Former prominent PCA Pastor Scott Sauls, 58, is speaking out about the recent tumultuous season in his life, telling the Christian Post that it was a “crazy time” that’s occasionally too foggy to remember.
A prolific contributor to the PCA’s ByFaith (the denomination’s outward messaging arm), he frequently defended the controversial Revoice movement and served as a foil for conservative Presbyterians by coming across as a slightly more buttoned-up version of David French or Russell Moore in his spewing of leftist propaganda, all the while chastising his critics for being too mean. We featured Sauls four years ago after he asked Christians to compare their marriages to homosexual relationships, inquiring:
Is your heterosexual marriage as committed as some gay marriages? Some gay marriages are deeply committed, as out of step with scripture as they are. Your marriage commitment needs to be at least on the same level…to have some sort of credibility.
In an ironic turn of events, Sauls was placed on an indefinite leave of absence from his church after admitting to a troubling leadership style that was anything but kind and winsome- two traits that he routinely criticized conservatives for not being. At the time he told his congregation:
“I verbalized insensitive and verbal criticism of others’ work. I’ve used social media and the pulpit to quiet dissenting viewpoints. I’ve manipulated facts to support paths that I desire…I am grieved to say that I have hurt people. I want to say to all of you that I am sorry.”
Six months later he resigned from the church, with 81% of members voting to accept his resignation.
Despite being restored as a member in good standing by his presbytery just two days after resigning, he left the denomination entirely, leaving a letter where he cited his budding egalitarianism as the cause for his departure.
Three years on, Sauls is now a member of the ECO: A Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians, a move fueled by his reading the work of Anglican priestess and author Fleming Rutledge. “She just took my breath away. Her insights, her orthodoxy, her deeply rooted biblical theology.”
Away from the pulpit, he founded Healthy Leaders Inc, a business providing leadership, coaching, and guidance to pastors, as well as The Sycamore Community, which” provides coaching, support, and peer connection for high-achieving leaders, founders, and influencers.”
Sycamore has two cohort tracks, whereby “Each cohort of 8–10 men meets once a month for four hours of curated learning, guided conversation, and peer connection around the themes that shape a meaningful life: healthy ambition, character and integrity, marriage and family, faith and work, and friendship and community.”
Sauls insists that the issues he has overcome over the last three years qualify him to mentor pastors and other leaders today. Following his removal from the pastorate, he entered into 28-day addiction recovery program for his workaholism with therapist Chip Dodd, who told him:
“He said, ‘We really need to call it what it is: it’s work addiction, and it’s pathological.’ He told me to treat it the same way you would alcoholism or drug addiction.”
He further told the Christian Post:
“I came out of that season recognizing that I was a workaholic, and in a pretty extreme way; 70 hours a week for 20-something years. Churning out books and touring them while also pastoring a megachurch, raising kids and being a husband.”
“My addiction was acceptable. My addiction got rewarded outside of the home, friendships and personal life, the stuff that makes us deeply human. My addiction got rewarded with bonuses, bigger opportunities and invitations. But meanwhile, there’s this shell on the inside that is affecting me, as well as people and those around me. I know it did.
“There was this feeling that, when Scott walks into the room, there’s this drive and intensity and focus. … I carried a very subtle kind of underground anxious presence that bled out on those around me. All I know is I don’t want to go back there.”
It was recovery from this state that led him to write his latest book, The Mercy King: How the Kindness of Jesus Heals Your Sin, Shame, and Weakness, which releases tomorrow.
