Category: Mars Hill Church

Mars Hill's Board of Advisors and Accountability Hints at Secret Meetings

In today’s Mars Hill Church newsletter (as posted on a ex-Mars Hill members Facebook group), a statement was made by Michael Van Skaik, Chair of the Board of Advisors and Accountability about the silence from the church on mediation and reconciliation.

In the current season, Michael [Van Skaik] explained that the BOAA is focused on meeting with individuals as opposed to releasing public statements. Unfortunately, said Michael, public communications are often wielded as ammunition against the church, regardless of the motives of those communications. So the board invests its time into meeting with people one on one and limits its public communications. It’s a slow process, but Michael warned against being in a hurry to see change. Things didn’t get where they are in six months and they won’t be buttoned up that quickly either. The board is after long-term culture change and health.
“The fact is, spiritual growth can be slow,” Michael said. “[The reconciliation processes] are going well, but take time.”
That said, Michael is encouraged by the fruit that he’s seeing in the hearts and lives of the Executive Elders. He believes that God has certainly anointed Pastor Mark’s preaching and Mars Hill’s influence and views the current issues surrounding the church as ways that God is refining the leaders, working in their hearts and minds to further his message.
“The best days of Mars Hill are ahead,” he said. “Everyone on the Board is feeling like we need to go through these issues and learn from them deeply and have them affect the culture of the church for the future.”

This piece raises more questions than it answers. In private, 20 former pastors asked for mediation via a March 17 letter. Many days went by with no response. Then in early April, when the pastors started to make problems public, the BOAA made an overture to bring in an employee of one of the BOAA members to help mediate. Since then there has been silence from both Mars Hill and the twenty pastors. Now, Mars Hill speaks on the matter of reconciliation but still doesn’t mention the public overture made by the pastors.
Van Skaik appears to acknowledge that there are significant issues which “didn’t get where they are in six months” and which can’t be “buttoned up that quickly.” The message here seems to be that the situation is so bad that we need lots of time to clean it up but at the same time, things are good and getting better.
When Mark Driscoll and the Mars Hill leadership fired Paul Petry and Bent Meyer, the process was pretty public with Driscoll talking about the firings in sermons just before the deeds were done. He disparaged the work of those men in a sermon that left little doubt to whom he referred. Now, that charges have been filed the other direction, the BOAA wants a secret process.
Secret meetings may be appropriate for many situations but there are public issues which the church appears to be ducking. Meyer’s and Petry’s situation is one. A public exoneration of those men is in order. The legal matters relating to Mars Hill Orange County in 2012 is another one.  Most aspects of that situation are matters of public record and yet the church refuses to address questions from observers and members.  Mars Hill’s leadership has pretty ambitious goals and via Mars Hill Global wants donations and participation from the broader community of evangelicals. However, when it comes to being accountable to the broader community, in my opinion, they continue to fall short.

Mark Driscoll Appears on James Robison's Life Today Show; Also Appears on T-Shirt

I guess moving out of celebrity status is hard.
Mark Driscoll appeared as a guest on James Robison’s show today discussing Driscoll’s  book A Call to Resurgence. The interview was tame compared to his interview with Janet Mefferd back in November 2013.  As you can see from the transcript, Robison didn’t bring up any uncomfortable issues.
In mid-March, Driscoll said he would be doing “very few media appearances, if any.” Until Easter, Driscoll’s live preaching was mostly to staff. I wonder if the Robison show was one of “very few” appearances or is the media blackout now over.
Driscoll also recently appeared on a t-shirt:

Note the “Pastor Mark Driscoll” next to Saves. At least Jesus got top billing.

Pastor Mike Wilkerson Leaves Mars Hill Church

Until this past weekend, Mike Wilkerson was the Biblical Living Pastor (Pastoral Care) at Mars Hill. Widely respected, Wilkerson helped develop the Redemption group concept (website for Redemption Group Network) which is the Mars Hill effort to provide lay counseling. Here is the announcement:

From Pastor Scott Harris:
Mars Hill Family,

One of our long time friends and pastors, Mike Wilkerson, has decided to step down from eldership at Mars Hill.
Mike has been a part of Mars Hill for many years, and we are grateful for his leadership, particularly in helping us build our biblical counseling and Redemption ministries across all 15 churches. We love Mike and wish him well as he will continue to run The Redemption Group Network which exists to help churches develop their own Redemption Groups ministries.
In the meantime, Pastor Cliff Ellis from Mars Hill Church West Seattle will be assuming Mike’s responsibilities over Biblical Living ministries.
Yesterday we had the pleasure of praying over Mike and for his family at the 7pm service in Ballard. Since he just got back from Latvia and plans to move out of state this coming Saturday, this was the only time we had to do it but are thankful we got the opportunity. Please join me in praying for the Wilkersons as they pursue what God has planned next for them.
In Christ,
Pastor Scott

What seems unusual about this announcement is that the announcement came only a week before he plans to move. Given his level of leadership at Mars Hill (a ministry director – just under the executive elders) and his popularity at the church, it seems abrupt to announce one week and be gone the next. Given the church’s commitment to biblical counseling (nouthetic counseling), I wonder if Wilkerson’s departure will signal a greater involvement by Board of Advisors and Accountability member Paul Tripp, who is also a leader in the biblical counseling movement.
In any case, ongoing staff turnover must be of concern to MHC leaders. The 20 ex-pastors have been quiet recently but I understand that some discussions about mediation (although no actual mediation) have taken place. However, the only official answer to my inquiries about the matter is silence.

Another Former Mars Hill Member Starts a Post-Mars Hill Blog

Rob Smith once attended Mars Hill Church and was a deacon who was on track to become an elder. In 2007, he strongly protested the approach used in dismissing Pastors Bent Meyer and Paul Petry from the church. Smith is the person behind the Facebook group REPEAL THE BYLAWS – EXONERATE PASTORS PETRY & MEYER. He is now also writing about his experiences at Mars Hill at his new blog Musings From Under The Bus (referring to the pile of dead bodies Mark Driscoll famously proclaimed were under the Mars Hill bus).
One post describes how Smith attempted to personally contact Mars Hill Board of Advisors and Accountability Chair Michael Van Skaik regarding formal charges filed by Dave Kraft in 2013. However, Van Skaik insisted that Smith submit his information in writing. Smith wanted to meet face to face with Van Skaik to discuss his experience. According to an exchange of communication between Smith and Van Skaik reproduced on the blog, Van Skaik refused to meet with Smith to discuss the matter.
Smith specifically focuses on church shunning:

My family and I have experienced the impact of having been shunned by our church family. This blog is intended to be a forum for processing, healing, and calling for Christians to understand the harm done to people through the harsh practice of shunning. It is also a forum to understand how to pursue justice and mercy in dealing with those who are victims of shunning, or those who have been the perpetrators of shunning.

I am about to teach a section on ostracism in social psychology. There are significant consequences psychologically from ostracism which might also be experienced by those who are ostracized from their church.
 

Mars Hill Church Members Want to Know Why The Orange County Campus Violated Zoning Ordinances in 2012

On Monday, I established that Mars Hill Church in Orange County violated the city of Santa Ana’s zoning law for the better part of a year (2011-2012). In defiance of the city and at the direction of Mars Hill’s executive elders, Mars Hill Orange County continued to meet in a building which was not zoned for a church, even paying fines instead of moving to another location, or simply waiting until a suitable location could be found. Then when the church was facing enforcement, Mars Hill’s pastor Mark Driscoll claimed to lack understanding about the city’s actions.
Apparently, Mars Hill members care about this issue because they asked about it during a recent “Vision Breakfast” where members could ask the executive elders questions.  A May 18 email from Mars Hill leaders to members referenced the matter:

Turner’s reply to members is very close to the one he issued to me when I asked him when he became aware that the church in Orange County was in violation of zoning ordinance. Honestly, I don’t understand how the answer to that question would be influenced by a reconciliation with Kyle Firstenberg (the “person who is raising these issues publicly“). According to Firstenberg, he made Turner aware of his concerns on more than one occasion with no reply.
Furthermore, based on documentation supplied by the city of Santa Ana, it seems clear that the Mars Hill executive board knew that the church in Orange County was operating in violation of city ordinance. This is a matter of public record. I can understand why church members would ask about this and want their leaders to be accountable and transparent. As of now, that does not appear to be the stance of Mars Hill’s leaders.