Warren Throckmorton

This morning, the Daily Beast published my article summarizing recent material I have obtained.
There is still more to develop on this story. For instance, it appears that the web of relationships involving Sealy Yates, Kevin Small, David Jeremiah and the Parrotts is longstanding. I hope to develop that part of the story more this coming week. As I pointed out in the post earlier this afternoon, Driscoll was a late comer to the party and an outsider to the club. Small is on the board of the Parrotts’ non-profit and Yates is on the board of Jeremiah’s Turning Point. Jeremiah credited Small’s publishing genius as far back as 2006.
It is hard to say if these folks will open up and reveal how all of this works.
Whether or not they do may depend on how much more media scrutiny develops. Christianity Today had a small blurb Friday linking to my blog posts. I think other stories are coming.
What I would like to see is a straightforward explanation from the agents, consultants, authors and publishers about the way they work the New York Times system. In the case of Driscoll’s contract, deception was involved. Has that occurred for the other authors? It appears that way but perhaps the agents, consultants, authors and publishers do not believe they are being deceptive. I would like to hear their side of it. Thus far, outside of a promise of a reply that didn’t come from Tyndale House, there have been no replies from those who have engaged in the best-seller campaigns.
When Mark Driscoll used this approach, his critics and the media were all over the story. Where are they now?
Yates and Yates have a significant cadre of authors they represent. Do all of them use ResultSource? I asked two of them but received no answer.
More broadly, I think the NYT Bestseller brand is tarnished by the actions of ResultSource. I asked the NYTs if they planned any kind of correction for those books proven to benefit from gaming the system, and the paper declined to comment.
On WORD-FM (Pittsburgh) last week, I was interviewed by Kathy Emmons. Her suggestion to the NYTs was to permanently ban any author caught cheating.
Clearly, this is a problem larger than evangelical authors but it appears that it would take evangelicals to change course given that some on the inside of this are within the camp.
 

In June 2011, Kevin Small wrote to then Mars Hill Church executive elder Jamie Munson to provide details about how ResultSource could get Mark Driscoll on the New York Times best-seller list. He gave him the details of what later was reduced to writing in the contract signed by Sutton Turner on behalf of Mars Hill Church. However, there was a detail or two not included in the contract which brings another evangelical figure — David Jeremiah — into the spotlight. Small told Munson:

Although I mentioned this memo last week, I didn’t understand at the time the role Paul Joiner plays at David Jeremiah’s ministry, Turning Point. According to Turning Point’s most recent 990 form, Paul Joiner is the higher paid member listed on Jeremiah’s staff, with the title Director of Creative Services. Joiner is often lauded by Jeremiah in his books, including his most recent book, Agents of the Apocalypse, now sitting at the top of the New York Times best-seller list in the Religious, Spirituality and Faith category. In the Acknowledgments section of the new book, Jeremiah wrote:

 
 
Why did Kevin Small pitch David Jeremiah’s Director of Creative Services to help Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church scam the NYT best-seller list? To address that question, I asked Mr. Joiner via his Twitter account to contact me regarding Result Source. He did not reply. It is certainly possible that Joiner played no role in Driscoll’s campaign, but it is intriguing that Small felt he could drop Joiner’s name to pitch the best-seller campaign to Mars Hill’s executive elders.
Driscoll took much heat for using writing and research assistance, as well as using ResultSource to propel one book to the top of the NYT best-seller list. However, it now appears that Driscoll was a light weight compared to David Jeremiah’s nearly $40 million per year media empire. Over the years, Jeremiah has used various writers (e.g., Beau Sager, Rob Suggs) to help turn his sermons into books. He then has used Kevin Small and Paul Joiner to turn several of those books into best-sellers.
 
Jeremiah’s media empire is vast enough that he may not now require Kevin Small’s help. He could probably put out a book of pictures of his family pets and it would go to the top of the charts given the number of people on his mailing list who will commit to purchase his materials pre-launch. However, was the way paved by the same methods that caused Driscoll so much trouble? For now, no one at Turning Point is talking, and it is unclear if anyone in the Christian media will investigate.
………
See my article today at the Daily Beast on this topic for an overview of the work from the past week.
 
 

Derek Webb is a really nice fellow who is super talented. I once sat in a worship leaders meeting where he was speaking and immediately liked him. This is a beautiful song from his 2013 album.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/JtO1kzKrmvA[/youtube]
Cause your heart breaks, your heart breaks in all the right places.
Your heart breaks, your heart breaks in all the right places.

Going on right now, David Barton’s periodic gathering of state legislators operates in some parallel universe where Barton is an expert in American history.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/7b5c0YVmLZU[/youtube]
Ted Cruz is there dignifying the event. So is Bobby Jindal. They are the unfortunate links to the universe were most of us live; as are those attending, which is the frightening part of the whole thing. I wonder if Barton will give a talk on policy relating to post-traumatic stress disorder and Satan.

Thank you @BobbyJindal for speaking at the Pro Family Legislators Conference. #President2016 #ProvenLeadership pic.twitter.com/mIXIkLIaVf

— Bob Ballinger (@Bob_Ballinger) November 14, 2014

Of course. The only member of the media invited to attend is Todd Starnes. He can spin whatever they need.

Not that they care, but I have little respect for Cruz and Jindal, both of whom should know what they are doing by appearing on behalf of Barton.
Once again, the evangelical establishment demonstrates that what moves them is prestige and money.

Mars Hill Was is a website with lots of links to Mars Hill content that the site owner doesn’t want to see lost.
There is a timeline, archived sermons, and a wealth of other information which should prove quite helpful to anyone who wants to research the church. While Wenatchee the Hatchet is probably still more comprehensive, the Mars Hill Was site provides a lot of information at a glance.
This is a work in progress so if you have anything of interest, contact the owner.