BY : Milton Quintanilla Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
Pastor John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church (GCC) or The Master’s Seminary (TMS) have removed Dr. Steve Lawson without an official announcement following his moral failure last week after his church shared he was involved in an “inappropriate relationship.” Last week, Trinity Bible Church in Dallas, Texas, issued a statement stating that Lawson, the church’s lead pastor, has been “removed indefinitely from all ministry activities” in light of an “inappropriate relationship” with a woman.
One Passion Ministries, founded by Lawson, also released a statement saying that Lawson “resigned from all his duties,” and the ministry removed all access to ministry resources featuring Lawson.
Although Church Leaders contacted TMS for comment, they were immediately referred to the statement put out by Trinity Bible Church of Dallas.
Last weekend, it seems as if both GCC and TMS have removed all content related to Lawson from their respective websites, including his sermons and profile page. Lawson’s page was also removed from Trinity Bible Church of Dallas.
Lawson was also scheduled to speak at the TMS-hosted Men of the Word conference at Immanuel Church in Springfield, Virginia, on Friday (Sept. 20) but was removed amid the Trinity Bible Church’s removal of him a day earlier.
Other speakers at the conference were H.B. Charles Jr., Abner Chou, Jesse Johnson, Austin Duncan, George Lawson, and Mark Zhakevich.
Austin Duncan, who is the director of the MacArthur Center for Expository Preaching, director of D.Min. studies and pastoral ministries department chair at TMS, and a GCC elder, told the nearly 500 men in attendance concerning Lawson’s absence.
“I’m sure all of you have heard, one of our previously scheduled speakers permanently disqualified himself from pastoral ministry this week and brought disgrace to the name of Christ,” said Duncan.
“The integrity and trustworthiness of the church’s leadership is essential to the credibility of its witness,” he added. Duncan then told attendees, the majority of whom were pastors, that in “moments like this, the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy must ring in our ears.”
“Watch your life and your doctrine closely, persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and those who hear you,” Duncan read from 1 Timothy 4:16. He then added, “Now more than ever, the church needs men who live out their doctrine with consistency and clarity, and that’s why we’re here this weekend, isn’t it?”
“We trust God’s providence in his perfect timing,” Duncan added, “that this will soberly set the tone for our weekend together, reminding us and warning us of the importance of watchfulness, of maintaining a real, vibrant relationship with Jesus of authentic faith and true accountability.”
“The lessons that we’ll glean this weekend should stay with us for the rest of our lives and influence us to be men of the Word in our marriages, men of the Word in our friendships, men of the Word in our devotion, and men of the Word in our pursuit of Christ-likeness,” Duncan said.
Photo Credit: ©Instagram/drstevenjlawson
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