This is what happens when you host your logo with someone else.
As we can see now (and probably not for long), at least one markdriscoll.org element was hosted by Mars Hill Church. Since that website and related assets went away, the Mars Hill assets will not show up anywhere else…including Mark Driscoll’s copy of the old MHC website.
Tag: Mark Driscoll
The Title of Mark Driscoll's New Non-Profit is Trademarked by Two Other Organizations (UPDATED)
Update: markdriscoll.org is back up. There are some Mars Hill elements which remain (e.g., navigation bar, and logo), are assets of the church, and presumably are being pulled from their servers. For instance, the logo:
The sites are telling Facebook they are the same site by using the same Facebook insight tag:
marshill.com
markdriscoll.org
There is content which comes from Justin Dean’s new company Doxa Media (for instance this image on the “Get” tab).
Also, see update at the end of the post concerning the co-directors of Learning for Living…
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Mark Driscoll’s new website has been down since the 27th after I reported that it was a copy of marshill.com.
This morning Janet Mefferd tweeted that Driscoll’s new organization, Learning for Living, is trademarked by Alistair Begg’s Truth for Life organization. I became aware of that last week and wrote Truth for Life for comment. Today, I spoke to someone at the organization who declined to comment but was aware of the issue. The person who is able to comment was not there today.
The phrase is also trademarked by the non-sectarian Learning for Living Institute. I don’t really know how this works since according to the search results two organizations have the same phrase. There was no response from the Institute to my inquiries before I posted this.
In any case, I don’t know if the trademark issue is the reason the website is down or if it relates to a clean up of the Mars Hill code issue raised over the weekend.
Update: Becky Garrison has information on who is helping Driscoll with Learning for Living:
Directors
Mark Driscoll
Greg Kappas
Tope Koleoso
23632 Highway 99, Suite F517, Edmonds, WA 98026 USA
As Garrison points out, Kappas (if it is the same one) is head of Grace Global Network. He has been with Driscoll since the beginning of his ministry, according to Wenatchee the Hatchet. Koleoso preached at Mars Hill’s best sermon series and is pastor of Jubilee Church in London. He was the speaker at Bellevue when former members protested outside that Mars Hill location. The address is a post box (517) at the UPS store there.
Top Ten Posts of 2014
It should be no surprise that all of the top ten posts relate to Mars Hill Church in some way. Here they are:
- Acts 29 Network Removes Co-founder Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church From Membership (UPDATED)
- Twenty-One Former Mars Hill Church Pastors Bring Formal Charges Against Mark Driscoll
- Mars Hill Church Board of Elders: Mark Driscoll Resigned Instead of Entering a Restoration Plan
- The Storm at Mars Hill Church: Mark Driscoll Explains It All
- Mars Hill Church Board Reacts to Being Removed from Acts 29 Network (UPDATE)
- Announcement: Mark Driscoll Will Take At Least Six Weeks Off (UPDATED) (AUDIO) (VIDEO)
- Nine Current Mars Hill Church Elders Take a Bold Stand
- A Former Mars Hill Pastor Speaks Out and Why Others Are Afraid: The Mars Hill Church Non-Disclosure Agreement
- Acts 29 Pioneer Ron Wheeler Send Open Letter to Mark Driscoll, Asks Him to Resign
- Mars Hill Church Deletes Mark Driscoll’s Teaching on Jesus Making Mistakes
You can read all of the articles on Mars Hill Church here.
The most popular post this year written prior to 2014 was a 2009 post on the relationship between child abuse and homosexuality. Another popular this year written in the past was a post on David Barton’s distorted story about Congress and the first English Bible printed in the United States.
The Final Sunday at Mars Hill Church: Rick Warren, Broken Trees and Unfinished Business (Video) (Audio)
Not long ago, Rick Warren finished preaching the last sermon to the remaining locations of Mars Hill Church. I may have more about the sermon later, but for now I want to pick out one phrase:
Even in God’s garden of grace, broken trees bear fruit.
According to someone who heard the message, Warren said this while showing a picture of a fallen tree with eight new trees growing out it.
For many, Mars Hill Church was not a broken tree. They made their nest in that tree and are mourning today as it will no longer function as it once did. For others the tree was diseased and broken, a source of pain. While some of them may celebrate, I suspect that most of those who had anything to do with the church will also feel some sadness and grief. In all my interviews, I have met only a handful who wanted to see the church close. Most wanted to see change and stories of redemption and correction.
Actually, the church doesn’t cease as an entity on December 31. There are buildings to sell and resources to distribute. There might be mediation or a lawsuit to settle. There will be donation statements to mail out. Speaking of money, there will be offerings to count and process. My source said that one of the pastors stood up and asked for money after Rick Warren’s sermon.
Fitting.
But videos will go away and churches will become local. Over time we will find out how many of those trees growing from the fallen one will live.
Pastor @RickWarren is giving the final sermon at Mars Hill. pic.twitter.com/ZOAfM2DOip
— Alex Rozier (@AlexRozier) December 28, 2014
Below is about two minutes near the beginning of the sermon. There may be more of the message later. (edit: these audio clips were lost during a blog move)
At the end, just before communion and singing the last three songs, Alex Ghioni leads the request for offerings.
Here is audio of the entire sermon (no video except the title):
Some readers have pointed out via email that the “broken tree” image might not square well with Jesus’ images of the fruit produced by good and bad trees in Matthew 7:17:
Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.
In fairness, I know the concept he was going for but the image doesn’t work well for those who believe Mars Hill was, on balance, not a good tree.
Mars Hill posted the video on their You Tube channel:
[youtube]http://youtu.be/HAcegtdWCRA[/youtube]
Markdriscoll.org is a Copy of Marshill.com
UPDATE: markdriscoll.org is down, and has been unavailable since the evening of 12/27, just a few hours after this post went live. There is an interesting message for visitors:
At least he is sorry about something.
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(Original post starts here)
So says Justin Dean, recently departed spokesman for Mars Hill Church.*
There is a reason why Markdricoll.org looks like Marshill.com: Driscoll’s new site is a copy of the church website. In addition to the obvious similar appearance, several readers alerted me that the source code for Markdriscoll.org contains many links to marshill.com (see a pdf of the code here). Initially, I wondered if Mars Hill Church was hosting the content for markdriscoll.org. When I asked Justin Dean about it, he said via email:
Concerning the website, MarkDriscoll.org – nothing on that site is being hosted or paid for by Mars Hill. If there’s anything in the source code that indicates otherwise, it’s because the site is a copy of marshill.com with most of the functionality and code stripped away. The site is on its own servers and was handed over to Pastor Mark.
The domain is also registered to Learning for Living, not Mars Hill Fellowship. Mars Hill originally purchased that domain many years ago and has now turned it over to Pastor Mark. It takes time for the Whois information to update, which I believe it is now.
In answer to a follow up request for clarification about the links in markdricoll.org’s source code, Dean replied:
Since Mark’s site is just a copy of marshill.com there a probably a lot of links to Marshill.com that remain, but it doesn’t mean the church is hosting content for him. After 12/31 those links will be broken if he doesn’t change them.
I then asked if Driscoll had paid for the code (assuming it is all proprietary information which is an asset of the church). I also asked who at the church had given Driscoll permission to copy the code. Dean replied:
As for who approved or what was paid, I have no idea. That would be private information. I no longer represent Mars Hill as my last day was 12/24/14.
To illustrate the copied source code, below is an image of the code for the header of markdriscoll.org which displays Mark Driscoll’s name but maintains some Mars Hill’s content:
The “Welcome Pastor Mark Driscoll” shows up on the page but the content not displayed is in the black borders above and is from the Mars Hill Church website. As noted above, Dean did not know who, if anyone, had given permission. In any case, it appears that Mark Driscoll has derived additional benefit from a church he no longer serves.
Earlier Dean told the Huffington Post that there is no relationship between Mark Driscoll and the church websites:
That domain is one that Mars Hill has had registered for quite some time but we never used. It has now been transferred to Mark Driscoll, and the domain registration to Mars Hill Fellowship is outdated (I believe it is now updated). The site is in no way affiliated with Mars Hill Church or Mars Hill Fellowship.
It is not affiliated but it was copied.
In light of the terms of use on Driscoll’s new site, the use of Mars Hill assets seems ironic.
Update: I should also have mentioned the terms of use on the Mars Hill website:
All sermons, articles, blog posts, text, graphics, user interfaces, visual interfaces, photographs, trademarks, logos, sounds, music, artwork and computer code (collectively, “Content”), including but not limited to the design, structure, selection, coordination, expression, “look and feel” and arrangement of such Content, contained on the Site is owned, controlled or licensed by or to Mars Hill Church, and is protected by trade dress, copyright, patent and trademark laws, and various other intellectual property rights and unfair competition laws.
Except as expressly provided in these Terms of Use, no part of the Site and no Content may be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, publicly displayed, encoded, translated, transmitted or distributed in any way (including “mirroring”) to any other computer, server, Web site, television, video projector or other medium for publication or distribution or for any religious use or commercial enterprise, without Mars Hill’s express prior written consent.
*I originally called Justin Dean a spokesman for markdriscoll.org but that is not correct. I am sorry for the misunderstanding and incorrect information.