Warren Throckmorton

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.

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.

In a major departure from past practice, Gospel for Asia changed their ECFA page to include their U.S. financial information. Citing security concerns, GFA has declined to reveal this information on the web, but instead required interested parties to request it by mail. Up until now, the ECFA has allowed charter member GFA to be exempt from usual practice.

Now the page looks like this:

 
In a prior post, I noted that GFA sent $58 million to India but the FC-6 forms there show only a little over $6 million received from the U.S. Perhaps, GFA is moving toward more transparency. If so, the organization still has a long way to go to explain this discrepancy, as well as the money exporting to India, and discrepancies in the Bridge of Hope program reporting. Clearly, the organization is raising massive amounts of cash but has yet to explain why so much is sitting in Indian banks.
Given this change, perhaps the ECFA has been in talks with GFA and is privately working to bring GFA into compliance with ECFA guidelines. If this is true, don’t expect ECFA to alert the donating public. If the ECFA and GFA don’t see things the same way, my guess is that GFA will quietly give up their membership with no explanation.

Intell is getting out of Ozark, MO. In the Show Me State, Mark Driscoll is going to show up at James River Church with news of some kind on this Sunday, June 7. My sources are at work again and have learned the top ten rejected sermon titles for this weekend’s appearance.

Without fanfare, here they are:
10. A Nobody Wanting to Tell Anybody About Everybody I Need to Forgive
9. How to Fund Your Church Plant Through Global Missions
8. William Wallace Was Right
7 I Know Who the Anti-Christ is and He Lives in Pennsylvania
6. Be the Brand!
5. How to Turn Any Sin Into a Mistake
4. America Really Is a Pussified Nation!
3. How to Implode a Megachurch in One Year
2. Elders Schmelders and Other Insights on Biblical Leadership.
…and the number one rejected sermon title is:
1. The Gospel of Mark: Love Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry

Alas, we don’t know what the actual title is yet, but the day is young.

With all appropriate apologies for this lame spoof.

In a staff meeting on May 14, COO of Gospel for Asia David Carroll said it was getting hard to send money into India.

We’re always looking for ways to get money into India because the reality is that it’s getting more difficult to do that, and we are looking for other ways that we’re able to do that.

Given other information provided by GFA, this is a confusing statement.
On GFA’s frequently asked questions page, GFA addresses financial integrity and tells donors that everything is ethical. On that page, GFA promises financial accountability:

 
The sentence underlined in red says: “Some of those systems include transferring funds only through approved banking channels.” Carrying cash in backpacks is not an approved banking channel. As I have reported, money smurfing is a violation of both federal law and this website promise to donors. So hard or easy, moving money is only supposed to be done through banks.
I have to also question if it is difficult to get money into India via legitimate means. According to the audited financial statement for 2012 and 2013, GFA started creating limited liability companies in 2009 to aid transfers of money to India. They now report 12 of them.
A quick review of the Indian FC-6 forms (e.g., GFA’s 2013-2014 FC-6) shows that GFA transfers money frequently. In fact, GFA decided to transfer $9 million to India just to get better interest rates. Apparently, any difficulty was worth it. See the relevant section of the financial statement in the image below:

 
GFA took $9 million which they needed for their new home office and transferred to that money to India for about a year to get better interest rates. Then they transferred it back. GFA was willing to place $9 million at risk; so how hard could it be to move money back and forth?
GFA has admitted money smurfing but to my knowledge, there has been no explanation to staff about why the students and money was put at risk. I am aware that staff are very concerned about it as they should be.
I encourage anyone who was asked by GFA to move cash on a trip to India (or elsewhere) to contact me at my email address (click the link). If you have questions about the matter, please feel free to contact me.