Month: May 2014

Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability in Communication with Mars Hill Church

The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability is “in communication” with Mars Hill Church amid questions about the Mars Hill Global fund.
Recently, Michael Martin, Legal Counsel and Director of Member Services told a questioner via email:

We are aware of the issues you mention and are in communication with leaders of Mars Hill concerning matters which relate to ECFA standards.

The questioner informed the ECFA that Mars Hill Global has been raising money under the heading of “Mars Hill Global” but may only use a fraction of those funds for global outreach. Martin responded that ECFA is touch with Mars Hill leaders about those issues.
ECFA has not responded to any of my questions regarding the standards for reporting donations made to special funds. Until recently, Mars Hill gave their donors an option to give the a fund called Mars Hill Global fund. Nearly $2.3 million was raised during the last full fiscal year. However, there is no information easily available about where those funds were disbursed. Mars Hill insiders tell me very little money goes to international outreach. However, it is not possible to check this since no reporting is available. With the changes Mars Hill has made thus far, the next step would be to post an accounting of how the money donated to that fund have been spent.
Recently, Mars Hill has changed the way they collect donations. The church no longer gives donors the option of giving to the Global Fund. All donations are to be given to the General Fund or the Mars Hill Foundation.
Related posts:
Website Changes: Donations to Mars Hill Global Are Now Donations to Mars Hill Church General Fund
Megachurch Methods: Apparently Mars Hill Global Money Can Be Spent Anywhere
Megachurch Methods: And By Mars Hill Global We Mean Mars Hill Local
Megachurch Methods: Mars Hill Global Wakes the Sleeping Giant

Mars Hill Everett Lead Pastor Comments about Departure of Elder Forced Out Over Non-Compete Clause

I posted this morning about the situation of Phil Poirier who was community groups pastor at Mars Hill Everett until he declined to signed the Unity of Mission agreement which is in essence a covenant not to attend a church within a 10 mile radius of a Mars Hill Church. As I pointed out in a post today, since there are several Mars Hill churches in the vicinity, the noncompete zone includes about 100 miles of Western Washington.
I have obtained a letter from Ryan Williams, Lead Pastor at Mars Hill Everett, to leaders at the church. The letter describes the departure of Phil Poirier and admonishes the leaders to “check your hearts.”

From Pastor Ryan Williams:
Leaders,
I want to inform you of a leadership transition in the CG Director role here at Mars Hill Church Everett.
Phil Poirier will be transitioning from the CG Director role here at Mars Hill Everett and will be replaced by Pastor Jeff Gwin.
Phil has also transitioned from the elder team. The last few months have been very difficult across the church and especially in community group ministry. Due to Phil’s personal convictions he felt that he could no longer be fully unified with the elder team. There was no sin on Phil’s behalf that have caused his disqualification in any way. As an elder there is a level of unity and trust that must be shared and Phil was no longer able to commit to that level of trust and unity.
We will have our scheduled CG leader sync next Sunday, June 1st following the 12:30pm service. Please make this a priority.
Pastor Jeff and I will be leading the sync and we will be asking each of you to check your hearts and commitment to the people you currently lead. If any of you do not have a commitment to the mission of Mars Hill Church, submission to leadership, a love for your groups and cannot lead with a clear conscience I ask that you would reach out to me before the sync and step away from CG leadership.
I love you all very much and am deeply grieved by the transitions that have occurred. In these times there is the temptation to only focus inwardly and to become bitter over situations you do not have all the information on. I challenge you to lift you eyes, and to focus on the people the Lord has given you to care for, and to focus on Jesus’ mission in your neighborhood. We have baptized over 60 people in less than 4 months here at Mars Hill Everett, people are meeting Jesus almost weekly and lives are being transformed. This is not the time to be so focused on ourselves that we forget the needs of our people.
You are loved and cared for by your elders,
On the mission of the King
Pastor Ryan

It appears that Mars Hill is preparing to prune more people. This letter serves as an illustration of the culture of fear described by so many Mars Hill ex-staffers and members. Essentially the message is get with the program or get out. Those who are touting change at Mars Hill are working against the facts on the ground.

If You Are a Leader at Mars Hill Church and Leave, Here is Where Mars Hill Says You Can't Serve

This morning I posted the story of Phil Poirier who was an elder at Mars Hill Everett. He was asked to sign a clause in the renewal of his position as a pastor of community groups that would, if followed, forbid him from serving at a church within a ten mile radius of a Mars Hill church.  He declined to sign it and was relieved of his position because of his refusal. Read more about the situation here.
A couple of folks plotted the points where Mars Hill churches are located and figured out what a ten mile radius from each of the church locations looked like on a map. The first one below came from a commenter who doesn’t want to be named. The distance from North to South edges is nearly 100 miles and would take over two hours to drive.
 

Here is another effort to illustrate the problem from Pirate Radio’s Chris Rosebrough.
 

These maps illustrate the problem caused by this “Unity of Mission” arrangement. Pastors, paid and unpaid, may feel called to move from Mars Hill to a church of another denomination or to start their own church. Examine again the language presented to the Mars Hill elders:

6. Unity of Mission
An Agreement between each member of the Full-Council of Elders, Executive Elders and the Board of Advisors and Accountability of Mars Hill Church.
As Pastors, we commit together that we will serve the best interests of our Savior Jesus Christ, and our church, Mars Hill Church. If and when any of us feel led to serve the Lord somewhere other than at one of the church locations of Mars Hill Church, we will submit our opportunity to one another and our Executive Elders first in accordance with Proverbs 11:14, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”
Together this day, we commit that our next church ministry will not be within ten miles of any location of Mars Hill Church, except with the express consent of the local pastors of the nearest church, the sending church, if different, and the Executive Elders of Mars Hill Church . We are, as Ephesians 4:3 says, “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” We care about the church, the testimony of our church, and the dear people who attend our church.
We would not want our actions to cause confusion or harm by making the people of Mars Hill question our love for the Lord, the purity of our church, or their decision to worship Christ here.
We acknowledge that as we adhere to this commitment, the Executive Elders and the Board of Advisors and Accountability will commit to do everything within their power to offer and support a church plant outside of the radius stated here.

Soon, I will post the response to Phil Poirier’s letter from Mars Hill Everett lead pastor Ryan Williams. Williams informed his other leaders that Poirier would be “transitioning” off of the elder board.

Megachurch Methods: Pastor Fired Because He Wouldn't Sign Non-Compete Clause

Yesterday, I posted the statement of Dalton Roraback. For many years, Roraback was a member of Mars Hill Church and recently had started mentoring community group leaders at the church. However, because he asked questions about the pastors’ salaries, Mark Driscoll’s efforts to manipulate the New York Times best seller list and other matters, Roraback was forced out of his position at the church. In his statement, Roraback mentioned Phil Poirier, a former elder at Mars Hill’s Everett franchise. Poirier was the pastor over community groups but was removed from his volunteer position when he declined to sign an annual review. He did not sign the agreement because of a clause titled, Unity of Mission. This clause reads:

6. Unity of Mission
An Agreement between each member of the Full-Council of Elders, Executive Elders and the Board of Advisors and Accountability of Mars Hill Church.
As Pastors, we commit together that we will serve the best interests of our Savior Jesus Christ, and our church, Mars Hill Church. If and when any of us feel led to serve the Lord somewhere other than at one of the church locations of Mars Hill Church, we will submit our opportunity to one another and our Executive Elders first in accordance with Proverbs 11:14, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”
Together this day, we commit that our next church ministry will not be within ten miles of any location of Mars Hill Church, except with the express consent of the local pastors of the nearest church, the sending church, if different, and the Executive Elders of Mars Hill Church . We are, as Ephesians 4:3 says, “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” We care about the church, the testimony of our church, and the dear people who attend our church.
We would not want our actions to cause confusion or harm by making the people of Mars Hill question our love for the Lord, the purity of our church, or their decision to worship Christ here.
We acknowledge that as we adhere to this commitment, the Executive Elders and the Board of Advisors and Accountability will commit to do everything within their power to offer and support a church plant outside of the radius stated here.

This is essentially a non-compete clause but one which Poirier rejected. I call it a non-compete clause because Mars Hill appears to view churches within a ten mile radius as a competing church. His letter about this matter to the executive elders (Driscoll, Turner, and Bruskas) is below:

 To the Executive Elders at Mars Hill Church,
I am thankful for the years that we have had at Mars Hill.  We are grateful that God led us here, and for all that we’ve learned. The abundant evidences of His grace are everywhere. We are joyful in that.
My experience as an elder at Mars Hill has been challenging yet fruitful, difficult but rewarding. To serve Jesus here has been a privilege and I’ve taken that responsibility seriously, knowing that in the end I must give an account to Jesus. We have only One to please; we cannot fear man.
At the end of my annual elder evaluation I was asked to agree or disagree with the Unity of Mission statement. Before God, I cannot in good conscience, and with integrity, agree with that statement.
Concerning the recent events and allegations against the leadership at Mars Hill, it seems that if we are to restore trust in those we shepherd we need to start with developing trust between the Executive Elders and the Full Council of Elders. This statement seems to indicate the exact opposite.
In the combined meeting we recently had with Pastors Dave and Sutton and the Everett and Shoreline elders, we were advised that the culture at Mars Hill was going to change. The culture of fear, anger, coercion and manipulation was going to be a thing of the past. While there was a glimmer of hope that this was actually happening, a statement like this one, where we are forced to agree or be dismissed, seems to be coercive. This does not reflect godly respect for one another. There appears to be a lack of trust in the Full Council of Elders.
I do not believe that requiring elders to sign this statement is biblical; in fact, it appears to me as a unbiblical legalism.
We all recognize the requirement in Hebrews 13:17 for the church to obey and submit to their leaders, but this passage was never intended to give license to the elders to use it as a hammer to manipulate, control or to rule out of fear and intimidation. In contrast, we have the biblical mandate in I Peter 5:3…not to be domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
I love Jesus and the people who call Mars Hill their home, so I cannot, in good conscience, resign the office of elder that God has placed me in; however, I will respectfully submit to your decision if you choose to remove me from this position.
Thank you for your careful consideration of this letter.
Your brother and fellow servant in Christ,
Pastor Phil Poirier

The elders did indeed remove Poirier from his position.
The non-compete clause is relatively recent in the history of Mars Hill. According to one source, the executive elders requested that elders both paid and non-paid, sign an agreement with a non-compete clause beginning in April 2013. The initial language looked like this:

“An Agreement between each member of the Full-Council of Elders, Executive Elders and the Board of Advisors and Accountability of Mars Hill Church.
As Pastors, we commit together that we will serve the best interests of our Savior Jesus Christ, and our church, Mars Hill Church. If and when any of us feel led to serve the Lord somewhere other than at one of the church locations of Mars Hill Church, we will submit our opportunity to one another and our Executive Elders first in accordance with Proverbs 11:14, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”
Together this day, we commit that our next church ministry will not be within ten miles of any location of Mars Hill Church. We are, as Ephesians 4:3 says, “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” We care about the church, the testimony of our church, and the dear people who attend our church.
We would not want our actions to cause confusion or harm by making the people of Mars Hill question our love for the Lord, the purity of our church, or their decision to worship Christ here.
We acknowledge that as we adhere to this commitment, the Executive Elders and the Board of Advisors and Accountability will commit to do everything within their power to offer and support a church plant outside of the radius stated here. “

The complaints about the language above was significant enough that the executive elders revised it slightly.  Elders are expected to agree with this clause on a yearly basis or face the possibility  of dismissal (as in the case of Poirier). The agreement was changed to the following (compare this to Poirier’s clause):

“Unity of Mission
An Agreement between each member of the Full-Council of Elders, Executive Elders and the Board of Advisors and Accountability of Mars Hill Church.
As Pastors, we commit together that we will serve the best interests of our Savior Jesus Christ, and our church, Mars Hill Church. If and when any of us feel led to serve the Lord somewhere other than at one of the church locations of Mars Hill Church, we will submit our opportunity to one another and our Executive Elders first in accordance with Proverbs 11:14, “Where there is no guidance, a people falls, but in an abundance of counselors there is safety.”
Together this day, we commit that our next church ministry will not be within ten miles of any location of Mars Hill Church, except with the express consent of the local pastors of the nearest church, the sending church, if different, and the Executive Elders of Mars Hill Church . We are, as Ephesians 4:3 says, “eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” We care about the church, the testimony of our church, and the dear people who attend our church.
We would not want our actions to cause confusion or harm by making the people of Mars Hill question our love for the Lord, the purity of our church, or their decision to worship Christ here.
We acknowledge that as we adhere to this commitment, the Executive Elders and the Board of Advisors and Accountability will commit to do everything within their power to offer and support a church plant outside of the radius stated here.”

Poirier’s letter is interesting in that he mentions the culture of fear within Mars Hill Church. Apparently, two of the three executive elders have acknowledged that such a culture exists. However, by this action, as with Dalton Roraback, the executive elders have reinforced that fear, in essence doubling down on actions that lead to the perception that Mars Hill is an unhealthy place to hold a job.
Thanks to a creative reader, here is a map of where ex-leaders can’t worship if they leave Mars Hill:

Previous post:
Forced Out for Asking Questions: Dalton Roraback’s Mars Hill Church Story

Forced Out for Asking Questions: Dalton Roraback's Mars Hill Church Story

Until recently, Dalton Roraback was a coach at Mars Hill Church. Coaches provide mentoring to Community Group leaders. Community Groups provide the context for relationship building and alignment within Mars Hill.
Like many Mars Hill members, Roraback had questions after hearing about the many controversies involving the church in recent months. As a long time member of MHC, Roraback knew many of the leaders and began to ask them to explain recent events. Finally, Roraback asked what turned out to be the wrong questions and found himself out of a position. He was relieved of his position because he asked questions.
After I heard about Roraback’s situation, I asked if he could summarize his experience. He did so and you can read the entire statement here. To help tell the story, I have pulled out a few excerpts:

I want to start this off by saying I had originally decided not to go public with my story.  I figured if the Elders at Mars Hill want to accuse me of being divisive then I wouldn’t add any fuel to that charge by going on the Internet and doing some kind of tell-all.  I thought all that people needed to know was that I was accused of being divisive and asked to step down, and that I had submitted my resignation as a member of Mars Hill.
That changed only hours later when I heard the following news.
“Elder Phil Poirier at MH Everett has been removed (“disqualified”) for refusing to sign the new “Unity of Mission” contract. They are all being required to get permission from the BOAA before being allowed to participate in any church within a ten mile radius of an existing Mars Hill location.”
I was stunned.  I had just told my Head Coach – sorry, my ex-Head Coach – that I wasn’t going to go public with my story, but the news about Pastor Phil made me realize that not to do so would be to do a disservice to the truth, to all the people like Pastor Phil, and to the many others who have been harmed, slandered, and spat out of the Mars Hill machine.  So after confirming that this news was true I decided to speak out.

More information about the “unity of mission” clause is coming in a future post. Essentially, it is a non-competition agreement.

Enter 2014.  I was now a Coach and was excited and ready to do my best to lead the three CG leaders and do whatever it was that God wished me to do.  My head coach was a good, godly man and a friend.  I felt like great things were going to happen, and that God was going to use us in awesome ways for His glory.
And then the double-whammy of the ResultSource fiasco and Dave Kraft’s public charges against Mark Driscoll hit the fan.
Now, Dave Kraft had (and has) a stellar reputation in the Mars Hill community.  I had trained under him in a couple of classes back in the day, and would take him at his word – as would most of us – on just about anything.  When these two events became public, I started asking questions.  I had been around a long time and had no problem in being able to speak to many of the elders to whom I reached out. As I spoke with them, what I heard stunned me even more.  Many of them agreed with Dave Kraft, but they also understood that they had very little power as Elders, if any, and would rather work from within to try to get true accountability in place.  Some also admitted if they spoke up they would get a visit from Sutton or another Executive Elder and they would be accused of not being ‘on mission’ or not being ‘all in’, and when that happens…it means you are done as an Elder at Mars Hill.

According to Roraback, Mars Hill is having problems:

I believe we are already seeing the effects described in the Isaiah passage.  People are fleeing Mars Hill by the droves every week.  Tithing is down.  The church is in emergency mode.  In place of the old Mark who was able to lay out the Gospel with such passion, his sermons contain less about Jesus each week. Instead, we hear Mark using Scripture to make himself look like the Apostles and those who speak out against him look more like the enemies of the early church.  It’s chilling to listen to, and unfortunately, I believe that many people are completely unaware that they are being manipulated with such ease.

Recently, Roraback was in the same meeting I described here and raised some pointed questions:

But probably the worst thing I did was asking the questions listed below. They are as follows, word for word:
“Hello,
I have two questions that I’d like to humbly and respectfully submit in advance as I imagine it will require some research ahead of time.
1. What are the salaries of the Executive Elders?  And if we are not allowed to know this, why not?
2. At least once a year, the On Mission CRUT must distribute a percentage of its assets to what is termed the “non-charitable beneficiary”.  Since this is tied directly to the Real Marriage finances, who is the beneficiary of this CRUT? I would imagine much of the backlash against Mars Hill could be deflated if it could be shown that this was paid out to Mars Hill, instead of an individual or individuals who benefit directly.”
I asked these questions on The City, Mars Hill’s website, in the Bellevue Leadership forum and posted them in advance of the CG Sync so that all the meeting participant could see them in advance and there would be no option for MH leadership but to address the questions.  As it turned out, someone else brought up my questions during the latest CG Sync and the response from the elder was, ‘Why is that important?’
The answers in the room from at least three people were some form of ‘because we pay their salaries with our tithes.’  The elder who was in the hot seat on this one pushed back on this response, continuing to suggest that this is not important, but when he realized the people in the room were not in agreement, he turned to another elder who got up to explain how the process of setting the Executive Elder salary worked.  It was a nice speech, and it made it sound like there were multiple layers of oversight – just not from the thousands of members who pay their salaries, of course. Mars Hill members are not allowed to know something that any church with integrity should be willing to share, especially during times when the members have lost trust in the Executive Elders.
So they refused to answer these questions, and it did not sit well with many in the room.
Twice during this same meeting, the elder leading this meeting labeled everyone who is speaking out against Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill as people who ‘only want to hurt the gospel, the church, and Mark Driscoll’.  I called him out on that in front of everyone saying that was a misrepresentation of godly people with valid concerns, but at the end of the meeting he made the characterization again.  I’ve heard now from two different people that elders and leaders are visiting Community Groups personally and labeling anyone who speaks out on these concerns as ‘divisive’ and ‘only wanting to tear down the church’.  In other words, wolves.  Couple that with one of the latest sermons entitled ‘Empowered by the Spirit to Face Wolves,” and you get the picture.
So five days later I was sitting at Starbucks with my Head Coach for an early morning meeting, and he was telling me that the elders at Mars Hill considered me divisive and were removing me as a Coach.  I asked if I had sinned in some way, and he said no, they did not consider me in sin. They just thought that the way I was going about asking these questions was done with a ‘divisive spirit’.  They said that I didn’t have to leave Mars Hill, and that after ‘a season’ I could petition to be a Coach again and they’d consider it.  I had spent the previous three hours in prayer (I couldn’t sleep, I was pretty stressed over all of this,) and I already knew God was finally allowing me to walk away.  I let him know that my wife and I wished to submit our resignation from Mars Hill, but I implored him to fight the good fight and to not simply accept everything that he was told as truth. I asked him to reach out to others and to stand up for what is right.  I believe that he will come around, because he does listen to the Lord, and God has called him to lead. However, like me, it will probably take some time for the realization to take root.  I pray for him whenever I can, and love him and his family very much.

So questioning where tithe money goes reveals “a divisive spirit?” What does refusing to answer legitimate questions reveal? There has been some talk in recent weeks about the Board of Advisors and Accountability possibly entering a mediation process. If so, it can’t happen soon enough. Despite spiritual talk from the BOAA, it doesn’t appear that anything has changed.
The executive salaries are a closely guarded secret at Mars Hill. Sources who are in a position to know have told me that Driscoll’s salary took a dramatic jump after Sutton Turner joined the executive elder board. Estimates are between $600k and $900k. Salaries are supposed to be set via a comparison to other churches of comparable size. It seems hard to fathom that some churches set salaries in a corporate manner, but this is apparently how it is done at Mars Hill. Judging from the reaction to Roraback, the leadership of Mars Hill views the subject of salaries to be a sensitive matter.
For more on Mark Driscoll’s On Mission CRUT, see this article by James Duncan. Duncan lays out the procedures by which the profits from Real Marriage may make it back to the Driscolls.
It seems clear that the membership of Mars Hill has not moved on from the Result Source and other events.
From earlier today: Who at Mars Hill Church Authorized Church Funds to Buy a Place for Mark Driscoll’s Real Marriage on the NYT Best Seller List?