Praying for the Leno's

Today was a particularly difficult day for me and for possibly hundreds of other people who attended Heritage Park Alliance Church this morning.

An announcement at the end of the service communicating to the congregation that Pastor Garth Leno is no longer on staff at Heritage Park. My heart is deeply disturbed and troubled.

This is a faithful man of God who lived to preach the truth and invested his life to this church and now, just like that, it's done. I know, there are other parts to this story, I'm not naive.

However, I want to take the time to honor this man because God used him to disciple my husband to Christ. He took the time to meet with my husband, who in the past was a total stranger and cynic to the Gospel. By God's grace, my husband lives and breathes the Gospel now but an important step towards that was his relationship with Pastor Garth.

Today I was hit yet again with the reality that we live in a fallen world where the hearts of men and women are a mess and this is what happens when we let the mess of our hearts dictate what we do.

As was announced, Pastor Garth did not do anything sinful or immoral and yet, he has been asked to leave. Everything about this is unbiblical and it grieves my soul.

To anyone reading this who is on the other side of this story, don't condemn me for honoring this man. Don't talk behind my back about how this post is innappropriate or divisive. Just pray. Pray that God will forgive us all for the way we have all acted and that God will not depart from us. Pray for the Leno's.