It’s 3 in the morning and I can’t sleep at all so I started doing what I usually do at 3 in the morning when I can’t sleep! I started praying! Tonight after I went through some different things I’ve been praying for God placed Gary Lamb heavily on my heart!
For those of you who don’t know Gary Lamb, he is the awesome founding Pastor of Revolution Church in Canton GA! Revolution Church is only 5 years old but is now the home Church to over a thousand believers!
Well despite Gary Lambs strong walk with the Lord he made a mistake that was a pretty big one. This is a post from his blog that I’ll let tell the story of what happened. But after you read his post I’d like to say a few words to Gary!
Hardest Post I’ve Ever Written
This is a copy of the letter my friend Greg Rohlinger read from the Revolution stage today:
Dear Revolution Church,
5 years ago DeAnna and I moved to Canton Ga. with a vision to start a church that was doing whatever it took to reach those far from God. Over the last 5 years God has exceeded our expectations and more people than I can count have entered into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Pastoring Revolution has been one of the great highlights of my life. I think Revolution Church is the greatest church in America and I count it an honor to have been called to start her.
It is with those thoughts on my mind that I’m now writing the toughest letter I’ve ever had to write. Effective immediately, I will be stepping down as the pastor of Revolution. 6 weeks ago, I entered into an emotional and physical affair with my personal assistant, Elena. I have no excuses, no justification, and no one to blame but myself. I did exactly what I have preached against from the Revolution stage by letting my guard down and putting myself into a position to fall into sin. I’m so sorry.
It breaks my heart to know all the people I have let down from my wife DeAnna to all of you who have invested your blood, sweat, and tears into making Revolution the church it is today. I know what I did was wrong, I have asked God for forgiveness, but there is still consequences for our sin and I’m no longer qualified to lead Revolution.
I know this comes as a shock to many of you and your emotions will vary from anger to hurt, know that it was never my desire to hurt any of you. This is the end of my time as your pastor, but it is not the end of Revolution. Revolution was not about me, it was about Jesus Christ. God has awesome plans in store for Revolution and I believe with everything that is in me, He is going to to take Revolution to places we never imagined.
God has blessed this church with an incredible staff and an incredible Board of Overseers who will be led by God to make sure Revolution remains true to the vision God gave us when we started. I plead with you to stand by them, rally around them, support them, and do whatever it takes to lift each other up during this time.
I would also ask that you stay in prayer for me and my family. I am committed to doing what it takes to get my walk with God back to the place where I know it should be. I am focused on Him during this time and I’m looking forward to seeing Him work in my life in the days to come. Also pray for DeAnna and my children. They are the true victims in this and they will need your love and grace like never before. I am committed to getting myself healthy where I can be the husband and father my family needs. I appreciate your prayers during this time.
Let me close out by again saying how much I love all of you. I am so sorry I let you down. I am so sorry that I have given the cause of Christ yet another black eye. I’m so sorry that I have left all of you in this position. I’m sorry, but know I believe in you and I will be your biggest cheerleader as you reach this community for Jesus Christ.
Be Revolutionary,
Gary,
Now Gary I’ve never met you before and I highly doubt you’ll ever read this but God has been placing you on my heart to pray for you like something fierce! I’ve followed your blog and twitter for awhile and I have to say I think you’re an amazing leader!
Right now I can’t imagine the pain that you feel! I want you to know that you’re not going through this tough time alone! You have brothers and sisters in Christ that are praying for you and lifting you and your family up 24/7! We all make mistakes but there’s this little thing called GRACE! Your mistake has been forgiven by God and it has been by me too (as well as it should by other believers).
Now it’s time for you to bust your butt and do whatever it takes for you to get back to being the leader that God has called you to be! When a man falls down we’re not to sit in our mess and lay around, we’re to stand to our feet and fight like we’ve never fought before! I’m not making light of the situation at all, it was a big mistake! But big or small at some point it has to be put behind you/us so that we can move forward with the things God has called us to!
I can imagine that there are some people out there who are throwing stones at you and what not. But Gary look in the Bible and tell me one person who didn’t mess up outside of Jesus! Again I’m not making light of the situation, I just believe that you have to keep fighting because the enemy wants you to quit and give up. But the only thing the enemy deserves is a swift kick to the crouch and I think that’s exactly what you would be giving him by standing to your feet and living 100x more passionately for Christ!
You may not be the Pastor any more but trust me people are watching you and will still look to you for leadership! You may not have the platform that you had before but you still have a platform! What you do with it from here is up to you but I urge you to continue to push towards Jesus with everything in you!
I’m praying that you get back to being the Leader that God has called you to become because I know that God isn’t done with you yet! I truly belive that the best is yet to come for the Lamb family and the family of Revolution Church!
I love you and I’m praying for you and your family!
Your brother (Proverbs 17:17) in Christ that you’ve never met,
T. Rousey
I love your thoughts here and appreciate the grace you are showing. I had similar thoughts:
http://www.ronedmondson.com/2009/06/thoughts-on-pastor-gary-lamb.html
Cheap Grace……
http://gospeldrivenchurch.blogspot.com/2009/06/thoughts-on-pastoral-falls.html
Um, that last comment was not me. I only found it by tracing my Sitemeter stats, where someone clicked on the link.
I don’t know why anyone would comment under my name if all they wanted to do was link to a post of mine. But for the record, I am Jared Wilson, and I did not leave that above comment with a link to my post.
Loved reading your thoughts and feel likewise. You brought some great words of encouragement much like what I posted about earlier today on my blog. Keep on giving grace…may God bless you.
T Rousey…. I feel you! Dude, what a balance you have. Sin is ugly and destructive, and the blood of Christ DESTROYS the work of sin. I’ve met Gary and DeAnna…. My prayer is that God mends their relationship first, and then uses them to rob hell of a BUNCH more people.
Doug I’m right there with ya bro! I know God’s not done with that family and there’s so much more that he wants to do through them!
Ron and George I love you guys ability to show grace in this situation as well! It’s always great seeing brothers in Christ lifting each other up!
Mr. Rousey, can you see the info for the first “Jared Wilson” comment and tell me where it came from? IP and/or location?
I’m interested in seeing if I can find out who used my name dishonestly. You can email me at the email provided in the reply form. Thanks.
Regarding the Gary Lamb at REvolution deal – I found a website at http://www.garylamb.info I believe it was created with good intentions – We’ll see
That was a great rply we all fall short. You guys are great for standing behind us. YOU ROCK! Keep praying for us. Great things ARE Still To come!!!!
angela
Angela thanks for coming to check out blog and being so supportive with things! It’s always good to be lifted up by brothers and sisters in Christ! I really look forward to getting to know you and growing with you! If you have twitter you should check me out there too!!
T. Rousey,
Awesome post. You obvoiusly are mature Christian in your walk and it shows in your writing. I am a member of Revolution Church and was shocked by the news like everyone else. What happened last week at Revolution Church was Satan hard at work. This church was growing at pace that cannot be explained, but by the hand of God. Satan could not stand what was happening at this incredible church and used Gary Lamb as a pawn in his game – attacking while Gary was weak. He may have won that fight, but certainly has not won the war. God is control and has great plans for this church. Revolution will rebound strong from this, as it has a strong Christian body. God used Gary in an amazing way to build one phenominal church. Gary now has to pull himself together, make things right with himself, his wife, his kids and our God. Our God is a loving and forgiving God who will find a way to use this for His glory. He will find a way to use Gary and this terrible situation for His glory and to further His kingdom. Keep praying for this church – its leadership and its members. It will continue to reach the unchurched and witness incredible growth through the love and mercy of Jesus Christ or Lord and Savior.
John I’ll definitely keep praying for you guys and lifting ya’ll up!! Just don’t loose focus on Christ and keep sharing Gods love the ways that ya’ll do!! I may actually come visit the church sometime this summer with some friends from my young adults group. If I do I’ll be sure to let you know. Lets keep in touch by twitter or blogs.
I appreciate the grace going out to Gary, but a little surprised at the eagerness to restore him to ministry. In 1 Corinthians 9:27, Paul says that he disciplines his body after he preached to others, so that he would not be disqualified. Yes, we restore him to fellowship of the church, but never again to ministry. He has disqualified himself for ministry for life. And listen, Satan isn’t always the one to blame for things like this. Sometimes we put way too much emphasis on Satan attacking us than on our own sinful tendencies. My prayer is that God would break Gary and remake him into a God-centered man and that the Lord would comfort his wife and kids.
Hey, man… I know Gary, and his heart, and know that he’d be appreciative of your kind words. Gary and I are in the same boat, really… it’s not a fun boat to be in. We’ve messed up ROYALLY, but thank God for His grace. Keep pushing grace, T.
Honestly, I really don’t care what people like Mike think, since they can’t be God no matter how hard they try. The gifts and calling are WITHOUT REPENTANCE… how much more grace does God show for those who’ve blown it (really, that covers ALL of us, doesn’t it?) and truly repents?
Thanks, bro… I’ll point Gary here, too!
Darren thanks for your kind words man, they’re much appreciated! I don’t really know your story but if it’s similar to the Lamb family I’ll definitely be praying for you all. Let me know if there’s anything I can do.
From the sound of things I don’t think you will but don’t count God out in your life because of a mistake bro! Keep trucking along man! Pass that on to Gary if you can!
Much love,
T
Hey T.
This is the John from a couple of posts above, but with a new email address. I want to thank you for your prayers for our church (Revolution) and for Gary Lamb. Gary needs them. To Mike, God will forgive Gary if Gary is truly sorry for what he did and repents as he is supposed to. I disagree with you in regard to whether Gary can preach or lead a church again. Look at Paul in the Bible. There was no one more messed up than Paul and yet God used him in amazing ways.
After what Gary did, I forgive him and I wish him well; however, I would not want Gary to try to come back to Revolution Church and nor would he. Revolution now needs a new, incredible leader with a love for Christ like has never been seen before at this church. We have had some awesome guest preachers who have kept the messages focused on God’s word and the role of us Christians in His church. This church will survive and grow. We are looking for the right church leader to take us to the next level. God will provide for our church and even for the fallen – Gary Lamb. Thanks for your prayers for Gary and for Revolution Church!
Always in Him,
John
John,
How can you actually say that no one was more messed up than Paul? Have you read his epistles? He was the greatest Christian who ever lived. Now perhaps you are thinking of his comment that he was the chief of sinners. That was before his conversion and even before his conversion what does he say in Phil. 3? That he was blameless. Or perhaps you are thinking of Romans 7 and his remark “O wretched man that I am.” Someone who says that really displays how humble they really are by acknowleding how sinful their heart truly is, but listen, he was not in unrepentant sin and did not have a fall as Gary did. I don’t know how you can overlook Paul’s comment in 1 Cor. 9:27. Lastly, when you admit that it would not be good for Gary to return to Revolution Church because of his fall, are you not admitting that he has been disqualified from ministry? You may say, no, just not our church. What kind of reasoning is that? If he is not fit to do ministry in one church, he’s fit to do ministry in another? God wants His church holy and he will cleanse His church when ministers bring reproach on the name of Christ. Yes we pray for Gary and restore Him to fellowship, but never again to ministry. Believing that we restore him to ministry again is to misinterpret what Scripture says and go against God’s Word and what He says in 1 Cor. 9:27.
“Well despite Gary Lambs strong walk with the Lord he made a mistake that was a pretty big one.”
Just an observation. But people who have “strong walks” with the Lord don’t choose of their own free will to commit adultery.
What Gary did was so much more than a mistake.
Let’s not minimize sin. Adultery is a sin, not a mistake.
A mistake is something you didn’t mean to do.
Yes, God is gracious, God is forgiving, God is loving and God can restore Gary.
If you had followed Gary since this happened, he admitted that his walk was not where it should have been.
Don’t exalt a human as an “awesome founder” of a church. Exalt God alone!
Totally agree with the post above. If you have met Gary and/or have read his blog, you will know that adultery was far from his only sin during this period in his life. And he readily admits to other periods of his life that were completely fraught with sin as well.
Gary is a very gifted speaker and his sermons always taught me and moved me into action, into a better relationship with God. Naturally, this cannot be a bad thing. However, I cannot follow him to C3. The rug was pulled out from under all of us.
I just can’t let my mind and heart be open in my faith to someone has acted so recklessly in his own life. If he’s willing to do this to himself, what’s he will to do to his supporters? I also personally feel that his actions since this terrible separation from Revolution have also not shown true repentance.