Tag: Mars Hill Church

Mars Hill Sammamish In Merger Talks With Bellevue Church

Mars Hill Sammamish meets in a building that must be sold to satisfy debt and thus has no place to meet as of December 31. Currently, despite resistance from some involved, leaders at Sammamish are in talks with Bellevue Church to merge. Today, lead pastor Alex Ghioni posted this on The City:

From Pastor Alex Ghioni:
Last week the news was released that Mars Hill Church will be dissolving as an organization by December 31, 2014. Each of the Mars Hill local churches will have the opportunity to become an independent church in the area where they are meeting. As you already know, our building is being sold and we will no longer have access to meet here after December 31, 2014.
Our elder team has been working tirelessly to explore other options in light of these circumstances. Currently we are in discussions with the pastors in Bellevue exploring an opportunity for our two churches to join together and establish one new independent church on the Eastside. We want to take the helpful things we learned from our years at Mars Hill and leave behind what was broken, ineffective, and ungodly. We believe the Eastside has room for another solid gospel church, that holds to a high view of the scriptures, supports the bold preaching of the gospel, reformed theology, missional mindset, and loving community. This could be one of the great redemptive works that God brings about from our current difficult circumstances. The elders want to enlist you to pray along with us that God “…may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified…” (2 Thess 1:11-12 ESV). We’ll be communicating our progress as quickly as we have new information.
We realize that others of you will perhaps be looking for a church closer to where you live. The elders want to help you and pray for you as you make those plans and decisions. We love you and want God’s best for you and your family.
In any event, we are hoping that we will remain together as a family until the end of the year. God has done great things in our lives individually and collectively. It makes sense that we take the time together to remember and celebrate his work in and through our church. We hope you’ll stick with us as we honor Jesus and encourage one another over the next 8 weeks.
Toward that end, we have decided that for the duration of the year we are going combine our services into one Sunday morning service at 10am. The heart behind this change is to give some additional time for you to connect and enjoy the relationships that God has built throughout our church family here in Sammamish. I look forward to seeing you and celebrating our Savior together with you in the weeks to come as we wait for what God has for us next.
With the affection of Jesus,
Pastor Alex

The building Sammamish is meeting in was given to Mars Hill by the former church owners. I wonder if they ever imagined that their building would help pay for severance pay for the executive elders of Mars Hill Church.

Mars Hill Fallout: Corban University Looking for New Location to Provide Education in Seattle

With the closing of Mars Hill Church, the partnership between the church and Corban University will also cease on December 31, 2014. After Mark Driscoll resigned on October 15, the school communicated to various stakeholders that the school would continue to provide education for the 18 students enrolled. Even with the closing of the church, the school intends to find a way to provide the courses scheduled. The school is actively searching for another location which would allow the students to finish their Spring schedule before transitioning to the Salem, OR campus.
The short-lived partnership has been tumultuous from the start. Corban representatives signed a contract in November 2013 just as Janet Mefferd’s plagiarism allegations were gaining traction in Christian media. Corban was one of four schools hoping to get the contract. I don’t know who the others are but they may be breathing a sigh of relief since the time since November 2013 has been filled with regular revelations of questionable practices among leaders at the church.
In August 2014, Corban’s leaders formed an Ad Hoc Committee of administrators and trustees to study the situation. In September, the school’s trustees decided to maintain their commitments to students while Mars Hill engage in the process of handling allegations against Driscoll. They also indicated in their September statement that they would engage in due diligence regarding Driscoll. Eventually someone decided not to have Driscoll teach at Corban in contrast to the originally planned schedule.
 

Two Mars Hill Universes: Repentant Pastor and the Christian Post

Over at the Repentant Pastor website yesterday, 18 former Mars Hill elders posted a letter of confession to Paul Petry and Bent Meyer. In the letter, the pastors confessed being complicit with an authoritarian structure which wronged Meyer and Petry for raising valid concerns. They wrote:

We now believe our decisions were invalid and wrong. The entire investigation and trial process was skewed by the implication that your termination was above reproach and for just cause. If there had been sin in your life that might have warranted a warning about possible disqualification from eldership, we should have patiently, carefully, and directly addressed it with you before the matter became so extremely escalated. By reporting our wrongheaded assessment to the church, we put doubt about your character in the minds of church members, though you had done nothing to warrant such embarrassment and scrutiny. By doing this, we misled the whole church, harmed your reputation, and damaged the unity of the body of Christ.

In this universe, the past with Mark Driscoll generates remorse and repentance.
At the Christian Post today, Alex Murashko focuses on Mars Hill Portland pastor Tim Smith and spokesman Justin Dean. Both Smith and Dean view the past with Mark Driscoll as something to celebrate. In this universe, both had praise for Driscoll and glossed over the investigation of charges and the reasons for his resignation.
When Petry and Meyer were fired, they didn’t get due process like Driscoll did. After they were fired by Driscoll, they were unfairly tried by their peers and found guilty of “displaying an unhealthy lack of trust in, and respect for, the senior leadership of Mars Hill Church.” Petry was considered disqualified and shunned and Meyer was put on probation.
When Mark Driscoll was the subject of a lengthy process of investigation and found guilty of abusing his leadership, he was allowed to resign voluntarily with severance rather than enter a restoration process.
In one universe, Tim Smith voted to find Petry and Meyer guilty and in another universe, Smith lauds Driscoll and fails to sign on to the letter of confession.
 
 

Mars Hill Everett Leaders Want to Go Independent, Will Hold Vision Meeting November 10

An article in the Everett Daily Herald published earlier today reveals that Mars Hill Everett plans to become an independent church. Lead pastor Ryan Williams told the Herald that the elders decided to make a go of it without a congregational vote. Curiously, Williams said the people will “vote with their feet.” He had better hope that their feet want to stay in the church.
 

Dave Bruskas to Become Interim Preaching Pastor at Bellevue Church

Looks like Bellevue Church wants to be the Mars Hill legacy church. This just came out:

On Becoming a New Church
From Pastor Matt Rogers:

Yesterday we honored Thomas Hurst who made the decision to step aside as the Lead Pastor of the Bellevue church. We also touched on the future for our church family and where we believe the Lord is leading us. As your elders look toward a new beginning, we have tremendous hope and confidence that a great future is ahead for us as we proclaim and live the gospel of Jesus Christ together as a church family!

Pastor Thomas and Angela have walked through incredibly difficult trials of cancer and losing a son while being faithful examples of trusting the Lord in suffering. They have poured themselves out for this church family in the midst of those trials because they love you and they love Jesus very much. The Hurst family will continue as members of our church as they pray through what God has for them in the future. Pastor Thomas has been great pastor, a great friend and a great encouragement to us. Please take a moment to send Thomas and Angela a note of thanks and keep them in your prayers. As his last official act as Lead Pastor Thomas declared himself the head of our Greeting team, his first day in his new position will be this coming Sunday!

A New Eastside Church

As Pastor Dave shared last week Mars Hill will transition to fully independent locally governed churches January 2015. Based on overwhelmingly strong support from leaders across our Bellevue church your elders are committed that Mars Hill Bellevue will become one of these new churches on January 1 2015.

We have been through too much together not to stay together.

We have celebrated hundreds of people meeting Jesus and being baptized, we have grown as disciples of Jesus Christ, we have walked through very difficult trials—together as a church family. The greatest fruit in our relationships comes over time, staying together, growing together, and seeing more of Jesus together.

Bellevue is a large financially healthy church and we have every reason to believe we can be a healthy and strong church based on the Eastside for many years to come. Pastor Dave Bruskas has agreed to serve as our interim preaching pastor here in Bellevue while we search for a permanent Lead Pastor. This Bellevue church is known around the world for the way you have served and loved one another and the broader church of Jesus Christ. We have already been contacted by several highly gifted and qualified pastors. We are committed to continuing bold Bible preaching that lifts up the gospel as Jesus Christ as the great hope for our city and the world.

Some Things Will Never Change

As a new independent church some things will be different. All ministry direction, production, staffing, and governance will be done together as a local church. We are establishing a new 501©3 corporate entity, creating new bylaws, selecting a new name, establishing a new structure and setting up new financial accounts. With all of us working together we will bring the best of Mars Hill while learning from our past to build a great new church.

After discussing a transition with dozens of leaders around the church you have our commitment that some things will never change. Your elders are absolutely committed to ensuring we are under Bible focused preaching that boldly proclaims the gospel of Jesus Christ. We will never compromise the truth of God’s word, and we will serve our good King with excellence!

For the next few weeks we will be seeking input from leaders from around the church, working through transition details, and look forward to having a lot more to share with you at our first Vision Meeting Sunday November 16 at 12:30.

This morning I woke up thinking about Ephesians 3:20-21 and believe this is an important reminder for our church family. In the last several months the Lord has brought much repentance, much growth and we are stronger and more dependent on Jesus than we have ever been. I am grateful for that work in my own life and in the hearts of the people in this church. He has used all of this for his glory and our good to make us into a church more reflective of our savior.

Together let’s proceed forward with confidence that the gospel will continue to change lives in this city and this church! Let’s pray to celebrate thousands more people meeting Jesus, to dedicate our lives to the forward progress of that gospel and growing together as disciples of Jesus Christ! Please be praying, please dream big about what God will do and let’s join together to build a new church with our hope firmly rooted in our savior Jesus Christ!

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.

(Ephesians 3:20-21 ESV)

For more on Thomas Hurst’s resignation, see this.

How long before Mark Driscoll comes back as a guest speaker?