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.

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