Dan Mathewson, a professor of religion at Wofford College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, said that despite its resemblance to pro wrestling, Driscoll’s behavior at Stronger Men was likely not an act.
“That’s Driscoll being Driscoll,” said Mathewson — who had a side gig as a masked wrestler named Mr. Canada while studying the ties between religion and wrestling. “That’s just who he is.”
Mathewson, who keeps his sequined red and white mask in his office, said the James River conferences reveal the importance of Pentecostal and charismatic religion in American life. He worries that no one pays attention to churches like James River until something crazy happens.
Spectacle, he said, is a normal part of their world.
“The energy in American Christianity right now is in this corner of evangelicalism,” he said. “The stories you read in the news are about the decline of American Christianity, which is true in mainline Christianity, and even evangelicalism. But when something like this happens, everyone wonders, ‘What just happened?’”
Mike Prince, a former Assemblies of God youth pastor, worries that is a bad thing. Prince said he attended the Stronger Men’s Conference from 2017 to 2019 after his wife signed him up for the event — she’d attended the women’s conference for years.
Prince described the event as a circus, designed to make sure that no one was ever bored. But at some point, he said, the event overshadowed the message.
“If you want to reach the lost,” he said, “the whole distraction from the spectacle does exactly the opposite. The spectacle completely overshadows the truth you’re trying to get people to hear.”
Evangelical author and Bible teacher Hannah Anderson sees something more in the James River Designed for Life women’s conference than meets the eye. The video for the conference — much like the recent “Barbie” summer blockbuster movie that satirized gender roles — may be about empowering women, not limiting them, she argued.
“It looks like a promo for a Barbie movie,” said Anderson. “Everything is very soft and feminine and happy and emotional. But Barbie is also an icon of empowerment for women in the world. And as I watched the promo, it felt more like, here, women are being empowered to know their true selves through knowing God.”
Attendees at the 2022 James River Designed for Life women’s conference at Great Southern Bank Arena in Springfield, Mo. (Video screen grab)
Anderson pointed out that James River Church, which hosts both conferences, is an Assemblies of God congregation with a female co-pastor and has featured women preachers in the past — unlike other evangelical churches, like those of the Southern Baptist Convention, which bans women pastors. Rather than being shunted into the background, women at churches like James River share the spotlight, said Anderson, and can be empowered as leaders.
“Women are showing up remarkably empowered through their spirituality and their giftedness,” she said. “And they are taking up space in the room.”
Katie McCoy, director of women’s ministry for the Baptist General Convention of Texas, said there is nothing wrong with promoting a conference for women in a way that seems fun or aesthetically pleasing.
“But it should be the icing on the cake and not your meat and potatoes,” she said.
Author of “To Be a Woman,” McCoy said she understands why conferences for men and women are marketed differently. But both, she said, should focus on spiritual growth rather than a performance that overshadows the core message of Christianity.
