A former stripper at church conference?

Something weird happened at James River Church (Assembly of God) last week. Let's talk about it.

John and Debbie Lindell are the lead pastors of James River Church, which has two campuses in Springfield and one each in Springfield and Joplin as well as an online presence.

James River, an Assemblies of God Church, had an attendance last year of 11,500 to 12,000 every weekend, according to information on the website of the Assemblies of God Headquarters in Springfield.

I got to attend a small pastor’s lunch in 2021 where John Lindell spoke, and I loved his heart, style, and approachability. At that point I had not heard much about James River but I started following his minsitry and consuming his books and teachings.

Every year, James River hosts an insane men’s conference called Stronger. In 2023, a few videos of the event went viral when they opened with a monster truck rally and a tank driving over some cars driven by Chuck Norris.

Wild, but wrong? I didn’t really have an opinion about it at the time. Still don’t, really.

This year, they went viral again — and what happened was the craziest thing I’ve seen in a while at a large Christian event.

To open the event, a former Vegas male stripper and sword swallower performed on stage:

In and of itself, it may not be a horrible or pornographic performance. Alex’s back story is a little unsettling, however.

Mark Driscoll, one of the speakers scheduled at the event, is no stranger to controversy, and some could argue that his destructive actions in the past have disqualified him from ministry .

Mark begins his session by confronting the performance that happened earlier - it seems to be in line with what he had planned to talk about, and he is using the situation to further illustrate the point he was planning to make already.

"I've been up since 1 o'clock in the morning," Driscoll told the audience.

"The reason I'm hoarse is I have been praying and my heart is very burdened for you. And I want to be very careful with this and it's not what I want to say, but the Jezebel spirit has already been here."

He went on: "The Jezebel Spirit opened our event. This is a rebuke and a correction of no one. This is an observation. Before the word of God was open, there was a platform. It was a high place. On it was a pole, an Asherah, the same thing that's used in a strip club for women who have the Jezebel spirit to seduce men.

"In front of that was a man, who ripped his shirt off like a woman does in front of a pole at a strip club."

Driscoll then described how that man "ascended" the pole. "Then he swallowed a sword and Jesus cried," he said.

Pastor John Lindell, the lead pastor of James River Church who organized the event, began yelling at Mark from the front row.

“You’re out of line, Mark!”

“MARK! You’re done!”

Mark packs up his things and walks off.

John then takes the stage , while the crowd ROARS in protest of interrupting Mark.

John insists the conversation should not have taken place on stage- that Mark should have said that in private, and references Matthew 18.

Matthew 18:15 Correcting Another Believer

¹⁵ “If another believer^[d] sins against you,^[e] go privately and point out the offense. If the other person listens and confesses it, you have won that person back. ¹⁶ But if you are unsuccessful, take one or two others with you and go back again, so that everything you say may be confirmed by two or three witnesses. ¹⁷ If the person still refuses to listen, take your case to the church. Then if he or she won’t accept the church’s decision, treat that person as a pagan or a corrupt tax collector.

The part of this whole encounter that has not been talked about is that later, John brought Mark back out, and they had an honest conversation publicly on stage about dealing with issues like this and did a Q&A session about confrontation and division.

But that part doesn’t get clicks and views on X, so it wasn’t recorded or mentioned.

My thoughts

If you’ve watched the whole thing, you probably have some opinions - you’re either mad at John and the JR team, mad at Mark for what he said, or a little unsettled by both.

I’ve been a proud member of the Assemblies of God, the denomination that James River is a part of, since 2008. I still hold credentials with the AG. I have served on the staff of 3 different AG churches. I had dinner with my sectional presbyter last week (AG speak for regional overseer). I am not of the camp that will critique anything a charismatic AG pastor does - in fact, I celebrate and encourage my brothers in the AG circles. These days, I am more of a theological “mutt” - having some beliefs that step outside of the strict AG 16 Fundamentals (don’t tell my leadership 😆).

I say all that to set up my opinion on this subject: that John Lindell was the one in the wrong here.

• He should not have allowed Alex to perform at the event. Whichever organizer set that up, should have been shut down.

• Although it was not overtly sexual, it was unnecessary and weird - and the performer’s background was enough to allow him to not perform.

• Mark was burdened and grieved and felt mandated to speak against it. John was wrong to shut him down.

• The performance was public, not private. Why would Mark confront it privately? He dealt with it in the same way it was presented. From Mark’s perspective, John, or the event hosts, did not sin against Mark - they sinned against the whole event.

• Using Matthew 18 here is a stretch. It’s a common ploy that leaders who make mistakes use to prevent public shaming or being called out.

• We need men’s events with content that encourages our faith, builds up our spirits, and challenges us to pray. That opener did none of that, and justifying it is a waste of breath.

What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear your opinon in the replies.

I for one, would love to see the footage of the reconciliation portion!