DRAMA IN THE CHURCH: Temptation Ended His Marriage, Nearly Destroyed The Ministry Of Pastor Bryant

we begin with the story of pastor Jamal Bryant it's a story of sin and of redemption pastor Jamal Bryant's fall from grace began with an extra mouth affair that tore up his congregation and destroyed his marriage I went to his megachurch the impartment temple in Baltimore Maryland to talk about the affair that ended his marriage disrupted his congregation almost destroyed his ministry but changed him as a man and as a preacher several years ago all of a sudden you're on TBN yes and folks are saying oh he's the next he's the next great preacher right you've been called by churches left and right yeah and he you are a young pastor yes thriving growing Church and all of a sudden those temptations meet you head-on well I didn't have a litmus test here to understand I was a national television since I was 29 and the whole world had opened up for me in every stage I'm preaching in arenas convention centers mass mega churches I was quickly becoming a household name so nothing in my mind ever said one I would ever get caught number two who did my wife would ever leave number three I let my church with tank out walk us through what happened I stepped rolling outside of my marriage and had a extramarital affair that ultimately ended in a divorce to an incredibly wonderful woman not because anything was flawed in the marriage or in her but in my own immaturity for the level that I was getting ready to go into and when that happened I think I was one of the first if not the first I don't want to take the the honor the first real black pastor to go through being castigated over the Internet my oldest daughter is 15 and I had to go to Atlanta where it is that she lives because a teacher said something sideways toward and she was absolutely traumatized if nothing else this has been the most humbling process that you got to keep reliving it and explaining it and dealing with it and defending it and nobody really understands that when you're in that public spotlight you don't have the opportunity to process in private so when I went through divorce rolling it wasn't between just me and my ex-wife it was 12,000 people who were members of my church going through it at the same time whose heart was broken whose expectations I were absolutely dashed that members arguing to protect my name in beauty salons and in supermarkets and it was one of the most harrowing experiences of my life I lost like 17 pounds going through the stress of it had to go through therapy for a year watch out my ministry really disintegrate I in front of my hands while I'm still trying to salvage what was left of what I was going to do in ministry and I'll never forget a critical conversation I said to my dad I said dad you know this is it there's no way I'm going to resuscitate my father was in Los Angeles at the time as Bishop over their jurisdiction then you got to get me a church in California get me out of here and my father Rowland asked me a critical question were you preaching for applause if you were preaching for applause and for people it was a performance but if you were preaching because of your calling your assignment the same passion you had when there were thousands is the same kind of intentionality you've got to have now there's been reduced to hundreds come on we're the worshippers and I went to that pulpit some days broken battered the press stressed the heck out I didn't want to be there and just kept preaching and I watched slowly but surely God beginning to rebuild it new families new groups and absolutely different our congregation but God has been faithful even when I was unfaithful the last three years have been a ride for me hallelujah I've learned a lot I've suffered a lot I've endured a lot I've grown any lighter I'm scared to even tell you what my life look like three years ago but but I never thought in my wildest dreams that three years later this is where I would be but God was trading me a destiny hear you preach one thing can you talk about and I'm sure in your sermons you're integrating your wife and children in his OHS and loving and caring and they're saying okay I'm hearing one thing but you did this right I'm confused yeah and I spend a whole lot of time one rolling because I had never forgiven myself and so I spent a whole lot of time bleeding in the emergency patient first unit just just trying to really be transparent to say just was not an attack of the enemy the devil didn't make me do it Flip Wilson but this is what I did and because of that how do we restore that and when I began to be transparent an amazing thing happened more men started coming to the church saying Rev I really respect that that you didn't blame it on the devil or spiritual warfare but that you as a man made this mistake and people talked about how they saw persistence and determination to to stand through it and to see on several occasions my ex-wife come to church I in worship and see my children here and for me to able to process in grace even in the face of humiliation has really had a great group to come back just talk about your former wife and your children yes you still speak very highly so your former wife yes how did you have to help her heal but also help your kids heal yeah I one of the critical things my ex-wife said to me is I didn't divorce you because of the infidelity I divorced you because I no longer recognized you that you went into a dark place I was mad with the world and you were just worried about saving your career not saving the marriage and so I think I became a better person post the divorce then I was in the marriage this journey has really been a process and she and I still are great friends and onto different paths of life and they're still able to operate in a meaningful way for the sake of friendship and Parrington but it was a necessary evil for me and I say this but I say to a lot of younger pastors if I had not gone through the divorce I'm confident I would have did it again and so it was my Damascus Road wake-up call that you know that you are not Teflon Don that humanity can still touch you and can still impact you have you set many young brothers and sisters down and said look this is what you're about to walk into yeah let me prepare you for this because you wish somebody has sat you down and said Jamal this you about to blow up but let's walk through this yeah I think that one of the difficult things as we spend years preparing for ministry and nobody took the time to take years to prepare for manhood or in some cases a woman hood and I say to these young preachers it doesn't matter if you have a thriving ministry if you have a miserable marriage you got to make sure that that's solid and don't marry for church for church picture that you want somebody cute on the front row with a hat on are they not making you happy at home it doesn't matter is to make sure that that family life is your first ministry if you have a push to your home it doesn't matter what kind of preacher you are the church

Channel: Roland S. Martin

Views: 1,817,447

Rating: 4.5215678 out of 5

Keywords: TV One, Roland S. Martin, Pastor Jamal Bryant, Faith, Drama in the Church

Id: xuwAtXDcDQo

Length: 8min 37sec (517 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 31 2013