Joe E. Trull - Ethics for Christian Ministry: Moral Formation for Twenty-First-Century Leaders

. Joe E. Trull developed a seminary course titled Ministerial Ethics in 1992, as well as coauthored a text by that title (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1993; 2nd ed., Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2004) during his first sabbatical, returning to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary to continue teaching as professor of Christian ethics. The seminary course became the most popular second ethics course required of MDiv students. The coauthor of both texts, Dr. James E. Carter, was a pastor in Texas and Louisiana, and for two decades the counselor to ministers for the Louisiana Baptist Convention. Some readers may be aware that James Carter died on January 26, 2015, just a few months after his wife had died unexpectedly following surgeryboth losses were personal and painful.

. For example: Walter Wiest and Elwyn A. Smith, Ethics in Ministry: A Guide for the Professional (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1990); James P. Wind, Russell Burck, Paul F. Camenisch, and Dennis P. McCann, eds., Clergy Ethics in a Changing Society: Mapping the Terrain (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1991); Richard M. Gula, Ethics in Pastoral Ministry (New York: Paulist Press, 1996); and William H. Willimon, Calling and Character: Virtues of the Ordained Life (Nashville: Abingdon, 2000).

. R. Robert Creech teaches at Baylor Universitys George W. Truett Theological Seminary. Although the seminary has no required MDiv courses in Christian ethics or ministerial ethics, it offers electives in both and addresses the subject of ethics in ministry in pastoral ministry and pastoral leadership courses.

. Russell Moore, What to Do When a Pastor Falls, RussellMoore.com, April 15, 2016, www.russellmoore.com/2016/04/15/what-to-do-when-a-pastor-falls/. Moore studied ministerial ethics with Trull at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.

Chapter 1 Walking with Integrity

. Walker Percy, The Thanatos Syndrome (New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1987), 75.

. James P. Wind, Clergy Ethics in Modern Fiction, in Clergy Ethics in a Changing Society: Mapping the Terrain , ed. James P. Wind, Russell Burck, Paul F. Camenisch, and Dennis P. McCann (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1991), 99.

. The pastor of First Baptist Church of Dallas, Dr. Robert Jeffress, traveled to Dordt College in Iowa to endorse Donald Trump; Jeffress also introduced Trump the previous September at a rally in Dallas. See http://www.dallasvoice.com/jeffress-endorse-trump-endorses-10212614.html/.

. For example, see the various denominational codes of conduct in appendix B and appendix C .

. Martin E. Marty, Drift Away, Sightings (blog), Sept. 8, 2014, https://divinity.uchicago.edu/sightings/drift-away-martin-e-marty.

. George Bullard, Are Millennials Different Than Boomers 40 Years Ago?, Baptist Standard , September 15, 2014, 23.

. A. James Rudin, Opinion: A Top 10 List of Religion Stories for 2014, Baptist Standard , December 29, 2014, 34.

. For example, in every one of the three full-time churches in which I was the pastor, over a period of twenty years, I dealt with sexual transgressions of ministers. In the first church, a minister of music was romantically involved with two choir members and his secretary. In the second church, the previous pastor was forced to leave due to romantic and sexual relationships with several members, and while I was pastor I learned the youth minister had been involved with several college students, and the part-time counselor was caught in a sexual act with a counselee. In my third full-time church, an associate music minister (whom we learned was homosexual) made advances to several young men during an overnight stay at his apartment.

. Oliver Sacks, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (New York: Summit Books, 1985).

. I am indebted to James F. Drane, Becoming a Good Doctor (Kansas City: Sheed & Ward, 1988), 1, for the application of this story to ethics.