Yet another twist has emerged in the ongoing feud between outspoken Pastor Mark Driscoll and megachurch Preacher John Lindell, whose Stronger Men’s Conference garnered outsized media attention after a performance by sword-swallower Alex Magala.
The tête-à-tête between Driscoll and Lindell, lead pastor of James River Church in Springfield, Missouri, has been brewing since the “Pray Like Jesus” author rebuked Lindell from the platform of the Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield, where the men’s event was held, for allowing a performance by Magala, who has earned fame for his impressive acrobatic stunts and sword-swallowing acts.
During his performance, Magala, who reportedly used to work as a stripper, was dressed in an all-leather outfit and removed his top in a seemingly seductive way at the start of his show.
Driscoll veered from his planned sermon to condemn Magala for inviting the “Jezebel Spirit” into the conference. Within a matter of minutes, Lindell called out Driscoll and swiftly ordered him to leave the stage. The two men later appeared together, seemingly mending fences and moving on from the incident.
But now, it appears the rift between the two men is far from resolved.
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.”
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.
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.”
He added that Driscoll’s rebuke of him was “completely misguided,” noting he removed his leather vest to prove he was actually swallowing a sword and said wearing the top was extra, unnecessary weight that could have hindered the stunts he performed on the pole.
Magala also noted that, while he has attended Mosaic Church in the past, he is not a regular attender. Rather, he said, he has gone because he likes lead Pastor Erwin McManus’ preaching and has friends who go to the Los Angeles-based church.
“I know my way of expressing my faith is different,” he said. “When I perform, I swallow a sword and attempting a death-defying stunt, climbing on top of the pole, and then going upside down. The moment when I dropped down, that to me, is when I give my life to God. And the moment when I stopped one inch before hitting the ground, that’s the moment when I get saved by God.”