Though he’s fallen, ‘sinner’ pastor still draws devotion
Tullian Tchividjian, the Fort Lauderdale pastor who last week stepped off the pulpit after admitting to an extramarital affair, bears on his bicep a tattoo of the word peccator, Latin for sinner.
It’s that very admission, that of being a repentant transgressor, that has drawn devoted followers who, though aching, are willing to forgive Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church’s former head pastor.
“He’s, yes, a sinner, but so am I,” said church member Ryan Nuñez, 24, of Miami Lakes.
“I know this is a wound, but by God’s grace, we’ll heal,” said church official Bill Ashcraft. Tchividjian, 42, grandson of famed evangelist Billy Graham,
was no stranger to sin. As a youth, he was a high school dropout enamored of drugs and alcohol.
But he reformed, became a preacher and amassed a wide following beyond his Fort Lauderdale flock. He’s hosted programs on the Trinity Broadcasting Network and on Christian talk radio, Moody Radio South Florida, where his show was pulled following his resignation.
Tchividjian joins other ministers who, in recent years, have confessed to “moral failings” and left crestfallen congregations behind. Among them: former lead pastor Bob Coy at Calvary Chapel, one of the country’s largest megachurches. Coy resigned in April 2014 for committing adultery and “sexual immorality, habitually, through pornography,” according to a pastor who addressed the congregation at the time.
In the days following Tchividjian’s resignation, he offered a few cryptic Twitter postings to more than100,000 followers: “So grateful that God is a bottom feeder,” and “I’m so so sorry. I love you all… fade to black.”
They are on the opposite spectrum of earlier, sunnier postings that included photos of Tchividjian kissing his newborn grandson and posing with his daughter with pursed lips.
In a statement to The Washington Post, Tchividjian said he “sought comfort in a friend and developed an inappropriate relationship” after discovering his wife had had an affair. His wife, Kim Tchividjian, countered that his “statement reflected my husband’s opinions but not my own.”
Neither Tchividjian could be reached for comment. A spokesman for Graham said he would not discuss his grandson’s resignation. Graham married the pair in July 1994 at the First Presbyterian Church in Coral Springs.
Later this summer, after inhouse pastors fill in for Tchividjian, Samuel Lamerson, who has previously served as the church’s interim pastor, will lead Sunday services.
He accepts the challenges that will arise while the congregation works through a painful period and hopes churchgoers will “continue to be encouraged by the message of the Gospel.”
“It’s a congregation of people who are very hurt at this time,” he said. “If [Tullian] can fall, what does that mean for the rest of us? The Gospel is very clear that no one is beyond the grace of God. That we’re all sinners.”
Coral Ridge Executive Pastor Rob Pacienza declined comment on Tchividjian other than to say, “He definitely was a pastor that had a national reach and influence.”
“I think we will continue to gather for worship every Sunday as we’ve done for 50-plus years and our elders and pastors are fully committed to be present and available to minister our congregation,” Pacienza said. “So we can move into the future with hope.”
Marianne Gigliotti, of Coconut Creek, worships at Calvary Chapel and has regularly tuned in to Tchividjian on the radio, she said. She acknowledges pastors are held to a higher standard and, despite seeing her former pastor, Coy, fall, she still supports Tchividjian.
“Nobody should put a preacher on such a pedestal to think that they can’t fault like you and me and anybody,” she said.
Coy’s departure forced the congregation to come together stronger, she said. “It was mourning a death almost. It was very sad. Yes, you’re angry, surprised,” Gigliotti said. “If you’re there for the right reasons, you learn from your pastor’s mistake.”
At Coral Ridge, church leaders approached Tchividjian about his affair and they agreed to his resignation, said church official Ashcraft. He still lauds Tchividjian for his dynamic delivery and charisma.
“Christians, in my mind, don’t gang up on fallen pastors,” Ashcraft said. “There are no perfect pastors. We had one perfect pastor in the history of the world and we nailed him to the cross.”
In 2009, Tchividjian was chosen among 175 candidates to lead Coral Ridge after the death of founding pastor D. James Kennedy. According to Ashcraft, Tchividjian’s association to Graham was a bonus, but it was his youthful disposition and their hope that he’d draw younger worshipers that secured his position.
Church officials were also privy to his troubled past, but looked beyond it as they felt he had repented and come “a long way after his young, sowing wild oats days,” Ashcraft said.
Kennedy was more formal, wore pastoral robes, was political on the pulpit and prominently known for his conservative views. “Tullian rejected that entirely, he didn’t want his political views to become a barrier to the Gospel,” Ashcraft said.
“God forgives sinners and he hammered it week after week after week, to the point that some said that he was being repetitive,” he said.
Tchividjian’s response, according to Ashcraft: “I’ve got one bullet in my gun and it’s the Gospel, and I’m going to preach it every Sunday.”
Tchividjian, who grew up in Coral Springs, has been open about his wild adolescence. At 16, he dropped out of high school and got kicked out of his home. South Florida’s “pleasure-saturated” culture made it easy for him to delve into drugs and alcohol, he told the Sun Sentinel in 2007.
But at 21, Tchividjian turned to God, he said. He earned a GED, went to college and the seminary before landing a job at a Knoxville, Tenn., church as an assistant pastor.
He returned to South Florida in 2003 and started the New City Presbyterian Church in Coconut Creek, which would later merge with Coral Ridge Presbyterian when he was chosen to lead that congregation.
His arrival at Coral Ridge was received with enthusiasm, according to a nominating committee member at the time. Tchividjian was known to enjoy surfing, weightlifting and pop music. His sermons were informal and he traded robes for pants and a shirt.
Some alienated congregants broke off to form their own church, New Presbyterian Church, in Wilton Manors. But before they did, some members tried to fire Tchividjian, who kept his job after a vote he won by a two-thirds margin.
During a Sun Sentinel interview in 2010, following the release of his book, “Surprised by Grace,” Tchividjian reflected on forgiveness.
“I’ve never met someone, Christian or non, who didn’t have a longing for forgiveness, for cleansing from guilt and shame. No matter what you’ve done or where you’ve been, you can never outrun God’s willingness to forgive.”