Ministry News

What Virtual Intimacy Won't Reveal

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Tuesday, 09 June 2009 15:34

Another pastor, another moral failure, another black eye for the body of Christ … and yet this time there's a unique angle. When Gary Lamb, founding pastor of Revolution Church in Canton, Ga., admitted to his church via a letter read during a service last Sunday that he'd had a six-week affair with his assistant, there were undoubtedly some looks of disbelief, feelings of betrayal and plenty of tears among church members. But as an avid blogger and social networker who grew a sizable following on the Web, Lamb will likely never know the affect his sin will have on those who felt they knew him well by tracking his every move online.

By most accounts, Lamb, who has often been mentioned alongside such young, brazen pastors as Steven Furtick and Perry Noble, is one of the first blogging pastors to publicly fall in this era of continuous connection. His trail of blogs, tweets and various postings during the recent six-week period provide both a telling case study and a somber reminder for pastors, particularly since Revolution Church was simultaneously experiencing tremendous growth that included more than 100 baptisms one week.

"Revolution is almost five years old and I have been consumed with her 24/7," Lamb wrote in a blog two weeks ago. "As much as I tried to take off, I never really did. Even on vacations, I would work. I’m toast. … You can’t give the amount of time and energy that I have to Revolution without neglecting something else. I’m ashamed to say the thing I have neglected is my wife and children. That is wrong and there is no excuse for it. I can’t go back and change that, but I can let them know they are No. 1 to me, so I’m taking a sabbatical to focus on them. They need my attention and they deserve it."

Sadly, Lamb's time with his wife and children now involves far more than resting from church duties. He immediately agreed to resign as pastor of the Georgia congregation, and in his letter to them said he has "no excuses, no justification and no one to blame but myself. I did exactly what I have preached against from the Revolution stage by letting my guard down and putting myself into a position to fall into sin."

In a statement posted Monday on the church's Web site, the Revolution staff described the past three weeks as "the hardest any of us have ever been through. Today is a new day though. … We will not slow down. We will not ease up. We are hurting, but will support each other as we advance and trust God to both continue to be in control and shelter us in this time." [garylamb.org, 6/7/09; therevolution.tv, 6/8/09]