A Sunday morning church service in Texas felt more like a live reality show than a quiet worship gathering recently. At Macedonia Worship Center in Houston, co-pastor and First Lady Cassandra Pope made headlines after publicly dismissing a member of her praise team during her sermon. She fired her on stage in front of the entire congregation, and it was all captured on the church’s livestream.
The video, which has since gone viral, shows the Texas pastor stepping up to the pulpit on Sunday, September 7, only to detour from her sermon with what she described as a much-needed “correction.” But instead of a simple reminder about church rules, things took a turn when Pope zeroed in on praise team member Mahoganee Medlock-Brown. The issue? A hug that Pope found a little less than warm.
“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.” And just like that, a casual side comment turned into a viral church scandal, complete with gasps from the audience and stunned faces from the singers standing behind her.
Texas Church Drama Explodes Online
What followed was a mix of preaching and confrontation that wouldn’t feel out of place on a Bravo reunion special. Pope told Medlock-Brown she could excuse herself from the stage because, as she bluntly put it, “the pastor just don’t like fake.” Within moments, the longtime praise singer quietly hugged her teammates and walked off stage, leaving the congregation in awkward silence.
Of course, this is Texas, and church politics don’t happen in a vacuum. Bishop Walter Pope, Cassandra’s husband and co-pastor, quickly jumped in to back up his wife’s decision, telling the congregation that open rebuke was necessary. “I don’t apologize. I’m going to defend my wife,” he said, making it clear that the firing was final.
But while the Popes seemed united, Medlock-Brown had her own side of the story. On Facebook, she shared a clip of the moment, calling out the use of scripture as a weapon to “demean and humiliate people.” She also revealed that she had already been planning to leave the church due to previous issues, suggesting that the firing was less about one awkward hug and more about long-brewing tensions.
The fallout has been nothing short of explosive. By Tuesday, the church’s Bible study livestream was cut short after being flooded with angry comments calling the pastors “false prophets.” Meanwhile, TikTok has turned the whole saga into a trending conversation about “spiritual abuse,” with users drawing parallels between Macedonia Worship Center and other Houston-area churches that have faced scandals in recent years.
The Backlash Is Undeniable
Whether you’re a churchgoer or not, there’s something undeniably captivating about the drama. A Texas pastor publicly firing someone mid-sermon? It’s got all the elements of a viral moment: the shock factor, the messy fallout, and the social media debates that keep the story alive days later.
“Beefing from the pulpit during service is absolutely wildddddd,” one person commented on the video. “The backlash she’s about to get, she’s going to wish she would’ve handled that so much differently,” another stated. “No that is not open rebuke. That is humiliation,” a third person chimed in. “It’s giving bully,” a fourth comment read.
At the center of it all, Cassandra Pope has remained firm, reminding her congregation that she’s not “no punk” and that she follows God’s instructions above all else. Meanwhile, Medlock-Brown’s name has quietly disappeared from the church’s staff listings online, fueling speculation that her exit was already in the works before the viral clash.
For now, the Macedonia Worship Center hasn’t issued an official statement, but their Facebook page, which once hosted the infamous video, has since vanished. That hasn’t stopped the Texas-sized conversation from rolling on, with thousands still debating whether Pope’s fiery rebuke was righteous leadership or a dramatic case of church politics gone wrong.
Kenna Raye 
Kendra Quinn 
