Follow-up thoughts on Ray Boltz blog

Here's some follow-up thoughts to the previous blog on Ray Boltz:

Was there no one in Ray's life in his 30 years of Christian marriage and ministry that he felt safe enough to confide in?

The concept of accountability is so important in the Church as is building a SAFE place for that accountability. Why is it in the Christian community that we feel that we cannot share our struggles until AFTER we have "victory" and have it all wrapped up in a nice little "testimony" OR until we have been overcome by our sin and discovered? How many times have I heard someone say "Lately I've been going through this horrible temptation but now I'm doing great" and I have wondered how we can build an environment that we feel free to say "I'm struggling NOW with this temptation and I need help, prayer, and support." Ray's story tells us that there are those all around us who really are hurting and struggling but do not feel safe to share those struggles because of the response that they (often rightly) fear will come. So we hide our struggles and do not bear each other's burdens.

I remember a few years ago at District Council that Dick Hardy stood and talked about the struggle that many pastor's have with internet pornography and he mentioned that if you called and talked to him as the HonorBound director that your credentials would not be automatically in jeopardy because he wanted to see ministers get HELP to overcome rather than waiting until it is too late.

While I am not ready to advocate a return to the RCC concept of the "confessional booth" I think creating an environment where confession is taken seriously and people then receive loving accountability and the healing that the church CAN offer is a worthy goal- when we don't know the struggle it is difficult to help.

Any thoughts?

After all...we're all in this together!

A "Boltz" of Lightning on the CCM news front

I remember the first time I heard a Ray Boltz song. I was driving down National in Springfield, MO and the song "Watch the Lamb" played on the radio. I literally got so caught up in the story of the song that I pulled over and finished listening so I could focus on the story. I was close to tears at the end when the song made the final correlation of Jesus as THE Lamb. It is beautiful writing and well presented. I have used the song many times as a "human video" around Good Friday. (On a side note - I did this song for a presbyterian church in LeClaire, IA and they reported to the Quad City Times that "Ruthie Oberg, pastor's wife at First Assembly of God will be doing an interpretive dance at First Presbyterian." Russ Kinney saw it in the paper and called to ask why I was dancing for presbyterians.)

I also remember the incredible feeling of grace as I listened to "The Anchor Holds" sung at Virginia Wenig's funeral several years ago. The lady singing had recently lost her young missionary husband to cancer and she prefaced the song with "I have sung this song many times while standing on the shore to encourage others out in the boat...but lately I have sung this song from within the boat itself and I still find that the anchor holds." Beautiful!

With all that said, I found it interesting to find so much discussion of what place Ray's music should hold in the church now that he has left his wife of 30 years and come out as "a normal gay man." http://washblade.com/2008/9-12/arts/feature/13258.cfm?CFID=17404355&CFTOKEN=75650803

I remember this same discussion when I was at Central Bible College in 1988 when the news of the Jimmy Swaggart debacle hit the airwaves. "Should we play Jimmy's songs on the radio? Has everything that he has ever done now count for nothing?" These are the questions some Christians are asking now about Ray Boltz.

Here's my humble opinion: Truth is Truth and it is not dependent on the lifestyle of the person singing. A song that had a positive truth value 10 years ago still has that same truth value today regardless of who is singing it. If we were to throw out everything that has been written or sung by someone who has later confessed to sin...well, let's throw out half the hymnal, most of our sermons, and certainly the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon...there's no real biblical proof that Solomon ever did repent and he pulled some REAL lulu's...(passing his sons through the fire, etc.)

Now all that said, I am one who prefers that the lifestyle of the person singing matches up with what they are singing about. For example, everyone who knows me knows that I LOVE country music. This morning bringing the kids to school I had in a CD of Willie Nelson singing "On the Road Again." A great song for Willie to sing! But, for some reason, I usually press skip when he sings "Amazing Grace." Now I love the song Amazing Grace and I like Willie Nelson but for Amazing Grace to carry meaning for me it helps to know that the person singing it would truly testify to living a life that was "lost but now is found." I don't know that Willie has reached that point in his long life and therefore, the song is just a "good classic gospel song" rather than a testimony of what he has experienced in his own life.

SO...what about Ray Boltz? I'll keep his CD's and still play them and probably still use his songs. They are good songs...but it will be with a tinge of sadness for him and for others like him who feel that the only way to be "themselves" is to pretend that everything is OK when it truly isn't...which it what he says he has been doing for the last 30 years.

What are your thoughts?

Let's pray for each other...we're all in this together!