Former Mars Hill Pastor: Mars Hill Leaders Ordered Violation of City Ordinances

I will have more to say about these posts later but for now, I want to provide the links to Kyle Firstenberg’s posts where he details his charges against Mark Driscoll and Sutton Turner.
Letter to Board of Advisors and Accountability
Charges Against Mars Hill Executive Pastors
There is much here but one surprising charge is that the Mars Hill leadership knew the Mars Hill Orange County church was out of compliance with the law but told the pastors there not to move, even authorizing the payment of fines.

Former Mars Hill Pastors Speak Out About Elder Firings and Changes in Mars Hill Bylaws

A little while ago, former Mars Hill Church Leadership Pastor Dave Kraft released a statement on his Facebook page which accepted responsibility for his part in the firings of Paul Petry, Bent Meyer and Lief Moi. Saying that the elders were “unfairly terminated,” Kraft expressed remorse for being “in the group that saw to it that they left.”
Then today on his blog, Kyle Firstenberg also expressed remorse because he shunned the fired elders as he was instructed by Driscoll. Firstenberg also provided his perceptions of the bylaws changes dating back to about 2007 when more power was placed in the hands of the executive elders. Eventually, the Board of Advisors and Accountability was created with the purported purpose to provide outside accountability. Firstenberg described a video call where Driscoll discussed the changes. After some push back from elders, according to Firstenberg, Driscoll shut down discussion:

Mark’s response was simply, I don’t give a shit what you guys think. I brought this in front of you guys trying to be nice and make you feel like you are involved in this decision. I don’t even need to get your permission to do this; the last change to the Bylaws gives me permission to do what I want and we are doing this. It doesn’t matter what you say.
With that, the change was made with little protest because if you want to keep your job you don’t cross Mark. My push back is simply, if Mark can make statements like that in front of the people who are his peers as elders/pastors and the people who he has put in place to hold him accountable to begin with, then what makes us think that he would submit himself to a group of people who are outside of the church?

I have heard other Mars Hill pastors describe this meeting with very nearly the same language. If Mars Hill Church would like to dispute this account, I would be happy to post their account.
This is a powerful vindication of the three elders and one which the Mars Hill BOAA has not publicly addressed. I have noted before that the controversy/firings of these men, and other events from about 2007 onward are reverberating today. Mars Hill BOAA has abundant evidence of the issues but has still not contacted these men, preferring instead to talk about some vague reconciliation hunger.
 

New Letter from Mars Hill Church Leadership Board Acknowledges Charges Against Mark Driscoll; Silent on Twenty Former Pastors

Earlier this evening (3/26), a letter went out to Mars Hill Community Group leaders from the Board of Advisors and Accountability (BOAA)* regarding the formal charges filed by Dave Kraft in May of last year. In addition, the BOAA commented on a “reconciliation process” but did not specifically mention the 20 former pastors who asked for a mediator. The letter refers to someone who could fit that role but it is not clear that the BOAA’s actions are in response to the initiative led by Dave Kraft and Kyle Firstenberg. As far as I can determine, the BOAA has not responded to the March 17 letter from the 20 former pastors.

Dear Mars Hill Leaders,
I wanted to take the opportunity to give you, the current leaders of Mars Hill Church, an update as to the status of some of what we’ve been working on as a board over the course of the past year. Thank you for all that you do. We know it is extra difficult right now, but good fruit is coming out of these trials!
On May 10, 2013, a now former elder filed formal charges against Pastor Mark Driscoll and other leaders at Mars Hill. While stating that he had not personally been sinned against by Pastor Mark, he had at least seven unnamed witnesses who would testify to the offenses and hurts he claimed, which if found to be substantiated, could result in disqualification. We requested the names of the witnesses to exercise Matthew 5:23-25, but he refused to disclose them. While the issues cited as evidence from these charges came from anonymous sources, the issues all revolved around the theme of mistreatment of fellow leaders and staff. As the governing body responsible for the accountability of Mars Hill’s senior leaders, the Board took these charges extremely seriously.
In an effort to substantiate the validity of the anonymous charges, we immediately sent out over one hundred letters to former elders and staff at Mars Hill Church from the previous two years, inviting their feedback and perspectives regarding their time on staff at the church, particularly their interactions with Pastor Mark and the Executive Elders. We received eighteen responses. While some were very positive, every response was read and reread, looking for anything that would disqualify Pastor Mark and any other Mars Hill leaders from serving, or that would require further investigation. Additionally, the Board looked for repetitive patterns that may also lead to potential disqualification. After a thorough review, the charges were determined to be non-disqualifying. However, the Executive Elders were individually and corporately given corrective direction by the Board. Those corrective actions have been followed and have been bearing fruit over the last seven months. We have been very encouraged to see the Executive Elders learn, grow, and repent where needed.
However, we are hungry for reconciliation and are continually grieved that many offenses and hurts are still unresolved. We want to seek out and hear the hurts in a biblical manner. A Board-approved reconciliation process is currently underway and is being overseen by Dr. Paul Tripp who flew to Seattle and recently spent a day with the Executive Elders. He has also been in conversation with a person who is very capable of facilitating these reconciliations. Additionally, each of the Executive Elders has taken the initiative to reach out to people with whom they may need to reconcile. Our prayer is that as a church we can learn from this experience as we continue to grow in love and grace.
You need to know that I and the other Board members have witnessed the Holy Spirit’s work in Pastors Mark, Dave and Sutton as they’ve grieved deeply over the hurts and sorrows that they’ve been the source of. Their hearts yearn for repentance and reconciliation with those that have been hurt and offended.
By God’s grace, the reconciliation process will continue to move forward one person at a time.
Michael Van Skaik
Chairman,
Board of Advisors and Accountability

I know of at least one person who reached out to the BOAA regarding the formal charges and requested to meet personally with Michael Van Skaik, the elder who led the inquiry. However, according to documents I have reviewed, Van Skaik refused to meet in person and wanted the information in writing. I also have seen other materials submitted in writing to the BOAA that cause me to question the BOAA’s relatively mild response.
It is hard to reconcile the claims of this letter with the silence from the BOAA and Executive Elders toward those who have privately and publicly asked for reconciliation.
This letter has been posted on Facebook in multiple locations.
More to come…
*The members of the Board of Advisors and Accountability are Paul Tripp, Michael Van Skaik (Chairman), James MacDonald, Larry Osborne, (the independent members) Mark Driscoll, Dave Bruskas, and Sutton Turner (the executive elders who also sit on the BOAA).
The governance of Mars Hill rests on these seven men. The members of the church don’t vote on anything and the council of elders only vote on doctrinal changes and vote to ratify the slate of BOAA members yearly. However, elders serve at the pleasure of the BOAA and executive elders. The paid elders seem especially subject to pressure to conform because they report to Mark Driscoll who is the president of Mars Hill. He can remove officers at will and has the authority over the paid staff. Given the repeated allegations of a culture of fear, there is reason to wonder if this structure is facilitating accountability. Given the small size of the board and how dependent they are on each other, the potential for groupthink seems high. Furthermore, the lack of voice given the congregation and elders seems to set up an adversarial situation such as appears to have developed.

Mark Driscoll Plagiarism Update: Dan Allender Gets a Footnote in Real Marriage

In January 2014, I noted that Thomas Nelson/Harper Collins Christian added Dan Allender’s name to the Acknowledgments section of Mark & Grace Driscoll’s book Real Marriage. Use of Allender’s styles of relating without citation was one of the early allegations of plagiarism made by Janet Mefferd after the infamous November, 2013 interview.
In my post demonstrating the addition of Allender’s name to the Acknowledgments section, I expressed my view that the publisher should also add a footnote to the section where Allender’s material was used. Now I see that sometime since that post a footnote has been included along with a mention of Allender in the text of Real Marriage (although with an error in grammar). See below for the before and after images:

This modification vindicates the concerns expressed at the time and is yet another indication that the statement from Tyndale House about plagiarism in Driscoll’s books was inadequate. For future reference, publishers can use this chart to find a substantial number of other corrections that should be made. For instance, Crossway publisher has yet to correct Driscoll’s use of Allender’s conceptualization in Death By Love.

 
 
 

Megachurch Mania: Steven Furtick Colors The Code

World Magazine is lighting some candles lately.

Warren Smith broke the story about Mark Driscoll/Mars Hill gaming the system for Driscoll’s book Real Marriage and now Marvin Olasky brings us a coloring book page (try this link) that inspires nausea. UPDATE – In fact, it was Matthew Paul Turner who had the information first. The post has been removed from his site but is available from the Wayback machine.

This comes from Elevation Church where Steven Furtick is the lead pastor. At the bottom of the page, the caption reads: “Elevation Church is built on the vision God gave Pastor Steven. We will protect our unity in supporting his vision.”

Really?

This is part of Elevation Church’s “Code.” (No longer on the page but archived here). Check out #4.

This resource is part of Elevationekidz.com. This link has been disabled and I can’t find it on the Wayback machine (here is a tweet pointing to it). Some of what was there is on Matthew Paul Turner’s post.

The illustrator for the coloring book had some of the pictures on her website but eventually took those down. They are available on the Wayback Machine.

I couldn’t help but think of this guy:

Everything is awesome!

Furtick wants to make sure the kids memorize The Code:

Pastor Steven's April Video to eKidz: The Code from Elevation Church eKidz on Vimeo.

This also reminded me of Mark Driscoll’s “I Am The Brand” speech. Obviously, I wasn’t there but numerous former staffers have described the speech where Mark Driscoll informed some of his staff that he was to be promoted as the brand. I would love to hear Driscoll’s side of that story but Mars Hill keeps him pretty wrapped and they won’t answer any questions.

Maybe there is another side to all of this and I am open to hearing it, but my reaction to what I have been learning about at least two megachurches (Elevation and Mars Hill) makes me glad that my pastor is my friend and not a brand or a superhero.