At risk Pastors
In the early 2000s, Campus Crusade for Christ (now Cru) experienced an inordinate number of morally failing campus ministers. Men and women in various ministries and varied contexts—who’d seemingly followed the Lord faithfully for decades—embezzled money, harboured addictions and cheated on their spouses. Under the leadership of Marc Rutter, and with the help of Henry Cloud, Cru examined these moral failings, seeking to identify common patterns of behaviour in hopes of preventing them in the future. The patterns were clear and the profile of an “at-risk leader” emerged. Sadly, these patterns are just as present and identifiable in today’s church-planting movement—and have contributed to the recent public falls. Four Basic Profiles 1. The narcissistic star who rises quickly. These pastors are extremely successful at their craft. People are drawn to them and sometimes idealize and idolize them. Their success can either blind people to their faults or prevent people from fe