It was a headline very few people thought they would ever see.
Mark Driscoll Resigns from Mars Hill Church
I am a day late for the exact anniversary of the church announcement, the date on that headline is October 15, 2014. Driscoll submitted his resignation letter the day before.
Resignation wasn’t plan A according to Driscoll. He was supposed to enter a plan of restoration being crafted by his elders. He later told Brian Houston that God warned him about a trap and then told the Driscolls they were released from Mars Hill.
Mars Hill Church may still be a legal entity; no one is talking much about it. I have contacted several legacy churches without answer.
Driscoll toils away in Phoenix; rumors abound about a church plant but if much is happening, it is a well kept secret.
The common folks left behind still don’t know how much money actually went to African and Indian missionaries from the stealthily named Global Fund. They don’t know how much went to pay severances for the executive elders. There is a lot we don’t know. Sutton Turner has spoken out some but even there Mars Hill employed lawyers got in the way of transparency.
I still refer to Mars Hill matters in my teaching, particularly in social psychology and probably will for years. My hope is that Mars Hill will continue to teach for years to come.
Category: Mark Driscoll
New Website is "One-Stop Resource" on Mars Hill Church RICO Lawsuit, Global Fund and Result Source
Marshilllawsuit.com bills itself as a “one-stop resource” for information relating to the planned RICO lawsuit involving Mars Hill Church leaders.
While fund raising is slow going, this site brings together various issues which should help anyone trying to understand why the potential plaintiffs want to bring suit. In addition to the value the site has to those interested in the lawsuit, it summarizes two of the larger controversies (Global Fund and Result Source).
Although these issues have largely faded from public conversation, they are unfinished in that Mars Hill’s major players have been silent on specifics.
Mark Driscoll is now in Phoenix along some former Mars Hill people who are helping with the technical aspects of his website and perhaps to help start a church.
John Piper on Mark Driscoll and Satan's Win in Seattle
Back in April, John Piper appeared on the podcast of Westside Church in Vancouver, British Columbia. His interviewer was Westside’s lead pastor Norm Funk. Yesterday, Piper’s Desiring God ministry posted the section of the podcast where Piper answered a question about Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church. Watch:
[youtube]https://youtu.be/4Yhn_4mmowU[/youtube]
Piper says everybody makes mistakes, and admits Mars Hill’s demise was a defeat for the gospel, Driscoll, reformed theology, evangelicalism and complementarianism and a win for Satan.
Funk asks good questions about people who are demoralized and broken as the result of being — these are my words now — run over by the bus. Piper contends one can’t follow Jesus and walk away from the church. I do wonder here if Piper is mistaking the spiritual body with brick and mortar.
As Driscoll networks with word of faith and charismatic elements of Christianity, the loss experienced by Driscoll’s former ideological mates becomes clearer.
About That Resurgence Auction Mark Driscoll Won
Earlier this week, Mark Driscoll sent an email to a mailing list that he won at a Mars Hill Church auction. He said it this way:
The Mars Hill Church board also very recently approved the sale of the assets of The Resurgence ministries through an independent auction conducted by a law firm. Having now gained first access to these resources, it will be some time before we catalogue and decide what will happen with the content.
However, if you are newly receiving this email it is likely because you were part of The Resurgence mailing list.
These assets were valued at $100,000 last year and were being offered to the public for sale via attorney Steven Goodspeed, the same attorney who registered Mark Driscoll’s short-lived Learning for Living non-profit trademark. The pitch ran like this:
You are being contacted because it is my understanding you have inquired about purchasing select assets related to the resurgence.com website and domain name. We appreciate your expression of interest and are reaching out to interested parties and soliciting offers for this website content, technology, accounts, etc.The asking price is $100,000 and the Resurgence content will be sold to the best offer subject to an undisclosed reserve. Your offer may be more or less than the asking price.
- We will be taking offers until 1/05/2015
- We will choose an offer on or before 01/15/2015
- Please direct any questions and offers to me, Steven Goodspeed
This could be the auction Driscoll is referring to. Emails to Mars Hill and Steven Goodspeed attempting to verify it were not returned.
Mars Hill did get some offers but turned them down. In March, the Resurgence mailing list resurfaced as the main product offered by an anonymous entity called “Church Leaders List.” Actually, former Mars Hill Church spokesperson Justin Dean illegally sold the list to Craig Gross. Dean later apologized to Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church and everybody else. I confirmed with sources that the list was still owned by Mars Hill as of late March.
Sometime between April and this month, Driscoll apparently purchased The Resurgence assets from what he says was the “Mars Hill Church board” (who is still on that board?). I cannot verify if there was a renewed push to offer the assets on the market as Driscoll’s description implies. I am aware of individuals who expressed interest or made offers who were not contacted to offer a bid or make a counteroffer. This may have been a backroom deal or it may all be fine. I am skeptical that anyone who knows will ever say.
Mars Hill did get some offers but turned them down. In March, the Resurgence mailing list resurfaced as the main product offered by an anonymous entity called “Church Leaders List.” Actually, former Mars Hill Church spokesperson Justin Dean illegally sold the list to Craig Gross. Dean later apologized to Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church and everybody else. I confirmed with sources that the list was still owned by Mars Hill as of late March.
Sometime between April and this month, Driscoll apparently purchased The Resurgence assets from what he says was the “Mars Hill Church board” (who is still on that board?). I cannot verify if there was a renewed push to offer the assets on the market as Driscoll’s description implies. I am aware of individuals who expressed interest or made offers who were not contacted to offer a bid or make a counteroffer. This may have been a backroom deal or it may all be fine. I am skeptical that anyone who knows will ever say.
Headline a Year Ago: Paul Tripp Has Resigned from the Mars Hill Church Board of Advisors and Accountability
A year ago today, I reported that Paul Tripp resigned from the Mars Hill Board of Advisors and Accountability.
I was told the news by Steve Sarkisian, Vice President of Paul Tripp Ministries. Statements followed from Tripp and the Mars Hill BoAA.
That resignation raised many questions which persist. Tripp answered some of them in an interview with Mars Hill Church elders where he explained his resignation. Jointly with Religion News Service, I published the results of that interview on August 28.
Tripp told the nine then-current Mars Hill Church elders that Mars Hill was “without a doubt, the most abusive, coercive ministry culture I’ve ever been involved with.” Tripp spoke by phone to the elders who called for Mark Driscoll to step away from the pulpit and enter a restoration plan.
All nine elders who were on the phone call were floored by the depth and clarity of the understanding that Paul had of the culture of Mars Hill and its leadership from his short time on the board.
Below are some samples from our conversation:
—– When asked about speculations that he might have resigned to protect the reputation of his ministry, Paul said this:“I am not worried at all at burning my integrity for the real deal, but I won’t burn it for something that’s not the real deal. I don’t think even now that there is the recognition of the depth of what Mars Hill Church and Mark is actually dealing with. This is without a doubt, the most abusive, coercive ministry culture I’ve ever been involved with.” He continued on to communicate that Mars Hill’s leadership culture was not shaped by the same grace that it says it believes.
—– Paul informed us that at one point that during the time when he was setting up the reconciliation process, the EE, without asking the BOAA, met with their lawyers and added a slew of legal constraints to the process. Paul was emphatic in telling the EE that this was unacceptable, but they did not listen, and consequently hindered the process. Paul was disturbed that anything would be seen as more important in this process than being made right with man and with God. “If your response to reconciliation is ‘I want to cover my butt legally, then you’re not interested in reconciliation.’”
—– Contrary to what we have been told, Paul not only expressed his opinion that the BOAA structure was flawed, he attempted to present a 9 point plan on how to help it and was shut down before he finished point 2. He also said that “One of the problems with the BOAA is that they are getting their information from the people they are supposed to be holding accountable.” (emphasis in the original)
Driscoll did not follow his elders’ advice. Eventually, all those elders were either fired or resigned without seeing any change. However, they were vindicated in that the investigation of Driscoll recommended essentially the same plan as the August 22 letter: Driscoll should step out of the pulpit and enter an elder-directed restoration plan. Rather than enter that plan, Driscoll resigned. At the time, the elders lamented that Driscoll declined to follow their guidance; now Driscoll is saying God told him to resign.
I still don’t understand how God could lead the elders to advise Driscoll to enter a restoration plan and then audibly tell Driscoll not to do it. In hindsight, even former executive elder Dave Bruskas said about the resignation: “I don’t think that was the most redemptive outcome.”
Bruskas also counseled his Albuquerque flock to move forward. In one sense, I agree; in another, I think it is good to learn from the past to avoid making the same mistakes.
A year later Mark Driscoll is back in the news and on the comeback trail aided mightily by an assist from Hillsong’s pastor Brian Houston. Driscoll is in Phoenix with rumblings of a church plant in the works. In what ways will the Seattle past be prologue to the Phoenix future?