Who You Are When No One’s Looking was one of the books that profoundly influenced me as a new Christian more than 30 years ago. The book spelled out the need to develop a Christlike character so that the godliness we display in public is not a pretence, but an extension of our private devotion.
Given how big an impression the book had on me, I was floored when its author, a high-profile pastor, resigned from his church because of sexual immorality.
Sadly, he is not the only one. We hold our heads in our hands when we hear of yet another evangelical leader whose immorality, greed and pride has been exposed. We grieve as the world watches on with incredulity at our lack of integrity and inability to ‘walk the talk’. Does this constitute an evangelical leadership crisis? No. Unfortunately, I don’t think the problem is confined to church leaders or a few celebrity pastors we put on pedestals they had no business being on. Leaders may have unique pressures and temptations, but their fall from grace happens the same way ours does – one sin at a time.
