Steven Lawson Removed from Church Role Due to ‘Inappropriate Relationship’

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When Spiritual Leaders Fall: Navigating the Impact on the Church

It’s always disheartening when we hear about pastors or spiritual leaders being removed from ministry due to inappropriate behavior. Whether it’s an abuse of power, moral failure, or an inappropriate relationship, the ripple effects can be profound—impacting not just the individual but the entire congregation and even the wider Christian community.

When someone like Steven Lawson is removed from their role due to an inappropriate relationship, it raises several important questions: How should the church respond? What steps can be taken to restore trust and provide healing for those affected? And how can we support our leaders to prevent such failures in the future?

The Bible reminds us in 1 Timothy 3:2 that leaders should be “above reproach,” and while this is a high standard, it’s a necessary one. We are all human and fallible, but leadership comes with a responsibility to model integrity and accountability. As we navigate these challenging situations, it’s crucial to approach them with both truth and grace, remembering that restoration and healing are possible for all involved.

For more insights on this issue, you can read about the recent case involving Steven Lawson Removed from Church Role Due to ‘Inappropriate Relationship’.

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He is not alone. This past summer multiple pastors and youth pastors were defrocked for : adultery, viewing pornography on church computers, rape, and pedophilia.

Some had a documented history of sexual abuse.

1 listen to the victims, do not blame the victims

#2 in cases involving rape or a child, Call law enforcement. Do not try to handle it “in house” A crime has been committed.
#3 Background checks before the pastor is hired
#4Never make excuses for the pastor or bow to “pastoral authority “ by keeping quiet

The person found guilty should never be allowed in the pulpit again, particularly if it involved rape or child abused. Protecting congregants from those in positions of power is a must.

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www.watchkeep.org keeps a running track on these cases. Staggering numbers.

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Yikes… smh

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I’ve been following this case closely. It is truly bizarre - the disconnect between his sterling reputation and fire-breathing theology on the one hand and his secret life (at age 73!) is very reminiscent of Ravi Z.

There is really nothing to say. Don’t put your faith in these high-profile characters and you won’t be disappointed when they come crashing down. Those who lust for attention and worldly success, as Lawson clearly did, are playing with fire.

The only way to avoid getting burnt is strict adherence to the Billy Graham Rule, but that Rule was much easier to follow in the simpler times of 1955 than it is today.

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Keep your britches pulled up.

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Until his spectacular - and still unexplained - fall, Steve Lawson was a massively influential Christian, albeit Calvinist, leader. Here, in his own words, is his idea of God (all as reported in Steve Lawson preached fire and brimstone except for himself – Baptist News Global):

“Jesus isn’t coming to save. He’s coming to slaughter. He isn’t coming to deliver. He’s coming to destroy and damn.”

“Everyone in hell is screaming and crying out as they are in this lake of fire, in this furnace of fire as they are under torment as though they are stretched out on a rack to the breaking point, yet never breaking."

“Unsaved husbands will be separated from their saved wives. Unsaved children will be separated from their parents. Unsaved parents will be separated from their saved children. Many people will no longer see their loved ones again. This may shock you, but God will be in hell and God will be the one inflicting the wrath.”

“Those in hell are thrown almost as if they’re being thrown into an active volcano and find themselves submerged in the red hot molten lava that is spewing out of the volcano, yet with this new body able to stay alive and not be consumed,” he says. “People are literally baptized in fire. They are immersed in fire. They are swimming in fire. They are engulfed in fire, yet never able to swim out of the lake of fire. They are forever preserved in this lake of fire. They are drowning in fire with the wrath of God inflicting pain from the top of their head to the bottom of their feet to every extremity in their body forever and ever and ever. … They will be roasted alive, yet they will never be able to die. They will be sustained in a resurrection body. God will give them a body that will be perfectly suited to their new environment. There will be a new body for souls in hell that will be perfectly adapted to the fiery furnace. … One’s mind will never be more active and alert and sharp than when they are in hell. They will never be more fully alive than when they are in hell. Forever in their mind they will be replaying the entirety of their life in the torment of their memory and be haunted by the remembrances of the fool that they were.”

“God ordains and wills all … suffering, calamity and disease and death. …"

You kind of get the sense Steve is enjoying all this, no?

It’s not just that Lawson was capable of believing in a God such as this - albeit not strongly enough to keep him from betraying his marriage and pursuing a woman 50 years younger - it’s that this sadistic theology apparently resonated with legions of other Christians.

On another thread, I described the God of many Christians as seeming “too small” to me. That phrase scarcely fits the God of Steve Lawson. “Deranged,” perhaps?

Be sure to let me know what you think.

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I grew up trembling in fear with this view preached frequently. We were told to love God, but I was terrified of him. Plenty of folks were taught this, which is why in the Bible Belt we have therapists that specialize in religious trauma. Oh, and God has you tortured and burning alive, raped by demons throughout eternity. Because He loves you.

This is the God of evangelical and fundamentalist Christians.

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One of the truly great BLESSINGS of my life was having two alcoholic parents who didn’t care what I believed about anything. I thus didn’t encounter this sort of thinking until I was 20 and was immune to it. It is beyond my comprehension that anyone, let alone a major Christian leader, manages to reconcile these sorts of beliefs with the God who, we are told, is Love.

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Well, since my recent thread got moved to this one - even though it was less about Steve Lawson than about these bizarrely extreme views of The God of Wrath - I will add that the world has not yet heard “boo” from Lawson since the scandal broke.

As a lawyer, I can tell you why: It ain’t because he’s wracked with remorse, although he surely is. Since it was the young woman’s parents, who were supporters and donors of Lawson, who raised the stink about the relationship, I can almost guarantee Lawson is lawyered-up, keeping silent on the proverbial “advice of counsel,” and waiting for the lawsuit to hit the fan.

Just another day in this sort of “Christianity.”

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I wasn’t aware of this investigative site until the Lawson scandal broke, but it seems to be a go-to source for exposing these sorts of ministerial shenanigans. Here is their Lawson page, including the latest twist to the scandal: Steve Lawson / Trinity Bible Church of Dallas | The Roys Report

What I concluded at the time of the Ravi Zacharias mess is that the real answer is James’ warning that friendship with the world is enmity with God. You simply CANNOT operate as a “celebrity Christian” and be a man of God, simple as that. Power, fame, wealth and sex, and the pursuit of them, are enmity with God, period - even if you “deal in messages from heaven,” as Thoreau wisely observed. People like Lawson have simply sold their souls.

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