Megachurch Pastor Responds To Accusation That He Plagiarized Apology For Sexist Joke

A Texas megachurch pastor has apologized after delivering a sexist joke during a recent sermon — but now he’s addressing claims that his mea culpa was plagiarized.

Josh Howerton, a senior pastor at Lakepointe Church in Rockwall, Texas, faced criticism online after footage from a February sermon circulated on social media. In the clip, Howerton said that on a couple’s wedding night, a woman should “stand where he tells you to stand, wear what he tells you to wear and do what he tells you to do” to make her husband “the happiest man in the world.”

When the backlash hit, Howerton told his congregation that he needed “to address a thing,” explaining that his earlier remarks were a “joke.”

“The Book of Proverbs says this: It says that careless words can stab like a sword, but that wise words lead to healing,” he said last week.

“If that joke fell on you the wrong way, I need you to hear three things,” he said. “Number one, I love you. Now listen, Lakepointe Church, I love you more than you will ever imagine.… Number two, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for something that felt like careless words. Let me actually, let me rephrase. I’m sorry for careless words. I’m sorry about that. And number three, thank you for your grace to me. I want to be doing this with you for decades and decades and decades.”

Soon, a writer at a Christian media outlet pointed out the similarities between Howerton’s apology and an earlier apology from a pastor in Florida.

Joby Martin, the lead pastor at The Church of Eleven22 in Jacksonville, similarly told his church in August 2022 that he needed “to address a thing,” according to The Roys Report.

Martin said that he’d joked about breastfeeding in a sermon the week prior, but that he’d been “careless” in his