Montell Jordan Says Pastor Michael Todd Can Get Past Spit Moment

Pastor Michael Todd is the spitting image of a man who knows when he's done wrong -- which is why Montell Jordan's ready to forgive and forget his gnarly salivary moment.

We got the singer-turned-church leader at LAX and asked if Pastor Todd's viral spit sesh from a couple of weeks back will hurt his ministry in the long run ... and Montell tells us it won't, with some solid rationale.

For starters, he says Todd's made good with his congregation -- not to mention the public at large -- by owning up to what he did, and acknowledging it wasn't cool. The fact Pastor Todd did this so quickly with a sincere apology goes a long way for MJ, and he thinks Todd's parishioners will register it that way too.

Big picture ... Montell says Todd's humility flies in the face of what he says so many other people do these days ... namely, doubling down on bad takes/behavior.

The mere act of fessing up to his mistake shows goodwill that Montell says he appreciates. Furthermore, he also (rightly) points out ... the vast majority of the outrage from the face-wipe seen 'round the world was mostly spreading via social media ... and by extension, a bunch of randos who don't even know, follow or attend Todd's services on the regular.