“Have you ever had someone ask you to pray for something so stupid you think, ‘I’m not praying for that’?” asks John Crist, famous clean/Christian comedian. “They pray before NASCAR races. Did you know that? What’s the prayer? ‘Jesus, we have engineered these cars to go 250 miles per hour. We will race them for six hours, three inches from each other. We just pray that you would help us not to die.’ …God’s like, ‘Just don’t race!’”

John has excellent timing, vibrant expression, and subtle changes to his voice that make it all the funnier in person. He’s on top of his game, selling out shows across the country, being featured on large, mainstream platforms such as ESPN, Good Morning America, and more. But it was not always this way – and as business leaders, there are a few lessons we can take from the tumultuous history of John Crist’s career.

In 2019, when Crist had finally established himself as an A-list comedian, with nearly 200,000 tickets sold for his global tour (making Pollstar’s top 100 tours list), a book deal, and comedy specials on the way, an extensive exposé by Charisma News broke that momentum, hard. Crist issued an apology, suspended his tour dates, and disappeared from public view for almost a year. Why? Because of numerous allegations of sexual harassment, manipulation, and the sending of explicit images. Crist responded quickly, saying that while not all of the accusations against him were true, many of them were, and he called his behavior “destructive,” “sinful,” and a violation of his Christian beliefs. He then said that he had been receiving regular professional treatment for his sexual sins and his addictions and that he was committed to getting healthy and free, so he would be stepping away for a while.

And then he did. He was gone from the limelight. Zero posts on social media. No interviews. No op-eds.

Eight months later, he came back from his very public cancellation with an apology video explaining what he had been up to. The short answer is rehab, taking a break, and taking ownership. He reiterated his remorse, blamed no one but himself, and thanked people for their kindness amidst his hypocrisy and sin.

Shortly thereafter, he was making videos on social media again and garnering chuckles, likes, and shares. Pretty soon, he was back to touring and filming, and now, a few years later, John Crist is a hugely popular comedian once again, with his own Netflix special and everything. He no longer seems to perform at churches, but he still publicly identifies as a Christian and incorporates American church culture into his comedic material. He has over 8 million followers across social media channels (more than double the number of followers he had in 2019 before the scandal) and over a billion views across his various comedy videos.

It’s almost difficult to remember that John Crist experienced such a devastating public scandal that sent him to rehab, made him think he was going to quit comedy altogether, and caused him to seriously consider suicide. He joins the ranks of other entertainers who have successfully put their pasts behind them and emerged with their careers stronger than ever – such as Robert Downey Jr., Martha Stewart, Rob Lowe, et al.

On the other side of it all, John says that the worst thing that ever happened to him (his sins against innocent people and his hypocrisy being laid bare before the world) was the best thing that ever happened to him, because it forced him to get serious about finding healing, and it taught him more about the grace and love of God than he had ever understood before.

Some people still doubt that his repentance has been sincere, but for the most part, Crist seems to be back in the good graces of Christian culture. John isn’t a pastor – if he had been, sending him back to his old job would have been a problem – John is a comedian, and he’s sticking to what he does best: Making Christians laugh at themselves.

Business leaders can take a few notes from this whole scenario.

Lessons for Leaders

Lesson #1 – Your sin really will find you out, and the greater your influence, the more hurt and destruction you can cause. Deal with sin in your life ruthlessly because sooner or later, it’s going to make an appearance.

20th century management guru says that personal integrity is a requirement for a successful leader. This means no shortcuts, tax-cheating, white lies to customers, or improper allocation of donations or resources.

Lesson #2 – Apologize when you mess up. Be specific, be sincere, provide restitution where necessary, and then lay low for a while. Let people process as you step to the side.

As Forbes puts it, don’t ‘fake it till you make it’ and don’t believe your own hype. The right move is to deal with a problem when it arises instead of letting it fester and get worse. For best results, tackle your failures head-on, and consider these six tips, again from Forbes, on how to send out proper messaging during a scandal.

John’s public scandal was pretty terrible – for anyone branded as a “Christian” act, it should have been the end of a career. While he does not seem to have done anything illegal, his behavior was morally reprehensible, and it dishonored many young women. When things began to surface, however, John did not justify his behavior. He apologized, fessed up, laid out a specific plan of action to address the problem, and stepped out of the limelight.

In our day and age, we believe that “deny till you die” is the way to go. “Never apologize,” we hear. “The mob is never satisfied!” And so, far too many people refuse to make amends for public missteps. This is a mistake. When we lose trust, it is important that we begin gaining it back by prioritizing the people affected by our mistakes. In our influence-obsessed, attention-obsessed social media world, it is all too easy to just keep talking, keep posting, and never step away.

But a wise man once wrote that there is a season for everything under the sun.

Hopefully, you and those who run your business with you will never make the same mistakes that John made. But you will mess up at some point, in some way or another.

Learn a lesson from the rise, fall, and rebirth of John Crist:

The truth (and a little humility) will set you free.

Quick Hits

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