In a spectacular display of pandering and virtue signaling, Johnson Bowie of Victory Church recently delivered a sermon that epitomizes the worst excesses of the woke DEI agenda infecting Evangelical churches today. His assertions, filled with cringe-inducing rhetoric, reveal a disturbing trend in Evangelical churches toward prioritizing diversity over biblical fidelity and common sense.
“I was just looking at a church a few months ago,” Bowie whitesplained. “Their entire staff was white except for their janitor. What the, just take the whole thing down. Just burn your website down. Burn it down. What are we doing?”
Similar to Matt Chandler’s infamous “African American 7” over an “Anglo 8” comment, Bowie’s call to “hire people of other cultures in increasingly influential roles” is a clear indication that he has bought into the DEI nonsense, hook, line, and sinker. Yet, we don’t see him stepping down to offer his lead pastor role to his church janitor.
His opening gambit, urging baby steps followed by walking—by which he means hiring non-white individuals—is an exercise in self-parody. One can almost hear the groans of congregants forced to endure this spectacle of self-righteous posturing.
The sermon takes a bizarre turn when Bowie recounts his disdain for predominantly white church staff pages, suggesting that churches with such demographics should “burn your website down.” This is not only melodramatic but also betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of the purpose of a church staff page 🙄🙄. It’s meant to inform the congregation and the community about who is leading them spiritually, not to serve as a showcase for the pastor’s commitment to woke ideologies.
Bowie’s provided an anecdote about a conversation with a white pastor from Oklahoma—this is particularly revealing. When the pastor suggests hiring the most qualified person for the job, Bowie attempts to turn this reasonable advice on its head by implying that the lack of non-white staff members is inherently hypocritical. This kind of manipulative rhetoric is typical of DEI proponents who are more interested in optics than in genuine qualifications or spiritual calling.
Yet, the most galling part of Bowie’s “sermon” is his assertion that hiring for diversity is a “gospel issue.” This statement is not only absurd but also offensive to the actual gospel, which is centered on faith and repentance—not on meeting arbitrary diversity quotas. Bowie tries to walk back his own affirmative action stance by claiming not to support it, yet his entire sermon contradicts this claim.
Bowie further muddies the waters by acknowledging that Victory Church has historically had segregated staff teams, yet he sees no issue with this as long as it fits his narrative. He speaks of prioritizing those who love Christ and are called to the position, but then immediately undercuts this by emphasizing the importance of hiring based on appearance to “make a statement.”
This kind of cognitive dissonance is all too common among DEI advocates within the church. They claim to prioritize spiritual qualifications but then elevate ethnic diversity to an unbiblical level of importance. Bowie’s call to be intentional about who is hired and who preaches is just another way of saying that churches should prioritize outward appearances over inward character and calling.
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