What happened when Mark Driscoll and Josh Howerton showed up at the Stronger Men’s Conference this weekend

This article originally appeared at Baptist News Global on April 15, 2024.

Megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll seethed as Alex Magala, described by two fawning onlookers as “the finest swordsman in all the world,” slowly circled a pole on stage, peeled off his red leather top, slid his tongue up to the tip of a sword, swallowed the sword all the way down his throat, and began to climb the pole erected for the opening of this weekend’s Stronger Men’s Conference in Springfield, Mo.

Driscoll was so enraged by the two onlookers that he claimed to wake up at 1:00 a.m. to pray for the men. By the time he took the stage, his voice was hoarse. But he was ready to go. “They’re nonbinary,” he began going after LGBTQ people. “Their sexuality shifts on a spectrum. They are transgender.”

Driscoll blamed the presence of LGBTQ people on demons who deny male and female binaries and claimed America has become a cult of tolerance. Then he turned his sights on the sword-swallowing male pole dancer.

“The Jezebel Spirit opened our event,” Driscoll declared. “There was a platform. It was a high place. On it was a pole, an Asherah pole, the same thing that’s used in a strip club for women who have the Jezebel Spirit to seduce men.”

A few nervous claps began to spread through the stadium.

“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 continued to describe. “That man then ascended … and then he swallowed a sword.”

John Lindell, the event organizer and lead pastor of James River Church, called out, “You’re out of line, Mark!” And when Driscoll continued talking, Lindell added, “Mark?”

Then Driscoll stood up and replied, “Okay, Pastor John, I’ll receive that.”

“You’re done!” Lindell yelled.

“Thank you,” Driscoll responded, putting his hat back on and looking down at his pulpit.

Loud cheers and boos began to fill the arena as Driscoll walked off stage. Then suddenly, the Great Southern Bank Arena transformed into Kendomland: Land of the Free and the Men, as the Kens went to war, not against the Barbies anymore, but against the other Kens.

“Bring him back! Bring him back!” the men roared as Lindell hopped up onto the stage to respond.

“Mark was out of line!” Lindell barked amidst the thundering wrath. “If Mark wanted to say that, he should have said it to me. He didn’t. Matthew 18. If your brother offends you, go to him privately.”

“I talked to Mark for a half hour! There was not one word of that! He’s out of line! If he wants to say it, he can say it to me!”

And gazing up at it all, soaking it all in, was none other than the man who has dominated religious news headlines over the past month, megachurch pastor Josh Howerton.

Crowning dishonorable men as kings

Howerton’s controversy began when he told women to crown dishonorable men as their kings. “Give him a crown and then he becomes a king,” he claimed.

One of those dishonorable men would be Driscoll, who was fired from Mars Hill Church in Seattle due to spiritually abusing his congregation, especially women, whom he called “penis homes.”

When he was still employed by Mars Hill prior to being fired and starting a new megachurch, Driscoll threatened: “There is a pile of dead bodies behind the Mars Hill bus, and by God’s grace, it’ll be a mountain by the time we’re done. You either get on the bus or you get run over by the bus. Those are the two options.”

As Howerton has become mired in controversy over his own sexually coercive jokes from the pulpit over the past month and due to his attempt to move on through a pathetic apology, many people made natural comparisons between Howerton and Driscoll.

Apparently, there is substance to the comparisons.

Johnna Harris, who hosts the Bodies Behind the Bus podcast, posted a screenshot from Howerton’s Instagram stories over the weekend. In the story, Howerton’s picture is taken from close to the front row. And it’s a picture of Mark Driscoll preaching at the Stronger Men’s Conference.

So apparently, what these dishonorable men do when you crown them with pulpits and power, is that they become so obsessed with toxic masculinity that it climaxes into a game of “Who’s the King of the Mountain” at the Stronger Men’s Conference.

What happens at the Stronger Men’s Conferences?

The promo video for this year’s Stronger Men’s Conference opens as a montage of men lifting weights, revving motorcycle engines and boxing. Then as the song soars with lyrics of being “ready to fight,” a wrestler smashes a chair into the head of another man dressed up as a superhero, a monster truck flies through pyrotechnics, a bull rider gets bucked, a cowboy snaps his whip and more chairs get smashed over superhero’s heads interspersed with sermon clips.

“Pyro and explosions and guys coming down ropes, man, and the bikes,” one attender from a previous year’s conference salivates.

Continue reading at Baptist News Global.