Insignificant that is compared with the legions of pastors and elders in the church today. Obama or McCain will exert far less influence over the coming four years than the tens of thousands of overseers who are charged with leading, feeding, and protecting God’s flock.

So while it is important for us to exercise our democratic privilege to vote, it is even more important for us to understand that there will be far more destruction caused by gutless leadership of the church, than there will be by the President of the United States decision making. Until the elders and overseers of God’s people show courage in leadership, America & The World will continue to see the onslaught of sin and its destructive effects.

But please don’t read what I just wrote and think your pastor is showing courage by:

• Preaching repeatedly against homosexuality from the pulpit. While he is not to shy away from calling it sin in the pulpit for fear of offending someone, it takes far more courage for him to welcome a homosexual into his life and his home and to build an authentic friendship with them.

   

• Preaching repeatedly against abortion from the pulpit. While he is not to shy away from exposing it for the evil that it is, it takes far more courage for him to kick the dads and men in his congregation in their flippin butts and challenge them to quit being passive dipsticks and to develop meaningful and deep loving relationships with their wives and their daughters and to call out other men around them to do the same. It takes far more courage for him to look the men in his church in the eye and expose them for the cowards and lazy nerfherders they are. Girls and women get abortions because most of the time they had no male figure in their life who loved them enough and taught them that their identity was in Christ and not in the selfish desires of a guy who was all too willing to take his pants down and help hers off too.

   

• Preaching against gambling from the pulpit. While he should tell people the folly of placing their hope in machines that are programmed to make sure they lose most of the time, it takes far more courage to challenge the rich couple in your church who owns the mega-mansion and two SUV’s that while they may say there hope is in Christ, their actions prove that they are liars. Last time I checked, it wasn’t slot machines that were causing churches to run short of funds to advance the Gospel, it was flippin selfish Christians who have more than any people in the history of the world yet think that God should be thrilled because they gave 10% (and most don’t give that). Until you can challenge your people to give themselves all the way from the mansions to the projects, you haven’t shown the courage Paul did.

   

• Preaching against alcohol from the pulpit. While he should tell people the dangers of excessive use of any substance, it takes far more courage to tell gossipy women in the church to shut their mouths and quit the divisive talk or face the discipline of the church. It also takes far more courage to tell the animal and sports obsessed dudes in his church that know more about the lures at Bass Pro and the quarterback of their favorite football team than they do about the Gospel that they are pathetic excuses for Christian men and they will stand before God one day and He won’t give a rip about how many fish they caught or their recollection of how many touchdown passes Brett Favre threw. Divisive and Distracted people have caused far more destruction in the church than Bud Light ever will.

We stand at a unique time in the Church and an in our country. And I fear that while we clamor for courage from our President, we accept cowardice from our Pastors all the while believing that they are showing true courage. Your vote counts today, but your prayers for yours and all the pastors in the world today count more. We should be begging God that he would give courageous grace to the elders and overseers of the flock, before the wolves can wreak more havoc and destruction upon the sheep. I’m Marc Backes and I approved the content of this blog post.