Good riddance. // Lennart
Sent from my phone. > On Nov 30, 2014, at 1:09 AM, BILROJ via Centroids: The Center of the Radical > Centrist Community <[email protected]> wrote: > > The rise and fall of Mars Hill Church > Craig Welch ("The Seattle Times," September 13, 2014) > > When the Christian radio host accused him of plagiarism, the quick-witted > preacher sounded flabbergasted — and annoyed. > > “Man, I thought we’d have a better interview than this,” Mars Hill Church > Pastor Mark Driscoll said. > > Driscoll’s heated November 2013 exchange with radio host Janet Mefferd would > prove a crucial turning point in his explosive rise and recent fall, igniting > a chain of events that would begin unraveling the Seattle megachurch he > founded. > > For years the edgy, blue-jeaned, hipster preacher used charisma and > combativeness to barrel through turmoil, once bragging that he’d mow down all > who questioned his vision: “There is a pile of dead bodies behind the Mars > Hill bus, and by God’s grace, it’ll be a mountain by the time we’re done,” he > once said in a meeting. “You either get on the bus or you get run over by the > bus.” > > Behind the scenes, former church members said, Driscoll could be vicious, > abusive and controlling. Some charged that he refused to promote an > overweight elder because Driscoll said his “fat ass” would tarnish Mars > Hill’s image. > > But for years, Driscoll’s outward style charmed many. He was dynamic and > funny, with a potent mix of reverence for Jesus and irreverence for > everything else. He drew pierced-and-tattooed congregants from Seattle to a > church that espoused a conservative Calvinist doctrine cloaked in indie-rock, > big screens and a worn pair of Chuck Taylors. > > Mars Hill grew to 15 branches in five states with 13,000 visitors on Sundays. > Driscoll appeared on Nightline, preached at Seahawks stadium, threw out the > first pitch at a Mariners game, and founded a network of evangelical leaders > who started hundreds of other churches. > > But after 18 years of stunning growth, an escalating string of bad news > finally started driving churchgoers away. Mars Hill leaders last Sunday said > attendance and giving had plummeted so fast that it would have to close > several Seattle branches and cut its staff 30 to 40 percent. > > And the Highline High School honors student who started the church as a Bible > study in his home wasn’t the one making the announcement. > > Driscoll had stepped aside temporarily in August so church leaders could > investigate whether he was fit to lead, following new accusations that he > bullied members, threatened opponents, lied and oversaw mismanagement of > church funds. > > While the seeds of the storm swirling around Driscoll date back years, many > elements can be traced to his November grilling by Mefferd, which inspired > fresh critics to start poking around the church. > > Again and again that day in 2013, Mefferd pushed Driscoll to be contrite > after accusing him of lifting material for 14 pages of his book from another > pastor without proper credit. Driscoll apologized but peppered his concession > with indignation. When Mefferd said she believed accusing him in public was > appropriate, Driscoll — as critics said he often did — tried to turn the > issue back on her. > > “I don’t. I don’t,” Driscoll snapped back. “I think it’s rude and I think the > intent behind it is not very Christ-like. But I’ll receive it and I’ll try to > receive it graciously and humbly. But I wouldn’t allow you to pretend to take > a generous, gracious moral-gospel high ground. I would not just give you a > pass on that — out of love for you. Because I want you to grow as well.” > > In the months that followed, Mefferd and a handful of bloggers would uncover > more questions about Driscoll’s books. A Christian magazine would discover > Mars Hill paid a company $25,000 to buy up and distribute his latest book in > a scheme to vault the title onto best-seller lists. > > That prompted more questions about how the church handled money — and about > whether Driscoll and his organization were too slippery when accused of > misbehavior. > > Each new accusation emboldened more critics, and by August Driscoll was > hounded almost daily by people recalling bad exchanges. > > “Some have challenged various aspects of my personality and leadership style, > and while some of these challenges seem unfair, I have no problem admitting I > am deserving of some of these criticisms based on my own past actions that I > am sorry for,” Driscoll said when announcing his six-week leave of absence in > August. > > “The Brand” > > Driscoll is not granting interviews, but the church has tried to distinguish > between past mistakes and how Driscoll runs things now. > > “There is a well-documented list of past actions and decisions I have > admitted were wrong, sought forgiveness, and apologized for, to those I hurt > or offended,” Driscoll said in that August address. > > But recent formal complaints from 21 former pastors include anecdotes from > the past two years. > > They charged that Driscoll referred to himself as “The Brand” and said Mars > Hill would always be about “me in the pulpit holding the Bible.” They said he > threatened to shred a former pastor’s new church “brick by brick,” and they > said he lied about how much he’d known about the book-sales-contract fiasco. > > With nearly a dozen blogs or online groups dedicated to critiquing Driscoll’s > every move, church leaders said it’s almost impossible to keep up with the > accusations. > > “The hard part is that some of what’s out there is true, and he’s owned it > and apologized for it and is trying to correct it, and some is not,” said > Mars Hill Pastor Matt Rogers, who chairs the church accountability board > examining accusations against their leader. > > “If someone went through and dragged out every example of where I’d been > short with my wife, or rude to a co-worker or done something stupid, and > trickled that out week after week after week for months, you would have no > respect for me, either.” > > It’s not that Mars Hill is new to controversy. For years, Driscoll seemed to > revel in being outrageous. > > He dubbed yoga “demonic,” and he dismissed mainstream depictions of Jesus as > “an effeminate-looking dude” and a “neutered and limp-wristed Sky Fairy of > pop culture.” > > He preached that homosexuality is a sin, and he once said anointing a woman > as an Episcopal bishop was a step toward voting in “a fluffy baby bunny > rabbit as their next bishop to lead God’s men.” He’s joked on stage about > masturbation and oral sex. > > In 2006, after evangelist Ted Haggard was caught with male prostitutes, > Driscoll appeared to blame Haggard’s wife, writing, “It is not uncommon to > meet pastors’ wives who really let themselves go. A wife who lets herself go > and is not sexually available to her husband ... is not responsible for her > husband’s sin, but she may not be helping him either.” > > Driscoll “is Chris Rock,” said former Mars Hill member Rob Smith. “He has > told us in the pulpit and in private that he admired comedian Chris Rock and > learned a lot from him. He’s crass, and he’s an extremely gifted orator with > a good sense of the gospel. But he also in some ways has always been a street > bully.” > > Smith left the church in 2007, after the first major internal Mars Hill > scandal, an event that current leaders admit left deep wounds. > > Back then, Driscoll and several dozen elders ran the church. With > decision-making growing unwieldy, the church changed bylaws to limit power to > a smaller group. > > Two pastors objected, arguing it concentrated authority with little > accountability and made it easy for Driscoll to steamroll opposition. > Driscoll fired both men, held a church “trial,” and urged members to shun one > pastor, leaving some aghast. > > Rogers, not affiliated with Mars Hill at the time, said looking back, “There > were a lot of wrong things done that shouldn’t happen in a church.” > > But much of the strife remained internal, until after the Mefferd interview. > > Plumbing the depths > > As an evangelical Christian and a psychology professor in Pennsylvania, > Warren Throckmorton had little association with Mars Hill. > > “I’d never been to the church, never heard a sermon, never read a book by > Driscoll,” he said. > > But after Mefferd’s show, he thumbed through Driscoll’s books, finding more > instances of what he considered plagiarism. He blogged about them and > burrowed ever-deeper into church practices. When World magazine, a Christian > publication, found the church had hired a company to get Driscoll’s new book > onto the best-seller list, Mars Hill’s contract with the company wound up on > Throckmorton’s blog. > > Church officials had told the magazine they’d hired the company to get Jesus’ > word into as many hands as possible. But that week, church leaders quickly > apologized. > > Soon, Throckmorton and other bloggers were posting almost daily, spreading > the word about many internal church questions. > > “Once I get on a subject, I plumb the depths,” Throckmorton said. > > When World magazine revealed that Mars Hill had tried forcing departing > pastors to sign nondisclosure agreements, Throckmorton and other bloggers > noted it. > > One who had opposed the agreements was pastor and former Driscoll confidant > Dave Kraft, who had started attending Mars Hill in 2001 and came on staff in > 2005. > > By 2013, Kraft was concerned. He heard tales of Driscoll’s bullying, which he > said created a culture of fear. Staff turnover was high. > > Kraft was supposed to be Driscoll’s “coach,” the man Driscoll confided in > about life. > > “Was it his fame, or had he been the same guy all along? I didn’t know, but > what was apparent was he was verbally abusive and arrogant and not interested > in changing,” Kraft said. “And a lot of people were being hurt.” > > With Driscoll no longer listening to him, Kraft said, he filed a formal > complaint, arguing that Driscoll’s behavior disqualified him from church > leadership. He urged church officials to interview specific people and hear > their stories. Instead the church sent a questionnaire to departed staff > seeking feedback. > > Kraft left the church in September 2013 but kept silent until this spring, > when he shared his story on his own blog. Within weeks, another 19 pastors > joined him in complaining about Driscoll’s management. > > Driscoll apologized to his congregation for the snowballing problems and for > the book issues. He declared his “angry-young-prophet days are over.” > > Still the accusations snowballed. > > Throckmorton wrote about a tithing fund some congregants had believed was > designated to start overseas churches that instead had been used for regular > church expenses. Church officials again apologized but have maintained the > issue was a misunderstanding. > > In July, critics unearthed a cached church website from 14 years ago, in > which Driscoll made dozens of posts under the alias “William Wallace II.” He > described America as a “pussified nation” of “homoerotic worship loving > momma’s boy sensitive emasculated neutered” men raised by “bitter penis > envying burned feministed single mothers” and made other, cruder statements > about women. > > Driscoll apologized two days later: “While the discussion board itself was a > bad idea, my decision to attack critics who were posting there ... was an > even worse idea — indeed, it was plain wrong.” > > By then, many churchgoers had had enough. > > Judy Abolafya and her husband had joined in 2000 but quit, disillusioned, > this spring. Reading the William Wallace rants rattled her. > > “I was shocked,” Abolafya said. “Mark officiated our wedding four days after > he had initiated that thread. It really upset me to know that was the kind of > stuff that was going on in his head at that time. > > “I’d had no personal beef with Mark Driscoll,” she said. “But his preaching > had really done a number on my head. It permeated our marriage, affected how > I looked at myself as a woman, how I viewed my husband. I wasn’t able to view > it for what it was while I was inside that environment, but within a matter > of days since deciding we weren’t going back, it was like a cloud was lifted. > All of a sudden I could breathe again.” > > For Driscoll and Mars Hill, August and September were worse. > > Former members protested outside Sunday services. An assistant who worked > closely with Driscoll until 2003, wrote an account of Driscoll pushing her > out, shunning her and calling her a heretic because she’d suggested he hire > someone to “go toe to toe” with him. > > Acts 29, the network Driscoll helped found that opened hundreds of churches > around the world, booted Driscoll and Mars Hill, arguing that associating > with them discredited the network. > > Kraft and 21 pastors lodged the new complaints, which Rogers and the board > are investigating. Driscoll announced his six-week sabbatical. > > Then a group of nine current pastors urged Driscoll to step down, quoting an > internationally recognized Christian author and conference speaker who called > Mars Hill “the most abusive, coercive ministry culture I’ve ever been > involved with.” Within weeks, eight of the nine pastors were gone from Mars > Hill. > > “If Mark were to acknowledge and own his mistakes, all of them, from the > depth of his heart and repent and step down for a minimum of sixth months,” > Kraft said, maybe then Driscoll could lead again. > > Rogers said his board is still investigating but he concedes the church’s > very future is in the air. > > So many people want Driscoll punished, his return could drive away more > congregants. But losing a celebrity preacher with Driscoll’s oratorical gifts > could drive away others. > > “I can’t predict how it’s going to go,” Rogers said. “My prayer is that God > will keep the church open no matter what.” > > -- > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org > > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. 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