What looked to be a routine Sunday at one Texas church turned into some major drama and sparked debate online once the video began making its rounds. It all started when the First Lady and co-pastor of a local church was giving her sermon and decided that was the perfect moment to call out a member of the congregation who also served as a praise leader, and it was wild to watch.
In the clip, which was later posted to TikTok, the female pastor named Cassandra Pope is seen giving her sermon on stage behind a podium. She walks and talks as she preaches to the churchgoers. Then she opts to “rebuke” a praise leader named Mahoganee for not giving her a genuine hug before the sermon.
Pope tells the audience that she doesn’t like “fake” things or people and says that she attempted to talk to Mahoganee about the situation. However, the praise leader didn’t want to talk at that time. So, she decided to rebuke her publicly, asking Mahoganee to leave, which she did.
Texas Pastor Publicly Calls Out Praise Leader During Sermon
“Mahoganee kinda gave me a different hug than she normally does,” Pope told the crowd, before declaring that such behavior had no place “in the body of Christ.”
Mahoganee is seen hugging other members of the praise team calmly and collectively before finally walking off the stage as the pastor continued to preach. Later, Pope’s husband and co-pastor took the stage to defend his wife’s behavior.
The internet was collectively stunned by the video, and many of them took Mahoganee’s side in the situation based on what they saw in the clip. Of course, there were plenty of comments on the video as well.
“Mahoganee is such a lady because she took that gracefully and then walked away and too Cassandra Pope you are an true example of doing dirty work and then hide behind the Bible because you tried to use scripture to defend your fleshly mess when Mahoganee didn’t sin against God,” one person wrote.
“That is not open rebuke. That is humiliation,” another chimed in. “And Mahogany hugged everyone with class to let it be known she is NOT the problem!” a third person declared. “This is so out of order,” a fourth comment read.
It seems that the Texas pastor could have handled this situation better and spoken to Mahoganee in a more private setting. However, she opted to work it into her sermon. Thankfully, the praise leader left with grace and dignity.
