Absolute Transparency

I’ve always had the philosophy that a pastor has to share everything about himself. There’s nothing that can be hidden.

My philosophy came to a test recently when I realized that in the message I was giving, it would be helpful for me to share that I’ve been diagnosed with attachment disorder. I’ve also been diagnosed with ADD, and I shared that as well, but that didn’t feel like such a big deal. But saying I have attachment disorder felt like it was a bigger bomb to drop. I don’t know, I would just want my pastor to be a healthy person, and a person who has attachment disorder doesn’t sound healthy to me.

So I debated whether to share it, for about a minute. And then I decided, as I always do, that I had no choice, I had to share it. Why? Because if I don’t share everything about me, then people aren’t really following me, they’re following an image of me that I project. And if there was something I shared that led people to no longer be willing to follow me, then they shouldn’t be following me anyway.

If I hide my attachment disorder from you, you’re not following Vince, because Vince is a guy with attachment disorder. And if share it and you decide not to follow me, well you shouldn’t be following me.

It’s not the most convenient philosophy to have – when you’re the person who is doing the sharing, and it’s often stuff you’d rather not share – but it’s right. And right wins over convenient.