Month: November 2014

Bellevue Church Elders Choose Jeff Vanderstelt To Be Teaching Pastor

The elders of Mars Hill Bellevue, soon to be doing business as Bellevue Church (or will the church be called Soma Bellevue?), have decided on Jeff Vanderstelt as their teaching pastor.
They are meeting now with the congregation to discuss the call to Vanderstelt. The elders believe he is the guy but they are asking the church to pray about it before a decision is made. Is this a hint that the congregation will have a vote? Stay tuned. The note to the church is below and the letter describing the call to Vanderstelt is linked here.

From Pastor Jason Skelton:Eastside Family,
As you know, your elders have been praying about an important decision related to our search for a lead teaching pastor to plant a new church on the Eastside. The attached letter is a request for your continued prayers, and any feedback you might have, as we believe God has brought us that leader.
We invite you to join us at 12:30 p.m. today (Sunday, November 23) in Bellevue for an open conversation about the governance of our new church and to meet the man we believe God has called to serve alongside your elders as the lead teaching pastor.
We also invite you to join us for a special 4:00 p.m. service today in Bellevue to hear from him directly, and we will share additional opportunities to meet and provide feedback as we pray over this decision together as a church family for the next few weeks.
On Behalf of the Elders,
Pastor Jason
[file attachment online]

Vanderstelt is coming from Soma Tacoma (fun to say) with the blessing of the elders of that church.
As an outsider, I am surprised anyone would take the job with so much unfinished business. If the current leadership doesn’t provide answers to nagging questions soon, then Vanderstelt becomes part of the problem.
Vanderstelt’s selection is ironic. According to a former lead pastor, when Mars Hill and Mark Driscoll planted Mars Hill Tacoma, Driscoll bragged to a meeting of pastors that “We’ll hand Vanderstelt his ass once I’m [Driscoll] there.” It appears that Vanderstelt held onto his backside.
 
 

John Wilsey On What The Public Should Know About Thanksgiving

Last week, I asked a bunch of historian colleagues to opine about what the public should know about Thanksgiving. I am pleased and thankful for the responses sent in so far. The series will run through at least Thanksgiving Day. Today, John Wilsey begins with he wants us to know about Thanksgiving.
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John D. Wilsey is Assistant Professor of History and Christian Apologetics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He is the author of One Nation Under God: An Evangelical Critique of Christian America and a forthcoming history of American exceptionalism from IVP Academic.
One of the fascinating things about the Thanksgiving celebration is its endurance in the national memory. From the “first Thanksgiving” in the autumn of 1621 to our own day, Thanksgiving as a civil religious high and holy day offers us a cultural and religious artifact in considering the process of change that occurs in a national community. Just think of Thanksgiving in terms of three benchmarks in history—1621, 1863, and the present day.
Here’s a little perspective: when Abraham Lincoln proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863, he was more distant in time from the 1621 celebration than we are in 2014 to Lincoln. How much had changed in North America from the first Thanksgiving to the Civil War? And how much has changed from the Civil War to the present? As many historians like to point out, the past is a foreign country—but perhaps it is more accurate to say that the past is made up of many foreign countries.
It is good to remember that our present day context is different than that of the past. As a Christian, I remember that many things in the human experience do not change, namely, human nature itself. But I also remember that trying to draw a straight line from the Pilgrims to the present in an effort to make some point about “restoring America” can be dangerous, and in some ways, contrary to my own Christian tradition. That does not mean that we ignore the past. We can glean wisdom from the past without using it to advance an agenda. Considering Thanksgiving as a cultural and religious artifact helps us to do just that, while we celebrate and enjoy it in our own homes on November 27.
For all articles in this series, please click Thanksgiving 2014.
 

Legal Maneuvers In the Case of Asia Bibi

Asif Aqeel, writing for World Watch Monitor, explains some of the recent legal maneuvers in the case of Asia Bibi, a Pakistani Christian mother of five who has been charged with blasphemy. She was sentenced to death and has one more appeal to the Pakistani Supreme Court.
There is a very helpful history of the case and a summary of the efforts of the courts to make it harder to achieve blasphemy convictions. Her hopes appear to be a change in evidence requirements or a pardon from the President.

The appeals judges now explain they had no choice, given the way Pakistan’s laws are written, and have turned to lawmakers to craft legislation that would empower trial courts to apply a test that would make future blasphemy convictions much more difficult to achieve.  That test was not in place when Noreen, popularly known as Asia Bibi, was tried.

Bibi has been offered refuge in Paris, France.
Please sign and spread the word about the petition directly to the President of Pakistan to free Asia Noreen Bibi.

One Year Ago Today Janet Mefferd Interviewed Mark Driscoll

In conversations about Mars Hill Church, many people peg the beginning of the Year of Mars Hill’s Discontent as being Janet Mefferd’s radio interview with Mark Driscoll. In that interview, Mefferd accused Driscoll of plagiarism and he accused her of having “sort of a grumpy day.”

In hindsight, perhaps one could view the Strange Fire conference deception as the beginning of the end and indeed Mefferd began her interview by asking Driscoll about the conference. In fact, he never really answered her question about whether or not the books were confiscated. He said they were going to confiscate them but didn’t say they did. Please see Darren Wiebe’s eye witness account for more on the Strange Fire confiscation controversy.

In any case, the Fall of 2013 was the start of a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year for Rev. Driscoll and his fellow executives at Mars Hill. Mefferd later apologized for her approach but did not retract her claims of plagiarism.

Mefferd’s interview seemed to break open the flood gates and eventually brought me and others into the situation. I wasn’t sure at first that Mefferd was correct in her claims, but I quickly came to believe she was right. Eventually I discovered problems in more of his books and created a chart to map it all. From there, problems with church finances, leadership, scamming the New York Times best-seller list, bullying personnel, and more snowballed. Time will tell what the enduring significance will be.

If you want to listen again, here it is:

Thanksgiving Week: What Historians Think is Important About Thanksgiving

Starting on Sunday, I plan to post contributions from historians about they think is important for us to know about Thanksgiving. I have asked numerous historians to send something in and I am very happy with what I have received so far.
Watch for this daily series to begin on Sunday afternoon.
To read all posts in the series, click Thanksgiving 2014