Gavin Orltund has built a successful YouTube platform, making him the most viable option for people like Russell Moore and those at The Gospel Coalition to retain their influence over the next generation. Gavin Ortlund is the son of Ray Ortlund who endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024. The apple did not fall far from the tree as they both go to the same church as Russell Moore, the editor at-large at Christianity Today. Russell Moore, the longtime liberal spearhead of the Southern Baptist Convention, has put considerable effort into advancing young Ortlund’s career and at times, they’ve even broadcast the same talking points.
More recently, Gavin Ortlund has delved into the political, with a defense of Third Wayism and Tim Keller’s legacy. But he has also had glowing things to say about Barack Obama. Gavin Ortlund is a theological liberal, as his views on a local flood and Side B Theology would reveal. However, despite openly calling for climate change policy, he feigns social, political conservatism.
In a video clip, Gavin Ortlund gleefully reveals he’s been reading Barack Obama’s memoir, claiming that Barack Obama is sincere and that he likes him.
There are a lot of words you could use to describe Obama but sincere is not one of them. You could say he’s humorous, a great communicator, and even intelligent. But to call Obama sincere is a massive stretch. Barack Obama is a rather inauthentic man whose deviant personal life does not come close to matching the public persona. The Boomer conservatives were right about Barack Obama more than anything else.
Naturally, Gavin Orltund complements Obama, prefacing his love for reading alternative views, a claim which itself is dubious. Nevertheless, this is a mask slip moment for Gavin Ortlund, who has shown over the last two years that he is the next Russell Moore.
3 Responses
There are far too many wolves in sheep’s clothing in the current church.
Obama is not an angel (you could write a book about what he did in Syria) but to call him a deviant for staying married to the same woman his whole life is while never molesting homeless teenage girls at a palm beach mansion says more about you and your heros than Obama.
On other fronts Gavin did an extended interview with Francis Chan in recent days.