Bott Radio blocks Driscoll, replaces segment mid-show

EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains explicit language concerning sexuality. The entire story can be read by clicking here.

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. (BP) — One of America’s largest Christian radio networks interrupted one of its programs in mid-show on May 18 because it featured the controversial Seattle, Wash., pastor Mark Driscoll.

The Bott Radio Network then cancelled another interview with Driscoll that had been scheduled. The Bott network provides conservative Bible teaching, news, and information to an audience in 10 states.

Mark Driscoll

The interview with Driscoll, on the syndicated “Family Life” program hosted by Dennis Rainey, was halted in mid-broadcast after Bott Network founder Dick Bott learned Driscoll was the guest. Bott then cancelled another scheduled interview and ordered all Bott stations not to carry any programs featuring Driscoll.

However, Bott stressed that his respect for Rainey had not waned and that his radio network’s relationship with “Family Life” remains strong.

Bott said he made the decision because of what he saw as Driscoll’s penchant for using vulgarity in his sermons, especially his questionable interpretation of the Song of Solomon in a Nov. 18, 2007, sermon preached in Edinburgh, Scotland, and subsequently in a multi-part series entitled “The Peasant Princess.”

“I’ve seen a lot that’s on the Internet and that only makes the whole thing worse,” Bott said. “I’ve seen what he said at that church in Scotland and as far as I know he’s never addressed it in any repentant way or apologetically tried to explain why on earth he got so far off the reservation as to think that that’s the way to address people.”

Driscoll’s Edinburgh sermon included graphic detail to explain his idea that Song of Solomon 2:6 encourages husbands to stimulate their wives by touching private parts of their bodies. He said chapter 7 of the book gives biblical justification for spouses “stripping” for each other and quipped that while lovemaking is better than wine, “lovemaking is great with wine.” He cited Solomon 2:3 to justify a wife performing oral sex on her husband.

While no vulgar language was used by Driscoll in his interview with Rainey, Bott said he could not trust Driscoll, given his track record, and that he worried what might be said could damage or offend Bott’s reputation for offering family-friendly programming to a wide range of listeners.

“All I know is that when a man behaves badly he’s not a role model,” said Bott who was inducted into the National Religious Broadcasters Hall of Fame March 11. “And when a man’s mouth, you know, speaks of things that will embarrass people in the audience he certainly isn’t a gentleman.”

He said some of Driscoll’s interpretations of Song of Solomon passages are extreme at best and he is concerned that Driscoll is being hailed as a role model and mentor to too many, particularly young pastors.

Driscoll is senior pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, a city known for its secularism, growing it from nothing to more than 7,000 members on seven campuses across the city. Although his sermons are edgy and sometimes vulgar, his supporters defend him as an “inerrantist” and “complementarian,” suggesting he is a conservative who should be accepted for his like-mindedness about the gospel. Driscoll’s sermons are downloaded from the Mars Hill Church website in droves and he frequently speaks at national conferences alongside Christian luminaries like John Piper and C.J. Mahaney.

The national media have taken notice as well. Zondervan pronounced him to be among the 50 most influential pastors in America. He has been the subject of extensive feature stories in the New York Times Magazine, Christianity Today, and ABC TV’s “Nightline.”

Controversy about Driscoll among Southern Baptists surfaced in February 2009 when he was a featured speaker at a student conference held by Southeastern Seminary.