Category: Mars Hill Church

Mark Driscoll Wants You to Tune In This Sunday

Mark Driscoll’s last two appearances in church were stealth sermons. At Thrive, he spoke in a main session but wasn’t on the program. Gold Creek Community Church leaders would not disclose Driscoll’s identity as guest speaker in advance. However, he appears to want an audience tomorrow. From Driscoll’s website:

Pastor Mark Live-Streaming from James River Church

This Sunday, June 7th 2015, Pastor Mark will be preaching live at James River Church near Springfield, MO. He will be preaching the 9:00 and 10:45 services Central Time. These services will be streamed live on the James River online church site. Check the site for your local time live service.

This appearance at James River is anything but secret. Does this mean he’s now ready for prime time again? I suspect this is staging for the Hillsong conference and it may also mean there is something he wants people to know.

Hat tip to Wenatchee the Hatchet for pointing out that some enterprising person is offering a breakfast and movie theatre viewing of the free broadcast from James River. I guess for some, church just isn’t church without Pastor Mark.

Hillsong's Brian Houston On His Desire to Interview Mark Driscoll: Did He Really Say Those Things?

Not sure how long the statement has been there (update: apparently it was posted today) but it is dated June, 2015 and is revealing. Hillsong’s pastor Brian Houston reveals he doesn’t know Mark Driscoll very well but wants to ask him some questions in this high profile interview. Building on his earlier statement made to this blog, Houston said today:

Personal statement from Pastor Brian Houston – Re: Mark Driscoll
June 2015
Let me be clear about one thing. Mark Driscoll and I stand poles apart on women, their place in society, and their role in the Church.
Hillsong Church has a long history of involving women in every area of church life both on and off the platform, and my own wife Bobbie is my co-Senior Pastor.
I think our leadership styles and relationship with staff and key people have also been vastly different.
So why am I using our platform to interview Mark? We come from different backgrounds, theological positions, and church expressions. I genuinely want to know! Did he really say those things? Does he believe those things? Does he have any regrets? Has he been misrepresented? What has he learned and what can we all learn? And where to from here?
I have met Mark just twice. Before his very public resignation from Mars Hill Church, a mutual friend introduced us over a cup of coffee in Seattle. We talked about life, ministry, and his previous exposure to Australia. The second time, I was standing in line at Starbucks in California bleary eyed and jet lagged when another customer in the line said hi. It was Mark Driscoll and his daughter.
A lot has been said. There’s lessons to be learned. I’m looking forward to asking the questions and hearing from Mark directly. Will we agree afterwards or agree to disagree? Time will tell. I doubt we will agree on everything, but everyone deserves an opportunity to be heard.
Mark will not be speaking at the conference. It’s an open interview with Mark and his wife Grace. Let’s see what he has to say.
Blessings,
Brian

I think it is head scratcher that Brian Houston implies Mark Driscoll hasn’t had a chance to be heard. I wonder if Rev. Houston will then give the former Mars Hill folks some time and space to be heard.
The rationale is curious given the size and prominence of the conference in Australia. Most hosts do the exploration of these matters before a conference rather than live during it. Houston appears to be distancing himself from Driscoll even as he gives him an incredible platform to shape his comeback in the way he desires.
The statement may have been in response to this report on the Australian Broadcasting Network. Houston’s response to Driscoll’s views on gender appear to relate to this report.

Matt Chandler Expresses Remorse and Asks Forgiveness in Sunday Sermon

ChandlerScreenCapToday, amid the storm of controversy over the church’s handling of Jordan Root and Karen Hinkley, Matt Chandler expressed remorse over the church elders’ general approach to church discipline. I wrote about this matter in a prior post.
Video of the sermon is on the church website and Vimeo below.
[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/129371788[/vimeo]
 
 
Chandler spent much of the message talking about handling conflict between believers. He said (at 24 minutes and following) the matter of church discipline is serious because at the final stage of church discipline, when a church releases a member, the church is saying, “We are no longer able to affirm that you are a believer in Christ.”
One of the reasons I don’t like detailed covenant statements for members is that some people disagree over doctrine and if a member doesn’t come into line, the church is put in the position of saying explicitly or by implication, because you don’t agree with us, we can’t affirm you as a believer.
Chandler said that the process of evaluating church discipline began several months ago. As a result, Chandler said the elders decided that they had “failed to fulfill our covenant promises to you as members to lovingly exercise church discipline when necessary” and asked the audience to forgive the elders.
He said there are five specific things which require forgiveness:
Will you forgive us where our counsel turned into control?
Will you forgive us where we failed to recognize the limits and scope of our authority?
Will you forgive us where we allowed our policies and process to blind us to your pain, confusion and fears?
Will you forgive us where we acted transactionally rather than tenderly?
Will you forgive us where we failed to recognize you as the victim and didn’t empathize with your situation?
I’ll bet that was hard for Chandler to do. Now comes the harder work.
If these matters are being taken up with individuals, then I think this is a major step forward. It is hard not to compare to Mars Hill Church’s response to similar concerns, and in that comparison, Chandler’s approach is much better and more to the point.

Mars Hill Church Dissolving "Soon"

Mars Hill Fellowship’s (the corporate name of the enterprise that was Mars Hill Church) president Kerry Dodd is looking for work. According to his Linked In page, Mars Hill Fellowship as an entity will dissolve “soon.” The end is near enough that he says he is “starting the search for his next endeavor where he can excel and make a difference.”  He describes his old difference making endeavor as:

A $30M, community-focused organization with 15 locations in five states, focused on enriching lives in the U.S., and around the world through digital media of biblical-based motivational talks. The organization recently launched 11 independent entities and is now dissolving.

“Biblical-based motivational talks?”
The current COO is Caleb Walters.
There is much unfinished business at the Entity, but it appears that the community-focused organization will soon leave its community in the dark.
Correction: Earlier I said that Frank Park was still Mark Driscoll’s assistant. Not so, according to good sources. He has moved on. I regret that I did not check that out before I printed it.

Protest of Mark Driscoll Planned at Hillsong Church in Sydney on May 31

QuestionMarkA group called “People Against Fundamentalism” plans to protest Brian Houston’s decision to bring Mark Driscoll to the Sydney Hillsong Conference this summer.
According to the group’s website, the protest will take place on May 31 at the Sydney church’s Waterloo campus.
Protests may also occur in London where Driscoll is slated to speak in July. A petition asking Hillsong to remove Driscoll as a speaker has garnered nearly 1,000 signature on Change.org. Pastor Houston issued a statement indicating that Driscoll is not going to speak but share what he has learned in an interview with Houston.
Driscoll’s recent activities may signal his stance at Hillsong. At Bayside Church two weeks ago, Driscoll spoke about forgiving those who wrong him but said next to nothing about his part in the demise of Mars Hill Church. Then, just this past weekend, Driscoll failed to correct Gold Creek Community Church pastor Dan Kellogg when Kellogg claimed that Driscoll’s was “completely mistreated by former staff people.”