Pastor John MacArthur's Grace Community Church (GCC) or The Master's Theological Seminary (TMS) removed Dr. Steve Lawson without any public announcement last week for moral lapses after the church publicly disclosed that he had been involved in an “inappropriate relationship.”Last week, Trinity Bible Church in Dallas, Texas, released a statement saying that Lawson, the church's senior pastor, had been “indefinitely removed from all ministry activities” for an “inappropriate relationship” with a woman.
One Passion MinistriesLawson was founded statement Lawson said he had “resigned from all his duties” and the department had removed all access to department materials relating to him.
nevertheless Church Leaders When contacted for comment, TMS was quickly directed to a statement from Trinity Bible Church in Dallas.
Over the weekend, both GCC and TMS churches appeared to remove all content related to Lawson from their websites, including his sermons and profile page. Lawson's page was also removed from Trinity Bible Church in Dallas.
Lawson was also scheduled to speak at the TMS-sponsored Men of the Word conference on Friday (September 20) at Immanuel Church in Springfield, Virginia, but the talk was canceled after Trinity Bible Church canceled his appearance the day before.
Other speakers at the conference were H.B. Charles Jr., Abner Chou, Jesse Johnson, Austin Duncan, George Lawson and Mark Zhakevich.
Austin Duncan, director of the MacArthur Center for Preaching, director of the Doctoral Program in Theology at TMS, chair of the Department of Pastoral Ministry and a GCC elder, spoke to the roughly 500 men in attendance about Lawson's absence.
“As I'm sure you are aware, one of our scheduled speakers this week has been permanently stripped of his clergy and has brought shame on the name of Christ,” Duncan said.
“The integrity and credibility of church leaders is essential to the credibility of their testimony,” Duncan added, telling the mostly pastor-led audience that “it is at times like these that we must hear the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy.”
“Watch carefully and persevere in your life and teaching, for in this way you will save yourself and those who hear you,” Duncan read. 1 Timothy 4:16And he added: “Now, more than ever, the Church needs people who live out their doctrine consistently and clearly. That's why we're here this weekend, isn't it?”
“We trust that God's providence will happen in perfect timing,” Duncan added, “and this will soberly set the tone for our weekend together, reminding and warning us of the importance of vigilance, of maintaining a truly vibrant relationship with Jesus with real faith and real commitment.”
“The lessons we learn this weekend should stay with us for the rest of our lives and influence us to be men of the Word in our marriages, in our friendships, in our commitments and in striving to be more Christlike,” Duncan said.
Photo credit: ©Instagram/drstevenjlawson
