Last year, we penned an article entitled Blake Reynolds, Clayton Jennings, and Capturing Weak Women. What we were able to glean from Clayton Jennings’ followers on social media was his skill in attracting an enormous following of young women who looked to him as a sort of “American Idol” of Christianity. He’s charming, with a graceful appearance, that is attractive to young Christian women. He is a self-proclaimed evangelist, who speaks about the things of God and things that resonate with the young Christian mind. The young women would practically grovel at his feet. He was a star.
But we suspected something wasn’t quite right. After all, a Christian–especially a minister of God’s Word–should be above reproach, right? Why were so many women attracted to this man while having a nearly non-existent following of men? Were these women attracted to the message he preached or were they attracted to him?
We invited Clayton Jennings into our Facebook group in the hopes that we could discuss his ministry, and give biblical guidance. He (seemingly graciously) took us up on the offer. We wanted to know why, among other things, he felt the need to present himself in such a way that was physically attractive to these women. We also wanted to know why he promoted false teachers to his followers and did not properly exegete the Scriptures. To this confrontation, we were met with quite a bit of hostility. He proceeded to slander our ministry, pulling private pictures from our contributor’s Facebook pages, and publicly posting them on social media, while labeling us “wicked,” “demonic,” and “racist” … among other accusations. Further, he threatened to go to his friend, “John” (that would be MacArthur since they are supposedly on a first name basis), and let him know about us “bullying” him–he’ll even “get a team of lawyers involved,” he claims.
Once he realized that Pulpit & Pen was unmoved by his baseless threats, and feared we may expose him further for who he is, he proceeded to offer what appears to be a bribe to JD Hall. He sent, via PayPal, one thousand dollars to Hall, to which Hall refused, and returned to him immediately, citing Exodus 23:8, and teaching him that this behavior was unacceptable for someone who was supposed to be a Christian and a minister.
Fast-forward one year later.
Pulpit & Pen has verified information of allegations against him that not only substantiate our suspicions about Jennings’ activities but reveal even more about him than we previously expected. We also reached out to Clayton and his father regarding this matter. It is not our intention to cause contention in the lives of the Jennings. This is an extremely difficult thing to do when it comes to polemics. But we believe that in the best interest of Clayton’s followers, that Clayton should come clean, come to full repentance, and remove himself from the position of prominence and influence that he is currently in over young women.
Our number one priority is to protect the young woman that came forward with these allegations from those who might further victimize her in one way or another. We pray that she will not be mistreated. We also reached out, prior to this story, to several activists who specialize in spiritual abuse and asked for input regarding how to best protect her from punitive or vindictive consequences from Clayton or his father. We wanted to make sure we did right by this young woman.
Because we have the priority of protecting this young woman, we will not release more sordid details in screenshots or audio so that she may be protected. However, Chris Rosebrough and other conventional media outlets can confirm our claims.
We believe that Clayton can be forgiven under the blood of Christ, with a repentance-producing faith in the Gospel. We wish him well, but he simply cannot continue to lead women. We also pray for his loved ones. This young woman went to pastors who were unwilling or unable to expose the matter, so she came to us. JD has prayed extensively with this young woman and provided her pastoral counsel and will continue to push her forwards in her faith in an authentic gospel.
