Sin, Sin and More Sin

What do you talk about when you don’t know what else to talk about? Sin of course, at least if you are the pastor of Grace Fellowship. It is his favorite topic, although it might be a toss-up between that and authority. It all goes hand in hand unless talking about his own sin.

Mike Reid will rarely if ever discuss his own sin unless he’s saying something like, “well, I’m not perfect….” No, he’s not perfect, but he’s as close as humanly possible. He borders on it, and with a little more effort, he will arrive. He’s humble too.

I recently highlighted an article where he “exhorted” the congregation that they weren’t living out the calling one another out on their sin enough. Article here. He ended his “exhortation” with a first-class mockery of his in-laws. That audio recording has since been taken down, and I’m left wondering if someone actually called him out on his sin?

It intrigued me enough that I decided to listen in the following week to see if he would address the issue it was strange to me they would actually remove the recording. I wasn’t disappointed, even though they didn’t discuss the in-laws, faux paw. Instead, I was treated to a public “exhortation” about a poor woman who is repeatedly in sin and is now apparently under church discipline. I mean, who doesn’t talk about church discipline cases publicly? Given an opportunity to highlight sin and point out others’ sin is always cannon fodder for the authoritarian pastor. It’s a great sport.

Audio here. It will be interesting if they keep it posted. The clip is about 9 minutes or so long.

While it seems easy to poke fun my heart is ripped apart that these people continue to allow this behavior in their lives. I’m sure the woman being discussed appreciates this coming from the pulpit. These people have the key to unlock the door and walk out of this authoritarian, spiritually abusive nonsense, but it’s difficult. You will be made to feel like the one in sin. No! They are in sin. This is true, Bully Pulpit 101. I have no doubts the joylessness that abounds here is palpable, but will they ever come to realize it, let’s pray they do.