Category: Mark Driscoll

Letter: The Legal Case Against Mars Hill Church

I have obtained a letter from attorney Brian Fahling to Karen Cobb, attorney for Mars Hill Church. Fahling represents several plaintiffs who allege various offenses, some of which are public claims covered by federal racketeering statutes. The letter, dated December 24, specifies the legal case against Mars Hill. The plaintiffs would like to mediate but Mars Hill Church leaders (not sure who all that includes right now) have not agreed, according to the letter.
Letter to Mars Hill Fahling 12 24 14
For this post, I am simply going to post a link to the letter and then add commentary afterwards as I am able.  I will note that there is Global Fund time line in this letter that is intriguing and that I am going to spend some time reviewing. A legal fund to support mediation or a lawsuit has been established.
For Fahling’s letter, click this link.

Have $100,000? You Could Own TheResurgence.com

It is for sale. Asking price $100k.
The following is from an email sent to prospective buyers from a law firm in Texas.

You are being contacted because it is my understanding you have inquired about purchasing select assets related to the resurgence.com website and domain name.  We appreciate your expression of interest and are reaching out to interested parties and soliciting offers for this website content, technology, accounts, etc.
The asking price is $100,000 and the Resurgence content will be sold to the best offer subject to an undisclosed reserve.  Your offer may be more or less than the asking price.
  • We will be taking offers until 1/05/2015
  • We will choose an offer on or before 01/15/2015
  • Please direct any questions and offers to me, Steven Goodspeed
Here is what you can have for $100k:

Included is:

 

Mark Driscoll Launches New Official Website

Looking just like the Mars Hill Church website, Mark Driscoll has launched MarkDriscoll.org.
Incorporated in Texas, the bio begins:

Pastor Mark Driscoll is a Jesus-following, mission-leading, church-serving, people-loving, Bible-preaching pastor. In 2010, Preaching magazine named him one of the 25 most influential pastors of the past 25 years. He’s grateful to be a nobody trying to tell everybody about Somebody.
Pastor Mark is the author of many books, has written for CNN, Fox News, and The Washington Post, and has been featured as a columnist for The Seattle Times.

I suspect the first line will really inflame the Mars Hill in exile folks. The more complete picture includes a church-leaving, elders’-avoiding ex-pastor. I know anyone can take the title pastor but one often thinks of it in relationship to the pastor of a church.
This line is ironic since Driscoll was removed from the network earlier this year:

He is the co-founder of the Acts 29 Network, which has planted over 400 churches in the US and 13 other nations.

Then there is this line:

With a skillful mix of bold presentation, accessible teaching, and unrelenting compassion for those who are hurting the most—particularly women who are victims of sexual and physical abuse and assault—Pastor Mark has taken biblical Christianity into cultural corners rarely explored by evangelicals.

I’ll let readers react to that one.
Pretty amazing really to start the make-over so quickly.
Reminds me of the ServPro commercials; like it never even happened:
[youtube]http://youtu.be/BghyifwhQ4c[/youtube]
An interesting about the website: it is registered to Mars Hill Fellowship (go here and look up the domain name).

Domain Name:MARKDRISCOLL.ORG
Domain ID: D104853693-LROR
Creation Date: 2004-09-07T15:38:06Z
Updated Date: 2014-12-10T02:19:44Z
Registry Expiry Date: 2015-09-07T15:38:06Z
Sponsoring Registrar:eNom, Inc. (R39-LROR)
Sponsoring Registrar IANA ID: 48
WHOIS Server: 
Referral URL: 
Domain Status: clientTransferProhibited
Registrant ID:24938753-NSI
Registrant Name:Mars Hill Fellowship Seattle
Registrant Organization:Mars Hill Fellowship Seattle
Registrant Street: 7758 Earl Ave NW
Registrant City:Seattle
Registrant State/Province:WA
Registrant Postal Code:98117
Registrant Country:US
Registrant Phone:+1.2067066641
Registrant Phone Ext: 
Registrant Fax: 
Registrant Fax Ext: 
Registrant Email:[email protected]

The domain was created in 2004 but renewed this month. The email contact uses a domain name not now used by Mars Hill Church. According to Wenatchee the Hatchet, Mars Hill Fellowship may be separate from Mars Hill Church. I don’t understand the legal issues here, but this information makes me wonder if Mark Driscoll might make a come back as pastor of a Mars Hill Fellowship.
This information also increases the pressure on the church to explain how they are stewarding their present resources. They just spend thousands to investigate Driscoll and found that he should step down and enter a restoration program. Now he shows up with an asset registered to what looks like was the forerunner of the church. Dud they hand over the domain to him? Mars Hill Church is still listed as the contact.
On the site, Driscoll asks for “tax-deductible” gifts which apparently go to something called Learning for Living, described as “an application-pending registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. All donations are tax deductible in full or in part.” Nothing by that name comes up in a search of charities in Washington state.
I suspect this news adds new urgency to the recent challenge by former elder Jon Krombein to release the Driscoll investigation results.
Click here to read the incorporation paper. The attorney is Anthony and Middlebrook, who represented them in their fuss with Santa Ana, CA when the church refused to obey the city’s zoning laws.
 

Only Two Weeks Until the End, Mars Hill Church Still Wants Donations

Even though Mars Hill Church dissolves at the end of the year, someone in charge of the website is still seeking donations. It isn’t clear just who is making decisions. Is it Dave Bruskas? He is telling Albuquerque that the new church will be marked by transparency. However, since nobody signed this communication, it is not clear who is asking for money.
The initial paragraph doesn’t seem reasonable. No explanation is given for why giving to Mars Hill and having that donation split eleven ways is going to help the local churches more than a direct donation to that local church. If they can’t raise the necessary funds on their own now, then how will they ever do it?
I have heard no explanation for this; readers, have you?

Thank you for continuing to faithfully serve and give to your church. As we close out the year and say good-bye to Mars Hill, your gifts continue to be very important as they will determine how much will be distributed to help fund the eleven independent churches launching in January. Without generous people like you continuing to give through the end of the year, many of these churches may not have the necessary funds to continue as new churches.

We wanted to provide the following information for our donors and supporters, to keep you informed as you prepare to make your final year-end gifts to Mars Hill Church.

Giving at Local Churches – Each of our local churches will continue to accept gifts made during Sunday services through December 28th, 2014. Should you desire to give this way, simply drop your gift in a giving basket or GIVE box after service.

Gifts via Mail – If you’d like to mail in your final gifts to Mars Hill Church, please make sure they are postmarked by December 31st, 2014 and sent to the following address:

Mars Hill Church
c/o Giving
1401 NW Leary Way
Seattle, Washington 98107

Feel free to use a GIVE envelope which are available at all Mars Hill Church locations to send your gift in postage free.

One Time Gifts via ACH or Debit/Credit Card – Donors may give online at marshill.com/give via debit card, credit card or ACH up until 9:00 PM PDT on December 31st, 2014.

Recurring Gifts via ACH or Debit/Credit Card – Recurring gifts setup online at marshill.com/give are drafted on the 5th and 20th of each month. If you have setup a recurring gift, we will automatically stop your gift after the final scheduled gift on Monday, December 22nd (next business day after the 20th) has cleared.

If you wish to stop your recurring gift manually, you may do so at anytime by sigining in at marshill.com/give with your Mars Hill account.

Text to Give – Donors will be able to text gifts to Mars Hill Church up until 9:00 PM PDT on December 31st, 2014. Simply text “Mars Hill” and the amount to 45777.

Stock Gifts – Mars Hill Church will continue to accept gifts of publicly traded securities or bonds through December 31st, 2014. Please contactgiving@ marshill.com if you need broker information.

DONOR STATEMENTS & UPDATED CONTACT INFO

In July 2014, Mars Hill Church sent mid-year statements to our donors to the address we had on file. Year-end donor statements will be mailed out on or around January 20th, 2015 to assist with your tax return preparation. In order to ensure your statement is received, please check your mailing address by completing one of the two options:

  • Log into the Give page and check to see if your giving account is linked (Once logged in, you should be able to see your giving history on the “View giving history” tab. If your account is linked, you can update your address under your account settings.)

  • Contact [email protected] or call our giving line at 206.816.3649. Please include your donor and family number from your mid-year statement and include your complete mailing address. We’d also appreciate your updated phone number and email address should we need to get a hold of you.

THANK YOU!

Thank you again for your generosity and faithfulness in helping us finish well. We wish you and your family a wonderful Christmas and blessings in the new year.

Should you have any questions about giving, please contact [email protected] which will remain active at least through April 2015.

 

Mars Hill Church Executive Elder Dave Bruskas on the Future of Mars Hill Albuquerque, Bible Teaching and Communication

This is the next several minutes of Dave Bruskas’ talk to the members’ meeting at Mars Hill Albuquerque (soon to be North Church). In this clip, Bruskas reminisces about opening the church building as a Mars Hill replant, and then describes his hope for the church going forward.
In doing so, he makes some hard-to-miss references to problems at Mars Hill. First he says one sermon per week and a discussion of that sermon (I assume he meant in community groups) isn’t enough. I always thought Mars Hill had lots of content online and elsewhere, but Bruskas wants to provide more. Also, he is going to improve communication and governance. The church will be elder led (in contrast to Mars Hill) and there will be better communication. He lamented that the pastors, including himself, often learned about the church online (you’re welcome).
Listen in (mostly audio with some quotes pulled out, be patient, they will come).

While this all sounds like an improvement, I still want to learn why it took the scandals and revelations of the last year to bring these changes about. I would like to hear more about why Rev. Bruskas did not activate these changes while the #2 man at Mars Hill Church. Perhaps, he feared for his job, but it would be good to know if he felt the same thing the other elders did who put their jobs and ministries on the line to make the changes now evident.