Contents

Why Pastors Need Intercession
by C. Peter Wagner
(from Prayer Shield, Regal Books)

I AM CONVINCED THAT MOST CHURCH MEMBERS HAVE little or no appreciation of the cost of being a pastor. They know what their pastor looks like and sounds like on the outside, but they have little more idea of what is happening on the inside than they have about what is happening on the inside of their digital watch they look at many times a day.

If God is going to raise up a new army of interces­sors who will support pastors and other Christian lead­ers in effective, fervent prayer, these intercessors need to know both the scope and the urgency of the task ahead of them. I am going to be as frank as I possibly can in this chapter. I do not want to be sensational.

This is not a column for the National Enquirer. Nothing I say about pastors and other leaders is to be taken as critical any more than a doctor diagnosing hep­atitis or high blood pressure is critical of the patient.

The purpose is healing. I believe that intercession can not only be therapeutic for pastors' spiritual and emotional maladies, but much more importantly, I believe prayer can be preventative.

PASTORS ARE BEAT UP

The pastor most church members see, know and relate to over a period of time conforms to a well-established social role model. Certain things are expected of a pastor that are not nec­essarily expected of an automobile mechanic or a lawyer. The title "Reverend" carries strong social connotations.

Church members tend to take this for granted. Not pastors? Pastors are constantly at work projecting a suitable image for a clergy person. They are trained to do this in seminary and Bible school. It does not come naturally.

The pastors church members see week in and week out are on their best behavior. They are appropriately dressed, they have a cheerful disposition, they are affirming, they do not lose their temper, they watch their language, they treat their spous­es well, they are unselfish, they work hard, they keep smiling and they hope their people see them as Christlike. But this is only part of the story.

Pastors are also human beings. They are saved by grace, but they are saved and sanctified no differently from the auto mechanics and lawyers in their congregations. Many, if not most, pastors will actually remind their people of this in their sermons from time to time.

When pastors talk about a certain temptation, for example, they might say, "I am not exempting myself. I am human. This is as much of a temptation for me as it is for you." The people usually acknowledge this as an honest appraisal. But they do not really believe it, mainly because they do not want to. Part of their own Christian well-being depends to a degree on fol­lowing a pastoral leader whom they regard as somewhat higher on the scale of piety and spiritual attainment than they might ever be. Using society's help, they often put their pastor on a spiritual pedestal.

Pastors are also trained not to be hypocrites. They know very well they are not all their congregations expect them to be. Their spouses know this also, but few others do. Conse­quently, pastors are caught in a bind, for they sense God's call­ing on their lives to be a pastor and they know that they can­not do an effective job as a pastor if they do not outwardly conform to their congregation's expectations. But how do they handle what is going on inside?

In a word, pastors need help--at least more help than they have been getting. In the course of a year, I meet and interact with hundreds of pastors. Even though I do not relate to them as a counselor or a pastor to pastors, I find that many are beat up; spiritually, emotionally and sometimes physically.

Where can they go for help? They are reluctant to go to any of their church members, for the word could too easily leak out: Our pastor is failing us by not conforming to our expecta­tions. Pastors in the same denomination are usually on friend­ly terms with each other but somewhat distrustful at the deep­er levels. What would church members think if their pastor was seeing a professional counselor? Pastors of other churches in the same community are likely prospects for help but fre­quently overburdened and unavailable. Beyond those circles, most pastors simply run out of meaningful relationships.

Happily, there are some exceptions. A fair number of pas­tors do not fit this rather bleak picture I am painting. They have little internal conflict because deep down they actually are what they are expected to be emotionally and spiritually. Some are not, but they have found sources of help and are managing their situation well. I wish I could report that these are in the majority but I am afraid I cannot. Without wanting to oversim­plify a terribly complex situation, I do want to point out that Satan has many pastors just where he wants them. They are vulnerable to his attacks.

OUR EPIDEMIC OF FALLING PASTORS

Over the past couple of decades, an alarming number of pas­tors have dropped out of the ministry for two main reasons: pastoral burnout and sexual immorality. The numbers have reached epidemic proportions.

I cannot remember hearing about pastoral burnout 20 years ago. It must have existed, but not to the degree we see it today. The situation I have described, resulting in pastors being so beat up, makes it quite easy to understand why so much burnout would occur. The enemy knows this well and has become quite astute at raising frustrations through feelings of inadequacy, hypocrisy, guilt and low self-esteem to such levels that selling insurance can seem to some a more attractive way to make a living.

A good bit of psychological research is currently being done on causes and remedies for pastoral burnout. Good time­ management training is helping many to avoid it. Nevertheless, if I am correct in suspecting that the powers of darkness are also at work in causing burnout, spiritual weapons are also needed. This is where intercession for pastors has enormous potential.

PASTORAL INDISCRETION

Satan wins significant battles through causing pastoral burnout, but he inflicts immeasurably more damage to the cause of Christ when he influences a pastor to fall through sexual immorality.

Before I go into more detail on this delicate subject, let me just remind us that most American pastors have not nor will they ever fall into sexual immorality while they are in the ministry. In fact 8 out of 10 have had no overt problems in this area, which by comparison is only half of the number of other church members who have had similar problems. How many have gone all the way? A survey by the clergy journal Leader­ship found that 12 percent of pastors had actually committed adultery. This means 88 percent have not.

Surveys like this would never have been dreamed of a gen­eration ago. Elmer Gantry was not looked upon as a realistic prototype of anything but a miniscule fringe of American cler­gy. Now the picture has changed. I have been dropping news items in a file folder I never looked back into until now, I am appalled. I count 26 media reports of sexual immorality on the part of high-profile clergy; almost half of whom I know per­sonally.

A front-page article in the Los Angeles Times carries the head­line, "Sex Abuse Cases Rock the Clergy: Disclosures of miscon­duct---a problem hidden for years---are on the rise." A nationally syndicated column by the Associated Press announces that "Sex scandals in higher ranks shake up hierarchies."

Evangelicals, charismatics, fundamentalists, Pentecostals, lib­erals, Roman Catholics all wish they could point their fingers at the others, but none is exempt. Here is a mainline bishop, known widely as an "evangelical."^, Here is a seminary professor. Here is a televangelist. Here is a civil rights folk hero. Here is a megachurch pastor. Here is a best-selling author. Here is a missions leader. Here is a liberation theologian. Here is a black, there is a white. Here is a 25-year-old, there is a 60-year-old. Here is a pastor from Massachusetts, there is a pastor from Ari­zona. Where is it going to stop?

Reporting this makes me angry! I am not angry at my friends who have fallen even though I, along with the rest of the Body of Christ, have been harmed. I am angry at the enemy who, I feel, is getting away with far too much these days. We often fail to recognize the depth of the spiritual battle we are fighting.

The enemy knows pastors are beat up; he knows they are vulnerable, and he attacks them at their weakest point. This is not to say those who have fallen are not themselves guilty and do not have character flaws that need to be repaired through humility, repentance, reconciliation, restoration and holiness. But I do hope and pray we will learn how to use our spiritual weapons more effectively in putting a stop to these blatant and all too successful attacks of the devil.

PASTORS NEED INTERCESSION

Every Christian needs intercession. The little girl in the sixth grade learning what AIDS means needs intercession. The long haul truck driver trying to witness to his friends about Jesus Christ needs intercession. The Christian stock broker wrestling with the ethics of that last deal needs intercession. The mother and homemaker raising a family of four needs intercession. I do not want to ignore the need for more consistent ministries of intercession across the board.

But I do want to argue that pastors and other Christian lead­ers need intercession more than ordinary members of the Body of Christ. This may sound strange and even arrogant at first, but let me propose five reasons why I believe it to be true.

1. Pastors Have More Responsibility and Accountability

Most of us Christian leaders get chills up and down our spines when we read James 3:1, "My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judg­ment."

All Christians will come before the judgment seat of Christ, but pastors and other leaders have been forewarned that there is a divine double standard. One for "teachers" and one for all the rest.

In other words, in the eyes of God a given sin is worse for a pastor to commit than for others. The first problem, of course, is the sin itself and that may be the same for everyone. But the second problem is the violation of the office, which is even more serious. When an office such as pastor or teacher (includ­ing seminary professor) has been granted by God and recog­nized by the Christian community, it is a grievous offense to break that trust.

Accepting a position of leadership in the Christian world is running a risk. Sin becomes more dangerous than ever before. And this is one reason why pastors have a greater need for intercession.

2. Pastors Are More Subject to Temptation

Make no mistake about it, the higher up you go on the ladder of Christian leadership, the higher you go on Satan's hit list. The devil is characterized as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. If he has a choice, he will devour a leader before he will devour anyone else. And he will use every weapon in his arsenal to do it.

Satan uses the world (Eph. 2:1,2). He tempts pastors with greed and power and pride. Money and power team up with sex as some o£ the strongest lures for ministers. It took recent investigative reporting by the secular media to uncover some of the greed among Christian leaders, which others of us have not particularly wanted to face. And I believe more such news is to come. The love of money is the root of evil, and Satan has been getting in at that point more than some have suspected.

Satan uses the flesh (Eph. 2:2,3). Enough has been said about illicit sex. Satan also perverts the mind with pornography. Other ministers are tempted to fall into gluttony or alcohol and substance abuse.

Satan also uses “the devil" (1 Pet. 5:8; cf. John 13:27). This means demonization, spells, curses and incantations. To imag­ine that pastors are only subject to the world and the flesh, but not the devil, is in itself a. clear satanic deception.

It is true that all Christians are subject to all of the above. But Satan is more specific, persistent and intentional when it comes to pastors and other leaders.

3. Pastors Are More Targeted by Spiritual Warfare

It has now become known that over the last several years satanists, witches, New Agers, occult practitioners, shamans, spiritists and other servants of darkness have entered into an evil covenant to pray to Satan for the breakdown of marriages of pastors and Christian leaders. The spiritual warfare has intensified.

In my book, Warfare Prayer (Regal Books), I distinguish three levels of spiritual warfare: (1) Ground-level spiritual war­fare, which is ordinary deliverance ministry; (2) Occult-level spiritual warfare, which involves spells and curses by spiritual practitioners of darkness; and (3) Strategic-level spiritual war­fare, which deals with territorial principalities and powers. All three levels interact with each other to varying degrees, but the warfare is different in each case. Here I am dealing with the middle- or occult-level of spiritual warfare. Special kinds of intercessors, particularly the warfare intercessors I mentioned in the last chapter, are needed to deal with this most effectively. And, other intercessors are needed as a backup.

Spiritual warfare is such an important issue that I want to be sure we do not just think it is a figment of someone's imag­ination. I have personal correspondence from two respected Christian leaders who have had firsthand exposure to this. They help us understand the reality of the struggle we have been drawn into.

The first report is from John Vaughan of the International Mega-Church Research Center and Southwest Baptist Universi­ty, Bolivar, Missouri. I have known and^-respected John for years. Among many other things, he is the editor of The journal of the North American Society for Church Growth. The scenario of this report is an airplane flight from Detroit to Boston where Vaughan was to do a pastors' seminar.

John had not conversed or paid much. attention to the man in the seat next to him until he saw the man bow his head and move his lips as if praying. When he finished John said, "Are you a Christian?" The man had no way of knowing that Vaugh­an himself was a Christian, a Baptist pastor and a university professor.

He seemed shocked by the question and said, "Oh, no. You have me all wrong. I'm not a Christian, I'm actually a satanist!" John asked him what he was praying for as a satanist. He said, "Do you really want to know?"

When John said he did, the satanist replied, "My primary attention is directed toward the fall of Christian pastors and their families living in New England." He asked John what he was going to do in Boston.

John reports, "After a brief conversation about my ministry and its purposes for the Kingdom of God, he indicated that he needed to return to his work!"

John Vaughan says that encounter made him realize just how essential intercession for pastors really is. Did Christians take time to pray for their pastors in New England that day? Whose prayer was answered -- the Christian's or the satanist's?

Award-winning satantst. Bill McRae is the chancellor of two prestigious evangelical institutions near Toronto, Canada-­Ontario Bible College and Ontario Theological Seminary. Previously he pastored the North Park Community Chapel in Lon­don, Ontario.

He reports that while he was a pastor, "It was brought to our attention that a group of satanists who worshipped in a church situation within London had committed themselves to pray to Satan for the elimination of a number of our evangelical lead­ers in the city through marriage and family breakdown. During that summer the cell group in London was honored at a par­ticular satanist convention for being so effective and successful during that year."

Why did they win the award? McRae says, "In the course of the previous year they had succeeded through their prayers to Satan to eliminate five of our very significant leading men from pastoral ministries through immorality and marriage break­down["

Bill McRae says that he was very deeply involved with one of the pastors who was going through this nightmarish and dis­graceful fall from Christian ministry. He says, "We were very much aware of the desperate need for prayer, but I must frankly confess none of us was quite as alert to the reality of the satanic warfare we were fighting until it was all over."

McRae also tells of a group of his friends who went into a restaurant in London and observed a prayer meeting in a cor­ner booth. They introduced themselves as fellow Christians, but the pray-ers quickly identified themselves as members of the church of Satan in London. They admitted (bragged?) that they had been praying that night specifically to Satan for the destruc­tion of a certain pastor. McRae says, "They mentioned his name, and he is a very good friend of mine in one of the leading churches in London. It once again brought home to me the dark reality of the satanic battle in which we are engaged."

Keith Bentson, a veteran missionary to Argentina, reports about spiritual warfare from San Juan, Argentina. San Juan, he says, is a particularly strong center for the occult. The evangel­ical work is not growing in that city. Keith says, "I have heard of five pastors who, within the last two or three years, have been involved in immorality, with the consequence that there are many, many Christians around the city who do not attend any church, having lost confidence in their spiritual leaders."

Spirits of lust. Some of the closest contact I have with pas­tors comes during the two-week Doctor of Ministry courses I teach twice a year. In a recent course, I said something that sounded humorous when it came out of my mouth. Here I had 50 pastors from across the denominational spectrum and from many different parts of the country. It was an advanced course, so they had all studied with me before and knew me. On the first day of class I told them, as I usually do, that their two weeks would not only, be a time of learning new material, but that God would also use it as an opportunity for the pastors to minister to one another and draw closer to God.

Then I mentioned that my wife, Doris, who is also my sec­retary and to whom many of them had talked on the phone, has had a powerful ministry of praying for pastors one-on-one and has helped them a great deal. I casually told them that she has a particularly effective track record of delivering pastors from demonic spirits of lust. Then I said, "So if any of you have a problem with lust, go see my wife!"

I said it so spontaneously and naively that we all burst out in laughter. But then what happened? No fewer than six of them made appointments with Doris for deliverance sessions. They went home with a new lease on life. Several wrote back or called telling Doris how different and more enjoyable life has been since they were delivered from those foul spirits. One wrote, "For the first time since we have been married, my wife and I can now pray together."

Nothing said here should cause us to suppose that demo­nization relieves pastors or others of moral responsibility. The roots of the activity of a spirit of lust, more often than not can be traced to the "lusts of the flesh" (see 2 John 2:16) or sin that needs to be identified and dealt with biblically. Part and parcel of the deliverance process is typically (1) a personal recognition of and hatred for the sin; (2) a sincere desire to get rid of it; (3) a courageous first step of faith-e.g. making an appointment to see Doris; and (4) confession of the sin, frequently in consid­erable detail.

This fulfills James 5:16: "Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed." In this case the healing is spiritual. Upon sincere repentance, the root sin is forgiven by God's grace and the legal grounds of the subsequent demonic activity are effectively removed. Once this is accomplished, the demonic spirit can be cast out rela­tively easily. Without sincere humility and repentance, the demon either stays or soon returns with reinforcements.

I have dealt with this subject of spiritual warfare in quite some detail for two reasons: First, I want to make sure we understand that it is real. It is certainly not the only cause, but I would not be surprised if it were a major cause of so many pastors falling into sexual immorality.

Second, I want us to understand that there is a remedy, namely the power of God released through effective, intelli­gent intercession in the name of Jesus. My burden in this book is to explain in all detail possible how this power can be released for repairing the damage already done by the enemy and preventing future occurrences.

4. Pastors Have More Influence on Others

The fourth reason why pastors need intercession more than other Christians is that by the very nature of their ministry they have more influence on others. If a pastor falls, more people are hurt and set back in their spiritual lives than if others fall. The ripple effect is incredibly devastating. Strong Christians are crushed by the hypocrisy and betrayal they feel. Weak Chris­tians take the pastor's behavior as a license for them to do likewise.

Not only does the fall of a pastor injure an untold number of people, but it also directly influences churches. My interest in church growth always focuses strongly on the pastor because we have evidence that the pastor is the major institutional fac­tor for determining the growth or nongrowth of a local church. Satan hates churches that glorify God and extend God's King­dom, and he does what he can to bring them down, No won­der he focuses his sights on pastors.

But in the plan of God the gates of hell will not prevail against the advance of the Church (see Matt. 16:18). Intercession for pastors is one important ingredient to release God's plan for the Church's fullest implementation.

5. Pastors Have More Visibility

Because pastors are up front, they are constantly subject to gos­sip and criticism. When church members have Sunday dinner, the pastor and the sermon of the morning are frequent topics of conversation. People talk about the good and also the bad. The pastor is closely observed and it is no secret. Just knowing this places a difficult burden on pastors and they need super­natural help to handle that situation well. Intercession opens the way for them to receive this help.

INTERCESSION IMPROVES MINISTRY

It is not a simple matter to conduct the type of research that proves or disproves the power of prayer. However, Nancy Pfaff, an intercessor, church growth consultant and founder of Neva­da Church Growth has attempted it. She designed a research instrument as a project in graduate school and surveyed 130 pastors, evangelists and missionaries. Intercessors trained through Iverna Tompkins Ministries of Scottsdale, Arizona, agreed to pray 15 minutes a day for one of the 130 leaders over an entire year.

About 89 percent of those surveyed indicated that the prayer had caused a positive change in their ministry effectiveness. They reported more effectiveness in the use of their particular spiritual gifts, a higher level of positive response to their min­istry, more discernment and wisdom from God, increased wholeness and completeness in Christ, improved attitudes, more evidence of the fruit of the Spirit, better personal prayer lives and heightened leadership skills.

Pfaff's research also uncovered some important variables. She found that daily prayer for leaders was more effective than weekly or monthly prayer Also, persistent prayer was shown to be important. She reports, "Where intercessors stopped praying for their assigned leader after a few weeks, the leaders indicat­ed no significant positive change in their lives and ministries during that year."

Intercession also seems to help church growth. Nancy Pfaff found that of 109 pastors covered by intercessory prayer, 60 percent indicated concomitant growth of their churches. A pas­tor from Pennsylvania testifies, for example, that in the 12­month prayer experiment period his church grew from 15 to more than 600. No wonder Pfaff says, "There exists a tremen­dous reservoir of untapped prayer power in every church which can be affirmed, trained, and deployed to see the lost won, the apathetic revived, the 'backslider' restored, and the committed made more effective."

Back when the well-known Evangelism Explosion program was moving out from Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and spreading across the country, Archie Parrish, who was then serving as director, made an important discovery. Even though the program was working well, he introduced a new innovation. He had each participating church enlist two church members who were not in the Evangelism Explosion program to pray for each Evangelism Explosion worker, especially on the Tuesday nights when the program was in operation. The evangelist was responsible to report back to his or her two intercessors each week. When intercessors prayed, the number of professions of faith in cooperating churches doubled!

Pastors and other Christian leaders are needy people. But they are God's chosen ones to move His Kingdom forward. Faithful and intelligent intercession can release them to be all God wants them to be.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS

1. This chapter suggests that pastors are "beat up." Why do you think this could be true? Give examples.

2. What is it that makes a pastor more responsible for moral behavior than the average Christian?

3. Distinguish between the, three levels of spiritual warfare mentioned in this chapter, giving examples of each from your knowledge or experience.

4. Discuss the possibility of evil spirits causing lust in a pastor's life. Does this relieve the pastor of moral responsibility?

5. If intercession will improve your pastor's ministry, what sug­gestions could you make to release more prayer on your pastor's behalf?