Mark Driscoll’s actions at and since the Stronger Men’s Conference are “demonic” and he must be called to repentance, according to the pastor who organized the hyper-masculine event for Christian men.
“What Mark had done … was so egregious, attempting to tear down the leadership of the church, attempting to create doubt and friction between brothers, attempting to sow discord between a father and a son. It seems demonic to me and honestly it makes me very, very concerned for Mark at that point,” said Pastor John Lindell of James River Church in Ozark, Mo.
Mark Driscoll
Lindell devoted his sermon Sunday evening, April 21, to explaining the controversial events that transpired the previous weekend in Springfield, Mo., where thousands gathered for the Stronger Men’s Conference that included a performance by a renowned sword swallower as a demonstration of strength.
Driscoll, the disgraced former pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, also had been invited to address the conference. Without warning, he began his sermon by calling the performer, Alex Magala, a male stripper and accused Magala and Lindell of unleashing the “Jezebel spirit” on the conference. Lindell rose from the floor and told Driscoll he was out of line, which prompted Driscoll to close his Bible and walk off stage, while Lindell was left to calm the crowd that was chanting for Driscoll to be allowed to speak.
The entire series of events was reported in an earlier article by BNG.
Matthew 18 reconciliation
Lindell told his congregation he has followed the steps for reconciliation outlined in Matthew 18 but Driscoll has refused to repent and reconcile. Driscoll’s greatest claim to fame is incendiary preaching that appeals to machismo and has been called by others abusive. That, plus a scheme to make it look like he sold more books than he did, was the cause of the implosion at Mars Hill, which became the subject of a hugely popular podcast produced by Christianity Today.
“Jesus gives us a process for resolving conflicts, not just conflicts between believers, but a plan for confronting sinful behavior,” Lindell told his congregation. “Step one, you go to the person and point out their fault just between the two of you. Step two, if the person does not repent, you involve one to two other people. Step three, if they refuse, you tell it to the church. So it is with great sadness that I let you know we are at step three.”
Lindell then outlined his perspective on the series of events that happened before, during and after the conference.
About the sword swallower
First, he said, “at the conference and in the days that followed, Mark has repeatedly engaged in sinful behavior.” That begins with his description of Magala’s strongman act.
Alex Magala performing
Magala, by his own description, is an Orthodox Christian who also sometimes attends Mosaic Church in Los Angeles, a formerly Southern Baptist church led by Pastor Erwin McManus. Magala describes his act as “deeply rooted in a historical and cultural tradition that dates back over 1,200 years and has since become a respected discipline showcasing human strength and agility.”
Magala issued a statement to clarify: “Pastor Mark Driscoll’s remarks about my act failed to recognize the difference between a male striptease and a stunt performance rooted in art and sport. Only an uninformed person would draw a comparison between my act and an inappropriate performance. I feel that this danger act is perfect for the Stronger Men’s Conference. It provides inspiration to the audience and permission for them to reach new heights of what’s possible in their lives.”
In a further irony, Magala said his mentor, Dan Meyer — a leader of Sword Swallowers Association International and a multiple Guinness World Record holder in sword swallowing — is a member of Driscoll’s current church in Scottsdale, Ariz.
Meyer also issued a statement saying, “It wasn’t a raunchy male pole dance or stripper performance. Alex is the top of his field as a master in the classical 12th century martial arts acrobatic discipline called Chinese pole acrobatics, which he performed at the Olympics. This is way different than a male stripper. It’s like comparing classical ballet with striptease. No comparison.”
Controversy over the feat-of-strength performance clearly originated with Driscoll and was fanned by Driscoll, Lindell said.
“If people, aside from Mark Driscoll, had been offended by Alex’s performance on Friday night, I would’ve been hearing about it the rest of the night,” he explained. “I did not receive one text, one email or one phone call, and no one came up to me in the arena … to share their concerns. Furthermore, not one of the hundreds of hosts we had serving around the arena received a complaint about Alex’s performance.”
To compound the injury, Driscoll has spread misinformation about Magala’s past, Lindell added. “Although Mark knows that Alex is a Christian, he has done nothing to quell the furor over Alex’s past. Mark could have easily contacted one of his own congregants to find out more about Alex or even contacted Alex’s manager, but it seems that Mark is more interested in the controversy that will sell books, gain clicks and increased donations to his ministry.”
No advance warning
Lindell said Driscoll gave him no indication of the controversial stance he was going to take at the conference, even though they chatted for 20 minutes immediately before the sermon.
“He stated that session one would be about Ahab and Jezebel. At no time during our conversation was there any mention of his angst over Alex Magala’s performance or his concerns about the event. Mark could have easily mentioned Alex, but he did not.”
After Driscoll walked off stage, Lindell found him in the parking lot in a car heading for the airport.
Lindell said he stopped Driscoll in the parking lot and confronted him with the teaching of Matthew 18 and the command to speak one-on-one with someone who has given offense before airing your grievance publicly.
“To which Mark responded, ‘Well, I couldn’t help it. The Spirit of God came upon me,” Lindell reported. “My response was, ‘Mark, that’s not true. The Bible says the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, so don’t say you couldn’t help it because that is not what the Bible says, and the Holy Spirit is never going to encourage you to do something that contradicts his word.”
Some have said Driscoll later apologized on stage, but “he did not,” Lindell said.
Unwilling to repent
Lindell then outlined a bizarre series of text messages and phone calls between his son, David, and Driscoll.
“It seemed that Mark had been embarrassed publicly and he was getting ready to create a firestorm,” Lindell observed.
After repeated attempts at reconciliation one-on-one and in small groups, “Mark was unwilling to repent and still has not repented as well,” Lindell said.
Meanwhile, Driscoll’s actions resulted in “death threats and horrible abuse to our James River Church receptionist,” the pastor said. “So much so that for the first time ever we shut down our switchboard and put all calls to voicemail. Our receptionists were frightened and were in tears.”
Driscoll’s actions resulted in “death threats and horrible abuse to our James River Church receptionist.”
Further, the national headquarters of the Assemblies of God has received “violent threats and such disturbing interaction with callers that they, too, shut down their reception.”
As of the time Lindell spoke last Sunday night, “Mark has done nothing to calm down the vigilant acts of his followers,” Lindell said.
Thus, he issued this public appeal to Driscoll: “Mark, if you are listening to this message, we love you and it’s with a heavy heart that we are calling you to repent. Jimmy Evans has called you to repent and the presence of God and of Jesus Christ who will judge the living and the dead and in view of his appearing and his kingdom. Mark, we call on you to publicly repent. We are calling you to publicly repent for refusing to stop the spread of lies regarding Alex Magala, a Christian brother. Mark, we are calling you to publicly repent for sowing disunity in the body of Christ. Mark, we are calling you to publicly repent for covertly trying to divide brothers and making false and slanderous accusations against Brandon Lindell.”
Meanwhile, Driscoll has pinned a post to the top of his page on X advertising his book: “If you want to learn more about the Jezebel Spirit & how it’s corrupting everything in its path, I’m giving away the book I wrote on it last year (2023) for free. Text FIRE to 99383 and I’ll send you a digital copy.”
Driscoll’s entire X feed is filled with references to “the Jezebel spirit” and his new book.
He also offers to send updated photos to journalists who are writing about him.
Those posts, and his promotion of the book on demonic spirits, predate the conference where he says the spirit of God told him to call out the very “Jezebel spirit” he had just released a book about.
Related articles:
What happened when Mark Driscoll and Josh Howerton showed up at the Stronger Men’s Conference this weekend| Analysis by Rick Pidcock
Reflections on The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill | Analysis by Tyler Tankersley