Gun-Toting Josh McPherson Spends Election Night Talking Politics with Disgraced Mars Hill Pastor Mark Driscoll
McPherson said being a Christian man living in Washington state is like being at "the Alamo" then fantasized about Antifa while holding an assault rifle – "We're hoping they swing by Monitor"
Disgraced Mars Hill Pastor Mark Driscoll and Grace City Church Pastor Josh McPherson spent election night fantasizing about shooting political rivals, complaining about paid family leave for new parents and discussing why pastors who don’t preach rightwing politics from the pulpit should “get out of ministry.”
Holding an AR-15 he called “Betsy” and wearing camouflage, McPherson appeared on Driscoll’s election night livestream from his home in Chelan County, Washington.
“I think we’re about 75 feet underground right about now – feeling good about life,” McPherson said.
The pair were in good spirits, and Driscoll joked about McPherson’s firearms and outfit.
“Is that an emotional support gun?” Driscoll asked.
McPherson praised the accuracy and low recoil of the assault rifle in his hands and said he hopes to see “Antifa” come to Monitor, an unincorporated community in rural Chelan County, where his followers built him a large home.
“You guys down in Arizona have no clue what we gotta deal with up here,” McPherson said. “Like this is me on a good night, you know? It’s a slow night up here. No one is burning down any buildings.”
At one point he lost his train of thought while playing with the weapon.
“These are incredible. You feel better when you’re holding one,” he said. “Where was I?”
McPherson and Driscoll are best friends, according to Driscoll, and both were members of the “Young, Restless and Reformed” New Calvinist movement that gained steam in the 90s and early 2000s.
Driscoll became of the most prominent leaders in that movement and founded Mars Hill Church in Seattle in 1996. He built Mars Hill, and himself, into international brands but the whole thing imploded in the mid-2010s amidst accusations of abusive behavior by Driscoll, as well as plagiarism and fraud allegations. You can learn more about that saga via Christianity Today’s podcast titled “The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill.”
After his career was sidelined by the Mars Hill scandal Driscoll took a few years off and moved to Arizona. There he started a new church, called Trinity Church, near Phoenix and it was from his studio there that he broadcasted his election night livestream.
The two spend the first part of McPherson’s 20-minute appearance taking aim at Washington state politics. He asked McPherson what it’s like being a gun-owning, truck driving, heterosexual, Christian male in Washington state.
“It’s the Alamo, bro,” McPherson said. “It’s 100% the Alamo.”