(ChurchLeaders) Days after apologizing for controversial comments regarding race, best-selling author and apologist Josh McDowell has announced that he is stepping back from his ministry responsibilities and speaking engagements “to enter a season of listening and addressing the growth areas” he has discovered through the controversy.
In the statement, McDowell explained that CEO Dane Zook will be leading daily operations of Josh McDowell Ministry.
On September 18, McDowell made several comments against the implementation of Critical Race Theory (CRT) teaching during a speech at a meeting of the American Association of Christian Counselors. CRT has become a point of controversy in evangelical circles in recent years, but the criticism McDowell drew came from specific comments suggesting that racial inequality could be attributed to the Black community’s lack of emphasis on education.
The next day, McDowell stated that these comments in his speech “do not reflect [his] own beliefs.”