Perhaps you've read or heard about the moral debacle embroiling one of the largest churches in the U.S., Willow Creek Community Church.  Briefly, it has recently come to light that Bill Hybels, the founding and long time pastor of the church, has been accused of sexually harassing a number of women with whom he worked during his lengthy tenure.  Accusations range from verbal abuse to physical groping to oral sex, and come from the testimony of multiple women.  One of the most troubling aspects of the entire affair is that when the women initially approached the church's board of elders, a group of men and women whose mission is to ensure the spiritual integrity of the church, with their complaints, the elders chose to believe Bill rather than the women.  Why?  As the chair of the elder board put it, "We trusted Bill."
     The irony of this is that inherent in Hybels's vision for the church is the empowering of women for positions of teaching and pastoral ministry, posts which many Christian churches continue to believe are not suitable for women.  As of this writing, Hybels, his two chosen successors, and the entire board of elders have resigned, and the church is now picking up the pieces of what has happened.  Although I believe the church will survive and likely emerge even stronger, the process of healing will be arduous and lengthy.
     Big picture, however, the elders' initially unstinting support of Hybels demonstrates that, Christian or not, we are all prone, usually unconsciously, to accord trust to those who, outwardly, seem to be doing everything right.  So caught up are we in what we consider to be the accomplishments of these people that we frequently fail to see when they are doing the wrong thing, even when it is brought directly before us.  We become as myopic as anyone else.  Indeed, this applies to our feelings about politicians, corporate heads, and teachers as much as it does to pastors.  We blind ourselves with success.
     Didn't Jesus say, however, in the parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13), that ultimately it is not we who can measure the "success" of what we do on this earth?  It is God.
     And as Paul writes to the church at Corinth, God's definition of success is often very different from our own.
     Pray for Willow Creek Community Church.