The Cross and Pen

As my blog readers know, I grew up attending a somewhat famous church in Philadelphia. Manning the pulpit at the time was Dr. James M. Boice. A prolific author and speaker, his works continue to influence my life to this day. After my mother passed away in 1989, my father and I moved out of the area and stopped attending. Jim passed away in 2000. In the intervening years, he had two successors, the latter of whom resigned amid a scandal that rocked the church to its very core. I discovered this by accident when I visited the church’s website, as I occasionally do, to keep abreast of developments at the church. A long-time friend had been on staff since I was a member. Over the years, we kept in touch sporadically via email. He was an associate pastor, and I considered him a Christian role model, the kind of believer I aspired to be. To my surprise, I discovered he was no longer with the church. Although he was not complicit in the scandal involving the senior pastor, he nevertheless go...