It would not be an exaggeration to say that the rate at which pastors are committing suicide in the US is the most alarming trend in Western Christianity. Just google the words “pastor” and “suicide” and you’ll find no less than eight tragic examples within the past 11 months.
On November 10th, 2013, Pastor Teddy Parker Jr shot himself after sending his wife and children to church. When he didn’t show up, they returned home in between services to discover his body.
Less than three weeks later, Pastor Ed Montgomery of Full Gospel Christian Assemblies International Church in Hazel Crest, Illinois, shot himself in front of his pleading mother and son.
Less then two weeks later, Pastor Isaac Hunter of Summit Church in Orlando, Florida died by a self-inflicted gunshot wound as well.
Then, in April of 2014, Pastor Robert McKeehan of Community Bible Church in High Point, N.C. hung himself.
On May 1st, 2014, DB Antrim, Family Pastor of Westwind Church in Waukee, Iowa took his own life as well.
Michael Mullis, former pastor of Near Calvary Baptist Church in Concord, N.C., reportedly asked to go to the bathroom to put on his shoes when sheriff’s deputies arrived to arrest him on child molestation charges. When he got to the bathroom, he reportedly pulled out a pistol and shot himself.
And the most recent reports are of a murder-suicide of a pastor and his wife in North Carolina on August 20th, and the self-inflicted gunshot death of Bishop David Huskins of Cedar Lake Christian Center near Atlanta.
Just writing this makes me sick to my stomach. How can this be? How can servants of the Lord ever find themselves in such a low place that they can find no other remedy within their own hearts than to take their own lives? It would be one thing if these were isolated incidents, but this is a clear trend. And if we–the body of Christ–don’t rise up and do something about it, it will continue!
Suicide is a terribly painful thing for a family to endure. I had an acquaintance that committed suicide when I was a college student, and it affected me deeply, even though I didn’t know her intimately. I found myself thinking that if I had only known what she was going through I could’ve reached out to her. I can’t imagine what it would do to a family and to a church to have a pastor take his own life!
So why are so many pastors committing suicide? I think the problem is deeper than psychology. I believe that the problem is deeply spiritual, and the root of it is obvious.
Pastors carry heavy responsibilities; that is no secret. We are responsible for the shepherding of the souls of everyone the Lord sends us.
As a senior pastor, I know what it’s like to feel like everyone is looking to you for leadership, for covering, for counsel, for encouragement . . . That is the reality. That is the calling.
Some might say this is the problem; everyone is looking to the pastor instead of looking to God. While that might be true, it doesn’t begin to acknowledge the real problem.
The real problem is not that people are looking to the pastor for spiritual leadership; the real problem is that senior pastors typically have no one to look up to for spiritual leadership. Even (perhaps especially) in denominational settings, pastors are rarely pastored. Most shepherds have no one to shepherd their souls.
The unspoken lie that we must overturn is that you can grow to such a place of spiritual maturity that you no longer need someone to shepherd your soul. We senior pastors prove that we believe this when we fail to submit ourselves to any real spiritual leader. It’s as if we don’t believe in our own product: I expect all of my congregants to believe that my teaching and counsel are essential to their spiritual health, yet I demonstrate by my lifestyle that I need neither teaching nor counsel for my own spiritual health.
This lie must be thoroughly refuted if we are to witness the restoration of spiritual health in the pulpit.
I appeal to all of my fellow senior pastors: find someone to shepherd your soul and submit yourself to their teaching. Don’t try to be a shepherd unto yourself. You need spiritual care just as much as the members of your congregation do. But it will not happen automatically, and you cannot afford to simply lament the fact that you have no one who cares for your soul. You must find someone, you must seek them out, and you must be willing to make your own spiritual health your top priority. Your people are counting on you!
