Side-B Pride Parade: Begg, Piper, and Platt Headlining TGC25 with the Who’s Who of Gayjacent Christianity
The hive of scum and villainy known as the Gospel Coalition recently announced its 2025 conference lineup, a historic dumpster fire of woke and worldly compromise that perfectly embodies the dangerous false doctrine cesspool of Evangelicalism Inc. The conference looks to be the cantina scene from Star Wars if it was set in a megachurch coffee shop.
Keynote speakers include soon-to-step-down reformed mainstay Alistair Begg, fresh off of being removed from the 2024 Shepherds Conference and whose radio show Truth for Life was removed from multiple syndicators after he told a caller that celebration of a transgender “wedding” was a valid evangelism strategy. Headlining with Begg will be vax-shaming, anti-self-defense, never-Trumper Jon Piper, who taught at the Begg-less ShepCon that our love for Jesus should be “erotic to the core.”
Rounding out the keynotes is church pirate David Platt, recently revealed to have been telling the congregation of McLean Bible Church that they were not part of the Southern Baptist Convention while he was funneling hundreds of thousands of dollars to the SBC behind the church’s back.
The conference’s announcement video opens with Texas pastor Afshin Ziafat offering the social gospel-tinged claim that “Jesus didn’t come to just make us better people, he came to make us ‘alive people’ when we once were dead,” before the video shifts to emotionalized genericism of “the opportunity for men and women to be together” and “seeing live all around” (unlike the rest of civilization, apparently). The video features clips of Kamala Harris-voting coward and “Side-B” patriarch Ray Ortlund, worship leaders Shane and Shane, David Platt announcing the superiority of conferences to things like reading scripture, sitting under sermons, or listening to podcasts, and PCA church planting coordinator Irwyn Ince (who called January 6, 2021 an ‘insurrection’ while discussing race and justice with Tim Keller at TGC21) calling TGC25 a opportunity to get a “taste of heaven.”
“Breakout” speakers include “Side B” LGBTQ apologists like Docent frequent flyer JD Greear, Sam Allberry, Rachel Gilson, Rebecca McLaughlin, and ankle-biting YouTube whiner Gavin Ortlund. Joining them are Matt Chandler acolytes “period parable” Jen Wilkin and her podcast bestie JT English, along with TGC mainstays like white-guilted Ligon Duncan and nudie movie-lovin’ Brett McCracken.
Perhaps no better current list exists of hireling pastors/authors/teachers/speakers in evangelicalism who should be avoided, if for no other reason than their lack of biblical discernment in partnering with an organization that presents such a danger to the doctrinal unity of the church. Unless, of course, one of these speakers is a member of your church, in which case you likely have some church disciplining to do.
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this is crazy. two pastors who, for decades, Christians thought were the real deal. this is why im so scared to find a new church.
I’d encourage you to find a good church to the best of your ability. We aren’t responsible if the pastor walks away or falls years later, but we are commanded to gather together regularly.
And yes, it is crazy, especially Piper because he was good for so many years. He fooled everyone, but eventually the truth came out. So, don’t feel bad that he fooled you because I don’t know anyone solid who didn’t endorse him at one time.
My goodness David this is savage and…. necessary
According to their website, they’re going to “… celebrate the rich blessings of our union with Christ by studying what it means to be “alive together with Christ” (Eph. 2:5) …”
For some odd reason they skipped over verses 1-3 of that chapter. I wonder why [ahem] ….
“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins 2 in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— 3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
They seem to have a habit of skipping over scriptures that say things like “… in which you once walked, following the course of this world … ” … past tense.
I have no doubt by the time they’re done with their usual twisting and contorting, and perversion of the grace of God, they’ll have it saying the complete opposite – that it means to continue in sin, and to follow the course of the world.
You attack Begg and Piper, who both have decades of fruitful ministry in spite of a few questionable statements, yet write a saccharine fluff piece the length of a novel defending a man who abused prescription drugs, embezzled money from his congregation, bullied the teen son of one of his victims to suicide and attacked his wife and child with a bladed weapon.
I disagreed with Alistair Begg on his comment regarding an LGBTQ wedding, but I would listen to him a thousand times over before I would ever listen to any of the vitriolic bile that gushed from J.D. Hall’s fat, bearded face. Or yours, for that matter.