BYLINE: Tré Goins-Phillips/Faithwire
John Lindell took time during his sermon Sunday to “apologize” for inviting both Driscoll and Magala to the Stronger Men’s Conference, which took place in mid-April.
“I want to apologize and let you know I take full responsibility for the decision that was made to invite Mark Driscoll and Alex Magala to the Stronger Men’s Conference,” he said, according to The Roys Report. “I am deeply saddened by the division that our invitation has brought to the Body of Christ. That was never our intent.”
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The pastor added, “The Stronger Men’s Conference is about reaching men for Jesus Christ, and it will continue to be about reaching men for Jesus Christ.”
Days prior, during a Wednesday service at James River Church, Lindell revealed Driscoll had accused one of his sons, Brandon Lindell, of a “list of dark sins.” He went on to call Driscoll’s behavior in recent days as “demonic” and urged the Scottsdale-based preacher to repent for his actions.
Last week, though, Driscoll took to his X account, where he wrote, seemingly in reference to Lindell, “Tolerance is demonic . . . When the church gets naughtier than the culture, they become an abomination.”
Driscoll has—in the days since the conference—seemingly capitalized on the media attention he has garnered to promote his newest book, “New Days, Old Demons.”
Interestingly, Lindell didn’t explain why exactly he was apologizing for inviting Magala. The James River pastor reportedly told his congregation last Wednesday that Magala’s performance was appropriate for a men’s conference and that the sword-swallower became a born-again Christian a decade ago and attends Mosaic Church in Los Angeles.
Magala broke his silence last week, when he posted a video response to the ordeal on Instagram.
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The stunt-performer thanked Lindell for his kind words but clarified that he didn’t become a Christian 10 years ago because he was born into an Orthodox Christian family and, as such, he explained he went “through the ceremony of becoming a Christian as a baby.”
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Reprinted with permission from cbn.com. Copyright © 2024 The Christian Broadcasting Network Inc. All rights reserved.
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