Book Review: Mark Driscoll’s Spirit-Filled Jesus

In this guest post, freelance writer Becky Garrison reviews Mark Driscoll’s new book Spirit-Filled Jesus with a focus on what is missing from the book.

The Revisionist Rebranding of Mark Driscoll from Calvinist to Charismatic

By Becky Garrison

Mark Driscoll’s latest book Spirit-Filled Jesus: Live by His Power slated to release on October 2, 2018 represents his first major public offering since he resigned from Mars Hill Church (MHC) in October 2014 amid allegations of plagiarism, financial mismanagement, and abuse. Backed by the PR muscle of A. Larry Ross Communications, who represents such Christian powerhouses like the Billy Graham Legacy, Saddleback & Rick Warren, and The Family aka Fellowship), Driscoll appears poised to rebrand himself from “young, restless and reformed” to older, wiser and spirit-filled.

One could see signs of Driscoll’s move from Calvinist to Charismatic when he appeared with Robert Morris of Gateway Church on DayStar TV the same month he left MHC. However, by publishing with Charisma House, Driscoll’s transformation into a spirit-filled pastor appears to be complete.

Throughout this breezy book, Driscoll offers simplistic step-by-step instructions for how one can live a spirit-filled life by following Jesus’ teachings. Those well versed with charismatic teachings might find this book of interest as Driscoll mentions Jesus with far greater frequency than most charismatic authors, who tend to focus on the Holy Spirit. However, those well versed in the Mars Hill saga will find his whitewashing of his past telling.

For example, his bios on both his website and the Spirit Filled Jesus website make no mention of his role in founding and pastoring MHC. Nor does Driscoll reference his connections with Antioch Church or the Young Leaders Network, two entities that played a seminal role in Driscoll’s formation as a pastor. (On a side note, Brad Sargent aka Futurist Guy offers this timeline of the US emergent church. A review of this timeline along with Wenatchee the Hatchet’s detailed history of MHC point to the similarities in both entities in terms of their histories of abuse.)

Throughout the book, he makes vague allusions to his pastoral endeavors prior to establishing Trinity Church in Scottsdale, AZ without mentioning Mars Hill Church by name.

When describing his departure from Seattle, he states, “We moved to Arizona for a hard reset of life and ministry after years of feeling like a crash test dummy in a car with no airbags. After about two decades in ministry, I took some time off to heal up before entering the next season of God’s will for our life. For some months, we had church in our home on Sunday mornings before we relocated for safety reasons.” (pp. 31-32)

Later in this book, Driscoll describes how he healed from this unnamed ordeal. “After roughly two decades of teaching, I took a break for healing and learning during the most difficult season of my life for my family and me.” (p. 162) He alludes to this difficult season again with tears as the family gathered for Sunday church in their living room. (p. 185) One familiar with MHC’s history could presume Driscoll is describing the period after he resigned and before he moved to Arizona. But once again, he remains fuzzy on the details.

Then as he proclaims how his church plant in Arizona would be a “family ministry,” he makes this observation. “The first church my wife Grace and I planted, we were just twenty-five years of age with no children.” (p. 32)

While discussing his 2009 preaching services on Luke (available online at the Mars Hill Church website), he does not mention the specifics of where his preaching took place. “It took me roughly two years to preach that book to an audience comprised largely of college-educated singles who attended late night services because they had a hard time getting up by the crack of dinner.” (p. xi)

He later references pastoring a church prior to Trinity Chruch without delving into specifics. (p. 154) In fact, a reader unfamiliar with Driscol’s past would only know he has visited Seattle when Driscoll noted, “We were traveling from Seattle to Orlando” (p. 60). No mention anywhere in this book of his years living and pastoring in this city and the surrounding environs even though as Wenatchee the Hatchet documented most of the Mars Hill Church campuses have survived albeit under new names.

Continuing his revisionist retelling of his over two decades of ministry, Driscoll fails to acknowledge any of the carnage left behind after he departed MHC. Case in point, his chapters “Forgiven People Should Forgive People” and “Seven Reasons to Forgive” make no mention of the Facebook page established by MHC parishioners to air their grievances after Driscoll claimed he could not reconcile with those wronged by MHC because he could not address what he termed anonymous complaints. So one wonders about the validity of his forgiveness challenge designed as part of the book promotional campaign given that Driscoll appears unwilling to practice what he preaches.

Furthermore, given past revelations Driscoll plagiarized sections of Real Marriage and other works, one would think he would be more judicious in citing his sources in this book. His Jesus-filled index is quite sparse with one chapter ironically titled “Facing Foolish and Evil People With the Spirit’s Wisdom” having no citations at all. So just who came up with the “Six Kinds of Relationships” involving wise, evil, and foolish people described in detail in this chapter? Was Driscoll inspired by the Holy Spirit to pen these concepts? After all, he’s now playing in the Charismatic stream where personal revelation trumps traditional scholarship.

Given Les Parrott endorsed his book, I presume he does not object to having his work used by Driscoll without proper citations. However, since Parrott also lives in Seattle, I wonder why he would endorse a book that omits any reference to Driscoll’s controversial Seattle past. While Les Parrott and his wife Leslie are not connected directly to MHC, they co-author a range of relationship books that are represented by Sealy Yates, who was also Driscoll’s agent prior to the Real Marriage fallout. And like Driscoll, the Parrotts utilized Result Source to guarantee their book would chart on the New York Times bestseller list.

Most of Driscoll’s other 24 endorsements appear to be minor players in the Charismatic church scene. However, I am struck by the inclusion of Eric Metaxas, a Fox News pundit and one of the earliest and most stalwart Trump supporters, as Driscoll has never veered into faith based political debates.

I ran down this list of endorsers with Wenatchee the Hatchet to ascertain those individuals who had connections to Driscoll during his Mars Hill days. Here’s his assessment.

  • Larry Osborne was credited by Driscoll with advising him in a way that catalyzed the notorious 2006-2007 reorganization of MHC.
  • James MacDonald is a BoAA member and Executive Elder who helped Driscoll crash John MacArthur’s anti-charismatic Strange Fire conference.*
  • Craig Groeschel was another guy Driscoll name-dropped as someone he consulted with for the 2006-2007 reorganization of MHC.
  • Greg Laurie was a speaker at Resurgence 2013, and a client of A. Larry Ross.
  • Gerry Breshears was Driscoll’s advisor at Western Seminary and co-author of a few of his books, most notably Doctrine and Death By Love.

In a blog posting addressing the rise and fall of MHC, Breshears writes about those in MHC leadership repenting of their past actions as they replant many of the former MHC churches. So why would he then endorse a book by Driscoll who obliterates Mars Hill’s history with no sign of Driscoll repenting of his actions to date? Furthermore, why did four other individuals who had connections to Driscoll during his MHC days decided to endorse this book, thus participating in Driscoll’s rebranding efforts?

While the teachings of Jesus feature prominently throughout this book, upon further examine, suffice to say this book appears to be full of something other than Jesus.

(Note: The quotes from Spirit-Filled Jesus are from an uncorrected proof, not final copy.)

Becky Garrison is a freelance storyteller/satirist currently based in Portland, OR. Follow her travels via twitter and Instagram @Becky_Garrison

 

*Editor’s note: An earlier version of this review said James MacDonald might have had a “gambling habit” and racked up real estate debt for his church. Although there wasn’t an intention to link the two ideas, at least one reader did so and others may have.  To avoid confusion, I decided to remove this sentence. There was no intent to suggest that any poker playing led to church debt. 

On the point of MacDonald’s gambling, there is a credible report that MacDonald gambled with Jerry Jenkins in the past, but there is no intent in this article or evidence presented that he does now.  Wenatchie the Hatchet added a postscript to a recent article which also addresses this issue.

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140 thoughts on “Book Review: Mark Driscoll’s Spirit-Filled Jesus”

  1. Paul would suggest testing the spirit by it’s fruit. It should be pretty obvious that Driscoll isn’t operating by the Spirit of God based on Driscoll’s fleeing repentance and whitewashing his history.

    It would be funny if it wasn’t so sad how the religious leaders who still endorse Driscoll are endangering their own brands. Do they have no consideration for self-preservation? I suspect they believe they have authoritarian control over their followers and trust their followers to not ask questions or doubt their leaders’ wisdom and holiness.

  2. It seems Liberal Christians love keeping a conservative Christian down. No one can cite any evidence that he his behaviour has ruined peoples families and ruined peoples faith.

    1. I don’t know whether I qualify as a “liberal Christian”. But I honestly do love to see a huckster, plagiarist, misogynist and bully being shown for what he is. Especially when he still hasn’t learned to be honest with people who are giving him their money.

  3. “So just who came up with the ‘Six Kinds of Relationships’ involving wise, evil, and foolish people described in detail in this chapter?”

    I haven’t read Driskoll’s book (and don’t intend to), but the three classifications of people above remind me a lot of Dan Allender’s Bold Love. If anyone is doing a close read looking for plagiarism, you might start there?

    1. Actually Driscoll mentions Henry Cloud’s book in the chapter as inspiring him though it’s not listed in the citations. So it’s unclear how much is inspiration versus copying. The index is pretty thin overall.

  4. “James MacDonald is a BoAA member and Executive Elder who helped Driscoll crash John MacArthur’s anti-charismatic Strange Fire conference. Also, the Elephant’s Debt website outlined a case that he had a gambling habit and racked up a huge real estate debt for Harvest Bible Church.”

    It was never even suggested that James MacDonald had a “gambling habit”, only that he played recreational poker (frowned upon in many evangelical circles, obviously) and that he tweeted a public photo of himself from a casino with a famous player on his own Twitter account. When he was corrected by the elders, he promised to no longer frequent casinos and got rid of his basement poker table. Mentioning this in conjunction with the real estate debt perhaps suggests that these two things are related, which they are not. Harvest Bible Chapel was gifted two properties (a mammoth campus in Elgin, IL and a large, historic cathedral in Chicago), which placed gigantic demands to scale the church inside and out very quickly. The church tried to save money by acting as their own contractor and nearly bankrupted the church when there was a problem with the steel. This caused huge cost overruns, which were alluded to but never made plainly public, obviously a wrong/poor decision. The Elephant Debt website was more than happy to make the debt portion more widely known to the congregation, but did not mention that once the construction disaster was over, the level of debt was easily serviceable and utterly dwarfed on the balance sheet by the value of the properties. Is having a $100,000 mortgage on a $500,000 house a “huge real estate debt”?

    This is the one circumstance where I have some first-hand knowledge of the particulars, but if it is indicative of the care exercised in the rest of the piece, do your own research.

    1. Again, for the endorsements, I asked Wenatchee the Hatchet for his assessment re their connections to Driscoll and posted what he told me. I would ask why he chose to endorse this book.

      1. Then go ahead and ask MacDonald why he endorsed the book, and check your sources. Please don’t just pass along half-baked gossip as if you have zero responsibility to verify what you are publishing.

        1. I am looking into this with sources who also have first hand knowledge of the situation. We may edit the piece in the mean time because I don’t want any questions about this issue to detract from the rest of the review.

  5. I see the spirit of forgiveness has disappeared for the Christians who have repented.

    I do not always agree with Discroll but at least he practices a masculine faith and not weak mans Christianity.

    How dare a sinner do anything now…

    1. This has nothing to do with forgiveness (or any lack thereof). It is simply acknowledging the (un-repented) toxic behaviour of a man who did a great deal of damage to others, boasted about it, and then ran away when it was suggested he be held accountable for it. His deceit in whitewashing his past makes it clear that he has not changed, and that he still cannot be trusted. If that’s an example “masculine” faith, I’d hate to see a “weak man’s” christianity in action.

        1. Then you are not using the scriptures as your reference for what repenting means. You are also not dealing with any of the New Testament scriptures dealing with rich men, either. Zacchaeus showed actual repentance if he followed through on his promise to Jesus to repay all those he had cheated. Doing that likely bankrupted him. Jesus plainly states that we cannot serve both God and Money. Mammon is the God of this world. Jesus gives us a litmus test when He states that we have to choose one to hate and despise. If we choose not to hate and despise Money then, by Jesus’ logic, we have chosen to despise the Real Jesus. Greedy leaders like Mark here make who they hate and despise obvious. No one needs the kind of money Mark made sure he gave himself. Repentance would be for him to give his wealth back to the donors he cheated originally. Until he does that there is no biblical repentance. He has also never apologized personally to the many he ran over with his bus either…

          1. I see no evidence of him not repenting

            You are attacking him for making money. I am sure there are richer people you can attack for earning money

          2. As there is plenty of evidence that he is unrepentant – some of which has been offered above – I would respectfully suggest the problem actually lies in your refusal to see. They do say there are none so blind as those who will not see.

          8. Exactly. The fact that men claim to be Godly leaders while claiming to serve both God and Mammon means that they make Jesus into a liar! All men who do not choose to despise money will end up serving it and hating Jesus Christ. I keep running into people like you who say basically “who cares what Jesus said?” Really? Jesus called it “unrighteous Mammon” and said that no one who did not handle it properly would get the greater gifts only God can give. You cannot use Jesus in order to claim men like this who tried to make a million each year between salary, benefits, book deals and speaking fees elsewhere have any true Godly authority. Those that serve money hate Jesus according to Jesus. This is not popular in a country because many want to serve both.

          10. Good afternoon Widuran,
            What evidence do have that he has repented. Actions count – Statements do not.

            I think Mr. Jesperson (and myself) are more concern on how his is making is money.

            At least part of the book covers the MH time of his life: Remember this is the Pastor that boastfully talked about tossing people under the bus. He seemed to think he was persecuted when it happened to him. He was part of an Executive team that drove the MH church to failure by not doing the job they paid themselves well to do. None of the financial & personnel problems would ever have gotten so out of hand if they did their job. People sacrificed to give extra to help church planting outside of the US. By Mr. Turners account it seems less that 10% of the funds were used for what the donators expected.

            Big Stuff – Would you choose a professional (dr,lawyer,..) if they had big professional failures and ‘glossed over’ it in a book that addressed that time in there life?

            CJ.

        2. When you are repentant, you aren’t deceptive. I find it odd in his book he goes out of his way to where he goes out avoid mentioning the huge, multicampus church he founded & pastored for decades.

          To me, repentant people are honest about the specific circumstances surrounding a downfall & they explicitly take responsibility for and “own” whatever they did.

          Widuran, to me, that is very manly AND adult behavior. To me there is nothing sexier than a man who takes responsibility for himself.

          1. We do not know if you are correct about him or if he really has repented. He may have taken responsibility

            We do not know

          2. I believe if you read the article it would be pretty clear that he hasn’t taken responsibility. Or read anything about his leaving MHC.

        3. Good evening Widuran,

          I don’t like the debates here on what is an internal state between and individual and his creator. I also despise the ‘Christian get out of hell card for free’ excuse by mumbling a few public words that have no actions to back them up.

          I go very heavily on the ‘By their fruits you will know them’. I feel that if Mr. Discroll had truly learned from his MH experience and had the grace he is promoting, he would be humbling sharing the details on how he met his former parishioners and answered their questions and worked to rebuild their trust. Walk the walk.

          Please do not use the excuse that acting like a foul mouth a(*&^% is anything but acting like a foul mouth a(*&^%. It is not manly. I am very conservative in that I view the manners and behavior (especially under adversity) is much more mature, admirable and manly that acting like a 14 year old.

          Read your history about the early Christians and how the Romans were impressed by them. They freely admitted that this slave’s religion gave them better fortitude, morals and dignity than what the Roman’s had.

          Best regards,
          CJ

          1. I can understand your point but do all such reconciliation need to be made public? I do not agree this is for every case especially in a church setting

            You are confused by the term manly. I am a man but not an nfl football player but there are attributes to being a man. A leader. Provider. Brave in the faith and will to speak out against injustice and sin and speak for the true church etc. This is missing since more female leaders have taken over and this has made the church weak and feminine appeasing sin for “love”. This and being away from Gods word is why the mainstream church is dying

          2. Good morning Widuran,
            Mr. Discroll made the decision to be a public very person/leader with a lot of public exposer. His mistakes in that area are part of a book his is selling for profit. That book talks about living a life of Grace. I haven’t heard that he met with anyone in a meaningful way public or private.

            Do you speak out at men harassing women as they walk by? Do you speak up at your church about the 80+% of Christian men who view porn? Are you ok with Christains running off to the court house to desolve their marriage? Don’t ever accept that the vast majority (meaning well over 51%) of divorces have a biblical foundation.
            Do you speak out against all the ‘have to’ excuses that people use to skip church?

            The reason for the decline in Christianity is the worship of Money & Sucess. Examples: Enron – I did not hear that one person who should have known better ever resign before things crashed. (There is a huge difference between being able to charge a person with a crime and them knowing better.) Why – Money. It certainly wasn’t any Christain belief that kept them there.
            Baylor Football Scandle(s): You would have thought a coach at a Christian school would have set the bar high enough so no bad behavior or sexual assaults would be tolerated.

            Best regards,
            CJ

          4. I can understand your point but do all such reconciliation need to be made public? I do not agree this is for every case especially in a church setting

            You are correct that Driscoll does not need to publicly repent. That is between him and God. But it is perfectly reasonable for those of us in public to assume he has not as we have no evidence of such and we can see he has done nothing to help repair the damage he has caused. That is between Driscoll and Man.

            Each has their own results. I am not privy to the relationship Driscoll has with God and I make no judgements on it. I am privy to the relationship Driscoll has with his fellow man, and I absolutely have the right to make judgement on that. Until Mark Driscoll makes things right with the people he has harmed, he has not repented in my eyes and gets no pass on past behavior. I am not, however, making any statement on whether or not he has repented with God, that is between him and God and has no bearing on my feelings about or reaction to him.

          5. You have no idea if he was not made think right also not all who say we are harmed have really been harmed

          6. You have no idea if he was not made think right also not all who say we are harmed have really been harmed

            Whether or not all who say they were harmed is besides the point. Some certainly were. Including family members of mine and a couple personal friends. And I got to see the results of that harm firsthand. Driscoll has never even made an attempt to make it right with any of them, and has ignored all attempts to reach out in any spirit to even discuss it.

            I absolutely have the right to judge him for that.

          7. You certainly can with your family and I am sorry to hear this. I have no idea if the circumstances but assuming his behaviour was sinful then he should apologise so I understand your right to judge but as i said assuming he was the one in sin and not your family

          8. It absolutely was sinful per his own teachings (not that Driscoll is the arbiter of what is and is not sin). And the damage is far reaching, one marriage heavily damaged and years later still not recovered. In two other cases the result was complete loss of faith in God. In another, a stable life that spun out of control resulting in years of self destructive behavior.

            The stories put forth by others matched the ones of people I directly knew which leads me to believe most if not all of the claims are true. Do not underestimate the destructive effects on family, faith and self of an abusive minister. We are seeing this in the Catholic revelations (which go way beyond child sex abuse btw although it gets less press), and when this behavior damages people and arguably more importantly destroys their faith it is fair to ask whether those leaders are really agents of God, or perhaps doing the work of another.

            And as I said, Driscoll has actively refused to engage, explain, apologize or show remorse in any fashion. Not only publicly, but privately with people he is aware of harming both directly and indirectly who have never asked him to make any public statement.

          9. Are you says discroll has done something worse then child sex abuse ? What kind of things are we talking about? I do not need major details but what kind of things? These are serious allegations if they are true?

          10. That is not what I said at all. But I would think it would be a very serious thing for a Christian to hear that a minister wrecked the faith in God of multiple people.

          11. What is his crimes? All I know is the church politics struggles about building programs etc and swearing at staff

            I see nothing else. Is there anything else or is it he just behaves like a city banker?

          13. I cannot see how his abuse of money ruined people’s marriages and faith which are serious claims

            The church leaders were weak and this brings disillusionment but people generally move churches. I see nothing else

          14. Are you trying to be obtuse? You asked about legal actions and referenced banking. I suggested you look up to the financial side of the MHC situation since that directly involves what you referenced.

            The other claims, which I have friends and family who have directly witnessed or been victims of it, are well documented here and elsewhere such as on Wenachee the Hatchet’s blog. I told you the actual consequences of those well documented actions and behaviors based on the fact that I personally am close to several victims.

            What is left for you to dispute? You started this by saying not all the victims were victims and that Driscoll didn’t need to publicly atone for his abuse and I addressed that point as well.

            Are there any remaining questions on your part?

          15. Reflex, this type of behaviour is a common tactic of abusers and their enablers. The constant questioning is not for the purpose of actually learning the truth, but is simply a way of messing with your head, and getting you to doubt yourself. It’s called gas lighting.

          17. Indeed. Far too many U.S. Evangelicals have earned themselves reputations as either Abusers or Abuse Enablers. That’s why Dr. Throckmorton’s consistent and reliable coverage (and Reflex’s logical, fact-based assertions in this thread) have even greater urgency and importance.

          19. I agree with Living Liminal on this, don’t waste any more time. You are just being toyed with.

          20. I see no evidence whatsover of Marks behaviour ruining peoples faith and family lives.

            It seems he is a bully who bullied staff and also bullied trustees to approve projects with no financial control. These are serious allegations but this is nothing to do with ruining peoples familieis and faith. I have looked for this evidence and this blog and found nothing to suggest peoples families and faith were ruined by Mr Discroll.

          21. There are a lot of things I don’t directly see in life either. Fortunately I am able to speak with those who have more experience. I certainly don’t dismiss others who have directly experienced the situations in question.

          22. There is no evidence of the allegations of ruined families and people being turned off Christianity

          23. I suppose when someone closes their eyes and ears there is no evidence of existence itself. Witnesses are all lying, amirite?

          25. Well, that settles it, since an anonymous commenter doesn’t see it, it didn’t happen.

          27. I see no evidence how the financial mismangement (Which is serious) or ruins peoples families and faith.

            Where is this evidence?

          28. I have to admit I still cannot say he is in the wrong with regards to your family without knowing his sin. Hence my earlier comment

          29. Given his refusal to make public or private acknowledgements, apologies or confessions, that seems to be a shield where he can never be ‘judged’ since he never chooses to admit to anything. In that world, no leader can ever be held to account for anything. It’s always the victims words vs his refusal to acknowledge, regardless of just how many victims there were.

            Quite the accountability shield there. Amazing to me how few evangelicals are willing to defend the Catholic church in the same way. So long as they don’t admit it publicly, who are we to assume they really were raping children right? They can just go confess privately to God and we are unable to hold them to account…

          30. Actually all churches are being attacked in this way not just Catholics these days

            We have no idea if he has refused to make private acknowledgments

          31. 1) Is it an ‘attack’ when it is true?
            2) Yes we do know he has refused. I just told you that I personally am aware of specific situations where he refused. It is a fact that he won’t engage with the people he has harmed, both in public and private.

          32. Actually, I do. I have contacted about 35 of the former elders of Mars Hill Church and none of them said Driscoll has contacted them to make any kind of amends and this includes the ones who reached out to him first.

          33. What kind of things did he do? I know about the church politics regarding building programs etc is this what you mean?

          34. Apologies if I asked but what are his crimes? Or is it just that he swore at staff and was bullying trustees for his building programs ie acting like a city banker?

          35. Actually all churches are being attacked in this way not just Catholics these days

            And from what I’ve read, most of them deserve it. Too many churches and their leaders have been caught harbouring criminals, perpetrating fraud on their congregants, and trampling on the rights of the most vulnerable. It’s about time that Christendom in America got a little taste of earthly justice. It’s loooooooong overdue.

          37. Do you find something wrong with earthly justice? There are numerous congregations, pastors and elders who’ve been acting as though they consider themselves above the laws of the land. It’s about time that they learn otherwise.

          39. Who is to say that isn’t the form in which God’s correction has been manifest? What better way to humble a Church that has lost its way and won’t listen.

          40. This kind of willful blindness is what enables MD. You should consider your own part in the harm you seem to doubt so much.

          41. What particular harm has he caused apart from swearing and allegedly bullying his staff? I assume this is it.

          42. Swearing? You really think all this is over something like swearing? I’ll leave this to someone with more motivation to rehash with you that which has been discussed at such length already, should they so desire. I suspect you will always find a way to preserve your view of MD, no matter what. I prefer not to beat my head against this particular brick wall any longer.

          44. You are confused by the term manly. I am a man but not an nfl football player but there are attributes to being a man. A leader. Provider. Brave in the faith and will to speak out against injustice and sin and speak for the true church etc.

            You are missing a huge one here that explains a lot about your responses: Owning up to their own mistakes and making it right with those they have wronged. That is also a traditionally ‘manly’ role.

            This is missing since more female leaders have taken over and this has made the church weak and feminine appeasing sin for “love”. This and being away from Gods word is why the mainstream church is dying.

            Unclear where you are getting this impression or why you are tying it to female leaders.

          45. I agree we must own up to mistakes but it does not mean it always has to be public

            Female preaching to men is against Gods word. It is sin and is one reason for the dying mainstream church

          46. I agree we must own up to mistakes but it does not mean it always has to be public

            Why would it not have to be public? Owning up to mistakes in the privacy of your own mind is not owning up at all. Keep in mind, this is not the same thing as repenting to God, this is simply owning up to your mistakes. If you aren’t willing to own up to them at least to those you harmed then no, you are not owning up to them at all.

            Your second sentence is your opinion. Others disagree and I’m not going to derail this discussion by diving into it.

          4. The sin and disgrace were public. The repentance and fruits of the subsequent change need to be as well, particularly if he wishes to be trusted with the same responsibilities again. Unfortunately, the very things you seem to admire most about him represent his greatest weakness. He feeds the same in others through his cult of personality.

            Driscoll absolutely needs to repent in a public and transparent way. You yourself have agreed that there is no evidence that he has done so.

          5. The sin and disgrace were public. The repentance and fruits of the subsequent change need to be as well, particularly if he wishes to be trusted with the same responsibilities again. Unfortunately, the very things you seem to admire most about him represent his greatest weakness. He feeds the same in others through his cult of personality.

            Driscoll absolutely needs to repent in a public and transparent way. You yourself have agreed that there is no evidence that he has done so.

          6. Sin and repentance does not need to be public. Is there a biblical mandate for public repentance?

          7. He ordered Paul Petry and Bent Meyer (two of his elders at the time) to be shunned, along with their families. Their only “sin” was to stand up to him and oppose his efforts to change Mars Hill Church’s bylaws.

            That order was made in public by Driscoll and never rescinded. Those two families are owed a public apology.

    2. but at least he practices a masculine faith and not weak mans Christianity.

      There we go, that’s the tell.

          2. To be fair, of all the complaints I may have about LT, I don’t think he will be found to support Mark Driscoll. He would also give more detailed responses. Widuran seems more like one of the True Believers that dropped in when this issue was unfolding in years past. He’s not really having a discussion, he is toying around.

          3. I am having a discussion I am asking for evidence of Discroll ruining peoples families and turning people off Christ. So far there has been nothing.

  6. In this comment section, brad/futuristguy and Benny S. correctly call out Charisma House publishers. Serial abusers like Mark Driscoll need structures and environments that enable their abusive behavior.

    Thankful for Garrison and Throckmorton for speaking out, when so many, many U.S. Evangelicals remain silent, often knowingly enabling further abusive behavior from Mark Driscoll and his supporters. U.S. Evangelical Bullies and their Evangelical Enablers sure have earned their own reputations.

    1. The founder, CEO and publisher of Charisma media is Steve Strang. In the recent issue of Charisma magazine column Mr Strang reports “ Mark submitted to a lengthy process during which false accusations against him were cleared.” And that “ Mark is continuing to teach the Bible as a loving Pastor.”

      1. Wow. I wonder when Steve Strang will publish and comment in detail upon the “lengthy process” that “cleared” serial abuser Mark Driscoll. Sounds like Scientology.

        1. As a regular reader of Charisma since its inception i simply now view it as presently being in the vanguard of deception and a falling away apostasy from Jesus Christ Himself. Over the past 25 years there has been a gradual and very subtle degeneration away from a pure testimony of Jesus. ” My sheep hear My voice and a voice of a stranger they do not listen to. “

          1. Indeed. As I wrote above, serial abusers need structures and environments that enable their abusive behavior. Steve Strang and Charisma media are proud enablers of abuse.

            And there are so many abusers and enablers of abuse within hegemonic U.S. Evangelical culture. Trump has emboldened them, and in their rare moments of honesty, they should at least admit it. Sometimes they do.

          2. Agreed Bro, and it isn’t just happening here. As Christians, whoever and wherever we are, our sole walk and purpose is Christ Jesus IN us, continuing to go about IN us (through us) doing our Abba’s will. His will, is always about the Truth, the Word of God. What saith the Scriptures?! Nice to see you posting John. I hope all is well with you? {{hugs}} Sounds like you are still standing on God’s Word regarding who you are IN Christ Jesus or rather, Who HE is IN you, praise God. 🙂

  7. It’s been observed that those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it – so I would suggest that to deny and obfuscate your own history is a very dangerous sign. Given the appalling body count after the Mars Hill ‘bus’ came to a grinding standstill, I wonder how many will be found to be lodged underneath MD’s new ‘bus’.

    3. The transgender community have been seduced by Satan.

      I couldn’t find Satan in the research cited on the issue.

    4. Meh, have known several Christian individuals who happen to be transgender. Can’t find any biblical support for this assertion either.

          4. Why not. I’ve seen Satan – the girl does drag in Orlando, SNAP! Good show too, you should check it out. Definitely LGBT friendly.

          6. I don’t think she would take kindly to being referred to as “it.” I’ve seen her throw drinks across the stage for less. Maybe you better not see the show, just hang out in the lounge. Stereotypes are so fun, don’t you think? Come on, put on your best party frock and join me.

        2. …the link you gave seems to not actually understand the topic, and as a result its attempt to make the Bible cover a topic it explicitly states is not in the Bible just looks silly to anyone with even a small understanding.

  9. Can we critique Driscoll without resulting to slurs against the transgender community? Thanks. BGarrison

  10. Can we critique Driscoll without resulting to slurs against the transgender community? Thanks. BGarrison

  11. With so much unreconciled rubble still remaining from Mark Driscoll’s debacle of power abuse at Mars Hill, I believe we have no indicators of a genuinely Spirit-filled Driscoll. So, why would we trust he knows anything other than form about a Spirit-filled Jesus and how to “live by His power”? Terrible decision by Charisma House to publish this book and continue giving him a platform to snooker the saints.

    1. “Terrible decision by Charisma House to publish this book….”

      In my humble opinion, it’s more apt to be a ROUTINELY PREDICTABLE decision by Charisma House.

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