{"id":45,"date":"2010-04-01T10:15:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-01T10:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beliefbeat\/2010\/04\/john-piper-megachurch-pastor-and-author-takes-break-to-tackle-sins.html"},"modified":"2010-04-01T10:15:00","modified_gmt":"2010-04-01T10:15:00","slug":"john-piper-megachurch-pastor-and-author-takes-break-to-tackle-sins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2010\/04\/john-piper-megachurch-pastor-and-author-takes-break-to-tackle-sins.html","title":{"rendered":"John Piper, Megachurch Pastor and Author, Takes Break to Tackle ‘Sins’"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Piper, a prolific evangelical Christian author and founder of Desiring God Ministries<\/a>, is taking an 8-month leave of absence from public life, including his role as pastor at Bethlethem Baptist Church in Minnesota.\"piper_hands.jpg\"<\/p>\n

It’s not an April Fools’ Day joke — Piper, 64, announced his decision earlier this week, in a letter to his congregation<\/a>. His leave will start May 1.<\/p>\n

Religion News Service notes <\/a>that Piper (whose books include “Spectacular Sins<\/a>” and “Don’t Waste Your Life<\/a>“) says he wants to focus on his 41-year marriage to his wife No\u00ebl,<\/span><\/span> including unspecified “sins” that have “taken a toll” on their relationship, yet he states that there has not been any infidelity. An excerpt: <\/p>\n

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I see several species of pride in my soul that, even though they may not rise to the level of disqualifying me for ministry, grieve me, and have taken a toll on my relationship with No\u00ebl and others who are dear to me. No\u00ebl and I are rock solid in our commitment to each other, and there is no whiff of unfaithfulness on either side. But, as I told the elders, “rock solid” is not always an emotionally satisfying metaphor, especially to a woman. A rock is not the best image of a woman’s tender companion.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What do you think? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below.<\/p>\n

*Click here to <\/span>subscribe to Belief Beat <\/span><\/strong><\/a>and <\/span>click here to <\/span>follow Belief Beat on Twitter<\/strong><\/a>.<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Piper, a prolific evangelical Christian author and founder of Desiring God Ministries, is taking an 8-month leave of absence from public life, including his role as pastor at Bethlethem Baptist Church in Minnesota. It’s not an April Fools’ Day joke — Piper, 64, announced his decision earlier this week, in a letter to his congregation. His…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nJohn Piper, Megachurch Pastor and Author, Takes Break to Tackle 'Sins' - Belief Beat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beliefbeat\/2010\/04\/john-piper-megachurch-pastor-and-author-takes-break-to-tackle-sins.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"John Piper, Megachurch Pastor and Author, Takes Break to Tackle 'Sins' - Belief Beat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"John Piper, a prolific evangelical Christian author and founder of Desiring God Ministries, is taking an 8-month leave of absence from public life, including his role as pastor at Bethlethem Baptist Church in Minnesota. 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