On Tuesday, August 12, Josh Howerton announced his new partnership with Blaze Media, the latest high-profile free agency signing for the Conservative Inc. juggernaut. Howerton has built a reputation as a based pastor online, and his Living Free Podcast is a top performing Christian podcast in the United States. For the Blaze, this makes sense as a business move. However, for right wing media, it is a massive mistake to sign such a fraudulent persona.
Howerton’s Official Narrative
Josh Howerton spins a tale that he was a closet conservative who was not preaching the counsel of Scripture on issues of societal conflict which led to the world preaching the truth more boldly than he. He claims that people noticed his repentance in 2021.
Howerton claims that he used to write sermons with an atheist on his shoulder and then also a Social Justice victim on his shoulder. He then realized that this was not honoring to God and was starving sheep to reach goats. He claimed that his messages lacked substance to cater to woke sensibilities, ignoring that the substance of his messages were what was woke in the first place.
However, also in 2021, he had Beth Moore preach at his church and compared her to George Whitefield. If it is true that he cried during her orating, then his effeminacy alone is unbecoming as a man.
In truth, Josh Howerton did not shy away from cultural flashpoints prior to 2021. He leaned into them quite hard. His official narrative is a lie, one that also includes a coverup by Lake Pointe Church.
Howerton’s White Fragility
Before getting hired at Lakepointe Church, Josh Howerton had a stint at The Bridge Church in Spring Hill, Tennessee. In a video I managed to unearth, Josh Howerton appeared on Hope Nation, a cringey YouTube channel that pulled a “world’s largest small group” mantra. In a video titled “Who You Are in Christ Changes Everything About Racial Tension | The Bridge Church,” Josh Howerton invokes a massive Jesus juke to help White people overcome White fragility.
The George Floyd Sermon Coverup
One of the easiest ways to expose a pastor is to look at their actions in June 2020. Josh Howerton would infamously give a morning devotional on May 28, rebuking the death of George Floyd as filmed racism, and admonishing Christians to advocate for Black people as oppressed victims in American society. Well before the toxic empathy discourse, Howerton concluded his morning struggle session with a call to weep with those who weep, stating that Christians could not choose not to care about Floyd’s death. Ironically, this was not deleted.
Following that up, Howerton published a reel of his upcoming sermon on June 4th on “The Gospel and Race.” The promotion still exists but the sermon does not. Lake Pointe made the sermon private, along with much of the other catalog from that era. The video titled “Racism. Justice. Hope. // The Gospel and Race // Pastor Josh Howerton” is unavilable for the public.
Conclusion
While a church deleting false teaching is good, Josh Howerton has not scrubbed his George Floyd struggle session, nor has he publicly repented for his embrace of Critical Race Theory in the past. Instead, he has largely pretended that he was a timid pastor and not a Social Justice Warrior. While most people’s politics were changed by 2020, Josh Howerton has not been transparent about this change.
Howerton would have the public believe that he is a bold preacher when he is an opportunist. He has preached messages contrary to his previous mindset. He pretends to be conservative when he is a theological liberal, a devout egalitarian. He will claim to aim to please God in sermons while promoting wolves like Beth Moore.
Being a woke hireling got Josh Howerton far in life, but successfully navigating the decline of wokeness in the church has propelled Howerton to being one of the biggest figures in Evangelicalism, not through boldness but a perceptive recognition of the times.
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One Response
It was the London stage actor David Garrick who said Whitfield could make an audience weep with just the one word “Mesopotamia”, but Garrick wasn’t talking about anointing but about stage technique. For the Howerton’s of this world there is no difference.