I’ve listened to every word of Bethel’s response to the Mike Winger exposure video of Shawn Bolz. I’ve read the responses on X. There are some really good things that Kris and Bill had to say. There were also some problematic things. I will address all of them here.

If you’re not aware, last week, Mike Winger dropped a 6-hour video on YouTube exposing the false prophet Shawn Bolz, not only for using Facebook to bring “words of knowledge” (a charismatic way of saying prophecy) to people, but also for being sexually abusive and perverse. It lit a firestorm, and Bethel was left with no recourse but to respond. Why? Because Bethel platformed Bolz for years. They put their stamp of approval on him. They gave him a global stage. And then they remained silent when allegation after allegation came out about Bolz.

There are a lot of things we can learn from this. So let’s dive in.

1. Every church that has ever existed has platformed fallen, broken, perverse, and sinful men. That’s not an excuse to let them remain as pastors or leaders.

We can’t avoid that. If we’re going to have church with humans involved, we’re going to platform sinners. That is no excuse to keep on sinning; it is a mere reality, and one we must be soberly aware of. Sometimes we platform those sinners knowingly, sometimes unknowingly. The pain it causes hardly cares.

Far too often, churches, when faced with scandal, turn a blind eye, defend the offender, or victim-blame. And it’s all in the name of “grace” and “restoration.” The Shawn Bolz story is a perfect example.

What exactly is hyper grace?

I’ve heard the term “hyper grace” thrown around for years, but I couldn’t really understand it. How could grace be overused? Grace, by its nature, is hyper in that it is undeserved, isn’t it?

If you listen to the Bethel response to the Shawn Bolz scandal, you’ll hear hyper grace played out in real time. Bill Johnson and Kris Vallotton repeat many times that they believe in the “ministry of restoration” and that they themselves have benefited from it.

On its face, restoration sounds good. It sounds like a Christian value. Shouldn’t we as Christians want to see people restored?

The answer is: of course!

The question is what matters. Because the question is: to what?

Hyper grace teaches believers that no matter what you do, you can be restored to ministry. Molest a child? You can be a pastor! Rape younger men? You can be a worship leader! Divorce your wife? You can start a marriage ministry! (These are all real-world examples, by the way.) Hyper grace is an unbiblical idea, rooted in modern charismatic churches, that has permeated the evangelical world as a whole, teaching people that there is nothing that disqualifies you. Nothing.

Let’s be clear: as long as there is breath in your body, God is in the business of restoration. It is the work of Christ on the cross that qualifies us for salvation. Nothing more, nothing less. That is grace, at its heart — a gift we did not earn and a favor we do not deserve.

But just because we are forgiven, just because we are restored to salvation, does NOT mean we are perpetually and irrevocably qualified for pastoral ministry. And this is an important distinction that is lost on the modern church.

Pedophilia disqualifies you from being a pastor. Just look at what has happened with Robert Morris and Gateway Church.

Raping men disqualifies you from being a worship leader. Just look at what has happened with Michael Tait and the Newsboys.

Divorcing your wife disqualifies you from being a marriage guru. Just look at what has happened with Doug Weiss, Joni Lamb, and Daystar.

The list goes on. It’s too long to list. But when this hyper grace, there’s-nothing-that-can-ever-disqualify-you-from-ministry mindset takes hold, the pains it causes and the lives it destroys are innumerable.

It’s time for it to die.

2. Revival culture breeds abuse.

Within the charismatic church, and extending to much of the evangelical world as a whole, is a concept Mike Winger calls “revival culture.” It is rooted in the idea that we should always be looking to go deeper, reach higher, and experience greater levels of God, the Holy Spirit, His “words of knowledge,” and His prosperity. It is a phenomenon that breeds a lot of “God told me” and “I feel like God is saying” people. It is a culture that is more obsessed with getting “a word” than reading The Word. And in this culture, abuse runs rampant. Why? Because if revival is to happen, it cannot be among wolves. And since every church ever has always had wolves, the best way to force revival is to pretend wolves don’t exist. It’s to pretend that charlatans aren’t real. At least “not in our house.” It’s to gaslight anyone who calls out abuse by telling them that if there’s a problem, it’s with their own heart, not the ministry. Why? Because the ministry is always “going deeper,” and “reaching highe,r” and “experiencing greater.” Anyone who can’t see that has a problem with their own heart.

See what’s happening? There is a pattern in this way of thinking. It breeds abuse upon abuse. Not intentionally. I truly believe that most people who think like this aren’t trying to be abusive. They don’t go into it thinking, “Boy, I can’t wait to gaslight someone today!” But it happens all the same. And too many are so deeply engrossed in this way of thinking that they cannot see the forest for the trees. Even in Bill Johnson’s and Kris Vallotton’s words, you can hear it.

“I missed it because I was not wanting to believe something that could be true.” ~Bill Johnson

They want to believe in revival and restoration so much that they cannot see how it allows for charlatans to slip into their culture. As long as you have all the right words, as long as you do all the pentecostal-ish things, people will believe you’re sincere.

Revival culture is a breeding ground for abusers. And too many well-meaning leaders willingly build a petri dish of abuse. They even tolerate a lot of it, claiming that the bad stuff has to be tolerated in order for the good stuff to happen.

Just a funny little side note: yes Bill Johnson DID do the Michael Scott “my greatest weakness is actually my strength” bit in his speech. You can’t make this stuff up, folks.

3. Apologies are good, but they are only step one.

I truly appreciated the apologies from Bethel, particularly by Kris Vallotton. He seemed genuinely broken by the choices he had made as a leader and the hurts it had caused. Whether that is genuine or not is not for us to know. Only he and God know. But assuming it is, I’m thankful for the ways he clearly listed out his failures and shortcomings. He didn’t offer some blanket apology; he got into detail, which is good. Bill Johnson, too, seemed truly broken.

“Some things are inexcusable. I’m just glad they’re not unforgivable.” ~Bill Johnson

This is my prayer for Bethel moving forward. They have a global platform, one that is highly influential. You cannot shake a stick without hitting a church that sings their music. (Consequently, did you notice that one of the first things Kris mentioned in his apology was that the Bethel Music team had nothing to do with the scandal? Money talks, folks. And they are scrambling to protect the cash cow, that is obvious.) With a global platform comes global consequences to failures. Bethel made it clear that they didn’t want to have to own up to consequences for what happened with Shawn Bolz because he “wasn’t really part of their church.” Never mind that they platformed him for years, gave their stamp of approval, and walked arm in arm with him for decades. Bethel’s mindset up until this apology was “not our circus, not our monkeys,” even though they bought the monkeys and paid to feed them. See the problem?

Do I think Kris Vallotton, Bill Johnson, and the whole of Bethel are monsters for what they’ve done? No. Do I think there are some glaring issues in their leadership model that led to these abuses? Yes. Firstly, neither Kris nor Bill addressed the larger issues brought up in Mike Winger’s video: namely, the issues of other leaders who platformed, excused, and helped to hide Shawn’s abuses. They also did not address the glaring fact that their choices throughout this ordeal might very well disqualify them from pastoral leadership, too.

Do I want to burn all the heretics? No. Do I think we should be on a witch hunt for problematic leaders to violently and publicly remove them from church leadership? No. But I do think it’s time that the Church stands on the very clear, black and white, no room for doubt qualifications for leadership. I think it’s time we stop tolerating wolves in the name of restoration and abuse in the name of revival.

The End of One Era and the Beginning of Another

Folks, you and I are alive to witness the dawn of a new era in the Church. As the social media influencers rise to higher influence than the bigwigs of yesterchurch (yes, I just made up a word), more and more we will see behind the curtains of these powerhouse ministries. We won’t like what we see in a lot of cases. We’ll see leaders who beg for money every week, all while driving up to the multi-million dollar campus in a Maserati. We’ll see pastors tell you all the ways you’re doing marriage wrong, all while blatantly ignoring the fact that they’re on their third marriage. We’ll see “prophets” tell you who to marry based on a like you made on a Facebook post, all the while sexually abusing young men and masturbating in front of them.

It will be ugly.

It will be gutwrenching.

It will challenge our faith.

And like anything that is difficult, it will teach us, it will open our eyes, and it will call us to higher standards. Not for our benefit, but for the benefit of the Kingdom of God.

The Second Great Awakening

My prayer for Bethel, and my prayer for the Church at large is the same prayer I’ve had for myself ever since my personal awakening began: that God would separate the wheat from the chaff, that He would open blind eyes and unlock deaf ears, and that His people — the true remnant — would stand firm on Truth, on the Word, and on faith.