Ghosting in ministry: ostracized by Spiritual fathers

Recently, I had a discussion with an old friend and my original spiritual father, Kent Linneweh came up. It reminded me of a breakdown in the relationship that Paul told us in 1 Corinthians 4 is critical for our formation.

We are told to be disciplined by fathers who are imparting and are committed to our spiritual life. Very early on in my new life in Christ was Kent Linneweh who had been the youth pastor at the Assembly of God in my hometown.

I am thankful for what foundation that was laid out. This is important because discipleship is the foundation that keeps you when the crushing comes to release the anointing. Without the foundation, it is painful.

So what happens when you lose that relationship with a spiritual father? Having come out of from among the world and been through some very traumatic seasons before even able to drive, I needed formation in the spiritual things more than most. I had seen things that no one should to see. I found a mentor or spiritual father in Kent Linneweh that I believed that he saw something the Lord was doing in my life.

Then, the unthinkable happened.

Early in my marriage, I was abandoned by my wife. I come home to an empty house. When I needed ministry the most, Kent turned on me and made it very clear that he felt I deserved to be abandoned. It was at that moment that I realized that church leaders care more about their repetution than they do about spiritual sons and daughters. The easy road was to blame the victim for the abandonment. My relationship with Kent Linneweh was never the same after that.

Ministries without foundations

Without the foundation of apostolic mentorship or spiritual fathering; people struggle spiritually. It is like telling a man to walk on his hands without his feet. It is possible but much slower and harder. In that way, I learned that pastors and leaders in the Church can’t be trusted and I was on my own to develop what the Lord has put on my life and the cost of the anointing would come alone. This is why I understand (not encourage though) lone rangers. Many of them have been left an spiritual orphans. Every anointed person needs a spiritual father but many are left with having no father but God as I was.

In the Greek, μιμητής is translated as imitate but is actually means something much deeper. It can be understood as “admiring the pattern set by someone worthy of emulation.” In other words, spiritual fathers establish a pattern and when that is in place, you will be able to handle the attacks of the enemy and once the crushing ends, you will walk in the same anointing as the spiritual father and even greater. Without the pattern, it is normally very hard to handle the attacks.

In my case, instead of linking arm to arm for at least spiritual restoration, if not restoring the marriage (Unlikely after a demon had taken up residence in her soul); the abandonment of spiritual formation left me alone, crying out as a broken man and question my own sanity. Part of the reason was I was left without the apostolic pattern of a spiritual father.

Ghosting is not the Spirit

After this and another season of abandonment a few years later, I was left without any relationship whatsoever with Kent Linneweh. It was not just a distant “see you at Wal-Mart sometime” relationship. It was nothing at all. A man that once was my spiritual father was now ghosting me in the Spirit and in the natural. The lesson that I learned is that church leaders want to be teachers but not fathers.

They want what is best for them and their image more than they want to see people walk in power and full of the Spirit. As a result, we have a generation full of theology without a foundation. This leads to a falling away from the faith when pressure comes. The missing link is spiritual fathers who ghost people for their struggles. I know first hand.

In many cases, this leads to years of struggle without that needed foundation. It led me to deeper struggle until I was in the middle of the woods in Moravian Falls crying out to God to just take me home and the presence of the Spirit came on me and everything lifted. Every word spoken against me, every wrong deed done to me and every one that abandoned did not matter. The power of God came on me and set me free from it all. The betrayal of many that happened when I was abandoned by my wife had been dealt with the Holy Spirit and I have been declared free by the blood of Jesus.

(I did make several attempts to restore the relationship with Kent but to no success. The last time I tried he wanted me to not contact him again!)

Be passionate about spiritual sons

Jesus Christ is about restoration and He does not ostracize anyone as long as they have breath. This has become a core value of my calling as a result.

I do not blame Kent Linneweh for what happened today or even ghosting me. He had his reasons and had to do what he believed was the Spirit. (Shortly after, he became a missionary) He is also on the payroll at a church pastored by a modern Jezebel. What I learned through this was the power of being faithful to the anointed. When hell comes in someone’s life, run to the burning bridge to make sure they are safe and not run from it for my own safety. After all, we are loved by God that calls Himself the Father of Compassion.

It was the lack of a spiritual father that made me realize the need to have compassion on the fatherless, in the natural and in the spirit. We can break this trend by restoring the biblical pattern of being fathers and mothers and not just teachers of the gospel.

We need fathers in the gospel.

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