What Is "Sermongate" All About?

Regardless of your views on the plagiarism scandal surrounding newly minted SBC President, Ed Litton, here is a good article from the New York Times that provides a fairly neutral perspective in describing the issue.

TL;DR - preaching another pastor's sermon is not new. It is a grey area where there are differing opinions. While not condemned, it certainly diminishes a pastor's credibility when discovered.

This quote by Scot McKnight probably best describes the sense of betrayal church members feel when they discover their pastor is not preaching his own material:

For many churchgoers, a sermon is not just a clever speech but proof of the pastor’s deep spiritual life. “A sermon is a person studying the Bible, encountering God in their own life and history, and then spewing it all out on Sunday morning for the good of the people of God.”

The article also points to the possible root of the issue with the various pastors involved: they all employed a company called Docent Research Group.

On their website, Docent describes their services:

We do everything from demographic research to help plan for a new campus launch or church plant to sermon series preparation and planning. We help churches craft position papers to articulate beliefs, and we write custom curriculum for small groups, Bible studies, and Christian education programs. If you need it, we can do it!

J.D. Greear was an endorser of Docent Group until the scandal broke, and his endorsement has been removed.

Still, all of the players involved in the plagiarism scandal are on public record as clients of Docent including Tim Keller, J.D. Greear, Matt Chandler, and Ed Litton.

Perhaps its not so much an issue of plagiarism as it is all of the pastors mentioned are drinking from the same well, which unfortunately is The Docent Group, not the Bible.

This scandal has also exposed perhaps some previously unknown schisms within SBC leadership. Danny Akin and Adam Greenway have both tweeted in support of Ed Litton, basically saying, "nothing to see here, move along," while Jason Allen tweeted a statement condemning plagiarism without mentioning Litton specifically. Al Mohler has remained silent on the issue.

The Scars Of Battle

Perhaps you read with mixed emotions yesterday’s “Memo From Hell.” It’s an illustration–of course–but there is more truth to that memo than many of us would like to admit.

In previous week’s we have looked at “Why We Exist” and revisited our purpose and vision. We have examined the importance of prayer to God’s church and offered some concrete examples to help us build a “House of Prayer.”

This week it’s time to lay the challenge before us: do we really want to be a church that is effectively making a difference in the world, or do we want to join the vast majority of American churches on the road to self-service and inward preoccupation?

Author and Pastor Bill Hull makes the challenge clear:

Today, the evangelical church exists to serve the evangelical Christian. But if our mission is to reach the world, we must begin to think about the unchurched, those outside Christ. We must focus on those who have not yet found their needs met in what the church has to offer. The only way to save evangelicalism from the junkyard of irrelevancy is to put mission first and ourselves second. When this happens, the needs of both the unreached and the evangelical will be met. (Can We Save the Evangelical Church by Bill Hull, p. 7.)

And what’s our mission? Our Lord gave us our mission as He was about to ascend into heaven: "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matt. 28:19-20).

Howard Snyder drew the line even more harshly: “It is hard to escape the conclusion that today one of the greatest roadblocks to the gospel of Jesus Christ is the institutional church” (Hull, p. 7).

What would draw these men to make such accusations? Consider a startling statistic: in today’s church, one hundred adults and one year are required to introduce 1.7 people to Christ. In short, we are losing the battle. Yes, Evangelical churches have grown in terms of numbers, but as a percentage of total population, they have declined.

Let’s bring this home. How does this apply to Grace Church? How involved in actively ministering to other people are you? Do you see a need and fill it, or do you see a need and write it on your care card for someone else to take care of?

Ask the Lord to search your heart and reveal to you how you can improve both your service and your sacrifice for His kingdom.

From 1995.