Tullian Tchividjian says his 'favorite cuss word’ is 'actually a prayer'
Pastor Tullian Tchividjian, a grandson of the famed evangelist the Rev. Billy Graham, recently told his congregation that his "favorite cuss word" is "actually a prayer."
Tchividjian, who lost his church and wife in 2015 to an adultery scandal and launched a new church four years later, recently told his congregation that “goddamnit,” which is often used to express anger and perplexity, and which many Christians find offensive, is "a prayer.”
He made the statement last month during a sermon titled “Watch Your Mouth” at The Sanctuary in Jupiter, Florida, which he started in 2019 with his second wife, Stacie.
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“Let me give an apologetic for the word goddamnit, which is my favorite cuss word. […] Hands down my favorite cuss word. And that may be alarming to your ears, but here's why: I think it is the most theologically accurate cuss word on planet Earth,” Tchividjian said at about the 16-minute point in the 42-minute sermon about the commandment not to take the Lord's name in vain (Exodus 20:7).
“It's actually a prayer. Something bad happens, something that you don't like, something that needs to be corrected, you say, ‘goddamnit.’ In other words, what you're saying is, ‘God, you are the only one that is capable of cleaning up this mess, damn it, get rid of it. That's technically what it means,” Tchividjian insisted. “I've had a lot of people over the years call me out for using that, and I make a very compelling case that it's actually a very theologically driven prayer if it's used properly.”
In 2015, Tchividjian resigned from his position as pastor at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, due to an extramarital affair. He also filed for divorce from his then-wife, Kim, and was deposed of pastoral credentials by the South Florida Presbytery.
In a statement to The Washington Post in June 2015, he disclosed that he resigned after discovering his wife was having an affair, but it was later reveal that he was also caught in an affair.
"I resigned from my position at Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church […] due to ongoing marital issues. As many of you know, I returned from a trip a few months back and discovered that my wife was having an affair,” The Sanctuary pastor said.
"As her affair continued, we separated. Sadly and embarrassingly, I subsequently sought comfort in a friend and developed an inappropriate relationship myself."
Tchividjian later obtained a job at Willow Creek Church in Winter Springs, Florida, months later but was fired in March 2016 after Lead Pastor Kevin Labby found out that Tchividjian had not disclosed a 2014 affair he revealed to close allies at Coral Ridge.
"The disclosures that he made involved the fact that he had a previously unconfessed inappropriate relationship with another woman. He didn't share specifics with us. He said the person, that's worth saying [...] there were no specifics," Labby said in an interview with The Christian Post at the time.
On his new church’s website, Tchividjian describes it as a place for people who are "exhausted because we’re trying to justify ourselves by what we do, who we can become, and what others think about us."
“We are a pack of 21st century missionaries of grace called to go into the hard regions of human need and struggle with the good news of God’s unconditional love,” the church states on its website. “Jesus invited weary and burdened people to come to him to find rest (Matthew 11:28). So, at The Sanctuary you won’t hear, ‘Just do it!’ Instead, you will hear over and over again “It is finished!’”
Tchividjian also shares publicly on the church’s website that he met his second wife, Stacie, whom he wed in 2016, “in the aftermath of his season of self-destruction.”
“Unlike Tullian, Stacie comes from a long history of family brokenness. Adultery, addiction, and abuse make up just a small portion of the many dysfunctional narratives of her large and extended family,” the church shares about his wife.
Tchividjian revealed that when his wife was 18, she became pregnant out of wedlock and then had 17 years of difficulty after that. She experienced infidelity and two failed marriages.
“All of those hard and painful experiences taught her much about sin and grace, desperation, and deliverance. And as a result, she developed a huge burden for people who have crashed and burned, people who are recovering from their own damaged lives,” the church notes before explaining how Tchividjian’s wife was able to help him recover from his own broken relationships.
“In the years following Tullian’s crash and burn, he was nursed back to health by a handful of seasoned pastors, counselors, and friends, in addition to his loving wife, Stacie,” the church explains. “As partners in life and ministry, Tullian and Stacie are wholeheartedly committed to declaring and delivering God’s boundless love to broken people.”
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