According to Scripture, if someone commits adultery and other grave sins, he or she is permanently disqualified as a spiritual overseer — a person who functions in leadership. Evidently TD Jakes hasn’t read 1 Tim 3:1-5 that clearly states the qualifications of a church leader:
The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church?
Despite what the scriptures teach, Bishop Jakes announced that he feels that disgraced pastor Chris Hill is ready for ministry after just 3 months of “professional counseling.” It is astonishing that Jakes would completely disregarded the Apostle Paul’s instruction that anyone who does not have his household in order (Blair doesn’t) and who has shown a lack of self-control (adultery) is not to be serving in church leadership, especially if it’s in a position that’s connected to the ministry of the gospel.
Pastor Todd Pruitt, co-host of Mortification of Spin, says “there are certain virtues that must characterize the lives of overseers (1 Tim 3; Titus 1) precisely because there are certain moral demands placed upon those who exercise oversight in the household of God.” When a pastor commits adultery his sin opens the door for the mockery of the gospel says Pruitt. “The adulterous pastor does untold damage to the public witness of the church and invoking God’s sovereignty and grace cannot soften or in any way excuse that fact.” (source) Leonardo Blair fails to mention the biblical role of the overseer in his piece over at Christian Post, a site CRN does not endorse. Following is his report:
Three months after resigning as senior pastor of The Potter’s House Church of Denver over an alleged affair with a married parishioner, Pastor Chris Hill says he is ready to come back following counseling and a public show of repentance Sunday. His mentor, Bishop T. D. Jakes of Potter’s House of Dallas, laid hands on him and declared restoration.