Billy Graham's Grandson Tullian Tchividjian Explains How Pride Drove Him to Commit Adultery

By Timothy Yap Aug 08, 2015 06:12 AM EDT

Billy Graham's grandson Tullian Tchividjian recently stepped down as the lead pastor of a meagchurch in Florida because he and his wife both admitted to committed adulterous affairs with others. After stepping down as the senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Tchividjian for the first time talks about how he was led to commit adultery.

"It's one thing not to be shocked at other people's sins. That was the one thing I was convinced I would never do. I knew that I could be lured by this or that or the other, but I always had my guard up. I knew that that (adultery) was a career killer, at least in my experience with pastors and church leaders," said Tchividjian in an interview with William Vanderbloemen for a new podcast series recently launched by Vanderbloemen Search Group, America's leading pastoral search firm.

Pride was the maor cause of what caused Tchividjian to sin. After his career took off and he became known for preaching a message of grace he started to believe in himself far too much and that led to the breakdown of his marriage.

"I think when I went through the transition at Coral Ridge, it was obviously rough but we rebounded from that. God opened up a lot of doors, gave me a significant platform, writing books, television stuff, traveling, conferences, I became a different person. Not consciously. I don't think anyone who knew me well, would have thought .... but very, very subtle and tempting to believe your own press," he said.

"To believe that you are more important than you think you are and that this whole thing is riding on you. And for me, this is an embarrassing admission as I'm reflecting right now. For me, after the transition at Coral Ridge, the message became the most important thing for me because it was the message that was saving me every single day," he explained.

As his star rose, however, the messenger, he said, became more important than the message and it all came crashing down when he discovered his wife was being unfaithful to him.

"When I came home and discovered what my wife had been doing [I] was blown away, shocked, I go 'what kind of a person have I become?'" he said. "I'm not blaming me necessarily, we are all responsible for the decisions we make," he continued.

After going through some "dark nights" he said, he now understands why some people commit suicide.

"I experienced dark nights of the soul that I have never experienced before - despair, wondering if there is a future. I never could fully understand why people could take their own life. And while I have not been - thankfully, by God's grace - tempted to do so, I for the first time understand why. I get the desperation, in a way that I never have," he said.

Contact: leonardo.blair@christianpost.com; follow me on Twitter @leoblair

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