Dr. Bryan Chapell, who leads the administrative committee of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), has published a new apology after he came under fire for revealing during a recent podcast a list of names of people he called “scandalizers.”
In his apology, Chapell said he will submit a request for retirement to “the upcoming called meeting of the Administrative Committee.” Below Chapell’s apology, committee Chairman Danny McDaniel said the committee has received Chapell’s request.
“On a recent podcast I responded to a question by referencing a small piece of paper containing personal notes,” said Chapell in a statement published Thursday, May 29, on byFaith, the PCA’s magazine. “I wrongly said that every name on the paper represented social media ‘scandalizers’ who later experienced personal consequences from their commentary habits.”
“An enlarged screenshot of the note has since circulated, indicating that the podcast response I gave was not appropriate or true,” Chapell said.
Bryan Chapell Confesses the ‘Seriousness of These Errors and Sin’
In addition to being the stated clerk and leader of the administrative committee of the PCA, Dr. Bryan Chapell is president emeritus of Covenant Theological Seminary, president of Unlimited Grace Media, a council member with The Gospel Coalition (TGC), and author of “The Multigenerational Church Crisis: Why We Don’t Understand Each Other and How to Unite in Mission.” Last week, he joined Collin Hansen, host of TGC’s “Gospelbound” podcast, for a conversation about “The Multigenerational Church Crisis.”
The conversation between Chapell and Hansen, dated May 20 on TGC’s website, focused on unity among believers, particularly how to bridge misunderstandings among different generations. At one point in the discussion, Chapell responded to a question from Hansen by picking up a handwritten note on his desk and showing it to the camera.
“I’m going to show this to you quickly. I keep the note on my desk. Those are the names of the scandalizers, the people who have invested hours every day attacking others for their supposed lack of faithfulness, for their compromise,” Chapell told Hansen, “whose identity comes from scandalizing others. And every name on that list has either left his family, left the faith, or taken his life. Every name on that list.”
Chapell had been under the impression that viewers could not read the names on the list. However, on social media, screenshots of the zoomed-in list began circulating, with many of the names on it identified. People on Chapell’s list included Dr. Carl Trueman, Aimee Byrd, Tim Bayly, Michelle Higgins, Andy Webb, Dr. Wes White, and Dr. Peter Leithart.
TGC initially edited the episode to blur the list but later took the episode down. The webpage where the episode had been now contains statements from Hansen and Chapell.
