Expert: Brian Thompson - 2/2/2008

Question
Should a pastor who has had multiple affairs in past history while he was a
pastor and divorced his wife later, be allowed to be a pastor again?  This man
has started his own Pentecostal church after being out of the ministry for 20
years.

Answer
The question here is one of repentance and forgiveness. When you ask a question like this you have to ask to whom does this person answer to? You say he has started his own church so to whom is he answerable to? who has oversight of him? This is a question for those who will exercise this oversight. There is no doubt that the man should have been disciplined for his past transgression but it would seem this may have been done if he was out of the ministry for twenty years. You have said nothing of what he has been doing for twenty years and whether his behaviour changed after leaving the ministry.