Mark Driscoll’s Cult-Like Actions: Julie Roys Enters the Chat

Today, Julie Roys dropped an article about the ongoing controversies at Mark Driscoll’s The Trinity Church and it is a hammer. She brings together many threads of reporting into a devastating report about the church and what she calls Mark Driscoll’s “cult-like actions.”

Roys takes a very deep dive into the situation with the family first described at David Bonner’s blog involving Driscoll’s daughter. Roys has the aftermath of that situation and tells us that the Scottsdale police are involved. The church filed a complaint against the father and the family has filed a complaint against Brandon Anderson at the church for detaining Driscoll’s daughter’s boyfriend for questioning.

Roys explores the “elderless church” as I have been calling The Trinity Church. She points out the lack of accountability at the church. There are no budgets available and church finances are closed to members. In fact, there are no members. People attend but they have no meaningful way to participate. Driscoll has insulated himself from being accountable to those who attend and those who are his subordinates. If he wants someone out of the church or to be monitored, it is done.

I reported on Saturday that Driscoll authorized surveillance of his daughter’s former boyfriend’s family. Roys has a transcript of conversations involving church staff following members of this family. Not only did Driscoll ban the family from the church, he paid to have them secretly monitored. I wonder if Phoenix Seminary teaches classes in surveillance.

Spectrum of Trust

As extensive as Roys’ report is, there are more stories to tell. She mentions shunning, but there are more stories of families being shunned because they are not sufficiently loyal to Mark Driscoll. Roys introduces us to the very culty phrase “spectrum of trust.” The higher you are on the spectrum of trust, the more the Driscolls trust you and the more access to them you have. Sadly, if you not high on that spectrum, you may drag your family members down a notch or two. Ranking people in terms of their loyalty to the dear leader is a characteristic of a mind control group. An extension of that is shunning family members over loyalty to the dear leader.

One aspect of fallout from Mars Hill was the creation of blogs by people affected by the church (e.g., Joyful Exiles, Wenatchee the Hatchet*). As far as I know, here is the first such blog:

Spectrumoftrust.me

It appears to be in the development stage but go check it out.

 

*Probably my favorite blog name ever.

 

34 thoughts on “Mark Driscoll’s Cult-Like Actions: Julie Roys Enters the Chat”

  1. Driscoll proves over and over that he’s the one who should be under surveillance. The purely money motivated conmen aren’t harmless, but Driscoll is an order of magnitude more dangerous.

  2. Perhaps Driscoll should build a replica of the papal palace in Avignon? Surely this would be a most appropriate backdrop for his antics.

    1. Not Impressive Enough.
      Maybe that Saudi guy’s mansion in Beverly Hills that was in the news a couple decades ago – the one with all the bright pink phalluses?

      After all, Sauron built Barad-Dur to be taller and larger than the Tower of the Valar in the Undying Lands.

    2. Not Impressive Enough.
      Maybe that Saudi guy’s mansion in Beverly Hills that was in the news a couple decades ago – the one with all the bright pink phalluses?

      After all, Sauron built Barad-Dur to be taller and larger than the Tower of the Valar in the Undying Lands.

  3. Is it normal for American pastors to have a security detail? Seems a very foreign concept to me!

    1. No, not normal at all in my experience (though, to be fair, I haven’t really been to church in 15 years or so – since I became a heathen). It seems like this becomes a thing at the huge mega churches, especially where the pastor takes himself *very* seriously and stays detached from the masses. I went to a large church that probably had attendance upwards of 800 sometimes – no pastoral security there at least (though we did have guys patrolling the parking lot – but I got the impression that they were mainly there to prevent break-ins). For a church with an attendance of only 2000 people, having a security team surrounding the pastor is a *huge* jump in terms of perceived self-importance. On the other hand, I can understand why someone like Billy Graham would want security, since they’re a huge enough name on the world stage that they might attract mentally-unhinged folks who might be a danger.

      1. Jeffres at FBC Dallas had (as of 6 or 7 years ago at least) a detail that would essentially escort him from the service to the offices

          1. he certainly never seems to pass up an opportunity to name drop the name of his most high

          2. he certainly never seems to pass up an opportunity to name drop the name of his most high –

            Jeffress’s push to encourage his congregants to get the vaccine is featured on a website called Christians and the Vaccine, which tries to combat vaccine hesitancy among evangelicals. It is where, as one of the first pastors profiled on the website, Jeffress announced his own trip to get vaccinated this past January – being briefly interrupted by an unexpected call from then President Trump on Air Force One.

            “I was so excited that I almost missed my exit to the vaccine site,” he joked. “But, I got there on time.”

            https://www.wfaa.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/vaccine/first-baptist-dallas-covid-vaccine-clinic/287-cd55c526-45ff-4571-831a-c50f6e084d51

            But – to his credit, he’s at least (finally) encouraging vaccination

          3. he certainly never seems to pass up an opportunity to name drop the name of his most high

      2. Jeffres at FBC Dallas had (as of 6 or 7 years ago at least) a detail that would essentially escort him from the service to the offices

    2. A “security detail” of armed “Armorbearer” bodyguards shows everyone HOW IMPORTANT I AM.

      As well as being Enforcers to “take care” of any Dissidents.

  4. As hurt as the young man who did the kissing must feel, I hope he realizes he actually dodged a bullet. I couldn’t possibly fathom marrying into a family like the Driscolls.

    Frankly that’s nightmare material in my book.

    1. Marrying into the Driscoll clan seems like it would be a lot like marrying into the Duggar clan. I’m honestly surprised that Driscoll hasn’t pitched himself and his family to TLC and the like for a Duggar-type “reality” TV show (so far as we know, anyway…)

  5. I mean, I thought Mark Driscoll’s Circus of “Where’s Jesus?” was pretty bad, but YIKES.

    * He filed charges of “threatening communications” against the M family for their Facebook posts.

    * He allegedly spent $15K on hiring a security firm to spy on the M family, tail them, etc. I fully expect that Driscoll has told his staff and security to find out more information about me.

    * His security team has a Be On the Look Out board of cards for people who are visitors to TTC and are a) all access, b) very limited access or c) completely forbidden.

    * He also ranks people on their trustworthiness from 0 to 10. The 10s get to be in the inner circle. The 0s include people thrown out and presumably me as well.

    And so much more…the attached documentation is INSANE. I mean, yeah, at my job I might message a friend and say, “X is on a rampage again about certain details” or “Y is saying they are too busy to do a pressing task AGAIN” but the information in the Benjamin Eneas email to Driscoll shows that “The Trinity Church” makes my evil too big to fail employer look like a paragon of moral probity by comparison. Yowza.

    Hey folks, this is the kind of thing David Miscavige’s Scientology does. If you’re in this outfit, get out NOW. Send a letter disassociating yourself from Driscoll and his outfit. Yeah, the hit will hurt for a little bit, but I’m telling you, there are better churches in the Phoenix area.

    1. To the malignant narcissist the worst sin is being disloyal. I saw it with KP Yohannan and before him with Driscoll. People underestimate how evil these people really are. They will lie, cheat and steal attempting to get what they want. James Mac even talked seriously about hiring hitmen to kill off a couple of enemies. Do watch your back. This guy is totally nuts! If he thought he could get away with it I do not doubt he would start killing people. There is a reason why Jesus called guys like this white-washed septic tanks. They eagerly plotted to kill the man doing all of the miracles and speaking the truth. The original ones wanted to kill the prophet and they did kill their Messiah that they so eagerly talked about. These men are the worst you will find on the planet. As they get older, they get even worse. I am expecting a murder trial for one of these guys in the not too distant future. They get paranoid beyond paranoid that just grows over time.

      1. To the malignant narcissist the worst sin is being disloyal.

        Just ask Liz Cheney.

        Christians(TM) have this recurring habit of mistaking malignant narcissists for Jesus Christ Returned in The Flesh.

  6. Scientology operates the same way, and it’s clearly a cult, so no reason to hold. We’re in Jim jones, David Korresh territory here, and if people are sheeple enough to keep showing up and showing respect for this deranged narcissist, all you can do is pray for them..I have good friend who at one time was contracted by scientology to “monitor” their former members..He describes as just another way to ruin people’s lives..

  7. Being ostracized for failing to demonstrate you belong on the “spectrum of trust” by 100% fealty to the cult leader seems to be common practice for a Cult of Personality.
    Just ask Liz Cheney.

  8. Why am I not surprised Driscoll treat’s his daughters as property to be controlled?

      1. I’m talking about the daughters. Obviously Grace is old enough to decide for herself, the daughter is trapped.

        1. True, but Grace is aiding and abetting Driscoll in the mistreatment of his daughter…

      2. People like Driscoll have plenty of tools at their disposal for keeping their wives in line, carrots and sticks. They are masters of psychological manipulation, and it’s never as easy as just walking away.

        1. Every abuser does. I’ve with many abuse victims over the years and, at some point, they’ve all realized they’re trapped. What gives one the strength to leave, while another just keeps living with it, is a mystery to me. Our women’s shelter here has an anonymous living space for these women and their kids that doesn’t involve any of our shelter homes, because it’s so common for these women to get out and after a period of time, go back to their abusers.

      3. The conversation “we’re trying to have” is often easier because it assigns blame to a single individual, making it digestible. It’s easier to condemn Trump then to condemn his every voter, supporter and cabinet member for the crimes that were allowed and encouraged. Ongoing news of M. Driscoll indicts more than just him; it lays blame not only at his feet but at the feet of a system, a spouse, leaders and followers alike. We love black and white because it’s easy for our eyes to adjust to. It’s much more difficult to absorb a larger narrative than we’ve conditioned ourself to see. We do so at our own expense and the expense of the innocents.

  9. Dang, Driscoll seems to have really gone off the deep end. I guess this is what he is when he has *zero* accountability.

    Also, that spectrumoftrust.me site reminds me of Timecube. If they’re trying to convey a message, they’re not doing it very effectively right now.

    1. “Off the deep end” or invoking Isaiah 55:8?
      (That’s the usual defense.)

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