Alright, everything about this story is weird, and if anything, it serves to show how so many American churches have become actual circus shows devoid of sound teaching and common sense.
(Sorry, Babylon Bee bros, but reality is crazier than satire now!)
Let me try to sum up what happened (I really have to give some background here, but skip it if you want) and then we'll get to the video.
Mark Driscoll is a megachurch pastor who fell from grace over a decade ago. Known for being fiery at a time when almost no one else was delivering fire from the pulpit, Driscoll had quite the following, particularly among young men, until his anger, abuse, and control issues surfaced, disqualifying him from leadership and putting his church, Mars Hill, in the middle of a national scandal. It was a big deal, since Driscoll was also a founding council member of The Gospel Coalition and the co-founder of the popular church-planting network Acts 29.
In the years since, Driscoll has resumed pastoring at a new church he founded in Arizona, but has popped up from time to time on the radar for occasional firebrand moments. Once seen as a leading figure in the New Calvinism movement that spawned a new generation of bearded theobros, he has leaned further into the esoteric charismatic beliefs that put him at odds with Reformed theologians (remember when he crashed a John MacArthur conference?).
Driscoll is like an Alex Jones figure in the megachurch evangelical world. He's known as a firebrand who is gifted at speaking and has a dedicated group of followers that points out that he might be right about more things than he is wrong.
Which is why the leaders who invited him to speak at a men's conference in Springfield, Missouri, should have known he would raise a holy ruckus when they invited a guy to do interpretive pole dance on stage (you read that right).
Yes, the leaders of the "Stronger Men's Conference" at James River Church in Springfield invited this guy:
To do this on stage:
WHAT THE HECK WERE THEY THINKING HIRING A MALE STRIPPER AND SWORD SWALLOWER FOR A MEN'S CONFERENCE?
Well, Mark Driscoll had thoughts, and while they are theologically sketchy on the metaphor side, it's hard to disagree with his frustration.
Church commentary site Protestia ran an op-ed scathing Driscoll for the public way he handled this and I thought it was helpful to provide some context before we jump to final conclusions:
... the performance that Driscoll so strongly objected to was relatively benign and completely mischaracterized by Driscoll in some sexual light because he's a bit of a theological weirdo. When you mind-meld his strange obsession with sex with the worst excesses of the charismatic movement, you get whatever it is he was going on about ...
He's seeing sex and demonic Jezebel spirits where everyone else is seeing an acrobat performing on a bolted-down aerial pole used by circus performers, aerialists and acrobats.
The "platform" he was on wasn't a religious "high place," and there wasn't an "Asherah pole" (some representation of the Canaanite fertility goddess that no one even knows what they truly looked like). There was no stripper pole, unless he believes Cirque du Soleil is the world's biggest strip show. There was a stand used by the performer to be more visible, and which helps bolt down the Chinese pole for added safety and security.
Okay, point noted. Driscoll isn't exactly the guy we should be listening to for biblically sound metaphors. The church leaders meant this to be manly, not sexual or homoerotic. Their promo video shows they were going for "SUPER MANLY TESTOSTERONE EXPLOSION" as the theme.
Here's the problem: The conference leaders thought this was cool (???) or manly (???) but it wasn't.
It was a half-naked stripper doing a circus routine on the stage of a church filled with men who were there to learn more about what it means to take up their crosses and follow Christ.
So what's wild is that even though his theology and temperament and character is all over the place, Driscoll actually had a point.
Here's what I've learned through this story: If Mark Driscoll is the sober voice of reason at your men's conference that says A LOT about the quality of the leaders at your church.
John Lindell, the pastor of the James River Church, forced Driscoll off the stage, citing Matthew 18 about confronting a brother privately, which was a real stretch in this case by Lindell's part (let's not twist the Word of God to justify hiring strippers for our men's conferences, eh?).
Something is deeply rotten in American churches. We have turned houses of worship for Almighty God into circuses, and even guys like Mark Driscoll see it.
Get your house in order, American Christian.
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