Former Mars Hill Elder Jon Krombein today released a public statement on his Facebook page:
Attention: Dave Bruskas, David Fairchild, Ed Choi, Tim Smith, Ryan Williams, Matthias Heusel, Aaron Gray, Bubba Jennings, AJ Hamilton, Matt Rogers, Jason Skelton, Scott Harris, and Seth Winterhalter
You all know more than you are saying about Mark Driscoll’s fitness for eldership, and the way that Mars Hill “cooked the books” with Result Source, MH Global, and Executive Elder pay. These things will not just disappear when Mars Hill ceases to be. Your culpability in all of them will hang over your future ministries and you’re new church “plants.”
You owe it to Jesus, the people who are continuing to trust your leadership, and the thousands who’ve left MH to come clean on everything. And if your honesty is to mean anything or carry any weight it needs to come before the end of the year. I have heard from a few of you that 1) you believe that because you weren’t in the room when decisions were being made, that you are not in any way responsible and that it is therefore not “your information” to share, and 2) that because some of you have decided to remain quiet, that you are all bound to silence together. Those are both lies, and I rebuke them.
You are the senior leaders. Your people trusted you to be informed, make decisions, and steward well. You may have not be in the room when decisions were made, but you knew the details before most and you certainly know the details now. You should have raised the flag as soon as you saw the problem. As well, there is no honor and fidelity between you that should be at a level greater than your fidelity to Jesus. To say that you won’t speak up because the others have decided not to is a cop-out. If you really think that you are fit to plant and lead a new church, your leadership starts now. Do the hard and correct thing by being honest now. If you don’t, the spectre will haunt the rest of your future ministry.
Whether or not it is true, there is much speculation that you are being silent because you fear that speaking up before 1/1/2015 could jeopardize your seed money or a building gift for your “new” church plant. If you do end up disclosing more after the first of the year, that will prove that you were acting in fear now. A man who is afraid to be honest out of fear for personal protection is man who should not be jumping in to lead a new church.
You don’t have to answer to me or anyone else on this earth, but you will have to answer to Jesus.
The challenge speaks for itself.