Janet Mefferd – Warren Throckmorton

One Year Ago Today Janet Mefferd Interviewed Mark Driscoll

In conversations about Mars Hill Church, many people peg the beginning of the Year of Mars Hill’s Discontent as being Janet Mefferd’s radio interview with Mark Driscoll. In that interview, Mefferd accused Driscoll of plagiarism and he accused her of having “sort of a grumpy day.”

In hindsight, perhaps one could view the Strange Fire conference deception as the beginning of the end and indeed Mefferd began her interview by asking Driscoll about the conference. In fact, he never really answered her question about whether or not the books were confiscated. He said they were going to confiscate them but didn’t say they did. Please see Darren Wiebe’s eye witness account for more on the Strange Fire confiscation controversy.

In any case, the Fall of 2013 was the start of a Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year for Rev. Driscoll and his fellow executives at Mars Hill. Mefferd later apologized for her approach but did not retract her claims of plagiarism.

Mefferd’s interview seemed to break open the flood gates and eventually brought me and others into the situation. I wasn’t sure at first that Mefferd was correct in her claims, but I quickly came to believe she was right. Eventually I discovered problems in more of his books and created a chart to map it all. From there, problems with church finances, leadership, scamming the New York Times best-seller list, bullying personnel, and more snowballed. Time will tell what the enduring significance will be.

If you want to listen again, here it is:

Mark Driscoll's Citation Errors At A Glance

Since November 2013, Mars Hill Church pastor Mark Driscoll has been at the center of a controversy surrounding “citation errors” in his books. In addition to other bloggers (e.g. Janet Mefferd, Wenatchee the Hatchet), I have examined various claims and located several problems which involve multiple books and publishers. Publishers Crossway, NavPress and Thomas Nelson have announced that they are in various stages of examining and/or correcting these problems.
Click the image below to go to an identical table with live links to my posts on the subject. Just click on the cells with letters in them to read the relevant post. Note the key below which explains the four types of problems found. Following the table is a listing of the books involved. I should note that this chart might need to be updated if new material surfaces.

R= Recycled Material (using material from a previous work without citation)
P= Plagiarism (as defined in the MLA Style Manual)
FE= Factual Error
G = Ghostwriting

Source material:

Allender, D. (2008). The wounded heart: Hope for adult victims of childhood sexual abuse. Carol Stream, IL:NavPress.
Chapman, G. (2003). Covenant marriage: Building communication & intimacy. Nashville: B & H Publishing.
David, D., & Brannon, R. (1976). The male sex role: Our culture’s blueprint of manhood, and what it’s done for us lately. In D.David & R. Brannon (Eds.),The forty nine percent majority. New York: Random House.
Hawthorne, G. F., Martin, R. P., Reid, D. R. (Eds.). (1993). Dictionary of Paul and his letters: A compendium of contemporary biblical scholarship. Wheaton, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Holcomb, J., & Holcomb, L. (2011). Rid of my disgrace: Hope and healing for victims of sexual assault. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.
Jones, P. (1999). Gospel truth/pagan lies: Can you tell the difference? Enumclaw, WA: Winepress Publishing.
Jones, P. (2010). One or two: Seeing a world of difference. Escondido, CA: Main Entry Editions.
Ryken, L. (1990). Worldly saints: The puritans as they really were. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Wenham, G., Motyer, J. A., Caron, D., France, R. T. (Eds.) (1994). New bible dictionary: 21^st century edition. Wheaton, IL: InterVarsity Press.
Driscoll’s works:
Driscoll, M., & Chamberlain, M. (2013). Call to resurgence: Will Christianity have a funeral or a future? Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers.
Driscoll, M. (2013). Who do you think you are? Finding your true identity in Christ. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
Driscoll, M., & Driscoll, G. (2012). Real marriage: The truth about sex, friendship, and life together. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
Driscoll, M., & Breshears, G. (2011). Doctrine: What Christians should believe. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.
Driscoll, M. (2009). Trial: 8 witnesses from 1 & 2 Peter. Seattle, WA: Mars Hill Church.
Driscoll, M. (2009). Religion saves: And nine other misconceptions. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.
Driscoll, M., & Breshears, G. (2008). Death by love: Letters from the cross. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.
Additional posts on the topic:
Would Mark Driscoll Fail A Course In His Own School?
Mark Driscoll And His Church On Plagiarism
Spokesperson: Thomas Nelson Working With Driscolls to Address Real Marriage Citation Issues
Publisher Thomas Nelson Alters Mark Driscoll’s Book Real Marriage To Correct Citation Problems
Mark Driscoll Plagiarism Controversy Rated #3 Plagiarism Scandal of 2013
Janet Mefferd Breaks Silence in Slate Article on Driscoll Controversy
Mars Hill Church, Mark Driscoll and the Case of the Disappearing Links
Mars Hill Church Alters Statement on Mark Driscoll Plagiarism Controversy (UPDATED)
IVP Says Bible Commentary Improperly Appeared In Book by Mark Driscoll; Mars Hill Church Responds, Blames Researcher Mistakes for Errors
Mark Driscoll and Tyndale House Release Statement of Apology to Christian Post
I want to thank Megan Hurst for her assistance in preparing the table.

Janet Mefferd Breaks Silence in Slate Article on Driscoll Controversy

Janet Mefferd has drifted into the background since her apology for her on-air actions with Mark Driscoll on her November 21 broadcast. Today, in an article on Slate by Ruth Graham, Mefferd breaks her silence on the Driscoll controversy.
Mefferd is clear that she continues to believe Driscoll’s books inappropriately used material from other sources and that he needs to make it right. Go on over to Slate and read the article.

Who's Talking About The Mark Driscoll Plagiarism Controversy?

Three days ago, Relevant Magazine published a brief article with the headline: Basically, Nobody’s Talking About the Mark Driscoll Plagiarism Accusations.
What a difference a couple of days make. Now, lots of people are talking about the controversy swirling around Pastor Driscoll.
Religion News Service, World Magazine, Christianity Today, Christian Post, Crosswalk, Right Wing Watch, Orlando Sentinel, Opposing Views, First Things, Examiner, Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion, Religion Dispatches, and the Urban Christian News all have new articles up about the matter, some just posted this morning.
One person not talking is Mark Driscoll which is unfortunate because he could quiet the matter with appropriate action and comment. One organization that probably would not like to talk any more about the issue is Tyndale House. According to a statement given to Christianity Today, Driscoll’s publisher, Tyndale House, said his book A Call to Resurgence “conforms to market standards” in the citation of Peter Jones material.
That judgment of Tyndale House might be influenced by a recent publishing deal between the publishing house and Driscoll. Tyndale advertises on the Salem Radio Network which also carries Mefferd’s show. Certainly seems possible that Tyndale put some pressure on Ms. Mefferd to make a statement of apology. Let me hasten to add that I believe Mefferd was sincere in her statement in that she did not alter her assessment of the evidence regarding citation of sources.
I doubt this story goes away quietly.
I have some additional links below and will add them as I find them. Readers, if you see other articles on this topic, please add them in the comments section.
See also:
On The Allegations Of Plagiarism Against Mark Driscoll (12/2/13)
Zombies, Plagiarism And Mark Driscoll Helped Me Write This Blog Post (12/3/13)
Mark Driscoll And His Church On Plagiarism (12/4/13)
Janet Mefferd Removes Evidence Relating To Charges Of Plagiarism Against Mark Driscoll; Apologizes To Audience (12/4/13)
Ingrid Schlueter Resigns From Janet Mefferd Show Over Mark Driscoll Plagiarism Controversy (12/5/13)
Mark Driscoll Accused Of Plagiarism By Radio Host (Religion News Service)
More Allegations Of Plagiarism Surface Against Mark Driscoll (Religion News Service)
Flunking Mark Driscoll for Plagiarism (11/29 – First Things)
Mark Driscoll and Janet Mefferd: Plagiarism, Tribalism and Paganism (Istoria Ministries)
Ongoing Drama Ensues After Radio Host Accuses Mark Driscoll of Plagiarism (Charisma News – 12/9/13)

Ingrid Schlueter Resigns From Janet Mefferd Show Over Mark Driscoll Plagiarism Controversy

Coming from Julie Anne at Spiritual Sounding Board:

BREAKING: Ingrid Schlueter resigns in light of @JanetMefferd /@PastorMark plagiarism fiasco: http://t.co/DqO320mCiL pic.twitter.com/KqCUvXSBCr
— Julie Anne (@DefendTheSheep) December 5, 2013

Schlueter’s comment is as follows:

I was a part-time, topic producer for Janet Mefferd until yesterday when I resigned over this situation. All I can share is that there is an evangelical celebrity machine that is more powerful than anyone realizes. You may not go up against the machine. That is all. Mark Driscoll clearly plagiarized and those who could have underscored the seriousness of it and demanded accountability did not. That is the reality of the evangelical industrial complex.

She added later in the thread:

I’ve read much speculation online, which is understandable given the confusing situation, most of it dead wrong. Being limited in what I can share, let me just say that truth tellers face multiple pressure sources these days. I hosted a radio show for 23 years and know from experience how Big Publishing protects its celebrities. Anything but fawning adulation for those who come on your show (a gift of free air time for the author/publisher by the way) is not taken well. Like Dr. Carl Trueman so aptly asked yesterday in his column at Reformation 21, does honest journalism have any role to play in evangelicalism now? (It was rhetorical.) My own take on that question is, no, it does not. The moment hard questions are asked, the negative focus goes on the questioner, not the celebrity, when there is something that needs scrutiny. Those who have the temerity to call out a celebrity have tremendous courage. The easiest thing in the world is to do fluffy interviews with fluffy guests on fluffy books. So hats off to those like Janet who have the courage to ask at all. And my own opinion on Mr. Driscoll is that despite the bravado, despite the near silence of his Reformed peers and enablers, his brand is damaged, and damaged by his own hand.

To follow the conversation, go on over to Spiritual Sounding Board.
Earlier today, I asked Janet Mefferd for an interview regarding her statement yesterday. In an email, she declined to comment.

UPDATE: The comments have now been removed with comment from Julie Ann at Spiritual Sounding Board.

Here is another side-by-side comparison of material from Trial: 8 Witnesses from 1&2 Peter and New Bible Commentary. This image contains different material from what I posted earlier this week.