Jordan “J.D.” Hall, founder of Protestia (formerly Pulpit&Pen), is disqualified from ministry because of his dependency on the prescription drug Xanax (alprazolam), his church announced today.
Hall had been lead pastor of Fellowship Baptist Church in Sidney, Montana, and publisher of Protestia—a blog known for vitriolic attacks on “heretics,” “woke” preachers, and “feminists.” However, yesterday Protestia published a statement saying Hall had been disqualified from ministry by his church for “serious sin” and removed from Protestia’s staff. Today, Fellowship Baptist revealed the nature of that sin.
“During he several days following an incident that took place Sunday June 5th, 2022, it came to the attention of church leadership of Fellowship Baptist Church of Sidney, MT that our lead pastor, Jordan Hall, had fallen into a dependency upon prescription alprozolam (Xanax), characterized by use that exceeded his prescribed dosage,” the church said in a statement on its website. “As a result, Pastor Hall tendered his resignation from the pastorate . . . on June 8th, under the assumption that he had become disqualified from eldershiop as detailed in 1 Timothy 3.”
The church did not specify the nature of the June 5th incident. However, it noted that Hall’s most recent resignation was distinct from an earlier resignation Hall tendered on May 14.
The earlier resignation came shortly after Hall had failed a sobriety test during a routine traffic stop. At the time, police charged Hall with driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs and carrying a concealed weapon while under the influence of drugs.
Your tax-deductible gift helps our journalists report the truth and hold Christian leaders and organizations accountable. Give a gift of $30 or more to The Roys Report this month, and you will receive a copy of “Hurt and Healed by the Church” by Ryan George. To donate, click here.
The church noted in today’s statement that Hall had insisted that a “vitamin deficiency” was to blame for his DUI. As a result, Fellowship Baptist voted to reject Hall’s resignation in May, “believing that the situation did not disqualify him from the pastorate.”
“If the church had been aware at that point of Mr. Hall’s prescription drug abuse, the decision regarding his tendered resignation would likely have been different,” the church stated. “However, we believe that we acted appropriately given the information we had at the time.”
The revelation of Hall’s drug dependency is just the latest in a string of misfortunes for Hall.
In February, Hall filed for bankruptcy after being sued for a story the Montana Gazette, another of Hall’s publications, had run about Adrian Jawort, a Native American activist.
Then, in May, Hall settled the lawsuit and issued an apology, admitting that the story he had published was false.
According to Fellowship Baptist, Hall and his family “are now being ministered to by church leadership.” The church said it is “exhorting” Hall to “seek professional treatment and work toward the restoration of his mind and body, and the reconciliation of his relationships with God and family.
English 
Spanish
15 Responses
My husband and I, both medical people, highly doubted the “Vitamin D deficiency” excuse. Sadly, it sounded just like a guy who was taking some form of medication…improperly.
He needs a MEDICAL “detox”, so he does not have a seizure. Withdrawing from tranquilizers is very dangerous.
The poison we dump into the drinking waters eventually ends up in the clouds that rain on our heads.
Thank God that police officer pulled him over before he killed someone with his car or his gun.
If I understand correctly, the church still isn’t fully convinced that he was high when he was pulled over? They’re waiting to see the toxicology report? That maybe Hall wasn’t lying, he was actually just high on a lack of vitamin D?
Protestia seem to have been fed the lies. I won’t link because, well, it’s Protestia, but they said when he was arrested:
“JD suffers from medical issues related to severe vitamin D deficiency that can manifest in symptoms that mimic inebriation. This has been discussed a few times on the Polemics Report and is known to his close friends. Those who watch Polemics Report have seen this and have been concerned enough to ask about it, which we appreciate.”
So he was high onstream and they all just took his word that it was a vitamin deficiency. Which makes me question the quality of their “discernment” ministry. I mean, question more than I already did.
I have severe Vit D Deficiency (AKA “Nerd Scurvy”)
I have been on 5000IU of D3 a day for the past several years.
I NEVER EXPERIENCED “SYMPTOMS THAT MIMIC INEBRIATION” EVEN AT MY LOWEST VIT D LEVELS.
Mark Gunderson,
It’s not exactly a secret that small-town cops with nothing to do will often find “ticky-tack” reasons to stop people minding their own business. Some cops will stop you for going five miles under the limit, if you have out-of-state plates and you are venturing somewhere other than a known tourist trap, etc. We don’t know how impaired Hall was, and probably never will. It very well could have been an extremely marginal stop.
Yes, *I know* minorities bear a disproportionate amount of the above, and that’s not right. That doesn’t mean it’s *only* minorities that endure police harassment (if this indeed was that–I don’t know, I am just putting it out there as a non-zero possibility).
I will regard the idea that he was threatening the lives of people with his car, or gun, as utter fantasy, unless someone can produce corroborating evidence.
The cop was the only one in JD’s life who recognized he was abusing drugs. You should be thanking him.
The corroborating evidence already exists by the statements already supplied by the church. The fact his symptoms mimicked someone who is intoxicated goes to show how dangerous he was behind the wheel of his car. To deny such a fact would likewise deny the severities of driving while actually being intoxicated. Impaired driving is impaired driving no matter what is causing a person to be impaired.
J.D made a choice. He should have stayed home that day, or at the very least tried to pull over and call for help if he felt his symptoms hitting him. It was irresponsible. In this case, the small-town cops actually got it right, and saved a life or two because of it.
Who knows, maybe all of this is the wake up call J.D needs.
““JD suffers from medical issues related to severe vitamin D deficiency that can manifest in symptoms that mimic inebriation.”
There may be a connection between any such “issue” (if congenital) and the radical polemic offered by Hall. That is Hall’s sensing and experiencing and processing (cognitive and emotional) may be such that the polemical perspective he offers, truthfully reflects his experiencing. If we are committed to inclusion (of all humanity), and if this “issue” is actual, then a compassion and redemption approach to Hall might be indicated. This of significance, because across the spectrum of human experiencing and processing, Hall represents a sizeable constituency.
I do know quite a lot about Vitamin D3 and unfortunately I never believed that particular story about the deficiency or lack of apparent treatment not given to him seems I was correct but JD absolutely needs a lot of prayer
It’s always difficult when a leader becomes dependent on drugs taken under imperfect medical supervision. Decades ago a well-known international mission split over a similar issue that had embroiled its founder and leader (The two parts remain independent because additionally they have different support procedures).
It baffles me that you report on someone so off the track of mainstream evangelicalsim. Is it personal?
He’s not as “off the track of mainstream evangelicalism” as you say. According to J.D. Hall, a selfie of him and Phil Johnson, an elder at John MacArthur’s Grace Community Church and the executive director of Grace to You, was taken in late 2018 at Johnson’s request. See this article to see picture. The article indicates the two men had a disagreement over whether or not they should affiliate with certain preachers. But it’s clear by the context of the article, and another picture of the two of them there, that the two men considered each other allies and friends. Hall quotes Johnson as saying, “JD is one of my all-time favorite preachers.”
There’s also this complimentary tweet by Johnson in 2017.
Sadly, as Johnson shows, Hall and his vitriol were supported and accepted by mainstream evangelicals.
Thankfully, he is submitting himself to church discipline in hopes of one day being restored. This is in contrast to you Mrs. Roys who sadly, continues to rebel against God in both word and deed. There is hope for him in the future whereas with you on your current path only everlasting judgement awaits. I plead with you Julie, please repent of your constant ongoing sin and reform back to biblical Christianity.
When Hall apologizes to the people he has publicly maligned mocked, I will believe he has submitted himself to a church that “practices biblical Christianity.”
And I don’t just mean the people the courts have ordered him to apologize to.