Category: Mars Hill Church

Would You Pay $50 to Get Man Lessons from Mark Driscoll?

Live near Mason, Ohio?  Attend the Men’s Conference in June at Rivers Crossing Church and you too can get man lessons from Mark Driscoll.

Rivers Crossing is hosting a Men’s Conference featuring Pastor Mark Driscoll, Rivers Crossing Worship, and more!

About this event

There is a desire in all men to be better and do more, but an extraordinary life isn’t found sitting on the sidelines. Men, it’s time to step up and become the man God designed you to be. Hang out with us on Saturday June 12th at Men’s Conference for a day of spiritual renewal, motivating messages from Mark Driscoll and yes, some manly fun. Lunch and dinner are provided with your ticket purchase.

If recent events are any indication, better men who do more will learn how to surveil their enemies and monitor them on social media. Discover the secret to creating a sanctified enemies list. If it is time for you to step up and become the man God designed you to be, you may learn how to live without accountability in your life. If you are a pastor, come and find out how to create a church without elders and remove people from your church without due process.  For $50, maybe you pastors can find out how to get your congregation not to care where their contributions are being spent.

If you aren’t a pastor, maybe you can find out how to get a higher score on your pastor’s Spectrum of Trust!

Being a man means never having to say your sorry. Listening to counsel placed by God in your life is so weak.  When things get hard, just quit. Man, you will learn so much at this conference!

I bet Driscoll will share the secret of his 30 year old Bible version which was published in 2001. This time travel trick could be worth the price of admission.

If you have any questions or comments about these Man Lessons, you can contact the church pastor, Paul Taylor, at his email. He might be able to explain why you should pay $50 to get those lessons from Rev. Driscoll.

 

You Might Be In a Cult If…

With the escalation of control over members at The Trinity Church, the c-word is being thrown around by people who have left the church. When I think of mind control groups, I think of Steve Hassan who has made a career of studying them. Hassan’s BITE model is widely used and provides a helpful framework for evaluating the level of control an organization or leader has over an individual’s life. In this video, the model is described with lots of questions for the viewer to consider.

The BITE model invites people to consider the level of behavior, information, thought and emotional control which they experience in a group. Churches can have fine doctrine but exercise unbiblical levels of control over members. I can understand the concerns of former Trinity Church members when they describe efforts on the part of Driscoll and the pastors there to control their actions, the information they receive, their opinions and thoughts, and their feelings and loyalties toward others.

Using the term cult is of course a pejorative but might also wake someone up to harmful levels of control exercised by another person or group. True believers are often defensive about this. I invite readers and those who are venturing in from the Phoenix to listen to this video with an open mind.

Oh, and what is your Spectrum of Trust number?

Mark Driscoll’s Cult-Like Actions: Julie Roys Enters the Chat

Today, Julie Roys dropped an article about the ongoing controversies at Mark Driscoll’s The Trinity Church and it is a hammer. She brings together many threads of reporting into a devastating report about the church and what she calls Mark Driscoll’s “cult-like actions.”

Roys takes a very deep dive into the situation with the family first described at David Bonner’s blog involving Driscoll’s daughter. Roys has the aftermath of that situation and tells us that the Scottsdale police are involved. The church filed a complaint against the father and the family has filed a complaint against Brandon Anderson at the church for detaining Driscoll’s daughter’s boyfriend for questioning.

Roys explores the “elderless church” as I have been calling The Trinity Church. She points out the lack of accountability at the church. There are no budgets available and church finances are closed to members. In fact, there are no members. People attend but they have no meaningful way to participate. Driscoll has insulated himself from being accountable to those who attend and those who are his subordinates. If he wants someone out of the church or to be monitored, it is done.

I reported on Saturday that Driscoll authorized surveillance of his daughter’s former boyfriend’s family. Roys has a transcript of conversations involving church staff following members of this family. Not only did Driscoll ban the family from the church, he paid to have them secretly monitored. I wonder if Phoenix Seminary teaches classes in surveillance.

Spectrum of Trust

As extensive as Roys’ report is, there are more stories to tell. She mentions shunning, but there are more stories of families being shunned because they are not sufficiently loyal to Mark Driscoll. Roys introduces us to the very culty phrase “spectrum of trust.” The higher you are on the spectrum of trust, the more the Driscolls trust you and the more access to them you have. Sadly, if you not high on that spectrum, you may drag your family members down a notch or two. Ranking people in terms of their loyalty to the dear leader is a characteristic of a mind control group. An extension of that is shunning family members over loyalty to the dear leader.

One aspect of fallout from Mars Hill was the creation of blogs by people affected by the church (e.g., Joyful Exiles, Wenatchee the Hatchet*). As far as I know, here is the first such blog:

Spectrumoftrust.me

It appears to be in the development stage but go check it out.

 

*Probably my favorite blog name ever.

 

The Trinity Church May Be Watching You

On April 28, David Bonner at the Wondering Eagle blog published a story about a family chased out of The Trinity Church because of a kiss shared by an adolescent boy and girl. The girl is one of Mark Driscoll’s daughter and the boy and his family attended The Trinity Church until Driscoll wanted the family evicted from the church.

I have been able to confirm the basic elements of this story with several sources. One source, Chad Freese, was until recently the  Director of Security at The Trinity Church. He told me that Driscoll confirmed to him the basic elements of the matter and was “pissed off” about the kiss.

In addition, Freese told me that Driscoll authorized the boy’s family members to be surveilled in the community and monitored on social media. Church funds were expended to hire security personnel to follow them and report back concerning their activities.

Freese recently left the church over this and other concerns.  His resignation comes amid the departure of several families and other staff members, some of whom are unable to speak due to non-disclosure agreements.

For more on Mark Driscoll’s elderless church, click this link.

 

Mars Hill Church and The Trinity Church: Is Past Prologue?

In August 2014, 21 former elders from Mars Hill Church brought formal charges under the bylaws of the church against Mark Driscoll. Recently, I have been listening to people talk about their experiences at The Trinity Church in Phoenix. To quote Yogi Berra, it feels like deja vu all over again.

For those who complain that I am unnecessarily bringing up the past, I will reply with Shakespeare that, at times, past may be prologue. The charges are linked below; those who are currently involved or recently left Trinity Church may want to compare notes with past Mars Hill elders who wrote in 2014. Anything seem familiar?

Read the 2014 Formal Charges 

These charges were investigated by a group of elders. According to Dave Bruskas (who was involved in the discussions), this group recommended that Driscoll be considered disqualified subject to involvement in a plan of restoration. However, another group of overseers who did not hear the evidence but also had oversight did not want to disqualify Driscoll and keep out of the pulpit indefinitely. These two groups could not agree and during  their time of disagreement, Driscoll resigned. Eventually, he started The Trinity Church in Phoenix.