Let’s Talk About the IF:Gathering- Speakers

Speakers IF:Gathering

Greetings:

Welcome back Ladies to another episode! Thank you for joining me today. I’m just gonna dive into this episode cause we got a lot to cover.

Introduction:

In the first episode of this critique series I discussed a little about what women’s ministry is, its purpose, and its teaching with the goal of looking more in depth at women’s conferences. I wanted to lay a foundation for these next couple of episodes as we tackle looking at the very popular women’s conference, If:Gathering. 

Ladies, this has been, by far, the most intensive look into the conference, the purpose, the founder, the speakers, and the teachings that I have ever had the wherewithal to study. There are ladies such as Michelle Lesley, Amy Spreeman, and Elisabeth Prata, that have looked into the speakers of the conference, but I felt it was necessary to really dive into this. So I literally watched the last 3 years of conference sessions and purchased an all access pass to this year’s conference. That is a total of 33 estimated hours of conference messages (I did not watch some of the ministry promo, individual testimonies, and worship videos that were included in the conference). Just to give you an idea, this year’s conference was only 8 hours and 45 min long, that was with attending one breakout session. Tack on the other breakout sessions that I had access to, and you have an estimated total of 14 hours for this year’s conference alone. 

It didn’t stop there ladies. I then took time to look into the popular, recurring teachers that speak at this conference. Especially those that had spoken for 3 years in a row. I did add some speakers that have spoken for less than that but who are very popular in the evangelical sphere of women’s ministry.  I wanted to look at the way they handled Scripture and their influence as women leaders in Evangelicalism today.

This is what we are going to dive into today. The speakers. 

To start I want to lay out for you a couple of important biblical truths about women in ministry. It’s very important that we learn these truths and be willing to stand on the word of God. See, God, through the Apostle Paul, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit gives an ample warning to the Church in the last days that false teachers coming out of the church will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. Act 20:30 . This is very important. That men, yes, AND women, will come out of the church and draw people away from Christ to make disciples of themselves. They don’t leave the church, ladies, they are within the visible church, speaking about themselves, and training you in what they have learned, making you like them. To draw you away from actually learning about Christ by using His name but never really teaching Him. He is not their authority. Their own imaginations, desires, philosophies, and ideologies are their master, for if Christ was their master then the Scripture would be taught.

This is the ultimate deception.

There are, however,  ways to identify whether any woman in church ministry has placed themselves under the authority of Christ. These are our litmus tests to judge whether we should be putting ourselves under their teachings. 

1. Do these women hold that ALL of Scripture is authoritative? Do they obey clear teaching to women about their roles in the Church community? Do they call themselves Pastors? Do they preach/teach over men in their own local church or any local church for that matter?

Yes, ladies. We must be true to the word of God. 

God, knowing the end from the beginning and determining that His word would not return void, and that it is the means by which we are equipped, instructs His church to not allow women to have authority or teach over men (1 Tim.2:12). I will be devoting an episode to discussing this topic, looking over the Scripture and addressing the common arguments for and against women quote-unquote pastors, but for now it is enough to trust the word, that is very clear on this issue. Delivering a message to both male and female congregants within the local church body is to teach them. Whatever the topic. And note that I am very specific to say the “Church body”. If a woman calls herself a pastor, or if she holds a different title yet teaches to men in the church body, she is in direct violation of this instruction given to us by God. 

The church is the institution given by God to train up His people to be like Christ. And within the Church body He grants certain roles to have authority by which the people in those roles are to teach, train, and shepherd the flock of God. Elders/Pastors are given that authority. And in that role, one of the ways they exercise that Authority is the preaching of sermons. The preaching and expositing of the Scriptures are not only to be handled correctly, but to have authority over us, and we as His children are to place ourselves under the teaching and training of these sermons.

I want us to understand this, because, even if any of these women do not call themselves Pastors, but are still willing to give a message on Sunday to a mixed gender congregation, she is setting herself up to have some authority by doing this.

This test reveals to us whether she has a heart that is willing to submit to God in this matter. And believe me, if she teaches to men and women in this manner in her local congregation, how can she train the younger “Wives, [to] submit to [their] own husbands as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.-Ephesians 5:22-24 . Do you see? The relationship between the ecclesiastical institution of the Church of God and its head, Christ, is to be an example to its people instructing us on the relationship between a man and women in the institution of headship in marriage. If we undermine the male given authority in the church institution it will have consequences on the male given headship and female given submission in marriage. 

2. Do these women associate with known false teachers? 

One of the most intriguing letters in the Bible is a letter written by John to an unnamed lady in the church. In 2nd John we have John instructing this woman to walk in the truth and separate herself and those in her home (which meant the local church which gathered at her home) from false teachers. Watch yourselves, …John says…so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward.  Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.  If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting,  for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. (2nd John 8-11)

Any one who does not ABIDE IN THE TEACHING OF CHRIST. These are people who instead of remaining in the teachings we have in Scripture, teachings that are so deep and profound, and may take eternity to delve into, decide to go off into their own teachings and ideas, even some who go so far as denying Christ. 

Do these women associate or promote other speakers, who teach doctrines that contradict or are not found in Scripture? Again, do they associate or promote women who write and teach themselves or their own philosophies, instead of Christ? Do they promote women who twist Scripture?

3. That is test #3. How do they handle Scripture? 

From beginning to end the Scriptures are about God’s saving grace through Christ. After Christ’s resurrection, on the road to Emmaus, Jesus … beginning with Moses and all the Prophets,  explained to [to 2 of ]His disciples what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. Luke 24:27. The Old Testament is just that… a testament to the faithfulness of God. It is His revealed word over the Old Testament period on the coming Messiah. The New Testament is the testament of that Messiah’s arrival, His life, and His teachings to His people.

Do they draw out the teaching of Christ from the text in the context of the scripture? Or do they start with a topic and pull out verses to support their topic? Do they read a section of Scripture, go into the history, and draw out Christ and application of it for sanctification? Do they give both law and Gospel? Or do they take the text and make it about you, how to overcome your Goliath, or how to roll away the boulders in your life? Do they somehow make every text about your purpose, your faith, your strength, and how much God just really loves you?

With these 3 tests we can determine if any woman speaker/teacher is one who submits to God’s word. Today we will look at the more popular teachers from the If:gathering Conference. We will look first at whether they call themselves pastors, teach over men, and associate and promote false teachers.

In the following episode we will look at the teachings coming out of the conferences over the past years to see how they handled Scripture and who they taught.

Jennie Allen:

 Founder and visionary leader of the If:Gathering she is also a New York Times best selling Author. Her titles “Nothing to Prove”, “Get out of Your Head”, and her newest release “Find Your People”; all labeled as “Bible Studies”. She has spoken at “The Porch” Conference, Liberty University’s Convocation and is the host of  the podcast show titled “Made for This”.

Jennie Allen, does not call herself a preacher, but has alluded to “preaching” at conferences. She does however call herself a Bible Teacher, one who has gone to seminary.

(Small clip of her talking about her studies in resolving the downward spiral of our thoughts)

Her conference messages have been centered on the idea that our current battle is a battle for the mind. She relays how the “enemy” is set to destroying our thought spirals by bombarding us with lies. To conquer time in her life which she describes as dark and full of lies from the enemy, she decides to attack the lies with research and God’s word.

If you have not listened to my critique on her “bible Study” titled “Get Out of Your Head” you should go back and listen to those episodes from season one. I go through the study, highlighting what I thought was good and bad in her study. For this episode I will mention that, while I am very eager for any women to break open their Bible and study it, I am extremely weary of HOW that study guide handles the text, and what (if any) additional philosophy or sciences are brought into the guide to make the Scripture more relevant. In Jennie Allen’s case she includes such sciences as positive psychology along with Scripture to help you get out of your head so to speak. This undermines the sufficiency of Scripture and Christ by that means, to sanctify our thought patterns. In that critique I try to show you that the more we study Scripture, and especially Christ, the more our thought patterns will be conformed to Him.

A Bible study that draws out of the text, and in this case the study of Philippians, would not only be handling the Scripture correctly, but would also draw us closer to Christ. Jennie Allen, instead of drawing out from the text, infers or puts in the text a more modern psychological idea, merging a worldly science with Scripture. This is called syncretism, and is a form of Liberalism, that has at it’s foundation the underlying belief that Scripture is not  Authoritative on it’s own (we need other authoritative tools) AND not Sufficient on it’s own to sanctify God’s people.

Christine Caine:

Is an Australian activist. Evangelist, author, and international speaker. She is most known for her founding of the non-profit organization The A21 Campaign which combats human trafficking.

In 2015, Caine founded the Propel Women organization whose goal is to empower women for Christian living. She has authored titles such as A Life Unleashed, Run to Win, Can I have and Do it All, Please?, The Core Issue, Undaunted, Unstoppable, Unashamed, Unshakable, and Unexpected. Her most recent release is titled How Did I Get Here?

She has been featured on many international television shows such as TBN’s Praise the Lord, Better Together, Joyce Meyer’s Enjoying Everyday Life, and many others. In Oct. of 2016 TBN launched a show featuring Caine called Equip & Empower with Christine Caine.

There are numerous instances of Christine speaking (she calls the sermons) at churches all over the globe. She is a common guest speaker at Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC, Bill Johnson’s Church Bethel Church in Redding, CA; and many campuses connect with Brian Huston’s Hillsong Church. All of these churches repeatedly teach a word of faith, health and wealth gospel. And some of this has seeped through her “sermons” as she has made statements in regards to faith “activating” God to work in and through us. 

She connects herself with what is called Zoe Churches, a ministry centered on reaching and influencing European [cities] “… by building a Christ-centered, Bible-based church, changing mindsets and empowering people to lead and impact in every sphere of life.” (christinecaine.com) I say this because I haven’t been able to determine her exact involvement in this ministry and if there is any connection to Zoe Church in Los Angeles, Ca. But regardless, she has no problem connecting herself with a ministry that purposely plants churches by couple pastors, husband and wife pastors.

She has twisted Scripture in her “sermons”, promotes and aligns herself with false word of faith teachers such as Joyce Meyer, and promotes and encourages women and men to transgress God’s word by encouraging “couples” to be pastors and plant and lead churches in Europe through Zoe Churches.

Jada Edwards:

Wife to Dr. Conway Edwards, lead pastor of One Community Church, one of the fastest growing churches in Plano, TX, Jada Edwards is Creative Art Director for the church and every once in a while gives a message to the whole congregation (spread over several campuses) on Sunday mornings. 

In one of her more recent sermons, titled “The Church, A Higher Calling” (posted to YouTube back in October of 2021), she goes about instructing the congregation on who the church is and how the church should get in alignment with Christ. 

Now I have to say, that I listened to the whole sermon, and thought she even handled scripture very well, and really hammered in the Lordship of Christ, but that doesn’t make her teaching and training men, even if she is under the authority of elders in her church, it doesn’t make it ok. You can be a brilliant speaker/teacher and even handle Scripture well, it would still be done in disobedience to God’s clear word that women are not to teach or hold authority over men. 

I want to be very cautious here. Cause I tell you, I like Mrs. Edwards. I wouldn’t even go so far to say she’s a false teacher, but I would say that because she preaches to men, she is undermining the authority of Scripture. I don’t know if she realizes that  while her words exalt Christ, her actions undermine His clear teaching in 1 Timothy 2.

Sadie Robertson Huff:

Is an American and business woman who rose to fame from her appearance on the A&E reality program known as Duck Dynasty. She also is known for being runner up on season 19 of ABC’s Dancing With The Stars. She is host of the podcast “Whoa, That’s Good Podcast” as well as a New York Times best selling author of the book “Live Original” from which came a devotional of the same title as well as a sequel to Live Original titled Live Fearless. In 2020 she released  Live: Remain Alive, Be Alive at a Specific Time, Have an Exciting or Fulfilling Life. In 2021 she released Live on Purpose: 100 devotional for letting go of fear and letting God. In 2022 she presented her most recent book titled Who areYou Following?: Pursuing Jesus in a Social-Media Obsessed World.

“My passion is to speak, to write, to encourage,” Robertson proclaims on her website. How does she accomplish this passion? Through not only her books, but her social media presence (as she has 5 million followers) as well as through her Live Original Tour which reached 16-cities, and Youtube channel which has 537 thousand subscribers as of March 2022.

It is in her YouTube channel that describes her as “preaching” giving messages and sermons to various churches and conferences. She has spoken at the Passion Conference founded by Louie and Shelly Giglio. The Passion Conference has hosted speakers that have commonly twisted scripture out of context and gives very self centered semi- pelagian, purpose-driven sermons to young adults. (For quick information, Pelagius was a man who taught that man was good in nature and had the ability to come to God by his own will. Semi-pelagian doctrine presupposes that people are born good and are actually searching for God (this is contrary to Scriptural doctrine found in Romans and Colossians) and we merely need to “choose” Christ through our own will and Christ will do the rest.

Along with preaching and giving sermons to various churches revealing her unwillingness to submit to Scripture, Mrs. Huff has had psychiatrists on her show to give practical steps we can take to live happier lives promoting the idea that being happy can lead us to a better relationship with God. (This type of teaching emphasizes feeling as determining a right relationship with God instead of Christ fulfilling all we need to be made right with God regardless of how we feel). For more on how I believe Psychiatry undermines the sufficiency of Christ and His word as given to us in Scripture to train the man of God in righteousness, check out season 1 episodes titled 2 Opposing Doctrines: Man’s wisdom of Positive Psychology vs God’s Wisdom. At the minimum, this reveals a lack of trust in God’s word in being all we need for life, godliness and right living ( 2 Pet. 1:3; 2 Tim.3:16-17; Psalm 19; 119)

Jamie Ivey:

Is the author of the books You Be You, a 7 week marriage study titled Complement, a sort of autobiography titled If Your Only Knew: My Unlikely, Unavoidable Story of Becoming Free, a 6 week course Titled: Your Story Matters discussing how our story can change the world, and host of the podcast The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey.

There are no records of her speaking at churches over a mixed congregation, nor does she call herself a pastor.

She has interviewed the typical evangelical stars of today, Beth Moore, Russell Moore, Francis Chan, Lauren Chandler, etc. And because of this there are certain teachings and doctrines that I find to be unbiblical, but I would not necessarily qualify her work as unsubmissive to Scripture, but more of superficial in depth and centered on social/worldly issues instead of deep and theological in nature. Because of this there is a tendency to become more concerned with the world’s concern than with seeking after the kingdom of God through Christ. But it is an interviewing type of show and so it can be limited into more personal experiences than biblical teachings. 

Latasha Morrison:

Is a speaker, author, and “reconciler. Bridge-builder and leader, committed to educate people on cultural intelligence and racial literacy” (latashamorrison.com). She is founder of Be the Bridge, an organization with the goal to “ encourage racial reconciliation among all ethnicities, to promote racial unity in America, and to equip others to do the same” (latashamorrison.com). She is known as a Certified Trainer in Cultural Intelligence and Unconscious Bias. This organization works with large and small companies as well churches and nonprofits. 

I am very uninformed on what type of training and education goes into becoming a trainer in Cultural Intelligence and Unconscious Bias. But I wonder, what type of literature and teaching helps one become culturally intelligent? Isn’t God’s word perfect wisdom from which we can learn what is good and what is evil and therefore conclude what is culturally intelligent and culturally unintelligent? And isn’t God’s word so powerful that it …is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.(Heb. 4:12)? God’s word reveals where we are biased, it shines light on it so that it would no longer be unconscious but now at the very forefront of our mind, bringing it into our consciousness, calling us to repent where we sinned in this. I am curious how reliant she is on Scripture to guide one into true reconciliation or whether she has relied upon man’s wisdom as well as Scripture.

She authored a book titled, Be the Bridge: Pursuing God’s Heart for Racial Reconciliation, where she gives a “clarion call for Christians to move toward relationship and deeper understanding in the midst of a diverse culture” ( that was from the book’s information on Christianbook.com). To hear a very thorough critique on that book you can go to the YouTube channel Conversations That Matter where host Jon Harris very lovingly and truthfully goes through her teachings expressed in the book.

Mrs. Morrison has taught over a mixed congregation at Mark Batterson’s National Community Church (which has multiple campuses in the Washington, D.C. and Virginia areas) as a guest speaker for a series titled “Peacemakers” 

Bianca Olthoff:

Has been a speaker at the If:Gathering for at least the last 4 years consecutively. Author of the book titled “How to Have Your Life Not Suck”, as well creator of the non-profit organization In The Name of Love, Bianca Olthoff is an incredibly engaging speaker. She is incredibly enthusiastic and really knows how to draw her audience into her messages. On her website she gives topical devotional messages derived from Scripture verses (short verses, mind you). Now this is called proof texting. The method by which a person appeals to a biblical text to prove or justify a theological position without regard for the context of the passage they are citing. And while there is a right method that can be beneficial when proof texting it is very common for devotionals to give the wrong method. For example taking historical text, and reading ourselves into it. Such teaching of historical texts makes you David and Goliath your problems. Another example could be taking a historical narrative and and applying it as it is normative (something we should expect or see on a regular basis). Bianca Olthoff, more than not, uses an inappropriate method of proof-texting when coming to her messages and devotions. 

Mrs Olthoff also has no qualms over preaching and teaching, nor any issues with calling herself a pastor over a males in a mixed audience at her and her husband’s church The Father’s House located in Orange County CA. Her most recent “sermon” was on Conflict Resolution in a series on relationships titled: Rated R. 

Jackie Hill Perry:

Mrs. Perry is a poet, writer and hip hop artist from ST. Lois, Missouri. While Perry is known for her spoken word pieces such as “ My Life as Stud”. “A Poem About Weed, and “Jig-a Boo”, what she is most known for is her testimony from a lesbian lifestyle to Christian lifestyle. Her work combatsr the belief that God cannot change the desires of a human especially in the Gay and Lesbian community, and in this case,  has a very necessary ministy and word needed for our day and age.

Her writings include the book titled: Gay Girl, Good God: The Story of Who I was and Who God has Always Been, Jude: Contending for the Faith, and Holier Than Thou: How God’s Holiness Helps Us Trust Him.

Mrs. Perry has preached a Sunday morning service at Progressive Baptist Church in Chicago, as well as spoken to several co-ed conferences. She has yoked herself to other women who proudly call themselves pastors (such as Nona Jones, Oneka McClellan, and Sarah Jakes Roberts- daughter of modalist and prosperity heretic T.D. Jakes ( another quick side not here for those who don’t know the modalist heresy- it is the belief that God is one God and only displays himself in 3 forms, sometimes as the father, some times as the Son, and sometimes as the holy Spirit, this is in direct contrast to the historical Christian view that God is one who eternally exists in 3 distinct persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.)

In Jackie’s early ministry, I was very blessed by her teachings. I thought she really pushed the supremacy of Christ, the Glory of God, and exaltation of God’s word when she taught. Over time, however, I have been troubled to see her connections with those that do not hold Scripture up as all we need for life and godliness, and in more recent years her words and teachings show a lack of trust that Scripture is sufficient to guide us into godly reconciliation, she relies on worldly sociological tools to help her read God’s word. These should not be mixed.

Jo Saxton:

Jo Saxton is an author, speaker, podcaster, and entrepreneurial coach. Born to Nigerian parents and raised in London, Jo brings a multicultural and international perspective to her leadership training for women. A sought-after speaker, Jo has a diverse calendar addressing universities, churches, national conferences, nonprofits, and corporations, including Q, Catalyst, Evereve, NoonDay Collection, LakeShore Media, and internationally in the U.K. and Australia. (josaxton.com). 

Mrs. Saxton co-host a podcast titled Lead Stories with Pastor Steph O’Brien where they discuss “challenges and opportunities around leadership” with the goal of “encouraging their audience to step into their God given influence with courage and intentionality”. (josaxton.com)

She has authored several books such as: More Than Enchanting, The Dream of You, High Heels and Holiness. Her book Ready to Rise “tackles the real-life issues women face–workplace harassment, sexism, low self-esteem, financial woes, power battles, and old-wounds–while providing meaningful wisdom from Jo’s own journey to leadership” (josaxton.com). 

In her own “about ” page on her website she informs us that she has led ministries, nonprofits and PASTORED and planted churches.

Now I am curious about this rise in training up women to be leaders. It’s become extremely popular in women’s ministry today and is especially promoted by almost all the speakers showcased at IF:Gathering. Somehow there is this idea that every woman is a leader. Words such as serve and submit and servant seem to have vanished from their vocabulary. I think I may do an episode into this type of teaching and mentality within the women’s ministry as I see so many “christian” women promote themselves as leaders, life-coaches, and social media influencers. But I digress…

So Jo Saxton also has been a guest preacher at Willow Creek Community Church, and   City Life Church located in Melbourne, Australia preaching over both men and women at these churches. 

She has also spoken at Vineyard Churches VNG Conference. Now the Association of Vineyard Churches is a neo charismatic evangelical denomination to which all Vineyard Churches are connected (much like how Assemblies of God are associated with each other). Vineyard Churches are connected through a movement started by John Wimber, rooted in the charismatic renewal that is associated with the “signs and wonders” movement, the “Toronto blessing”. And to be blunt, many many false teachings have come out of all of these movements and have influenced broader Evangelicalism today.

Ruth Chou Simmons:

Mrs. Simmon is a best selling and award winning author. Her titles include “GraceLaced”, “Beholding and Becoming” and “Foundations”. Her most recent book is titled “When Strivings Cease”. She is most known for her company GraceLaced, an art and lifestyle brand. I have to say that her work is quite beautiful. 

I also appreciate the message she is trying to convey in her speeches and books. That we strive for self improvement without understanding the grace of God. In the first session of her Bible study “When Strivings Cease” she gives the Gospel and at least reads Scripture on our sin and God’s great mercy. Now I haven’t come across any videos of her speaking at churches on Sunday morning or even over Christian conferences for both males and females. There are videos, however, of her speaking at a conference at Oklahoma Baptist University with a mixed audience. 

As I come to Scripture, I don’t want to add, where Scripture does not speak. So in this case, a woman speaking at a university, even a Christian University, I wouldn’t be so picky about. There may be something I am missing, and am willing to be corrected by Scripture on this point. It is when a woman comes into the House of God to, preach, teach, and supposedly give the Apostles teachings (Acts 2:42),  and come under the authority of Scripture that the line most definitely must be drawn. God is clear that for the gathering of His people in devoting ourselves to the Apostle’s teaching, God has instituted that it be a man to give and hand down these teachings, a man is to be preaching.

So while I appreciate Mrs. Simmons teaching, and her (from what I can tell) submission to God’s word in the area of teaching over men, I do question her discernment. She, back in Feb. of 2021 appeared on the Jesus Calling podcast. I don’t think this necessarily means she supports or endorses the extra biblical revelation that Sarah Young gives in her writings and in this franchise in general. But it does expose at the least, that she hasn’t really thought about what Jesus Calling promotes. Now if you want more information in regards to the Jesus Calling franchise I did an series on this very popular devotional in season one. We look over and wrestle with the teachings in her devotional for teens as well as examine the beginnings of the Jesus Calling book itself from its introduction in the 2004 edition. We discuss what she describes as her conversion experience as well as looking at the subjective experiences she claims to have received. These episodes are worth checking out if you have questions on what doctrinal issues as well as what type of Christ is being given in these devotionals.

So like I said, there is a slight question of discernment on Ruth’s part. 

Lysa Turkeurst:

In my research it looks as if Lysa has spoken at least the last  2 years of the conference. She is another very well know speaker as she is also a best selling author as well as the founder of Proverbs31 Ministries. Her book titles include “Forgiving What you Can’t Forget”, “It’s Not Supposed to be this Way”, “Finding I Am”, “Uninvited”, and “What Happens When Women Say Yes to God”. There are many more quote-unqoute Bible and book studies. Now I have done a thorough look at what she teaches in her booklet “Is God Speaking to Me?”. I take the time to look at what she teaches about hearing the voice of God and compare her teachings with Scriptures teaching to see if they match up. That series is in season one and is actually the first book critique series of Thoroughly Equipped. 

Has Lysa preached over men in a church gathering? Yes. She has not only preached to a mixed gender audience at such churches like Embrace Church in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, she has spoken and attends a very questionable church: Elevation Church, pastored by Steven Furtick based in Charlotte, North Carolina. If you do not know, Elevation Church is extremely questionable (I’m using polite terms here) as there goal and formation of the church are very seeker sensitive oriented as well as some of the very questionable teachings given by Mr. Furtick are worth discerning as they are very self focused, and at times have been heretical to say the least. 

Ms. Turkeurst offers her testimony on the Proverbs 31 website. Her written testimony is the common testimony found in evangelicalism today. The testimony of one realizing that God loves them. While it is true that God is a loving God, and I’m not against relaying to others the knowledge that God love us. It is inadequate at best, if we think that this is the whole of the good news. That God loves his people is seen through the historical life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And grasping and understanding this good news comes first from understanding the bad news. That we are sinners in the hand of an angry God, children of wrath. While Ms. Turkeurst identifies that she struggled with “not being enough”, the good news is not that God merely thinks you are enough, or that he just really loves you just as you are,, the good news is that though you and I are sinners and deserving of his wrath and punishment , he sent his Son to live a perfectly righteous life, yet take on all our sin so that He may take the full weight of God’s wrath upon Himself. Go to her testimony, and all of this witness, admission of her own sinful nature and the testimony of Jesus Christ is completely missing from it.

In this case, dealing with Lysa Turkeurst and my research into her, her actively teaching over men, association with Elevation, and mishandling of Scripture in her writings should make us question her discernment, as well as who she is teaching when she speaks.

Ann Voskamp:

Hailing from Canada, Ann Voskamp has been a speaker at the IF:Gathering for at least 4 years running. She is an author of 4 New York Times bestsellers titled “The Greatest Gift”, “Unwrapping the Greatest Gift: A Family Celebration of Christmas”, “The Broken Way”, and probably the most popular of her books “One Thousand Gifts”. She has been on the Today Show with Kathy Lee Gifford, had articles in ChristianityToday.com, WORLD Magazine and the HUffington Post.

While Ann, does not call herself a pastor, nor speaks at the Brethren Bible Chapel she attends; she has spoken at Saddleback Church, for their Christmas message back in Dec.2021 as well as Hillsong Church Australia, about 2 years ago. As a guest speaker she has given a sermon to both male and females in the congregation. She has been on the Better Together tv show, as well as the Life Today Show and Praise on TBN. She has connected and associated with other speakers such as Christine Caine, and Lisa Harper, Beth Moore, Lysa Turkeurst, and many more. 

Her speaking and writing remind me of Rob Bell. Mysticism, emotionalism, and lots of questions without answers, lots of talk on brokenness, relaying her own experiences with tragedy, but never clear talk on sin. Talk of God being for us, but not much on being for us even despite our transgression against His holiness. Lot’s of talk about God working things out for our good but not much about our call to be like Christ and the call to holiness in our lives. There has been talk about the language she has used in her books, questionable language, such talk centered on the idea of “making love to God”. And yes, she means the making love as that form of interaction between a husband and a wife. These are red flags that many in the Christian community have rightly questioned.

CONCLUSION:

Now those were just some of the speakers that have appeared at the If:Gathering. I chose these specific teachers, not based on whether they preach or taught over men in the church congregation. I picked those who were either very popular, and/or had spoken at the conference for more than 2 years consecutively. After identifying the repeat speakers I then went through each one, looking at their ministries, books, websites, video messages, podcasts, and speaking engagements to determine if they passed the litmus test on whether they willingly submit themselves to God’s instruction to the role of women in church ministry as given in God’s word. As I have determined, some do, yet most don’t. 

And here’s the next thought: that if they are not willing to submit to God’s directive to women in the church, that brings into question how they handle God’s word. If they ignore, excuse or make light of clear directives, how do they handle the rest of Scripture? If they don’t rely on it to instruct them in ministry work, how can they train others to look to God’s word for life and instruction into righteousness? More times than not, a woman who desires to dedicate what she deems as service/good works unto God (calling it Corban- set apart for God’s use) yet, rejects God’s very instructions given to his women, is a woman who wishes to draw disciples after themselves and NOT Christ (Act.20:30). For He is our Lord and He is to be obeyed.

Next episode I plan to read a great commentary by George Whitfield on why we should determine to know nothing but Christ and Him crucified. I want to read this on an episode so you can contrast Witfield’s teaching on the importance of knowing and receiving Christ with the following episode where I will take you through some of the teaching that has been given in this conference. The goal is so you can learn how to discern WHO is being preached and taught so you can determine what type of disciples are being produced by these conferences. Are they disciples of Christ or disciples of IF:Gathering and the speakers of the conference?

So ladies, until next week, I pray that we remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ foretold. They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” These are the people who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit.

 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,  keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

 Be merciful to those who doubt; save others by snatching them from the fire; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.[

To him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—  to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.

I pray, ladies, you are in His Word.

MelbaToast