Warren Throckmorton

With the closing of Mars Hill Church, the partnership between the church and Corban University will also cease on December 31, 2014. After Mark Driscoll resigned on October 15, the school communicated to various stakeholders that the school would continue to provide education for the 18 students enrolled. Even with the closing of the church, the school intends to find a way to provide the courses scheduled. The school is actively searching for another location which would allow the students to finish their Spring schedule before transitioning to the Salem, OR campus.
The short-lived partnership has been tumultuous from the start. Corban representatives signed a contract in November 2013 just as Janet Mefferd’s plagiarism allegations were gaining traction in Christian media. Corban was one of four schools hoping to get the contract. I don’t know who the others are but they may be breathing a sigh of relief since the time since November 2013 has been filled with regular revelations of questionable practices among leaders at the church.
In August 2014, Corban’s leaders formed an Ad Hoc Committee of administrators and trustees to study the situation. In September, the school’s trustees decided to maintain their commitments to students while Mars Hill engage in the process of handling allegations against Driscoll. They also indicated in their September statement that they would engage in due diligence regarding Driscoll. Eventually someone decided not to have Driscoll teach at Corban in contrast to the originally planned schedule.
 

Michael Peroutka won the Anne Arundel County (MD) District 5 Council seat over Patrick Armstrong by around 1900 votes.
Peroutka, founder of the Institute on the Constitution and former League of the South board member, will on paper give the Republicans a majority on the Council. However, more accurately, the Council now consists of three Democrats, three Republicans and Peroutka, a Theocrat who believes the wrong side won the Civil War.
 
 
 

Over at the Repentant Pastor website yesterday, 18 former Mars Hill elders posted a letter of confession to Paul Petry and Bent Meyer. In the letter, the pastors confessed being complicit with an authoritarian structure which wronged Meyer and Petry for raising valid concerns. They wrote:

We now believe our decisions were invalid and wrong. The entire investigation and trial process was skewed by the implication that your termination was above reproach and for just cause. If there had been sin in your life that might have warranted a warning about possible disqualification from eldership, we should have patiently, carefully, and directly addressed it with you before the matter became so extremely escalated. By reporting our wrongheaded assessment to the church, we put doubt about your character in the minds of church members, though you had done nothing to warrant such embarrassment and scrutiny. By doing this, we misled the whole church, harmed your reputation, and damaged the unity of the body of Christ.

In this universe, the past with Mark Driscoll generates remorse and repentance.
At the Christian Post today, Alex Murashko focuses on Mars Hill Portland pastor Tim Smith and spokesman Justin Dean. Both Smith and Dean view the past with Mark Driscoll as something to celebrate. In this universe, both had praise for Driscoll and glossed over the investigation of charges and the reasons for his resignation.
When Petry and Meyer were fired, they didn’t get due process like Driscoll did. After they were fired by Driscoll, they were unfairly tried by their peers and found guilty of “displaying an unhealthy lack of trust in, and respect for, the senior leadership of Mars Hill Church.” Petry was considered disqualified and shunned and Meyer was put on probation.
When Mark Driscoll was the subject of a lengthy process of investigation and found guilty of abusing his leadership, he was allowed to resign voluntarily with severance rather than enter a restoration process.
In one universe, Tim Smith voted to find Petry and Meyer guilty and in another universe, Smith lauds Driscoll and fails to sign on to the letter of confession.
 
 

An article in the Everett Daily Herald published earlier today reveals that Mars Hill Everett plans to become an independent church. Lead pastor Ryan Williams told the Herald that the elders decided to make a go of it without a congregational vote. Curiously, Williams said the people will “vote with their feet.” He had better hope that their feet want to stay in the church.
 

A lot of important elections tomorrow. One I have been following is Michael Peroutka’s bid to gain a seat on Anne Arundel County’s county council. Peroutka is the subject of an election eve article in The American Prospect. The article asks if a neo-Confederate, theocrat can get elected in one of the richest U.S. counties. Good question; we’ll soon find out.
Peroutka, who doesn’t believe in civil rights or public schools but deceives the public about having one of his Constitution clubs in the public schools he dislikes, might win. Even though he was a defender of the white separatist League of the South until recently, and according to a source who does not want to be named, still supports the League financially, Peroutka might garner enough votes to defeat his Democrat challenger.
No matter how you look at it, a Peroutka win would be a disaster for the GOP.