LAKE MARY, Fla. -- Pastors quoted in a special 20th anniversary issue of Ministries Today magazine, say private propriety is needed now more than ever in the nation's churches.

According to Charisma News Service report, Jack Hayford, pastor of The Church on the Way in Van Nuys, Calif., believes the next 10 years should be embraced as the "decade of return to full integrity."

"Everything that's been coming down in the church internationally, from the scandal regarding Catholic priests to the slack moral standards and sloppy attitudes toward marriage in the evangelical-charismatic sector is, I believe, forcing God's hand," Hayford told the magazine. "Unless purity of motive, clarity of communications, sanctity in marriage, chastity in sex and fidelity in marriage become our hallmark, many won't have to pack up and close church doors: God will use the world to do that."

David Shibley, president of Global Advance in Dallas, said that recent revelations about the "appalling abuse of power" by clergy means that "trust will be harder to gain and easier to lose." The solution, he said, is "intimacy with Jesus and sensitivity to the Holy Spirit."

John Maxwell, founder of The INJOY Group in Atlanta, called the lack of character in many pastors' lives a major blind spot. "The most important person a leader ever leads is himself or herself; and till we lead ourselves, we should not be trying to lead anyone else."

Some gifted pastors never reach their potential, Maxwell added, because "they truly lack discipline. They do not have the ability to make the right decision -- they make the convenient decision, the personal decision, the fleshly decision or the quick fix."

Pastor and author Max Lucado said pastors have to guard against pride, which he called "the maternity ward of heartaches. A leader who feels bulletproof forgets to wear protection."

Ministries Today publisher Stephen Strang said that high-profile pastors -- just like those leading smaller flocks -- also are accountable for their indiscretions.

"(I)t seems among some charismatics there is a new, lax attitude toward high-profile ministers who preach one thing and live another," said Strang. "Other leaders, not wanting to seem judgmental, look the other way, saying they can't say much about divorce because it is so common. And it's not just sexual sins that are the problem. What about pride, greed and ungodly use of power?"