DANIEL WHYTE III, PRESIDENT OF GOSPEL LIGHT SOCIETY INTERNATIONAL, SAYS THE KEION HENDERSON HUSH CAPER IS MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. IF A PASTOR IS GOD-CALLED, HE CAN QUICKLY DISCERN IF THE SCREAMING AND SHOUTING IN THE CHURCH IS OF GOD AND IN ORDER OR OF THE DEVIL AND OUT OF ORDER. WHYTE SAYS IT SEEMS TO HIM KEION MADE THE RIGHT CALL BECAUSE HE KNOWS SOME THINGS THAT YOU PEOPLE DON’T KNOW. WHYTE SAYS HIS GREATER CONCERNS ARE THAT SOME OF YOU PEOPLE WHO ARE SO CONCERNED ABOUT A PASTOR TELLING A CHOIR MEMBER IN THE CHURCH TO HUSH YOU MUST BE LEADING THE EMPTIEST, SADDEST, AND MOST PITIFUL LIVES KNOWN TO MANKIND. YOU NEED TO GET A LIFE, AND WHILE YOU ARE AT IT GET ETERNAL LIFE BY BELIEVING IN JESUS CHRIST. BEING CONCERNED ABOUT THIS CHURCH MESS IS RIDICULOUS! WHYTE SAYS FURTHER WHAT KEION AND SHAUNIE NEED TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT, AND WHAT YOU NEED TO BE PRAYING ABOUT REGARDING KEION AND SHAUNIE IS WHY KEION AND SHAUNIE ARE TRYING SO HARD TO MAKE EVERYBODY THINK THEIR MARRIAGE IS THE MOST WONDERFUL MARRIAGE IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, WHICH IS TYPICAL CHURCH FOOLISHNESS THAT SETS OFF ALL KINDS OF ALARM BELLS.
Pastor Keion Henderson of Houston’s Lighthouse Church recently appeared on TV to explain why he told a screaming woman to “hush” during this past Sunday’s service. “As a pastor I know the difference between disturbance and worship,” Henderson said Tuesday on Tamron Hall’s daytime talk show that broadcasts from New York. “What people have to understand is that every time you hear noise in church, it isn’t worship. And so, there has to be order.” Henderson, who’s rapidly becoming one of the most prominent and popular pastors in the U.S., said he “brought order” to his local church “so people could hear God and not her—and I’d do it again if I needed to.”
Dressed in a black blazer and signature sneakers, the 42-year-old Henderson sat next to his wife, Shaunie, star and executive producer of VH1 reality series Basketball Wives. Shaunie, the 49-year-old ex-wife of NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, married Henderson just two years ago. Together, the pastor and the First Lady, who have a combined 3.3 million Instagram followers, went on the show to promote Shaunie’s newly released book, Undefeated: Changing the Rules and Winning on My Own Terms. But before discussing its release, Hall, a native Texan who’s earned multiple Daytime Emmy awards, asked the pastor, “How did you go viral this weekend?” Hall described how her Houston-based cousin shared a video of the hushing incident from the The Shade Room, a TMZ-style trending news site popular among Black communities nationwide.
In the clip, already seen by more than 14 million via Instagram, Henderson’s eyes are closed and his arms raised as he sings and speaks to the crowd from the Lighthouse Church stage. The pastor was delivering a sermon bound to reach his more than 15,000 members across four Houston campuses, and his 900,000 weekly viewers worldwide. But he got distracted by the screams from a woman in the choir, walked toward where she stood on stage and repeatedly snapped his fingers. “Shhhh. Hey, stop her! Hush, hush,” Henderson said. “Silence in the name of Jesus.” Henderson returned to singing and told his congregation, “The only voice I want heard is His.”
Many social media users appeared to find humor in the incident. “‘Silence in the name of Jesus’ is how I’m shutting folks down all the rest of 2024,” one woman commented on Instagram in response to the video. Some debated whether Henderson was right for hushing the woman. “If y’all knew what real pain and struggle looked like you’d be screaming thank you Jesus until your voice cracks…stop normalizing lack of emotion towards others that’s why we are in such a terrible state now,” one man said. “Baby girl find another church.”
Others stood up for Henderson. “I’ve been a member for over a year now and she does this every single Sunday, and get louder each week,” said another woman. “I’m surprised no one has said anything before today.”
On Tuesday, Hall asked whether the woman was crying. “Social media is into cuts not context. Every suggestion that I’ve gotten from every naysayer, I’ve already done. This is a four-year battle,” Henderson responded. “I’ve already talked to her personally. I’ve already had ushers go up to her. I’ve already had prayer warriors [talk with her]. I’ve had everything. So, she did it publicly after being asked not to.”
