Pocket This: Reflections on Jen Hatmaker, spiritual authority and Christian ignorance

UPDATE 2/26/24: When I arrived home today and checked my mail, I was stunned to discover a brand new mailbox post. Someone took the old one out and installed a new one! I have unsuccessfully accused three people locally. All deny being the Mystery Blesser. But thank you!

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Greetings and good day, dear reader!

For starters, why did I title this post “Pocket This?” Well, I use the website/app Pocket to bookmark links to come back to. Most often I don’t. 😏 Life is just too busy. However… sometimes I do. When I visit Pocket, I’m quickly overwhelmed, because I have 100s of URLs saved there. I’ve tried to “tag” them along the way and as I’m saving them to somehow categorize them, but, well, they’re a mess.

So I normally just reverse sort them by order and look at old ones. After reading them, I archive or delete them. It’s also interesting how many links are now “dead,” meaning that articles were deleted or moved.

This morning, I had nothing to do and wound up on Pocket. One of my oldest saves is this article - about Jen Hatmaker.¹ It reflects on when she and her husband landed a reality show back in 2015 because she was SO FUNNY and she and her husband had bought an old farmhouse to renovate.

Go read the article. Seriously. It’s genuinely funny. When Danny (who is the Pastor of Guest Services at The Summit Church in Raleigh-Durham, NC) talked about fixing his mailbox, I squirmed a bit. Ours is precariously propped up, with the base of the wooden post rotten in the ground. I keep hoping the mailman (who unfortunately attends my church) will finish it off one day while delivering mail, think it was his fault and the Post Office will come and fix it for me.

However, you may immediately think to yourself, “Doesn’t Jeff know that Jen Hatmaker took a hard theological left a while back?” Indeed I do. Reading (and laughing) at Danny’s post caused me to re-read a post I’d written back in 2013:

Second Stop on the Segue Bus: Rod Dreher

I began to wonder how Jen was doing these days… and I stumbled across this excellent article by Rod Dreher titled, “Of Hatmaker And Heresy.”² Oh. Well, pretty much same place as when I left her (or she “left” us). Dreher pointed out that the danger of celebrity Christian personalities like Hatmaker (who get their own reality show) is that cultural popularity begins to supplant biblical accountability. A person’s personal following in culture and social media becomes their own authority, outside of recognized, historical biblical teachings (upon which Hatmaker initially earned her platform as a speaker/writer.

What I object to is the theological framing here — and it’s common in mainstream journalism — construing the conflict as one between rigid, hypocritical conservatives and the hip, young, female progressive. It’s lazy. It’s lazy and it’s false. Tish Harrison Warren is also a young female Christian, and nobody’s idea of a standard conservative Evangelical.. THW has been one of Hatmaker’s most thoughtful critics.³

Dreher quotes an article by Warren:

Aside from the debate about sexuality, broader questions emerged: Where do bloggers and speakers like Hatmaker derive their authority to speak and teach? And who holds them accountable for their teaching? What kinds of theological training and ecclesial credentialing are necessary for Christian teachers and leaders? What interpretive body and tradition do these bloggers speak out of? Who decides what is true Christian orthodoxy? And how do we as listeners decide whom to trust as a Christian leader and teacher?⁴

Third Stop on the Segue Bus: Alisa Childers

Alisa Childers’ blog entry Max Lucado's Endorsement of Jen Hatmaker: What it Means and Why it Matters.⁵ It’s also a fantastic read. You may be one of those Christians who cringe when error is pointed out. Alisa gently and lovingly explains why and when it’s necessary:

But we would do good to remember that the Bible places the blame for divisions on the ones bringing in the false doctrine, not on those who call it out. Paul writes in Romans 16:17: “I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.” Notice that it was the false teachers who Paul criticizes for being divisive, not the believers.

Childers has another great article here called Jen Hatmaker and the Made-to-Order Gospel.⁶

Next Stop: Twitter/X

Perhaps The Babylon Bee sums it up best:

Last Stop:

A 10+ year old link saved to Pocket drew me in, and I found that I sincerely wanted to like Danny Franks. I don’t know him. But his blog was hilarious as it depicted one non-handy husband’s hapless disdain for Hatmaker’s popularity and influence in his wife’s life.

After reading Franks’ post, I found and followed him on Twitter. That’s how things like that work. Someone makes you smile or appreciate their writing and perspective, and you’re a click away from seeing more of their thoughts… and being influenced by them.

As I made stop after stop on the Segue Bus, I found myself mourning a bit and challenged to hold scriptural doctrine dear. I was also reminded that we can still learn from those with whom we disagree (Hatmaker in my case). And yet, we must also be wary of endorsing and promoting celebrity without accountability. When the Hatmaker Blow-Up initially happened back in 2014-15, lots of Christian women were outraged that Hatmaker was being examined by her fidelity to scripture. When that happens, we are all in danger of abandoning the authority of scripture and instead embracing a willfully ignorant idol of tolerance.

It was in 2016 that the other shoe dropped. It was then that Hatmaker made headlines for affirming same-sex marriage, prompting LifeWay Christian Resources and other Christian booksellers to remove her books from their shelves.

Then in 2020…

In a June podcast, she revealed that her daughter, Sydney, is lesbian, and said her greatest regret was speaking out against homosexuality.

“I wouldn’t change one ounce of who she is. Not a molecule. Not a moment. The only thing I would change in our story, is I wish I could go back and shake myself to life sooner — well, well, well, before,” she said. “The truth is, every single church is just filled with gay kids and gay moms and dads and you know, it's just so irresponsible to break their hearts.”⁷

Even in my Segue Stops, I had one more that illustrates the point well. I found an excellent article by Aimee Byrd called The Danger in Women's Ministries. She said:

Every now and then I get a disturbing email from a pastor or concerned woman about the women’s ministry in their church. The scenario is usually about a group of well-intentioned women studying a popular book that is marketed for women’s ministry groups, and it is full of bad doctrine. But the author is extremely likable, she has done many good deeds in the name of the Lord, and frankly, the women in the group are now invested. They are offended that someone is questioning what they think has been an edifying study. So you can see how I usually get this email after significant damage has already been done…

There seems to be a pattern going on from the beginning of time. We read in Gen. 3:1, “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.” And what is the very next line after being given this information?

He said to the woman, “Did God actually say…”⁸

I couldn’t agree more with her observations and cautions. And therein lies more caution. I did quick search (another Segue Bus stop) on who she is. I found this article which points out that she has embraced egalitarianism in a way that even seems extreme and unbiblical.⁹

That’s the thing about bus stops. You really need to know where you’re going in order to arrive at the proper place. Hatmaker is still writing and influencing (sadly, she also divorced in 2020), and while winsome, her influence has waned with many. As with bus stops, the scenery may look nice outside, but if you get off, you’ll off to pay to get back on.

I’ve been on buses and subways in cities where I didn’t speak the language. The ones that have maps on them are the most helpful. Seeing what stop is next in perspective of my ultimate destination helped me stay on the bus when I was tired of riding and when the sights outside looked compelling. Scripture is that roadmap for Christians. When we ignore the authority it has over all life and lifestyles, we will find ourselves lost.

We can learn from some stops. We just don’t need to end the journey there, thinking we’ve arrived.

1. Jen Hatmaker Ruined My Marriage, by Danny Franks (August 25, 2014).

2. Of Hatmaker And Heresy, by Rod Dreher (The American Conservative: December 18, 2017)

3. Ibid.

4. Who’s In Charge of the Christian Blogosphere? by Tish Harrison Warren (Christianity Today: April 27, 2017)

5. Max Lucado's Endorsement of Jen Hatmaker: What it Means and Why it Matters, by Alisa Childers (January 13, 2020)

6. Jen Hatmaker and the Made-to-Order Gospel, by Alisa Childers (The Gospel Coalition: July 31, 2020)

7. Jen Hatmaker says divorce was 'completely unexpected,' asks for prayers: 'I am shocked,' by Leah MarieAnn Klett (Christian Post: September 8, 2020)

8. The Danger in Women's Ministries, by Aimee Byrd (Reformation21: July 10, 2015) Also republished at Aimee’s blog, June 16, 2020.

9. A way-station to egalitarianism: A review essay of Aimee Byrd’s Recovering from Biblical Manhood & Womanhood, by Denny Burks (Southern Baptist Theological Seminary: Equip: July 7, 2020)