Back in pulpit after scandal, Tullian Tchividjian insists sex with former congregants was not abuse

The question that needs to be asked is who restored Tullian Tchividjian to ministry after he was very publicly defrocked? As Pulpit & Pen points out: “Certainly, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church has not restored Tchividjian. His former pastor, Kevin Labby, has not restored Tchividjian. GRACE (Godly Response to Abuse in the Christian Environment) has not restored Tchividjian. The Presbyterian Church of America has not restored Tchividjian. The PCA’s South Florida Presbytery has not restored Tchividjian. So how on Earth did Tchividjian get restored?”

Once a pastor/shepherd is defrocked for committing an egregious sin against God, he is unqualified to lead, or in Tchividjian’s case “unfit for Christian ministry”….unless you happen to be the grandson of Billy Graham, and have an ego roughly the size of the Grand Canyon.

Leonardo Blair’s piece over at The Christian Post reveals that, to the astonishment of many in the Christian community, the disgraced pastor is back in the pulpit. Blair writes:

As he gets ready for the fall launch of his unaffiliated The Sanctuary church in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, Billy Graham’s grandson, Tullian Tchividjian, who was stripped of his preaching credentials in 2015 due to extramarital relationships with former congregants, says they were all “consensual” and not an abuse of power.

Speaking through a spokesperson, Tchividjian, 47, told the Palm Beach Post in a report Saturday that said his “infidelity in 2015 was completely wrong, morally and ethically” but rejected claims that he used his role as a pastor to inveigle the women into sexual relationships.

“I don’t care what role a person has, a consensual relationship between two adults is not abuse. And some of these people will try to make the case that, ‘Well, because you’re in a position of authority, it is abuse,’” Tchividjian said. “And I’ll go, ‘OK I can see how that has been and can be used by people in those positions.’ … (But) that just was not true for me. I was not abusing my authoritative role to try and find women.”

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