My Guess on Steve Lawson's Fall
On Sep. 19, Steve Lawson, pastor of Trinity Bible Church and President/Founder of OnePassion Ministries, was removed from his pastorate and all other ministry roles, due to having an “inappropriate relationship with another woman.” At least that’s what the initial announcement said.
But as Masters Seminary, Ligonier Ministries, Radius International, and others, began scrubbing their websites and media platforms from all Lawson content, it became obvious that it was more serious than that. These are large, respected ministries where Lawson had senior positions and great influence.
Turns out, the 73-year-old who has been married for over 40 years, has been in a 5+ year relationship with a woman still in her 20s. This while maintaining a very active and high-profile preaching and teaching ministry and maintaining his reputation as a powerful expositor and straight shooter.
This news hit me pretty hard. Lawson had become one of my favorite Bible teachers over the years. I regularly listen to him online and have seen him preach in person. He is fiery and bold and preaches the truth, while still coming off as personable and kind. As an older man, he carries a confidence that has a motivating impact on men.
All of which makes it so tragic. How could this happen?
To be clear, I don’t know how it happened. And the silence has been deafening ever since it came out a few weeks ago. But I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit…
Steve Lawson’s inner circle included, among others, RC Sproul and John Macarthur. Over the years, wherever Sproul and Macarthur were, Steve was there too. I’ve probably watched close to all of the conferences, and Q&A’s, they’ve done together for the last 20 years. It’s obvious that they respected and appreciated Lawson. He would often fill their pulpits and contributed greatly to their ministries. Lawson was a Dean at Macarthur’s Masters Seminary and a Sr. Teaching Fellow (whatever that means) at Sproul’s Ligonier Ministries.
Sproul died in 2017. With his absence, Lawson’s role at Ligonier increased greatly. Little by little, he began putting out a ton of material. The Ligonier conferences and websites were loaded with Lawson’s books and teaching videos. At a Ligonier Conference I attended last year, you would have thought Lawson was Sproul himself, based on the way he was featured.
Meanwhile at Macarthur’s Masters Seminary and annual Shepherds Conferences, Lawson’s influence was also exploding. He was becoming almost as popular as his mentor, and filling his pulpit at Grace Community Church on a regular basis as Macarthur’s health declined.
Here’s what I think. Lawson, who is a brilliant theologian, able to recite scripture and church history at an incredible capacity, began to think highly of himself and enjoy the spotlight. And here’s the main thing: he forgot that daily abiding in Christ and in God’s Word is necessary for survival.
Lawson forgot that for the Christian, personal time with Jesus every day is the spiritual equivalent to eating food. Literally necessary to carry out the Christian life. Especially when preaching, teaching, and leading, in the way that his roles required. He forgot that preparing for sermons and podcasts and speaking engagements doesn’t count as personal abiding.
Personal daily abiding means humbly coming to the Lord everyday saying, “Lord, I need you. Open my eyes that I may behold the wonderous things in your Word. Help me to love and know you more. Convict me of my sin. Shape me and sanctify me. My heart and mind and soul needs nourishment… just like my body needs food.”
Lawson thought he could survive on all the doctrine that he had stored up in his head. He thought 60+ years of Bible could carry him. But that’s not how nutrition, and abiding, works. When we stop abiding, we've stopped eating. We get weak spiritually. We start to rely on ourselves, which leads to a slow death.
John 15 describes it perfectly. Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. So long as the branch is connected to the vine, it receives life and strength and produces fruit. But detached, it withers and dies. And as verse 5 says, “apart from me, you can do nothing.”
I think as Lawson began to get “famous”, he began detaching from the vine and working in his own strength. He always looked up to guys who were more famous than him. Maybe he was a little jealous. Finally, in his mid 60’s, he had become the sought after preacher that his mentors always were. And I'm guessing he liked it. As he traveled the world preaching, doing conferences, films, documentaries, and huge speaking engagements… he stopped abiding.
Our enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter: 5:8). He’s crafty and smart. When the Christian operates and functions attached to the vine, the devil is handcuffed. He still attacks, but against Jesus he’s feeble. However, when the Christian detaches from the vine, the door for the devil cracks open. Now he can attack man against man’s own strength. And if the Christian stays detached, attempting to operate in his own strength over a significant period of time, the door for the devil blows wide open.
If my guess is right, our astute enemy was watching all of this happen. Success. Fame. Ego. Detachment from the vine of daily abiding in Christ. Reliance on self. Dependence on head knowledge. Not to mention a lot of travel – alone.
And what does Satan do? The same thing he always does. Tempts men with sexual sin.
It’s man’s greatest weakness, and temptation is prevalent at every turn. Abiding in the Lord, in the Word, in prayer, and in Christian community, is the only victorious path. Without daily abiding, we have no chance. Detached from the vine, fighting from our own strength, we succumb and die.
It’s what makes the food analogy so accurate. Spiritual food is just as important as physical food, because man is both physical and spiritual. This spiritual food is “every word that comes from the mouth of God.” His Word gives us life. (John 6:63)
Just like physical food, we need this spiritual food daily. Just as we can’t live off last week’s literal food, we can’t live off last week’s spiritual food. Much less last month’s, or last year’s.
The Word of God is living and breathing. It is alive! It renews our souls and our minds each day! And I think Steve Lawson, someone who knows that truth and preaches that truth, stopped living that truth. Good doctrine means nothing when it’s not truly depended on for life.
That’s my theory based on watching Steve Lawson’s rise to evangelical stardom from afar. Just an opinion. I don’t know all the details.
Whatever happened, I hate that it did. It stings when someone you’ve looked up to, and learned much from, falls so hard. I remember when it happened with Ravi Zacharias. And I know it’s happened to hundreds of others. No doubt it will happen to many more.
But as Masters Seminary, Ligonier Ministries, Radius International, and others, began scrubbing their websites and media platforms from all Lawson content, it became obvious that it was more serious than that. These are large, respected ministries where Lawson had senior positions and great influence.
Turns out, the 73-year-old who has been married for over 40 years, has been in a 5+ year relationship with a woman still in her 20s. This while maintaining a very active and high-profile preaching and teaching ministry and maintaining his reputation as a powerful expositor and straight shooter.
This news hit me pretty hard. Lawson had become one of my favorite Bible teachers over the years. I regularly listen to him online and have seen him preach in person. He is fiery and bold and preaches the truth, while still coming off as personable and kind. As an older man, he carries a confidence that has a motivating impact on men.
All of which makes it so tragic. How could this happen?
To be clear, I don’t know how it happened. And the silence has been deafening ever since it came out a few weeks ago. But I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit…
Steve Lawson’s inner circle included, among others, RC Sproul and John Macarthur. Over the years, wherever Sproul and Macarthur were, Steve was there too. I’ve probably watched close to all of the conferences, and Q&A’s, they’ve done together for the last 20 years. It’s obvious that they respected and appreciated Lawson. He would often fill their pulpits and contributed greatly to their ministries. Lawson was a Dean at Macarthur’s Masters Seminary and a Sr. Teaching Fellow (whatever that means) at Sproul’s Ligonier Ministries.
Sproul died in 2017. With his absence, Lawson’s role at Ligonier increased greatly. Little by little, he began putting out a ton of material. The Ligonier conferences and websites were loaded with Lawson’s books and teaching videos. At a Ligonier Conference I attended last year, you would have thought Lawson was Sproul himself, based on the way he was featured.
Meanwhile at Macarthur’s Masters Seminary and annual Shepherds Conferences, Lawson’s influence was also exploding. He was becoming almost as popular as his mentor, and filling his pulpit at Grace Community Church on a regular basis as Macarthur’s health declined.
Here’s what I think. Lawson, who is a brilliant theologian, able to recite scripture and church history at an incredible capacity, began to think highly of himself and enjoy the spotlight. And here’s the main thing: he forgot that daily abiding in Christ and in God’s Word is necessary for survival.
Lawson forgot that for the Christian, personal time with Jesus every day is the spiritual equivalent to eating food. Literally necessary to carry out the Christian life. Especially when preaching, teaching, and leading, in the way that his roles required. He forgot that preparing for sermons and podcasts and speaking engagements doesn’t count as personal abiding.
Personal daily abiding means humbly coming to the Lord everyday saying, “Lord, I need you. Open my eyes that I may behold the wonderous things in your Word. Help me to love and know you more. Convict me of my sin. Shape me and sanctify me. My heart and mind and soul needs nourishment… just like my body needs food.”
Lawson thought he could survive on all the doctrine that he had stored up in his head. He thought 60+ years of Bible could carry him. But that’s not how nutrition, and abiding, works. When we stop abiding, we've stopped eating. We get weak spiritually. We start to rely on ourselves, which leads to a slow death.
John 15 describes it perfectly. Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. So long as the branch is connected to the vine, it receives life and strength and produces fruit. But detached, it withers and dies. And as verse 5 says, “apart from me, you can do nothing.”
I think as Lawson began to get “famous”, he began detaching from the vine and working in his own strength. He always looked up to guys who were more famous than him. Maybe he was a little jealous. Finally, in his mid 60’s, he had become the sought after preacher that his mentors always were. And I'm guessing he liked it. As he traveled the world preaching, doing conferences, films, documentaries, and huge speaking engagements… he stopped abiding.
Our enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter: 5:8). He’s crafty and smart. When the Christian operates and functions attached to the vine, the devil is handcuffed. He still attacks, but against Jesus he’s feeble. However, when the Christian detaches from the vine, the door for the devil cracks open. Now he can attack man against man’s own strength. And if the Christian stays detached, attempting to operate in his own strength over a significant period of time, the door for the devil blows wide open.
If my guess is right, our astute enemy was watching all of this happen. Success. Fame. Ego. Detachment from the vine of daily abiding in Christ. Reliance on self. Dependence on head knowledge. Not to mention a lot of travel – alone.
And what does Satan do? The same thing he always does. Tempts men with sexual sin.
It’s man’s greatest weakness, and temptation is prevalent at every turn. Abiding in the Lord, in the Word, in prayer, and in Christian community, is the only victorious path. Without daily abiding, we have no chance. Detached from the vine, fighting from our own strength, we succumb and die.
It’s what makes the food analogy so accurate. Spiritual food is just as important as physical food, because man is both physical and spiritual. This spiritual food is “every word that comes from the mouth of God.” His Word gives us life. (John 6:63)
Just like physical food, we need this spiritual food daily. Just as we can’t live off last week’s literal food, we can’t live off last week’s spiritual food. Much less last month’s, or last year’s.
The Word of God is living and breathing. It is alive! It renews our souls and our minds each day! And I think Steve Lawson, someone who knows that truth and preaches that truth, stopped living that truth. Good doctrine means nothing when it’s not truly depended on for life.
That’s my theory based on watching Steve Lawson’s rise to evangelical stardom from afar. Just an opinion. I don’t know all the details.
Whatever happened, I hate that it did. It stings when someone you’ve looked up to, and learned much from, falls so hard. I remember when it happened with Ravi Zacharias. And I know it’s happened to hundreds of others. No doubt it will happen to many more.
I pray for Lawson's repentance and reconciliation to Christ and the body of believers. From what I have heard, he doesn't seem to be showing signs of repentance - which is terrifying. And to be honest, it makes me mad. Sin and repentance was Lawson's preaching mantra, and the longer he stays silent the greater the hypocrisy. How a man responds to his sin says much about his faith.
The reality is, we are all fallen and prone to sin. What happened to Steve Lawson could happen to absolutely anyone- including me. So, I preach to myself as I encourage all of you. We must stay attached to the vine. We must humbly acknowledge our utter dependence on the Lord and on His Word for daily sustenance.
And we must never put our hope in men.
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