Why Tony Evans' Resignation Will Rock Your Faith - But DON'T let it!

🌟 What Does Tony Evans' Resignation Mean for Your Faith? 🌟

Tony Evans' resignation from Oakcliff Bible Fellowship has sent shockwaves through the faith community. As we dive into the details, it's crucial to understand the broader implications of his decision. Why did he step down? What does this mean for his followers and the church's future? This video unpacks everything, offering insights and perspectives that you won't hear anywhere else.

⚠️ Don't let this shake your faith! ⚠️ The story of Tony Evans is a powerful reminder of the human aspect of spiritual leaders. Just like King David, who despite his grave mistakes was still called a man after God's own heart, Tony Evans' legacy should not be dismissed because of this setback. We explore the importance of forgiveness, redemption, and maintaining faith even when leaders fall short.

💬 Join the conversation and share your thoughts on how the church should handle such situations. Should pastors be allowed to return to their roles after a moral lapse? Your opinion matters!

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

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Speaker 1: 0:33

So it has come out in the news that a pastor at Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship and I believe it is in the Dallas-Fort Worth area there hasn't been a whole lot of information except for something happened that he said was he needed to step down. Oh, so I'm going to read Mark Rogers' comment. He said comment. He said so sad to see this happen. It will have an impact on many, many middle-of-the-road Christians who will use this as another excuse not to go to church. It is sad. It's very true, though. We oftentimes overlook things like this. That are they are sad, but at the end of the day, that are they are sad but at the end of the day, those that don't want to go to church or they turn away from God and they use this as a landing point for them to make their point and finally walk away. They weren't really interested in God in the first place. Why and I tell my people this all the time, I tell my church this, I tell my leaders this, and this is why we have to walk carefully and make sure we're guarding ourselves. I actually had a conversation with the client today and found out he was a churchgoer and he found that I was a pastor and I do photography of houses and stuff and have a media company. We were talking about temptation and this is actually what made me think of this for doing it for the podcast, and I told him one of the greatest stories a cautionary tale, if you will is the story of Joseph, and how the coat of many colors was to me is one of the most valuable lessons. Not at the point of the coat of many colors, but later on, when he was under Potiphar and he was in his house and the wife tried to seduce him. Potiphar's wife tried to seduce him and he didn't wrestle with temptation, he didn't sit there and try to argue his way out of it. He ran. Now it cost him. He was still blamed, he was still accused, but he ran from temptation.

Speaker 1: 2:41

And how many times do we get caught up in temptation, or temptation comes knocking at the door. We open the door and we want to talk through it and argue through it and try to make the temptation leave and go instead of running, running from temptation. And when you don't run from temptation and you end up entertaining temptation a little bit, when you make it feel in here, then it gets in here, that it even is an option, then it ends up if you let things get in here. I tell my people this I spent weeks talking about the battleground in your mind that if you let things get up in here and start making camp in here, eventually the roots will go down in here and start making camp in here. Eventually the roots will go down into here and it will bleed out into your actions. So we'll look at this news clip that I found talking about Pastor Tony Evans. Now here's the thing. Let's talk about this for a second Now, in just a minute we're going to talk about Robert Morris that actually somebody had just passed away very close to me and my family I'm friends with his son and Robert Morris came and spoke at the funeral. These men were very close, they knew each other very well. But right now we're talking about Tony Evans. I've listened to Tony Evans.

Speaker 1: 3:57

I think it's a youth Bible study being men of valor, men of integrity, things like that. And some people are like, yeah, well, he wrote that and then this happened. So how can I trust anything? I'm going to throw out all of his books. Now, think about this.

Speaker 1: 4:12

How quickly do we say, because someone messed up, now everything they have done is worth nothing. Okay, think about this, okay, think about this. And if you, if you subscribe to that way of thinking, you are wrong. Now, why do I say that? Because if you feel that way as a christian, that because somebody messed up, that you no longer can have anything that they've ever done, now there's a difference in a mess up in a lifestyle okay, one, we all mess up, the other one you're choosing to stay, in a way, in a mindset, in a lifestyle that the bible says is sin. You no longer serve the lord. That's just the facts. But a mess up to me is different.

Speaker 1: 5:01

Now, why do I say that? Because I go to this example a lot, because it's one of the most obvious, blatant examples of someone who was so damaging to the witness of God, and that was King David. Okay, so King David, he was one that he was the same kid that was anointed by the prophet, slayed. The giant, served the king. Even his music he would play, would subside demons that were tormenting king saw, and then he could have king killed david, I mean could killed Saul, but he didn't Multiple times.

Speaker 1: 5:45

And then he becomes king, and then he ends up seeing a naked woman taking a bath which I don't know, if you know, that's how you take baths and he calls her up A woman, wouldn't? I mean, someone doesn't reject the king, you know what I mean. So they sleep together. He tries to kill the husband or he tries to, no, he tries to cover it up by making the husband. When he got back from war, going and laying with his wife, going to sleep with his own wife, he sent a bunch of goodies to get him. You know, hey, have a good time on me guys, you know? And then Uriah was so faithful to the king he wouldn't go down, he would not leave his king's side. Technically he slept at his doorstep because war was not over, it wasn't done. He was a faithful man of valor and so to cover up because he knew she got pregnant, bathsheba got pregnant, pregnant he sent a man that was so full of integrity and valor and faithfulness to the front lines so that he can be killed. Now did he stab him and kill him himself? No, but he murdered the dude. And yet we preach about, we teach about the guy who did all of this and was labeled in scripture, inspired God, breathed, of how he was a man after God's own heart.

Speaker 1: 7:19

If someone messes up or they fall short, we completely run as fast as we can to the cancel button to try to hit it to make sure that nobody listens to them that nobody ever and we just start running our mouths like we've never messed up. And there is. I could not find the scripture before I started the live stream. If you know a scripture, my brain was going stupid. It's late at night. I even got some coffee trying to help, but it's just making me have to pee.

Speaker 1: 7:48

If you Know the scripture, where it talks about the correction and all that stuff, like we're going to be talking about Comment in the section Mark Rogers, if you're still watching, you probably know exactly what I'm talking about. Help me out, because I could not find the scripture and I was trying to hurry and then I had the timer thing going and I was under pressure and I couldn't find it. So let's watch this clip with Pastor Tony Evans, and if you haven't heard this story, maybe this will be your first time. But just hear things through the ears of compassion, see things through the eyes of compassion. Feel with your heart.

Speaker 2: 8:28

Well-known Dallas pastor, dr Tony Evans, stepped aside from leading the 10,000 member Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship. Evans cited a past sin as the reason for the move. After more than 40 years at the pulpit, our fourth Stephen Dial live with what Evans told the congregation Stephen.

Speaker 3: 8:45

Yeah, the news was a big shock to the faith-based community nationwide and Evans, who recently got married, said that he committed no sin. I mean no crime, but committed a sin. Sunday, renowned Dallas pastor, dr Tony Evans, told his congregation he would be stepping away from his senior pastoral duties. Evans spoke to the congregation but it was not part of the recording posted to the church website, which featured lead associate pastor Bobby Gibson. Good morning, oak Cliff Come on clap clap, clap clap.

Speaker 1: 9:17

Apparently they weren't excited because a different guy was there. If you got to tell them to clap, bro, they ain't digging you there.

Speaker 3: 9:24

Evans grew the congregation of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship to 10,000 members. Serving as pastor for more than 40 years, evans set the foundation of his ministry as the commitment to the word of God as the supreme standard. In a statement he went on to say a number of years ago I fell short of that standard. I am therefore required to apply the same biblical standard of repentance.

Speaker 1: 9:47

Okay. So my question is now this was posted six days ago by Fox 4, dallas-f, fort Worth, as you can see on the screen there. Uh, my question is, how many years ago, like? What was the detail? I'm sure more will come out as we, as we hear more, but I'm trying to figure out, like, a number of years ago, was it something he confessed to that maybe he felt guilty over? Or it said he got remarried? Maybe maybe this came out in in counseling with I? I don't know. There's not a whole lot of details that I could find on it. Now that was six days ago. So, hey, y'all know, if you're following faith and failures or me personally on instagram, you could always share a video, always share some information or, uh, some news, especially church news, and I'll cover it on here. So, yeah, I'm not really sure on that.

Speaker 3: 10:38

And restoration to myself that I have applied to others. There's been much speculation as to what specifically caused Evans to step aside and for how long. He did not address that directly but said while I have committed no crime, I did not use righteous judgment in my actions. In light of this, I am stepping away from my pastoral duties and am submitting to a healing and restoration process established by the elders.

Speaker 1: 11:06

So this right here is very important. So no, it's not all denominational churches and I'm not bashing non-denominational churches at all. Don't ever think I'm doing that because you know how they got there, why they're there. That's their business. My biggest concern is when no one has to answer to anyone, and so if you never have to answer to anybody, things like this is more not that he didn't have to answer, but things like this can happen easier. Let me give a very real scenario Now.

Speaker 1: 11:41

He said he didn't commit a crime. So we don't know. I mean, obviously he didn't steal money from the church, because that would be a crime. He obviously didn't rape anybody. I'm probably going to get censored for saying that Grape that grape, I guess, is the proper term, because the algorithm is too stupid for that one uh. But yeah, I don't know that because the, the raping of it would be obviously molestation. Things like that. Those are punishable by a jury of your peers, uh, going to court. So I'm not really sure. I mean, really, if you just do the whole kind of deducing, it would be something with a woman that he shouldn't have done, something consensual obviously, or it would have been a crime. So I don't know.

Speaker 1: 12:28

So, this being said, this is why it's important in a church, in a denomination non-denomination whatever to have board members and have elders. So in my church we have we don't have designated elders, but there are older gentlemen in the church that I have on my board that I lean on, specifically the chairman of my board. He's I think he's in his 70s or late 60s, I'm pretty sure 70ies. So he's been around, he's, he's, you know, he's a blunt guy which I need. That kind of person in my life that will not pull punches and not just be a yes man. I need someone who will cause. I I'm a blunt person myself, so I value bluntness. I may not like sometimes what I'm told, but I still value it. I need that in my life.

Speaker 1: 13:14

So elders and board members they need to hold a pastor in check. Now, when I say check, there is a difference in holding someone accountable and thinking you run them because you're on some sort of board, because really the board—now the polity of the church can be set up different, but, like in the church of God, I can appoint board members, but in my wisdom I don't just appoint haphazardly to fit my favor. I lean on the wisdom of other people. They can be voted in.

Speaker 1: 13:54

The last two or three I think that we expanded to from when I first took the church. I appointed them but I brought them before the church and asked for objections because I don't think it's healthy sometimes to give complete vote, because then it's more of a popularity contest and it can really cause division. So I do my homework. I reach out to people first, I gather character, um, analysis and things like that behind closed doors with just me. I ask other board members, I ask other leaders uh, we have some, uh, one other pastor in the church that we call pastor, and so I lean on her because she's very blunt as well.

Speaker 2: 14:33

So things like this may seem obvious, but you'd be surprised how many pastors in churches are dictators and they have nobody keeping them accountable? This is damaging to the body.

Speaker 3: 14:44

This is damaging to the establishment of the church, because it's not the way it's meant to be done.

Speaker 3: 14:50

There are reasons that even spiritual gifts elders are labeled as most close to people During his time with the Cowboys, tony Romo worked with Evans, donating $1 million to his urban initiative. Romo's donation led to the nationwide expansion of the program, where churches adopted public schools and provided mentoring and other services. Now the statement also went on to say that the leadership will advise the congregation on the next steps forward. Again, we don't know if Evans is just stepping down temporarily or if this will be permanent.

Speaker 1: 15:27

So what do you think on the front lines of this? Do you think if somebody does something now we don't know exactly what happened in this, but do you think that the pastor of a church should be able to ever be the pastor again if they mess up in any way? Leave your comment down below, because I'm curious of what y'all think.

Speaker 3: 15:57

Anyway, leave your comment down below, because I'm curious of what y'all think, you, you?