It is never an enjoyable experience to expose dysfunctional leadership. However, such dysfunctionality in leadership can have dire consequences in the lives of those who follow bad leaders.
Derek Lusk and Theodore L. Hayes, in their important book Overcoming Bad Leadership in Organizations, give a comprehensive account on the “dark side” of leadership in organizations and elucidate dysfunctional personality characteristics and counterproductive behaviors in organizations: “Dysfunctional leadership can perpetuate the misery of thousands of people by being the primary source of low morale, disengagement, enduring stress, stress-associated health problems and poor organizational results.”
Lee Enochs
The reality of dysfunctional leadership is not something unique to the business world, and unfortunately American evangelicalism is replete with churches and organizations with dysfunctional leaders who are causing great harm to their followers. One such leader causing untold harm in the evangelical world is the famous expository preacher John MacArthur.
Sadly, I have first-hand experience with the devasting consequences of being a follower of John MacArthur and his ministry in Southern California. I first met MacArthur in the spring of 1987 after some of my friends invited me to hear him preach at Grace Community Church. As a very young man, I was immediately impressed with MacArthur’s knowledge and confidence in the authority of the Bible.
In those formative years, I never encountered someone who had memorized so much Scripture and who made such bold and dogmatic claims about the Christian faith. After meeting MacArthur that Sunday morning, I became a devout and insufferable follower, often listening to several hours of his radio broadcasts and Bible teaching cassette tapes.
“I became a devout and insufferable follower, often listening to several hours of his radio broadcasts and Bible teaching cassette tapes.”
As a young man in my early twenties, I seemingly went everywhere in Southern California, preaching the “Gospel According to John MacArthur” and dismissed outright the opinion of any Christian who dared to disagree with him.
I also remember how overjoyed I was when I was accepted as student at the Master’s Seminary, of which MacArthur was the president of in those days. For many years, I had hoped and dreamed of being able to study under MacArthur and I believed his seminary would make me into a great expository preacher.
However, my dream became a fundamentalist nightmare reminiscent of the harrowing and dystopian world depicted by novelist Margaret Atwood’s in The Handmaid’s Tale.
For three years, I was a student at the Master’s Seminary, led and molded into the inflexible and doctrinaire image formulated by John MacArthur.
Most of my professors there were just as insufferable and dogmatic as MacArthur, and I was often severely chastened when I expressed disagreement with some of their dogmatic assertions.
Soon, I became the scapegoat and punching bag of several abusive seminary administrators and professors who incessantly criticized and chastened me for daring to hold doctrinal positions that differed from John MacArthur and their inflexible form of dispensationalist fundamentalism.
However, after three long years of experiencing their wrath and constant condemnation, I dropped out and never looked back. Since those horrific days, I kissed John MacArthur goodbye and haven’t listened to him since.
Lee Enochs is a graduate of Texas Baptist College, Princeton Theological Seminary and Gateway Seminary of the Southern Baptist Convention. Currently Lee is in his last semester at the University of North Texas’ Mayborn School of Journalism where he hosts a podcast for KNTU radio.
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