We can't do much about what's happening in the broader world of Christian ministry, and the failings we are seeing there. But we can do something in our lives and within our own network. Let's be the kind of Network that cares about each other and receives care from others, in such a way that, by God's grace, our list of "failed leaders" remains mercifully short.

Theology Learning Group with Paul Hill and Doug Moister

By Bob Hyatt • March 28, 2025
Join us for a four-week journey into rich, poetic, and deeply personal theology as we explore My Theology: The Word Within the Words by Malcolm Guite.

The Magic Power of Encouragement

By Bob Hyatt • January 17, 2025
When I graduated from college, I moved to Alaska and took a job teaching middle school- a job I had zero business doing. I want to give props to those of you who are teachers- it’s a fantastically important job, but also a ridiculously complex one. You must balance pedagogical skills, HOW to teach so others learn, with sociological ones, classroom management, and so much more. It was classroom management where my ineptitude really shone, though. I thought managing classrooms full of middle schoolers would be easy- just call them out when they do something wrong- make sure there are consequences in place, and the place will basically run itself. I learned that year that you cannot punish someone into good behavior. You more often just punish people into stealthier ways of misbehavior. It wasn’t until years later that the light bulb came on for me. I was volunteering in my son’s kindergarten class, and I assumed I was going to be walking into a zoo. Contrary to my expectations, Mr. Waters, the teacher, had that place running like a well-oiled machine. And the most surprising way was how he did it. He called for reading time when all the kids were supposed to get up from their tables and sit on the reading circle. He made this call and like two kids responded. Oh man, I thought- he’s lost the room! Nope. He just stood at the front of the class and said “I see Billy doing what I asked. I see Sienna doing what I asked.” And every time he said that another few kids would look up, leave what they were doing and rush to take their place. In about 30 seconds, he had them all sitting quietly around the circle. Blew. My. Mind. It seemed so simple once I saw it done, but I had never realized just how big a gap there was between trying to motivate with consequences and nagging versus motivating with encouragement. Which is funny, because as I thought about it, I realized my wife had been using this tactic on me for YEARS. I married a woman who liked to dance- swing dance, even. I grew up a Baptist, so… But whenever I would do a little two-step with her in the kitchen or just play-dance with her to music in the living room, she would go OVER THE TOP. “Bob, you are doing that really well! Bob, you’re a great dancer!” I totally knew I wasn’t, but… I sure liked to hear her say it, and so I’d do it more. So, here’s the rule: What you criticize me for, I may stop doing. I may also just try to hide it from you. But- What you praise and encourage me in, I will continue doing. The Apostle Paul was a master at this- just look at 1 Thess. 5:11- ”So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing.” What is Paul doing here? Yes, he’s encouraging them to encourage each other by encouraging them for how they’ve already been encouraging one another! That’s a lot of encouraging. But he’s doing what he’s asking them to do- demonstrating how it works. I’m sure not everyone in the church of Thessalonica was good at encouraging others- but those who were doing it well were heartened by Paul’s words here, and those who weren’t yet, were… encouraged to be more encouraging. Paul uses the word “encourage” 7 times in 1st Thess. alone. This command to encourage each other is central in the NT. Hebrews 10:24-25 says this: Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. Paul writes in 2 Cor. 13:11 “Dear brothers and sisters, I close my letter with these last words: Be joyful. Grow to maturity. Encourage each other. Live in harmony and peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you.” How long can you go on one compliment, or one word of encouragement? A few days? A week? Our words have so much power! I once had an orange t-shirt, that had a disturbingly deep V-neck. My co-pastor Dustin would laugh every time he saw me in it. But you know why I continued to wear it? Because it was literally the only shirt I ever owned that had been complimented by a woman I was not married or related to. A barista one time told me she really liked that shirt… So, what I’m saying is, you can get me to do just about anything, if you encourage me. BUT- With great power, comes great responsibility. Notice that these verses on encouragement come in the context of helping others become the followers of Jesus they could and were meant to be. “Encourage each other and build each up.” “Motivate one another to acts of love and good works. Encourage one another.” “Grow to maturity. Encourage each other.” There’s a growth mindset behind the biblical admonitions that we ought to encourage each other. The growth mindset says “I may not be good at this or have mastered it… yet. But if I keep trying…” Unfortunately, most of us get stuck in a fixed mindset. A fixed mindset says “I'm either good at something, or I’m not. So, I’ll give myself only to things where I can show I’m good. If I must work at it, it means I’m not good at it, or smart enough for it, so why try?” Studies have shown that encouragement has a positive effect on performance, while discouragement has a negative effect. Ok- that’s obvious. But… studies have also been done about how TYPES of encouragement affect performance. Encouraging effort, for example, has a positive effect on performance, while praising ABILITY has a negative effect. One study showed that when two groups of students were presented with difficult challenges 90% of the ones who had been praised for their effort embraced the difficult tasks- while the majority of those praised for their ability resisted tackling hard things. I probably don’t have to spell out the leadership lessons here. So, I’ll just leave you with this: I encourage you this season to be thinking about the people you work with and especially those who work under you. They are just as hungry for encouragement as you are. You have the power to give them not only what they need, but through that encouragement to spur them on to the personal and ministry growth you want to see in them. (By the way, while we’re talking about encouragement, if you need some this season, join us Feb 25-27th in Alexandria, VA for this year’s Ecclesia National Gathering . I guarantee you and your team will leave feeling encouraged, equipped, and empowered. And think about how encouraging YOUR presence would be to everyone else!)