Welcome to the Unlovely Truth. I'm your host church safety advocate and coach, Lori Morrison. Physical, emotional, and spiritual safety issues exist in every church. I'm here to share real stories from real churches to foster awareness, initiate conversations, and encourage ministry leaders to take action. Our churches need to be the safest places in our communities, so I will give you actionable steps to make your house of worship a true sanctuary in your community. Let’s investigate the unlovely truth about real crime stories happening in real churches. I've got three cases to explore today, so we’ll dive right in. 

I wish I could tell you that finding stories to report to you is really hard. The truth is, it’s way too easy because they are just too common. Even if you don’t have these exact problems in your church, we can learn a lot about what we need to prevent. Sometimes that means having these hard conversations first.

Important points from this episode include:

Proverbs 25: 4-5 NLT

Remove the impurities from silver, and the sterling will be ready for the silversmith.

Remove the wicked from the king’s court, and his reign will be made secure by justice.

Earthly kings or civil leaders need to surround themselves with advisors whose integrity is above reproach. We can see by the state our world is in the they certainly don’t always do that. Shouldn’t the church hold itself to an even higher standard? After all, if as believers we say that Jesus is our king, then his court, the church, should be filled with leaders whose actions demonstrate integrity. Why aren’t our churches the places where justice shines the brightest? It’s because we allow men and women whose actions are just plain wicked to remain in power. We make excuses and defend them. We sometimes even try to hide the truth. 

That has to stop. But wicked leaders aren’t going to hand over their power and influence willingly. It’s up to you and me to speak out. We have to be willing to talk about hard things and make difficult decisions so we are defending the ones who have been hurt. Jesus saved his harshest criticisms for leaders in the church who had wrong motives. We have to be able to speak the truth about our own leaders who have wrong motives today. If you want to do that but you don’t know what to say or where to start, please reach out. I’d love to help you.

Visit my website to access more episodes. If you would like to contact me about booking me as a speaker, or ask about my consulting services, please email me at [email protected]. 

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Read more about today’s cases:

Pastor beats child

Is "well-loved" pastor a sociopath?

What are Southern Baptists hiding?

Listen to my interview with Christa Brown here