Just one good man

Last week, I had the sad occasion to read a headline that just should rip the hearts out of Christians - “Minister found guilty of sex crimes”, it read.  After the initial holding back of the vomit in my mouth all I could do is think to myself, what the heck is going on with the so called leaders of religious organizations?  I really can’t even call these people ministers, preachers, or clergy of any kind.  They are not worthy of that moniker.

Samuel Jordan served as a “minister” at Laddsburgh Church near Towanda, in Bradford County and is facing prison time after being found guilty of child sex crimes.  In a bench trail, a judge found Jordan guilty of child sex crimes involving a 15-year-old boy. The boy’s family said, "Our family trusted this man who was the pastor of our church. He took advantage of these victims and forever stole their innocence. The effects will last the rest of our lives. "

Even more troubling is the word “victims”, which obviously means more than one person went through this horrible trauma.  And indeed there are more traumatized individuals. In 1986 Jordan was convicted and served jail time for another child sex crime and again, wait for it, he is also charged with sexually assaulting another boy and that case is still awaiting trial.

If you are like me, you are scratching your head wondering how an animal like this could ever get to the pastorate of a church.  Who did the due diligence on his hiring?  What were the elders, the deacons, or other supposed church leaders doing when Jordan got hired?  What were his qualifications, how about a safe sanctuary policy, how about state police checks, FBI checks, child abuse checks?  Some churches and denominations have these policies in place to prevent this type of crime.  All ministers, clergy, and anyone who works with children ought to at lease have the same background checks that school teachers have,  It’s not that hard or expensive to get – heck even I have all that stuff just to show that I’m not a pervert.

Churches, I admonish you to please check on every person that is in a leadership position and those who come in contact with children.  It is up to us to proclaim the word of God and to lead people to Christ not damage them for life.  Pastor’s, if you are tempted in any way, let someone know about it so they can be your accountability partner.  Always put Billy Graham’s policy in place – Never be with a female (or young male) alone, ever.  Make sure all church office doors have windows or the doors are not shut all the way (especially the pastor’s office).  Let’s look out together for the Kingdom of God.