Brian Recker is a former evangelical pastor and a US Marine veteran who left his non-denominational church in 2020 in protest of the growing influence of rightwing politics on American evangelical Christianity, and in a video this week he’s calling Grace City Church Pastor Josh McPherson out.
In an Instagram video to his nearly 180,000 followers on Wednesday, Recker highlighted a few clips from McPherson’s Christmas sermon and accused him of having a “persecution complex.”
He led things off by showcasing McPherson repeating what he told his friend and mentor Mark Driscoll on election night.
“We think the election of Donald Trump was an act of God’s grace sparing our nation from sure destruction and judgement,” McPherson said. “And that’s just a common sense statement.”
But Recker pushed back on that, saying it’s not common sense at all.
It’s not about biblical principles either, he said.
“This is not about common sense biblical principles. It’s about cultural power and control,” Recker said.
You can watch the whole clip above.
I reached out to Recker after I saw the video and asked him how he came across McPherson’s content, and why he decided to respond to him.
“He’s got a large Instagram following,” he said. “I would say his reach is beyond that corner of Washington.”
