Eight-time Stellar Award winner Pastor Mike McClure Jr. (PMJ) has had to pull one of his gospel colleagues’ coattails after hearing him call the church wack during an interview earlier this week.
The 38-year-old founder and senior pastor of the Rock City Church in Forestdale, Alabama, took to social media to call Tye Tribbett out by name and inform him that not only were his comments irresponsible, but that he would not be the Grammy-nominated singer he is without its support.
“This morning, I heard an interview from Tye Tribbett on ‘The Breakfast Club’ and I get what he was trying to say. But he made a statement that was very irresponsible on the wrong platform. He said, ‘The church is wack,’” PMJ said in a clip circulating on The Jasmine Brand.
“How can you go on a national platform and totally throw under the bus the very institution that made you who you are?” he then asked.
The “Victory” singer said in his interview with Charlamagne Tha God, DJ Envy and Jess Hilarious leading into this conversation that he didn’t need anything to distract him from God as his “source,” and that everything else should be a “resource” pointing people to God.
DJ Envy asked about the “pastor” trend where everyone wants to be a preacher and get a church when Tribbett shared his belief that the church is a “religious system” and the “structure” of it is “wack.”
“I don’t subscribe to it even though I grew up in it and I benefited from it,” the recording artist said. “But I learned that God is not the church and once I realized ‘whoa, God ain’t church’ that for me — you know, I mean I’m not from the streets — so that was a huge thing.”
“The institution of Church is whack.” – @TyeTribbett ⛪️
— Power 105.1 (@Power1051) March 6, 2024
Full interview is up NOW on the @BreakfastClubam YouTube 📺 pic.twitter.com/SlnGgiQhRf
Charlamagne then referenced Acts 17:24, which states that “Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,” and Tribbet asked, “How often do you hear that sermon?”
According to the Camden, New Jersey, native, pastors make people care more about the identity of being a church member than they care about serving and loving the people and giving that as a reason why he stepped away from the church. “Church should be about the people but the people make it about church.”
PMJ, who recently performed at the WOW Gospel Live event in Savannah, Georgia, believes Tribbett missed the mark in an effort to put his opinions over responsible ministry.
“You Sir had an opportunity to shine God’s light… to push people back into the place of healing but instead you wanted to feel cool. You could have been a light. You could have told people, ‘Man, falling in love with God was the best thing I’ve ever done and I found the right church.’ Go find the right church,” he said.
Adding, “You don’t know who’s going to take that statement and walk away from a church that could have really impacted their lives.”
People on social media believed PMJ was the one out of order.
“This ‘rebuke’ just proves his point! Instead of listening to his words… you went up in arms in defense of the institution! You are that system at work, and I promise that’s not saving any souls!” one person wrote.
“And here we go!!!! Smh!!! More Division amongst brothers in Christ!!!” another person wrote. “He could’ve called or had this conversation in private!!! This is a mess!!! Tye never said Church was wack.. he said the SYSTEM… The institution of Church is wack… but ok!!! I pray people will watch the entire interview and LISTEN to comprehend and not respond!!!”
One person agreed with PMJ, writing in part, “This is definitely irresponsible.. some lost souls MAY still need to commune with other believers so that their walk with Christ is strengthened and if they get to a level in their walk where they decide to walk away from church they will have all the necessary tools to do so‼️”
The preacher-turned-singer confessed in his remarks that his church wasn’t perfect and neither is anyone else’s.
“There is no perfect church, just like there’s no perfect restaurant … there’s no perfect radio show. Everybody falls short,” he said before adding, “I literally met you in church meeting you changed my life forever. The church is not wack.”
PMJ, whose real name is Michael McClure, grew up in the church with a father was a pastor and his grandfather, who was civil rights leader Bishop Calvin Woods.
With his old-school heritage and a newer context of how to reach people, he has amassed a following to make his church one of the most popular in Birmingham and helped him gain over 830,000 followers on Instagram alone, where he shares inspirational words to those looking for a message in or outside of the church.
He said that God told him that he would be an “interpreter for a generation that was leaving the church” and with that instruction, he started his church in 2009 with ten people. His church grew from barely double digits to thousands within two years, and now he streams his message worldwide, redefining the “systems” of the church as his father and grandfather knew them.