In recent weeks, many of Mark Driscoll’s sermons have disappeared from the Mars Hill Church website. On March 19, Wenatchee the Hatchet pointed out the disappearance of all preaching content before 2008. Then on Saturday, WtH noted that the spiritual warfare series is now missing.
Some of these pages figure prominently in various controversies involving Driscoll. For instance, the page on Driscoll’s study guide on Peter is now missing. According to a message once posted on that page, the guide was to be returned to the site after plagiarized sections were properly sourced. Nothing is there now.
He once disclosed that he had the ability to visualize the sins of others in graphic detail. He claimed to get those visions from God. Those sermons are now missing.
During a 2007 sermon, Driscoll famously wished he could “go Old Testament” on a couple of elders. He also told the story about the fight trainer who kept his fighters in line by busting their noses. He did not disguise his anger at elders who disagreed with his direction during those messages. Those sermons are now gone.
On March 14, Driscoll issued a conciliatory sounding letter to his congregation. Now Mars Hill appears to be attempting to cover up some of the issues for which Driscoll claims to be sorry.
Many people have this material archived so I don’t know what Mars Hill Church hopes to accomplish. However, this does seem like standard operating procedure when troubling content comes to light. As I documented here, the scrubbers at Mars Hill have been busy for a long time.
As an aside, a week has come and gone since twenty former Mars Hill pastors asked Mars Hill leaders for mediation. No response has come.