He touched my heart with truth and then grace, just like he’s done to thousands of people while he’s pastored. And right now friends, Darrin needs our love, support and prayers as he is restored. So let’s give him that. Pray for The Journey as they work through this. Pray for the Patrick family as they grow together in Christ.

Christianity Today reported that Pastor Darrin Patrick, “vice president of the Acts 29 church planting network and founding pastor of The Journey megachurch in St. Louis” had been fired. In the letter published by The Journey, they listed a range of sins including: “lack of self-control, refusal of personal accountability, manipulation and lying, misuse of power/authority and inappropriate meetings, conversations and phone calls with two women.”

The church was clear to add that the “confirmed accusations were not of adultery.”

When I saw this story, my heart sank a little more than when I usually read stories like this. Darrin and I go way back. So I’m going to tell you why I love Pastor Darrin Patrick.

When I was a freshman in college, I lived right across the hall from the guy. Before I get into the current issue, let me tell you about the Darrin Patrick I know. If you know him at all, some of this will sound very familiar.

Darrin was the guy who didn’t fit the usual paradigm. He was studying to be a minister. He was a little older than the other guys on the hall. You could tell that the power of God was just bottled up inside him. He was always looking for a reason to talk about Jesus.

I remember he had this preaching class and he had to spend time recording sermons. I’d walk past his room and he’d be passionately recording some sermon for a class and I’d roll my eyes as I wandered to the ice machine. I thought, “How does the guy do it?” (Note: I wasn’t the most spiritual individual at our private Baptist university.)

He was that weirdo Christian you stared at in chapel. You know the one. The guy who actually listened to the speaker. The guy who lifted his hands in praise when everyone else was sleeping or catching up on homework. The guy who got emotional while singing Dennis Jernigan songs. All the while your heart was saying, “why don’t I love Jesus like that?”

He was so spiritual, but he hung out with all of us. Played basketball, softball, had late night conversations. Heck, he was even on our “bobsled” team. Yet while the rest of us were spinning away our youth wildly, there was always the urgency of Christ on his mind.

This is the aforementioned “bobsled” team. That’s Darrin in the back middle and me in the middle middle. Make sense? Our motto was, “We’re No Lugers.”

There was always something special about Darrin. Turns out he was a man called by God who has helped thousands.

Here’s a guy who 20 years ago went to bars in his community to set up bible study groups. Why? To reach the lost. It ticked off the local Baptists something fierce. I was rooting for him.

Days after I fell, I unfriended a bunch of people on Facebook because I was so desperately trying to justify my sin. One of them was Darrin. I knew if he reached out he would have spoken words of truth that would have cut right to my soul. And in my sin I didn’t want to hear it. I wish I had been willing to listen.

I’m pretty sure he hasn’t changed – he’s same humble, Christ follower I knew 20 years ago. He’s just a man standing in need of forgiveness, grace and restoration.

Thank God it appears he has a church who is going to do just that. A church who knew they needed help in the restoration process so they reached out to someone else (PastorServe) on the outside who could help. This is the proper response that I desire for all churches to have when a pastor sins. I’m thankful for church leadership who sees the need of restoration to Christ instead of kicking a brother in Christ to the curb with a simple severance package.

If you’re in this church, don’t give up on him. Learn from this. Remember that all of us are moments from a fall. We all walk a fragile line choosing each day to succumb or stay on the path. And when the time comes, welcome him back in the capacity the Lord leads you to. When he’s been restored and he moves in another direction? If there’s another church out there, I hope you take a chance on him when he’s ready.

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