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The Atlanta Constitution-Journal reports…
“The congregation of the 7,000-member Trinity Chapel in Powder Springs learned Sunday that founding pastor Jim Bolin had stepped down from his position because of “inappropriate sexual behavior.”
During an emotional 90-minute service, church officials said Bolin would go through a two-year “restoration process,” which includes counseling, through the Church of God.
Bolin did not attend the service and, no details were released about what he’d done wrong.
Bolin, 56, will be inactive in the ministry during that period, said Justin Harley, Trinity Chapel’s director of counseling.
Bolin’s 32-year-old son, Jason Bolin, raised in the church his parents started in an Austell Road storefront 25 years ago with five families, will take over as head pastor, assisted by his wife, Sarah Bolin.
He had been on the church staff the last 10 years, most recently as executive pastor.
The announcement was made from the pulpit by Donald M. Walker, the state administrative bishop for the Church of God.
Walker called the day “rueful and sobering” and often choked up and dabbed his eyes. He began by reading a letter to the congregation from Jim Bolin.
Bolin opened the letter that says “I have sinned against God” and takes “full responsibility and blame” for the circumstances that have rocked the church during the last week. He provided no other details.
“Today you see what a wrong choice has caused,” Bolin wrote. “Please learn from this.”
Bolin also said “the road to restitution is long,” adding, “I’m not finished yet.”
The more than 2,000 people who attended the first of two morning services often gave standing ovations to Walker and Jason Bolin when they asked forgiveness for their founding pastor and called on the church to unite and move forward.
“I think the church will be stronger than ever,” said Teri Burns of Powder Springs, a member for six years.
“Jim Bolin was my hero. But he is also human, and I forgive him. It’s been a tough week, but it’s over. There’s a new week ahead,” she said.”
From http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2008/12/15/trinity.html
Dana Jenkins blogs…
“Sadly, it has happened again. Another megachurch pastor comes tumbling down because of a sex scandal. This has happened before. It will happen again. But once is way too many times.
This time, it was Pastor Jim Bolin and the good folks at Trinity Chapel in Powder Springs, GA near Atlanta. You can verify everything I’m writing about by reading the various articles at www.ajc.com
This scandal hits a little close to home for me. First of all, Jim Bolin and Trinity Chapel are associated with the Church of God (Cleveland, TN). I was a Church of God minister for 5 years, and I graduated from Lee University, which is owned and operated by the COG. I have known both members and staff members of Trinity Chapel. During my senior year, I worked as an office assistant at The Center For Spiritual Renewal. Jim Bolin was one of its financial supporters and a close friend of the Center’s director, Dr. Robert Fisher, who passed away in September 2005 (in a way, I’m glad he’s not here to see this, he’d be devastated). Furthermore, Jim Bolin came and preached more than one chapel service during my time at Lee…I’ll never forget him saying in one message, “Has God called you to be a pastor? Then don’t go take over someone else’s church – go find a community that needs something fresh and start a church.” Those words hit my heart…hard.
Jim Bolin started Trinity Chapel 25 years with a handful of people…today it has 7,000 members. And yesterday, Bolin was not on the campus of the megachurch he built when it was announced that he was stepping down as pastor and beginning a 2-year- restoration process because of “inappropriate sexual conduct with an adult woman.” His 32-year-old son will step in as Senior Pastor.
I’m blown away by this. I hardly know where to begin collecting my thoughts. It is interesting how so many other pastors and denominational officials have immediately begun the rhetoric of forgiveness and reconciliation…this is one thing that drives me nuts about Christians. This pastor has done permanent damage to his family, his 7,000-member congregation, his denomination, his community, and himself, but immediately the discussion is forgiveness and healing. There is no talk about righteous anger. Is this how the conservative Christian, Dobson crowd reacted to President Clinton in 1998? Uh, not hardly. But if the person is a Christian, we immediately jump to the forgiveness rhetoric.
Sorry, I don’t buy that. There is a country song that says, “I just want to be mad for awhile.” I fully agree that we all must forgive Jim Bolin and move forward, but I think his family and the good people at Trinity Chapel have every right to be furious. Everything that God has done through this church for the past 25 years comes to this…a scandal, a “moral failure”, and a pastor who couldn’t live by a simple rule – if you’re not married to her, don’t have sex with her!
I know someone will read this and say, “You’re being very judgemental.” You’re right! I’m judging the actions of this pastor according to the teachings of the Bible about marriage and sexuality, and I don’t think there is anything sinful about that.
I’m not being super spiritual here, either. I know the same sin nature that pulled at Jim Bolin’s heart pulls at mine everyday. In fact, the Bible has this somber, sobering warning to offer in Galatians 6 – “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted.”
We don’t know this whole story. The church is not disclosing the details, not even to the church. We don’t know who this woman is or how it started, but I’d be willing to bet it did not start with him walking up to her and saying, “Are you interested in an extra-marital affair of a sexual nature that will, in a single Sunday, bring to a screeching halt everything I’ve spent 25 years working for?’ It might have happened that way, but probably not.
It was probably one small, seemingly unimportant, seemingly unproblematic decision after the next. Remember, big disasters start with small decisions. The decision to spend time on the internet late at night without accountability software. The decision to do counseling sessions with women without another staff member. The decision to travel with or have lots of “business, working” meals with a woman. The decision to open up and become emotionally vulnerable in conversation with another woman…so that you can help her open up about her problems and receive spiritual help, of course.
It’s scary to think that everything can fall apart in a moment, but it can. But on the bright side, God’s grace not only saves us from sin at the moment of salvation…it can also protect us from sin everyday.
This story is not just a reminder about how small decisions can lead to big disasters, it is also yet another reminder about not thinking higher of people than we should. I literally got the chills when I read one article that quoted a Trinity Chapel member saying, “Jim Bolin was my hero.”
That might be part of the problem. As a pastor, I want the people who attend my church to love me and respect me, not just as a friend but as a pastor and spiritual leader…in the same way they want a pastor who will love and respect them. Even though I hope to be a great pastor, and even though I take my role as a Bible teacher and church leader very seriously, I do not want to be nor could I ever be someone’s hero. If you keep your eyes focused on a man, you will eventually be very disappointed and disillusioned…there are no exceptions to this.”
From http://whynotanewchurch.wordpress.com/2008/12/15/if-youre-not-married-to-her-dont-have-sex-with-her/
