When we break it down, leaders are just human. Human. Nothing more. Nothing less. We, as a society place value and status on those humans and elevate them above ourselves to bring about a sort of aura. Moreover, add in some charisma, charm, money, and shazaam and you have a recipe for danger. Once a person reaches this elevation, it is hard to, as they say, turn the ship around. In mainstream Christian culture we have done this eerily well unfortunately.

Now, I have my list of leaders, speakers, pastors, friends and scholars who I have deemed as great and sometimes even spectacular. However, at the end of the day, I know they are human and prone to kinks in the armor. More importantly, I realize that at some point in their life, they will fail. I am no different.

That said, the issues surround Bishop Eddie Long are not surprising to me. Now, let me make this clear, I’m not accusing Long with anything, nor am I saying that Long is guilty of what he is being accused of. My point in this is that we have, for a long time, deified our leaders to the point of perfection—i.e. they can do no wrong. Then, when they fall—and people inevitably do—we are always surprised. I will say, however, that I was not surprised in the least when I heard the allegations. I merely shook my head and am waiting for the evidence to fall. The problem here is that we have glorified a “man.” Yes, there are some problems in that.

First, within the African American community pastors are next to God and mamma. They hold high seats and are compensated well in mega-churches. Pastors in the African American community are also allowed to “speak their mind” which, even if wrong, are given the benefit of the holy doubt. The pastor centered church is nothing new and stems all the way back into pre-Civil War days when pastors were the teacher, professor, literate leader, and counselor. Add in charisma and a voice of authority and you have a very powerful figure within churches. I’ve even been to certain churches where I wasn’t even allowed to sit within 3 feet of the senior pastor’s seat—or should I say throne. Pastors, often, are also allowed to live a lavished life. It is also not uncommon that pastors are given a wink when they make 5 and sometimes 10 times more than the mean income of their congregation. It’s looked at as “God’s work” and that they deserve to be treated differently since God has “ordained” them. This all has its shortfalls.

Second, bishops like Long typically do not have people in their lives who tell them their crap stinks—I mean really tell them. The people underneath you are sure as hell not going to tell you anything, and if you’re making money and creating a name for the higher ups, they will wink an eye at certain behaviors; in most cases when an offense is derived a slap on the wrist will be the only order of business. Thus, more problems are conjured up.

Third, Long can always invoke the Trump card “God told me so.” This has caused more problems and issues particularly within the African American church than almost any other theological mantra. Whose going to contest that? Whose going to say God is wrong? No one. Thus, the card get’s used quite a bit. Further, once the person using that card has reached a deified state, they are almost always guaranteed their way.
And Fourth, Some African American pastors, over time, have begun to feel as though they were the ones running ministries and that they “give-life” to the people. They feel as though the congregation cannot be higher than them, this results in not only a loss of community, which then leads to people doing “works” unto the pastor and the church and not unto Jesus, but also a sense of superiority in which they can do no wrong. This in due course leads to people fearing the pastor and wanting to please them over what God may actually be calling the person to do. Hence, a quandary within this type of matrix.

Now, I am not condemning African American spirituality. Nor am I saying that there are not great African American pastors, bishops, deacons, and ministers. But there are some major issues within the Black church and Long is just evident of what is happening at an even deeper level. Secrets, titles, prestige, and money are tearing the Black church apart; Long exemplifies this in these issues that he is facing. I really hope they’re not true. I pray that this all gets cleared up. Moreover, I wish that this would crack the door open to change and a deconstruction of the old school to  bring in a new way of understanding faith—especially in the Black church.

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Check out Long’s confession here.

Rapper Mike Bigga has some interesting insights in the Long issue too.