“I know that a pastor’s life is very busy and that the temptation to take shortcuts in preparing sermons is very real. That doesn’t change the fact that God is never in the dark. He is always watching. “Whoever walks in integrity walks securely, but he who makes his ways crooked will be found out” (Proverbs 10:9).We may fool ourselves and others, but never God.”

A reader of my blog asked if I’d be willing to share some thoughts on the practice of pastors who preach messages from other pastors and present the material as their own without any credit to its original source. This isn’t an issue that I take pleasure in addressing, but I hope it will serve the body of Christ by initiating some much-needed self-examination and dialogue.

While most pastors I know are men of honesty and integrity, it’s a sad truth that the problem of pastors plagiarizing is more wide spread than many realize, especially with the vast amounts of material available on the internet. My friend Barry Arnold, who pastors Cornerstone Church in Gresham, Oregon, writes:

I’m afraid plagiarism is getting more and more common.  Once in a while I Google unusual phrases from sermons I have posted online. It is not at all uncommon to find other pastors stealing material. I’m disappointed for their sake because if they are compromising their integrity in teaching, you have to wonder what other areas may be secretly out of control as well.

One pastor took a whole series of messages from me and used them verbatim, changing only the illustrations. At least he was smart enough to know it might be awkward to talk about growing up in an Alaskan village. I emailed the pastor a couple times but he didn’t respond. I then contacted each of his elders separately but none of them ever responded either.

As an author, I often see material online straight from my books with no attribution, so it appears the pastor or blog writer originated the material. I don’t lose any sleep over this—in fact, at times, including when one of my books had clearly influenced the godly author’s writing of several chapters, I’ve honestly celebrated the fact that the material is making an impact. There was something about not being credited, especially believing it wasn’t a conscious choice, that makes me feel like I’m making a difference behind the scenes. Yes, when it’s word for word from one of my books, it bugs me a little, but I hope it’s not bugging me for the wrong reasons, but the right ones.

Our ministry hasn’t felt the need to address every case that comes to our attention. On the other hand, in some cases there is pride or laziness and deceit in taking credit (by implication, when failing to attribute the source) for someone else’s work, and we are compelled to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15). What concerns me even more is, often once the person is found out, they or those who are part of their accountability structure do not respond in repentance but ignore the situation, such as in Barry’s case mentioned above. Our office experienced the same thing several months ago. The pastor seemed surprised when it was pointed out that he had used material from one of my books almost verbatim. He questioned this and asked for specific examples. When they were provided, he never responded again.

Several years ago we found out that a prominent radio pastor’s message was, word for word, four pages out of my book The Treasure Principle. (Someone emailed to ask EPM if I had ripped off this man’s material and used it in my book!) In this case, the particular pastor did contact me and was repentant which was encouraging. (It’s also possible that in some cases the pastor or speaker isn’t aware the material was taken verbatim elsewhere because they have a research assistant who wasn’t very careful.)

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