After serving in ministry leadership as a paid staff member for over 20 years of my life, I have observed some very disturbing practices that go on in many church offices. These are the kind of things that we dare not whisper, because they actually are quite embarrassing. Many who work in ministry, including myself, are culpable to some degree.

Sometimes, it seems our workplace ethics stink in the local church.

The average churchgoer thinks of church as what happens each Sunday morning when the songs are raised and sermons preached. But often, the overlooked business the church conducts during the week is far from ideal.

I remember working as a young twenty-something in the music and worship department at a large church. Six pianos needed tuning, including three grand pianos. So I called up my former piano teacher, a Piano Tuning Guild member with the credentials and talent to help us. I turned in the paperwork to the administrative office, and presto! We hired him.

About three months later, ...