Confronting Christianity with Rebecca McLaughlin
Sep 8, 2026 · 57 min · 12 segments
What makes a Christian leader worthy of trust? Rebecca talks with Kyle Worley and his father, longtime pastor Joe Worley, about power, integrity, parenting, and why faithful leadership looks more like…
Rebecca McLaughlinHostKyle WorleyHost
Joseph WorleyGuestIt's one of the things, and I've talked about this on, on previous episodes, but one of the real blessings and responsibilities actually of being a middle-aged woman in the local church, which is, w- you know, those are...
That's one thing, one of my identities [laughs] um, is that I have the, the opportunity, the privilege, the blessing of being in a kind of maternal adjacent role with a number of, of younger, younger people in our church.
And the most important thing they need from me is for me to be a safe and trustworthy person.
And, and if I ever betrayed that trust or like used the sort of relational power that I have in, in a...
I mean, the, just the, if, if I use the, the role that I, uh, have in their lives in some way, um, to, to harm them or exploit them, that'll be e- exceedingly damaging.
I, I appreciate you guys sort of broadening this out actually to be helpful to both those who are charged with sort of specific pastoral ministry in a, in a local church as a, as a senior pastor, um, and those who are sort of shepherding others and loving and caring for others in a whole, whole range of ways.
Um, Joe, I'm curious, i- i- for you as someone who's not only been in pastoral ministry for a long time, but presumably also sort of witnessed others in pastoral ministry over the years, um, if you were to say like, "Here's the one..." I know there's not just one, but like pick your top one to three things which you would say, "Okay, if, if, if someone is doing this early in their ministry, this is a good predictor that they're going to make it in the long term."
I, I would say that if, if they are unwilling to, to be shoulder to shoulder with the people that they're ministering to, um, it's, it's a recipe for disaster because there, there's the shepherding role.
You, you have to leave where you are and, and, and live in the world that the people live in.
And so I think shoulder to shoulder, that's the nature, uh, of, of shepherding.
And so if you're unwilling to do that, then ministry is, m- may not be for you, just because, uh, it, it...
And I'm not talking necessarily about being a people person because there are people who are very introverted and, you know, the, the various personalities God uses in great ways.
But you have to understand that if you're unwilling to, uh, to stand with people, um...
I've been in so many counseling situations, uh, not as a professional counselor, but as a pastor.
It's one of the things, and I've talked about this on, on previous episodes, but one of the real blessings and responsibilities actually of being a middle-aged woman in the local church, which is, w- you know, those are...
That's one thing, one of my identities [laughs] um, is that I have the, the opportunity, the privilege, the blessing of being in a kind of maternal adjacent role with a number of, of younger, younger people in our church.
And the most important thing they need from me is for me to be a safe and trustworthy person.
And, and if I ever betrayed that trust or like used the sort of relational power that I have in, in a...
I mean, the, just the, if, if I use the, the role that I, uh, have in their lives in some way, um, to, to harm them or exploit them, that'll be e- exceedingly damaging.
I, I appreciate you guys sort of broadening this out actually to be helpful to both those who are charged with sort of specific pastoral ministry in a, in a local church as a, as a senior pastor, um, and those who are sort of shepherding others and loving and caring for others in a whole, whole range of ways.
Um, Joe, I'm curious, i- i- for you as someone who's not only been in pastoral ministry for a long time, but presumably also sort of witnessed others in pastoral ministry over the years, um, if you were to say like, "Here's the one..." I know there's not just one, but like pick your top one to three things which you would say, "Okay, if, if, if someone is doing this early in their ministry, this is a good predictor that they're going to make it in the long term."
I, I would say that if, if they are unwilling to, to be shoulder to shoulder with the people that they're ministering to, um, it's, it's a recipe for disaster because there, there's the shepherding role.
You, you have to leave where you are and, and, and live in the world that the people live in.
And so I think shoulder to shoulder, that's the nature, uh, of, of shepherding.
And so if you're unwilling to do that, then ministry is, m- may not be for you, just because, uh, it, it...
And I'm not talking necessarily about being a people person because there are people who are very introverted and, you know, the, the various personalities God uses in great ways.
But you have to understand that if you're unwilling to, uh, to stand with people, um...
I've been in so many counseling situations, uh, not as a professional counselor, but as a pastor.
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