Pubishers have three options when plagiarism and/or errors are discovered. Such problems can be ignored, corrected or in extreme cases the book can be pulled from publication. In the case of David Barton’s book The Jefferson Lies, there were so many errors that correction was not a viable option so the book was pulled by publisher Thomas Nelson. In the case of Mark Driscoll’s Real Marriage, Thomas Nelson elected to correct the errors. I found several such errors in Real Marriage, most of which Thomas Nelson corrected (e.g., here).
An error I did not find was identified by Peter Lumpkins when Real Marriage was released in January 2012. I recently learned of this error and plan to add it to my grid of other problems. In summary, Lumpkins discovered that Driscoll added a word to a quote as if the word was a part of the original quote. The quote was sourced properly but Driscoll added a word to make it more supportive of his premise.
On page 172 in Real Marriage, Driscoll says the following:
The lengthy quote is from Tremper Longman’s book on Song of Solomon and is footnoted. However, in Longman’s book, as Lumpkin demonstrates, the word “oral” is not a part of the quote. Longman says: “Thus, this may be a subtle and tasteful allusion to the intimacies of sex.” (p. 195).
In another place in Real Marriage (p. 186), the same sentence is cited but the word “oral” is in brackets. This is a better practice but given that the word is unbracketed here, many readers would probably believe the the exact quote is as Driscoll presented it.
Lumpkins discovered another problem but it appears that the publisher corrected it. Go read his post for the details.
Category: Mars Hill Church
Local Seattle TV Coverage of Acts 29 Network's Decision to Remove Mars Hill Church
Mark Driscoll's Books No Longer Offered By Lifeway Christian Stores
The day after Acts 29 Network dropped Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church from membership, I have learned that Lifeway Christian Stores are not selling Mark Driscoll’s books while Driscoll’s ministry is assessed. Acting on a tip, I contacted Lifeway media relations manager Marty King, who released this statement to me:
Lifeway Stores and Lifeway.com are not selling Mark Driscoll’s books while we assess the developments regarding his ministry.
I also called two local Lifeway bookstores and was told that books are being pulled from the shelves and are not available to customers. The books have already been removed from the online bookstore. Before today, Lifeway offered most, if not all, of his books. Some books which have a chapter by Driscoll are still available.
You Tube Restores Mars Hill Global Videos; Mars Hill Church Backs Away From Copyright Claim
Apparently Mars Hill Church is not going to sue me to keep sections of their deleted Mars Hill Global videos from public view. After the 10-14 day waiting period for Mars Hill to file suit, the church did not do so and You Tube restored the video of Mark Driscoll and Sutton Turner promoting Mars Hill Global as an international mission outreach.
Watch: [youtube]http://youtu.be/XFiD7XkYtPk[/youtube]
Those excerpts came from three videos Mars Hill Church deleted from their You Tube account. The videos are important because they conflict with what Mars Hill Church is claiming about Mars Hill Global between 2012-2014. In a recent World article, church spokesman Justin Dean said, “Since donations given by the Mars Hill Global family were never intended to be designated solely for international efforts, we don’t provide an itemized accounting of those funds.” The problem with this statement is that churches cannot designate or restrict funds after they are donated. If the church pitches a fund as going toward a specific purpose then the church must honor that purpose. The videos make it clear that Mars Hill members were informed that the Global Fund was the way Mars Hill church does missions and that such gifts were to be given above and beyond their regular giving to the church. Thus, the donors were not only “Mars Hill Global family” and the donations were given to a fund that church leaders said was used for international missions.
(Note: An earlier version of this post had more information about the Global Fund as a designated fund. I decided to present that information in a separate article)
Mars Hill Church Board Reacts to Being Removed from Acts 29 Network (UPDATE)
Just a bit ago in the member’s weekly email, Mars Hill Church Board of Advisors and Accountability responded to today’s news that the church had been removed from the Acts 29 Network.
Update from the Board of Advisors & Accountability
Earlier today our board chairman, as well as many of our other pastors, received a letter from Matt Chandler, the president of Acts 29. The letter notified us that the board of Acts 29 has removed Pastor Mark and Mars Hill from membership in the Acts 29 church planting network. Our board responded to the letter with the following update to our elders, and we wanted to share it with you as well.
Men,
I told the lead pastors at the recent annual retreat that we are making real progress in addressing the serious reconciliation and unhealthy culture issues that have been a part of Mars Hill Church for way too long. And we are. I also told them that more opposition would undoubtedly be coming, and it has. Friendly fire always hurts the most.
I have never in my life spoken with Matt Chandler or any of the A29 board members for that matter (except Darrin Patrick, once about 4 years ago as part of Pastor Mark’s employment review process which he used to be a part of). In addition, no one from Acts 29 contacted Larry Osborne of our board prior to this decision. And perhaps most significantly, Pastor Mark was not personally contacted by the A29 board prior to receiving this announcement.
So I am not quite sure what Matt means by “leaning on the board to take the lead in dealing with this matter.” Be assured of this, the formal charges that were filed were serious, were taken seriously and were not dismissed by the board lightly. There is clear evidence that the attitudes and behaviors attributed to Mark in the charges are not a part and have not been a part of Mark’s life for some time now.
Our board’s decision is final regarding these charges, although will no doubt continue to be played out in the courts of public opinion. Again, I am deeply saddened that the A29 board would make such a decisive and divisive conclusion without speaking directly to the board or Mark prior to their public announcement.
My counsel to you is to not become bitter or angry. Continue to pray for all involved. Continue to love and lead the people God has brought to your churches. They need a pastor right now and God has given them you!
Michael Van Skaik
Chairman, Board of Advisors and Accountability
Larry Osborne
Board Member
The two remaining independent members of the Board of Advisors and Accountability signed this communication. For some reason, the executive elders did not sign it. They are also on the BOAA. The other two independent members, Paul Tripp and James MacDonald recently resigned (although it is not actually clear when they resigned). Perhaps they saw this coming. Perhaps the departed BOAA members had been in communication with Acts 29; the letter above only mentions Osborne, Van Skaik and Driscoll.
There is something else puzzling to me about this letter. Note that chairman Van Skaik denies the concerns expressed by the Acts 29 board:
There is clear evidence that the attitudes and behaviors attributed to Mark in the charges are not a part and have not been a part of Mark’s life for some time now.
But in an early part of the letter, Van Skaik describes the culture at Mars Hill in negative terms.
I told the lead pastors at the recent annual retreat that we are making real progress in addressing the serious reconciliation and unhealthy culture issues that have been a part of Mars Hill Church for way too long.
It seems like Van Skaik wants to claim that problems are being worked on but that there really aren’t any problems. The problems have been in place “for way too long” but they haven’t been a problem “for some time now.” It is hard to understand how the board can find that there is nothing to the charges when in fact they are working to correct a problem that has been in place for “too long.”