Mark Driscoll Kicked off Stage at Men’s Conference
Mark Driscoll is a controversial figure in the evangelical Christian community. He gained prominence as the founding pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, which he started in 1996. Under his leadership, Mars Hill grew rapidly, expanding to multiple campuses across several states.
However, Driscoll's time at Mars Hill ended in 2014 when he resigned over various controversies and criticisms. He was quiet for several years and only in the past few years has been making a comeback appearing in conferences and has planted Trinity Church in Scottsdale Arizona with his family.
Driscoll was speaking at the Stronger Men’s Conference hosted by John Lindell, lead pastor of James River Church, who organises the annual men’s event. In an impromptu moment, Driscoll rebuked what he described as the “Jezebel Spirit”. He was referring to what happened at the start of the conference when a performer named Alex Magala took to the stage wearing a leather outfit. He removed his leather shirt and performed acrobatic moves on a metal pole in the middle of the stage and then swallowed a sword as part of his act.
“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. 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 opened, 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.”
“Asherah” was a reference to a Canaanite goddess. “Asherah appears in the OT both as the name of a Canaanite goddess and of her wooden cult symbol (Asherah Pole). She is known in the Ugaritic texts under the name of Athirat (ʾaṯrt), where she functions as the consort of the chief god, El, and mother of the gods.”*
Lindell interrupted Driscoll, saying he was “out of line,” telling him to stop speaking: “You’re done!”
“OK, Pastor John, I’ll receive that,” Driscoll replied, standing up, returning his hat to his head, and collecting his things from the pulpit. “Thank you,” he added as he left the stage.
In a follow-up appearance between Lindell and Driscoll who shared the stage after Driscoll was removed from the platform earlier in the day, apologized for his handling of the situation.
In a clip shared online by Protestia, the two men sat together on stage and talked before Driscoll was allowed to speak again.
“I love this guy; l believe in this guy. Let me tell you what I said to my sons as we were sitting over there as Mark was talking: ‘You want to know what John the Baptist was like?’ Mark’s a prophetic voice to our generation. Nothing about what was said changes that.”
Driscoll acknowledged the James River pastor’s “spiritual authority” over the conference, admitting he was wrong in how he addressed his concerns.
“I believe what I should have done, since I had another session, I was thinking about it,” said Driscoll. “It wasn’t in my notes; I didn’t intend to go there. I was up late praying for the men. I just kept seeing it [Magala’s performance].”
He continued, “I should have — between sessions — talked to you, rather than just verbal processing on the stage. And, as the father and the head of this house, you could’ve given me a thumbs up or thumbs down, and I need to honour that as spiritual authority. And I honour your spiritual authority — always have.”
“So I apologize to you for not going that route, which would have led us [away] from the most awkward moment in the history of any men’s event,” he added, joking, “And if I were you, I wouldn’t let me speak again. That’s something you should worry about.”
Both of them handled the situation in a loving and brotherly way which can be uncommon when there are disagreements in the body of Christ.
*John Day, “Asherah (Deity),” ed. David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), 483.