God Consults Gateway Church Pastor Robert Morris on Future of King's University

I have heard many things from megachurch pastors that made me do a double-take. The subject of this post ranks up near the top of the list. According to Apostolic elder Jack Hayford, God asked Morris if it would be all right for The King’s University to move to Gateway Church.  At Gateway’s First Conference going on now, Hayford made this claim. Watch:
[dailymotion]http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2dz0jn_full-story-hayford-calls-morris-4th-member-of-trinity[/dailymotion]
According to Hayford (who Morris had just compared to the Apostle Paul), Morris wanted Hayford to relate the story:

Three weeks ago I was with the Lord in my morning time with Him and He said ‘Robert, if Pastor Jack asks you to have Gateway be the host site for the King’s University, would that be all right with you? And Robert said to me, ‘And I said to the Lord, yes.’

Hayford then called attention to the incredible claim that God asked Morris if the move would be all right by saying God had never asked Hayford for permission. He then joked that Morris was the 4th person of the Trinity.
Do you suppose the Lord called Jack Hayford, Pastor Jack? I wonder if He had a back up plan in case Morris said no. Apparently, Gateway is such a big deal that even God addresses the Apostolic elders as “pastor” and asks permission.
 

Mars Hill Church's The City Still Online

Even though Mars Hill Church is no longer doing business, the church’s social media platform, The City, remains operation and is being used by at least of the new churches – Doxa Church in Bellevue.  I obtained a screen cap of this communication from Jeff Vanderstelt via emails sent as a notification that content was available on the website.
DoxaOnTheMHC City
The entire communication is below:

As we enter into a new year we are also entering into a new beginning as a church. This Sunday marks the beginning of our first official gathering together as Doxa Church. I am excited to lead us through our very first series entitled: Foundations – Building a New God Glorifying Church Together.

We will begin the New Year with two new gathering times starting this Sunday: 9am and 11am.

During our Foundations series we will walk through each of the building blocks for establishing a church that exists to see God glorified through all of us everyday and in every place. Each week we will address a key building block followed with opportunities for discussion in groups during the week around each topic. I will also give you Scripture to read to prepare you for the next week’s message. This Sunday I will address Doxa’s Vision.

If you would like to read ahead, take some time to read Ephesians 1 and 2 Corinthians 3-4.

At the end of this series each of us will have the opportunity to commit to be a member of our new church. In order to commit with integrity, you will need to hear each message. So, if you are not able to attend all of our gatherings for this series, please make sure you watch or listen to a recording.

During this time, we will do our best to keep you aware of all that is happening from week to week. While we are still establishing our new communication hub, we will continue using The City to communicate to one another. We hope to have a new system for communication in place by February.

Many of you have also asked how you can give to the new church. We are building avenues for online giving which should be available soon. Until then, we will have to go ‘old school’. Please plan on giving with a check or cash during one of our gathering times on Sunday.

As some of us processed through the messiness of new beginnings I reminded them – as I want to remind you – building a new church is messy. We are at the beginning of laying a new foundation. Not everything will be perfectly in place from day one. That’s OK. That’s what beginnings are like. If you’ve ever begun a new job, moved to a new house, got married or started a family, you know. New is messy. And yet together, we all get to create something new together. It’s the beginning of a new work and all of us get to shape the future together. I’m excited to witness with you what Jesus wants to bring about as he continues to build His church through us in this new season!

So, please come join us in the mess of building a new foundation with Jesus as our cornerstone.

May he be glorified in us, through us and throughout the Eastside!

While Doxa is a new name and there is a new pastor, the church also has several elders from Mars Hill, at least one of whom was and presumably still is on the Board of Advisors and Accountability (Matt Rogers). Rogers, who recently tweeted that he was grateful for every minute of something to do with Mars Hill (his time there or the last service, can’t tell), has never publicly addressed the conflicting statements of the BoAA. For that matter, none of the lead pastors have addressed the discrepancies between the lead pastor’s public statements about Mark Driscoll and those coming from the BoAA.

Last Sunday at Mars Hill Huntington Beach

Mars Hill Church at Huntington Beach, CA went out with a dramatic flair. Watch:
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/115578257[/vimeo]
MH Huntington Beach started as Mars Hill Orange County. The OC location was beset by problems from the beginning. Soon after the church signed a lease, the city of Santa Ana told the church that the zoning laws did not allow a church in the building. Despite requests from the OC pastors and fines from Santa Ana, the executive elders of Mars Hill declined to approve a move to another location. Eventually, Mark Driscoll floated a discrimination narrative (maybe Santa Ana is discriminating against a church), but after awhile moved to another location.
Understandably, since the video appears to be meant as a tribute, this part of the history is not described in the video.
 

Dude, Where's My Logo?

This is what happens when you host your logo with someone else.
DriscollMHCLogo
 
As we can see now (and probably not for long), at least one markdriscoll.org element was hosted by Mars Hill Church. Since that website and related assets went away, the Mars Hill assets will not show up anywhere else…including Mark Driscoll’s copy of the old MHC website.
 

Happy New Year 2015

Make sure you get some ham, cabbage and black-eyed peas for New Year’s Day.
I have some stories planned about familiar topics from 2014 with some changes coming sometime this year. For instance, I hope to begin a periodic review of new studies in the social sciences along with some guest articles from experts in other fields as well.
Hope to be part of the cure…
[youtube]http://youtu.be/d020hcWA_Wg[/youtube]