Home Christian News ‘Good Grief, Apple’—John Piper’s Watch Mistakes His Preaching for a Hard Fall,...

‘Good Grief, Apple’—John Piper’s Watch Mistakes His Preaching for a Hard Fall, Prompts Call to Emergency Services

John Piper
Screengrab via YouTube @Desiring God

Pastor and theologian John Piper is well known for his passion in preaching. The author of “Expository Exultation: Christian Preaching as Worship,” Piper’s sermons are a full body activity, often involving sweeping hand gestures. 

Recently, however, Piper’s hand gestures were so exuberant that his smartwatch thought that the 76-year-old preacher had taken a hard fall and prompted him to call emergency services in the middle of a sermon. 

A clip posted to Twitter by Tony Reinke, author and host of Piper’s “Ask Pastor John” podcast, captured the humorous moment. 

“God is God,” Piper declared, waving his right hand. He almost continued, but then looked down at his Apple Watch and said, “You know what, my phone is telling me that I fell down.”

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“I’m okay,” Piper said as he looked down to dismiss the notification. “I did not fall down.” 

Pointing to someone in the crowd, he asked, “Did you hear it?”

“This has happened twice in my life,” Piper said as the crowd laughed. “I’m preaching and they think I fall down.”

“I’m not falling down,” Piper declared. “I’m standing up! I’m preaching! Good grief, Apple.” 

Fall detection is a standard safety feature of Apple Watches that will flag sudden movement and prompt help in the event a user is injured. 

The moment came during an Advent sermon Piper delivered at South Cities Church in Lakeville, Minnesota, which was formerly the South Campus of Bethlehem Baptist Church, of which Piper was the longtime pastor. The church became a separate congregation distinct from Bethlehem Baptist in 2022. 

Focusing his sermon on Psalm 16, Piper said, “This is the battle of the Christian life: to have God as our good, to have God as our delight, to have God as our treasure.”

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“That’s the way you go through your days. That’s the way you live the Christian life,” Piper went on to say. “You’re going to get up tomorrow morning, and you’re going to put him right there before you by his word. You’re going to reach out and take him and keep him right there in the treasured, cherished, honored position of your right hand, and you move through life.”