Christian media has been ablaze lately after a peculiar incident at the Stronger Men’s Conference at James River Church in Springfield MO. The conference opened with a performance from a sword swallower/pole dancer named Alex Magala. Everything seemed to be fine until influential pastor Mark Driscoll took the stage and rebuked the “Jezebel spirit” tied to Magala’s performance. While Driscoll was talking the pastor John Lindell told Mark to get off the stage and shouted that he was “out of line.” Boos filled the place as Driscoll walked off and Lindell began to speak to the congregation. Some of the attendees even told Lindell to “get off the stage.” Talk about a debacle.
To make things even more odd, Lindell and Driscoll then both took the stage together and began to flatter each other with compliments to smooth things over. The peace did not last very long though. Lindell says that Driscoll later talked to his son Brandon about pushing his dad out of leadership at the church and now Lindell is publicly calling Driscoll to repent, warning that if he didn’t nobody should ever associate with him again.
BOTH SIDES NEED TO REPENT
I have no interest in beating a dead horse, people have already provided more than enough commentary on who they think was right in all this. What I will speak to is how the whole scenario really speaks to a larger issue in today’s Western Church. First on the part of the conference for mixing gimmicks with discipleship, and second on the part of the pastors who both seem to have mixed intentions.
First off, someone has to ask what sword swallowing and pole dancing has to do with helping men grow in their faith? There’s nothing wrong with using entertainment to draw people towards the gospel, but there are times where restraint is needed. When one watches the ad for the conference they are told that men are going to “get in the presence of God.” But at the same time those words are being uttered you’re seeing pictures of monster trucks in church (yes actual monster trucks inside a church building) and circus like theatrics. Now I’m all for using elements of the world to preach the gospel, I used to perform hip hop on the streets while preaching the gospel. But it’s hard for me to imagine how monster trucks can be equated with “getting into God’s presence.” God can manifest His presence in any setting, but the sense one gets from watching the ad is that God comes second, and entertainment comes first.
STRONGER MENS CONFERENCE 2024 was one for the books! What an incredible weekend – God moved in powerful ways and thousands of men were impacted! 🙌
We can’t wait for SMC25! pic.twitter.com/fxyQ5NOudw
— James River Church (@jamesriver) April 15, 2024
Secondly, Driscoll’s rebuke was needed, but the way it was given wasn’t. Lindell noted how Driscoll had spoken to him for 30 minutes prior and failed to mention anything about his concerns. If that’s true, then Driscoll needs to check himself. If his sole intention was to warn against error then why didn’t show any grievance to the lead pastor of the church, instead of going directly to the congregation and creating an uproar.
JEZEBEL SPIRITS?
Driscoll also said the performance was wrong because it was invoking a “jezebel spirit” and that the pole was meant to symbolize works-based pagan theology. It’s important to note however, that the Bible never mentions anything about a “jezebel spirit.” There are demonic spirits that can influence different people in the same way, but to speak about Jezebel spirits as if they’re a specific class of demonic entities isn’t helping his case. On his X (formerly Twitter) account Driscoll says that a Jezebel spirit “seeks to control and dominate, most often through seductive women but oftentimes through overbearing, domineering men.” Wouldn’t that simply be called pride? Of course, demons celebrate and our pride to their advantage, but we can’t blame a made-up class of demons for man’s sin. It would have been better to simply talk about sexual immorality or disorder in the Church instead of invoking pagan theology and made-up demons.
One of the problems that this conference is hopefully calling attention to, is that pastors can act like celebrities who are more worried about their image than their character. This seems to be the case with Driscoll, but one has to ask why Lindell doesn’t see anything wrong with monster trucks and pole dancers in his church? Perhaps Driscoll didn’t go about it the right way, but someone needed to call attention to what was happening. The Bible says that rebukes may sting in the moment but that they should be “trusted” and learned from (Prov. 27:8). But many pastors who grow large followings and churches tend to function like CEO’s. Popularity influences the heart in subtle, destructive ways. The “glory of God” is often a cover for building up our own popularity. The brand becomes almighty, and admitting wrongdoing isn’t always a “good look.” From a horizontal standpoint, it seems that there is a lot of corporate culture built into the ministry of James River Church. Sadly, it is this same man-centeredness that permeates much Western church culture today.
THE REAL ISSUE: IMMATURITY
Paul once confronted the Corinthian church for their immaturity,
And I, brothers and sisters, could not speak to you as spiritual people, but only as fleshly, as to infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to consume it. But even now you are not yet able, 3 for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like ordinary people?
1 Cor. 3:1-3
Believers today should be growing in character and doctrine as we mature in Christ. Instead, we seem to be emulating Brad Pitt in the Benjamin Button movie, becoming younger and younger as we age. Conflicts between pastors look more like kindergarten tantrums than mature men trying to follow Christ together. I wish I could say that this is an isolated incident, but instead it only appears to be a symptom of a larger issue taking place. When pastors take on persona’s that are out of touch with God’s design for shepherding, and when churches look more like theaters than God’s house, emotionalism become central and people get hurt. What happened at the conference should be just another alarm bell ringing to the western world to “get our house in order.”
