https://baptistnews.com/ministry/congregations/item/30113-ohio-bull-riding-stunt-leads-to-300-baptisms-and-warnings-from-others-about-church-as-entertainment
Pastor Lawrence Bishop II generated about 300 baptisms and an internet sensation last week by riding — and getting bucked off — a large bull inside his jam-packed Solid Rock Church in Monroe, Ohio, last week. The stunt by the former bull rider was designed to draw crowds and win souls for Christ, he told ABC’s Nightline in a report that aired May 19. “You know, the Bible said to compel them to come in, and so that’s what we’re doing,” Bishop said during the broadcast. “It didn’t say how to compel them.”
But some ministers question the approach, describing it as a prime example of entertainment dressed up as evangelism. “Two things,” American Baptist minister Alan Rudnick said when asked about the bull-riding pastor. “The first is: come on, really?” ‘Why should we knock that?’
The bull-riding-for-Jesus story reminded Rudnick how Christ, during his temptation, avoided the lure of using the dramatic to prove his divinity. Nor did Jesus perform his miracles simply to sensationalize and win large numbers of converts, said Rudnick, pastor of First Baptist Church of Ballston Spa, N.Y. “He listened to people and heard their stories,” he said. “He could have come on a cloud with trumpets.”