Is Trevin Wax’s article the most effeminate Gospel Coalition article of 2022. So far, the answer is yes. Wax’s latest article, “‘Gotcha’ Sermon Clips Are Bad for the Church” takes aim at the sharing of Woke Preacher Clips. Woke Preacher Clips is practically the Grabien of grassroots Evangelical reporting. It has set many news cycles and also helped reset a few.
I was new to blogging, and around that time I asked an older, wiser pastor to speak into my writing. He asked a pointed question: “Who is edified by that sermon video?” And then he encouraged me to resist the urge to share something just because it was outrageous, entertaining, or a cautionary tale of how not to preach.
The gist of the article is this: because spreading Woke Preacher Clips doesn’t feel edifying to the church, it therefore isn’t. That is the summation of Trevin Wax’s effeminate dribble.
Social media accounts now feature the most outlandish moments from preachers or teachers who belong to another “camp” or “tribe.” Some of these point the spotlight on “crazy fundamentalists” while others root out the “most woke”—in either case we’re introduced to preachers who seem determined to live up to the worst caricatures. At times, we see clips from charismatic megachurch pastors delivering inspirational drivel rather than sound biblical teaching. The intended reaction, it appears, is to name and shame the “bad preacher” and to shake one’s head in pity or disgust.
Even worse, in many cases, sermon excerpts become ammunition for ongoing battles. Each clip becomes another piece of evidence that the evangelical church is quickly becoming “woke,” or that evangelicals are becoming “white nationalists.” Even well-known and respected pastors with many years of ministry experience, men like John MacArthur and David Platt, are subject to the forces of this online dissemination. MacArthur becomes an example of being “anti-religious-liberty” and David Platt an example of “wokeism”—all because things they’ve said, perhaps sloppily, have been weaponized against them to cast doubt on the rest of their Bible teaching.
Exposing false teaching is an essential component of spiritual warfare and Trevin Wax is largely opposed believing issues of wokeness to be largely overblown (given that he’s woke, this position is understandable.)
Trevin Wax is too effeminate to realize that exposing these clips has tangible results. Churches are leaving the Southern Baptist Convention. Future pastors are forgoing woke seminaries. And people are avoiding and leaving woke churches. All of these edify the church, and all of this is aided by sharing and gathering Woke Preacher Clips.
Two years ago, when I first wrote about Trevin Wax, he did not come across as one of the villains at The Gospel Coalition, but this position is much harder to uphold now.
One Response
They want to steer their congregation into wokeism, and they don’t like being found out. Simple as that. Similar to the school boards issue. It’s almost as if they know they’re doing something wrong.