Month: June 2014

Sutton Turner and the Tale of Two Mars Hill Globals

With each new publication about Mars Hill Global, it seems that church leaders verify my suspicion that much of the money donated for international outreach over the past couple of years has been spent on expanding Mars Hill United States franchises.
In a new video, executive pastor Sutton Turner defines Mars Hill Global as a family connected to Mars Hill Church through Mark Driscoll. In this video, Turner reveals that Mars Hill Global is helping Spokane get off the ground, and in the past helped the Phoenix franchise launch. In a prior post, I noted that Mars Hill Everett’s pastor Ryan Williams thanked Mars Hill Global for helping buy their building. He was almost two years late with his thanks but better late than never I guess.
In this new video, Turner makes sure we know that Mars Hill Global is a bunch of people who give to support church planting locally and internationally. Watch:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D88NBSgOb4I[/youtube]
Transcript:

Mars Hill Global is a family; a family that is connected to Mars Hill Church through Pastor Mark Driscoll’s Bible preaching. Each week there are almost 250,000 people from all over the world that download, watch, and listen to sermons and other content from Mars Hill Church.
In 2007, I began listening to Mars Hill podcasts while living in Texas and continued as a podcaster when I moved to the Middle East. My family and I were amazed at the work that Jesus was doing through Mars Hill and the number of people that were meeting Jesus and growing in Jesus each week. It was amazing. I wanted to be more than just a podcaster, I wanted to participate with prayers and financial support as part of the global family of Mars Hill Church so that more people would meet Jesus and more churches would be planted.
Together you and I are both a part the global family of Mars Hill Church. Mars Hill Global mission is the same as Mars Hill Church, making disciples and planting churches all over the world. Currently,your gifts support our 15 Mars Hill Church locations in the United States, evangelists in Ethiopia in church planters in India. It’s a blessing to have a global family who supports what Jesus is doing around the world.
As I mentioned, I’m here in Spokane Washington where we hope to plant our 16th Mars Hill Church location. It’s our prayer that this church building originally constructed in 1926 will be the new home of Mars Hill Spokane. I want to ask you to begin praying about this opportunity; an opportunity for a new Gospel work in an old vintage building, a building that will be home for a new family of believers to meet, worship, and fellowship in Jesus’s name. This new work doesn’t happen without your financial support. You help plant Mars Hill Phoenix earlier this year. Now we’re praying about this opportunity to plant Mars Hill Spokane.
I invite you to continue to pray and give, so more people can be saved by Jesus, more people can grow in Jesus, and more people can be on Jesus’s mission in Seattle, Albuquerque, Spokane, the United States, Ethiopia, India, and the ends of the Earth.

All of that is fine. If people who don’t go to Mars Hill want to donate money to Mars Hill’s General Fund, then, of course, that is up to them. However, what about the people who donated money to the Mars Hill Global Fund when it existed? Shouldn’t they know where their donation went? As some commenters on my blog have expressed, they are surprised that their money went to building in the U.S. One commenter who claimed to donate to the Global Fund wrote:

I have no words! So, we not so rich east europeans give money for poor Ethiopia and India, but surprise, they go for rich americans!!! This is some kind a joke!

Up to May, a donor could donate to something called the Global Fund. And as the next video shows, the source of the donations could be from Mars Hill members in the U.S. as well as from people who didn’t attend Mars Hill. According to this video published in January, Mars Hill Global was the arm of Mars Hill Church which developed resources for international efforts. Watch:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcseC6KpSBk[/youtube]
Transcript:

Howdy Mars Hill Church, pastor Sutton Turner here and I’m in Ethiopia, and I just want to thank Jesus for continuing to use Mars Hill Church to make disciples and plant churches. Mars Hill Global is the arm of Mars Hill Church that makes disciples and plant churches all over the world. We not only do church planting, but we help better equip church planters. Most recently, we shipped and now distributed a thousand Bibles into Amharic which is the language here in Ethiopia, and we launched a project to translate Pastor Mark Driscoll’s Doctrine book into Spanish. We have people from over 29 different countries that are giving on a monthly basis to Mars Hill Global.
So whether you’re a member of one of our Mars Hill Church locations in the United States or you’re one of 100,000 podcasters every single week, We encourage you to pray about giving above and beyond your tithe to Mars Hill Global. Thank you and let’s see more materials translated, more pastors sent out, more churches planted, and more people saved by Jesus Christ.

Turner’s January 2014 video sounds much more like the way Mars Hill Global was described in the 2013 Annual Report. Prior to May, as noted by Turner in the second video above, a donor, including a member of Mars Hill Church, could designate money separately from one’s tithe (General Fund giving) for international efforts. That was called the Global Fund. In all of the revising of Mars Hill Global’s history which has been going on lately, nothing has been said about where the Global Fund has gone or where that money was spent. Apparently, some of it was spent on Everett’s down payment, and now we learn that some of it was spent on Mars Hill Phoenix and is about to be spent on Mars Hill Spokane. But how much of it went to Ethiopia and India? If I had donated to Mars Hill Global Fund in FY 2013 and/or 2014, I would want to know.

Former Pastor: Mars Hill Church Has Entered Mediation Process with Twenty Former Pastors

On March 17, Dave Kraft and Kyle Firstenberg sent a letter to Mars Hill’s executive elders requesting mediation on behalf of themselves and 18 other former pastors. Yesterday, Dave Kraft posted an update on the process on his blog. After describing the process, Kraft wrote:

I am glad to report that the process described above is now underway. A reputable professional team, experienced in matters of significant conflict in churches, has been retained by the BOAA. This team is doing initial interviews and getting the lay of the land regarding what has transpired over the last seven years or so at Mars Hill Church. This will be a long process, so patience will be the need of the hour. Once the team has done its initial round of interviews, recommendations will be given to the BOAA as to next steps.

So the news part of this post is that Mars Hill leaders have entered into talks with twenty former pastors with a mediation team.
Kraft says he is cautiously optimistic. However, in my opinion, it is fair to point out that events of recent weeks strain optimism. Mars Hill continues to dismiss staff when they question leadership or decline to sign a non-compete clause. Instead of transparency, Mars Hill leaders stealthily change information on their website without explanation. Reasonable requests for accountability are ignored, and Mark Driscoll preached recently that the cycle that has been taking place is normal and biblical. In other words, some of the same issues the pastors wanted to talk about seem to remain the same.
Kraft acknowledges in his post that the process may not work out. However, the fact that the executive elders and Board of Advisors and Accountability have entered the process seems to recognize that there is conflict which must be addressed.
 

Is What's Going On At Mars Hill Church Normal?

Of late, I have been covering the many goings on at Mars Hill Church. Since November 2013, I posted about plagiarism, ghostwriting, dreams of other people’s sins, mischief at Mars Hill Orange County, mischief involving Mars Hill Global, elders being fired and resigning, non-disclosure agreements, non-compete clauses, and several other issues. If that is normal, then give me abnormal. However, in the Jesus Made Mistakes sermon of May 4 (posted on the Mars Hill website on May 18), Mark Driscoll seemed to chalk everything up to a normal cycle, spirit empowered even. You can watch it here and read the transcript as well.

So I’ve been doing this eighteen years, and here’s what I see, and I want to share it with you to encourage you. If you’re a leader, I want you to see this. If you’re new to Christianity or new to our church, I want you to see this. There are normal rhythms and cycles that churches go through as people go through. Here’s the Spirit-empowered church cycle. We just looked at it in Acts 6.


Here is Driscoll’s description of the cycle:

1. PREACH JESUS

Number one, preach Jesus. First things first, preach Jesus. Christianity got started, Peter’s standing up, preach Jesus, preach Jesus, preach Jesus. He’s God become a man. He lived without sin. He died on the cross in our place for our sins. He rose from death. He conquers our enemies of Satan, sin, death, hell, and wrath. He ascended into heaven. He’s worshiped by angels. He’s coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and with him he will bring a kingdom that never ends. Everyone will get out of their grave. They’ll stand before him, they’ll give an account to him, and they’ll be judged by him for eternal life or death. It all comes down to Jesus, amen? Preach Jesus.

2. GROW

Number two, the church grows. The Holy Spirit who wrote the Scriptures blesses its preaching, wants people to know and love Jesus. People become Christians, the church grows.
Mars Hill, we’ve had some amazing surges of growth. It’s crazy. I mean, at this point in the book of Acts, the entire population of Christianity on the earth is around the same size as Mars Hill Church. So if you’re reading Acts and you’re like, “I can’t believe that God did that,” I can’t believe that God still does that, and he’s done it with us.

3. FAIL AND BE PUBLICLY CRITICIZED

Number three—OK, let me just say, number three’s not my favorite one, OK? Fail and be publicly criticized. We just saw it in Acts 6. Failure, public criticism. It happens. I’ve been doing this long enough. I know that it’s happened before, it’ll happen again, and I’m sure it’ll be my fault. Number three, fail and be publicly criticized.

4. REORGANIZE TO FIX THE FAILURES

But number four, reorganize to fix the failures. That’s what they did. This ain’t working. It used to work, but now it’s too big. Right, how many of you ladies—right now, you got two kids. You’re like, “I know how to raise kids.” What if you were pregnant with seventy-two children? You’re like, “I would need a different plan.” Yes you would. “I would need a bigger car, a bigger fridge, a better husband. I need a lot of things,” right?
As a family grows, it has to reorganize. And what used to work doesn’t work anymore because we got more kids and they’re getting older. So it is with the family of God. So what do you do? You reorganize to fix the failures. That’s what they did, that’s what we do by the grace of God.

5. KEEP PREACHING JESUS

Step five, keep preaching Jesus, keep talking about Jesus, keep pointing to Jesus, keep, in every way, maintaining Jesus as the center of everything.

6. REPEAT STEPS 1–4

And then step fix, repeat steps one through five.
Do you see that? Because what are they going to do? They’re going to fix their problems, the church is going to grow, and you know what? They’re going to have another problem, and then they’re going to have to fix it.
This is not just the cycle of church life, this is the cycle of your life, right? Meet Jesus, learn about Jesus, grow in Jesus, fail, have some people unhappy with you, repent of your sins, fix your mistakes by the grace of God, keep walking with Jesus, and grow some more until you fail again. Give grace to one another. Give grace to the whole church.
Mars Hill, this is normal, prototypical, historical, biblical Christianity, OK?

What is everybody all upset about? All of this stuff is just normal, biblical Christianity. “Mistakes were made” and need to be fixed. In fairness, Driscoll adds repentance to the description in step six, but the emphasis in the prior steps seems to be on mistakes as if the problems which have brought on public criticism to Mars Hill were just mistakes that require some tweaking to fix. And after all, even Jesus Made Mistakes.

They preached and grew, and made mistakes and worked on it, and preached some more and grew some more and made different mistakes and worked on it. And it’s like the seasons of nature—prune, harvest, prune, harvest, prune, harvest, prune, harvest. Harvesting is more fun than pruning, but there’s no harvesting apart from pruning.

I have it on good authority that attendance is down at Mars Hill and it is certain that popular elders have resigned or been dismissed. However, as they did in 2007, the executive elders may just see this as pruning. The dead wood leaves (or gets tossed under the bus) and you move on to the harvesting.
One hopes that this will not be Rev. Driscoll’s primary perspective in the upcoming mediation process.

Zach Bolen Resigns from Mars Hill Ballard (UPDATED)

Elder and worship leader Zach Bolen has resigned from Mars Hill Ballard.
Bolen, a high profile elder at Mars Hill, is the leader of Citizens, a popular band which has become well known outside of Mars Hill circles. The band’s first album, the eponymous disc Citizens, was released in March 2013 and has enjoyed critical and commercial success. Bolen served at Mars Hill University District prior to coming to Ballard in February of this year. Bolen was one of the most popular and accomplished worship leaders at Mars Hill.
Bolen’s resignation comes amid significant staff changes at Mars Hill Ballard. Recently, popular biblical living pastor Phil Smidt was fired and then this week pastor Aaron Mead and elder candidate Tim Klassen resigned. In recent months, elders Nate Burke, Jon Krombein, and Mike Wilkerson also left Mars Hill Ballard.
The UK Christian music magazine Crossrhythms raved about Bolen and Citizens, saying:

Clearly Citizens have a bright future ahead of them. As Breathecast commented, “Musically, Citizens have created a patented type of indie rock that flutters with the electronic beat of Switchfoot, yet shimmers with the emotional intensity of Hillsong United. Above all, Bolen sings with a sense of honest gravitas; it is as if leading worship is more than just a day job. Rather, he sings with a deep-seated passion that can only come from a man who knows grace.”

A single, You Brought Me Back to Life, was released around Easter from an album slated to be completed by August.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nXlIZFE3_c[/youtube]
Although Bolen’s future in music and ministry looks bright, it will not include Mars Hill Church.
Additional note: I have been listening to more of Zach’s band and I like most of what I am hearing. For instance, this track:
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smKwW0v4nj8[/youtube]
Another note: I wrote earlier that the new album would be released in August. I remembered one of the articles I read about Citizens incorrectly. The band hoped to have the album completed by August.
UPDATE (6/8): According to attenders at Mars Hill Ballard, Bolen’s resignation was announced this morning near the end of the service.

Two More Resignations at Mars Hill Ballard; Another Resignation Announced (UPDATED)

UPDATE (6/8): According to attenders, near the end of the service at Mars Hill Ballard, the firing of Phil Smidt was announced along with the resignations of Aaron Mead, Zach Bolen, and Matt Repucci. Repucci’s resignation had not been previously reported.
——————–
Recently Pastor Phil Smidt was fired by Mars Hill Ballard lead pastor Scott Harris. That action set off a wave of support for Smidt from former and current Mars Hill members. Now, in the aftermath of Smidt’s dismissal, two resignations have become public. Ballard non-staff (meaning they were volunteers) elder candidate Tim Klassen and volunteer elder Pastor Aaron Mead have now resigned. My sources tell me that other resignations are coming.
Neither Klassen nor Mead have issued comments. However, another Mars Hill elder speaking on condition of anonymity said, “What is going on at Mars Hill Ballard is wrong. Phil was forced out because the EE [Executive Elders] are not tolerating anymore dissent or questions.” Another elder commented, “I’m really afraid Scott [lead pastor Scott Harris] has become a mini EE [Executive Elder] and instead of trying to work things out with elders who have legitimate concerns, he’s simply going the abusive route and getting rid of them. The people of Ballard deserve better from their pastor who Heb 13:17 calls to ‘care for their souls’.”
These resignation come amid other staff changes at Mars Hill. Within the past year Ballard pastors Nate Burke and Mike Wilkerson resigned. Also at Ballard, volunteer elder Jon Krombein and staff deacon in charge of worship Chad Gardner have resigned. Dalton Roraback was forced out of his position as mentor of community group leaders for questioning the executive elder salaries and other matters. Then, Phil Poirier at Mars Hill Everett declined to sign the non-compete clause in his annual review and was dismissed from his non-staff elder position.