Mark Driscoll in 2012: Lots Going On With Mars Hill Global

Once upon a time, Mars Hill Church leaders hosted by invitation only “vision breakfasts” for large donors. A former member taped one of the presentation made by Mark Driscoll about the various ministries of the church. This source sent a clip of Driscoll just as he began talking about Mars Hill Global. On May 10, 2012, Driscoll told the crowd:

We’re seeing a lot going on with Mars Hill Global. Lots of money coming in so we can translate the sermons into Spanish. We’ve gotten the Doctrine book translated into Spanish and we’re going to give it away free online. Pastor Dad, Porn Again Christian are resources translated into multiple languages and being given away as well; as well as helping fund international church planting. So lots going on on the international fronts as well.

Listen:

Driscoll addressed the growth of the websites, and the congregations. Then he updated the crowd on his upcoming book on Ephesians and said, “My hope is to get a devotional commentary of Ephesians on the New York Times best seller list.” While I have no evidence that the church planned to go back to the Resultsource well, there may have been some consideration given to it. My optimistic suspicion is that the process to become a member of the ECFA (happened later in 2012) quashed any thoughts of using a Resultsource like scheme.
In his summary of Mars Hill Global, Driscoll does not mention church planting in the United States. To his top givers in 2012, he says Mars Hill Global funds international missions and that there was “lots going on on the international fronts.” Mentioning the translation projects fits with the Global Fund memo from 2011 in which the plan was to feature high profile mission projects but spend most of the money on domestic work. Driscoll said lots of money was coming in but he didn’t tell the donors that the money was going to buy and refurbish buildings in the states.
Mars Hill Church continues to be a legal entity in the process of dissolution. Dave Bruskas indicated to me recently that he thought someone was monitoring the [email protected] account for press inquiries. However, no replies have come to my emails. I am aware that the mission groups who depended on Mars Hill have not heard anything definite about assistance beyond June of this year.