Member of Church Formerly Known as Mars Hill Albuquerque Pens Reflections on Church Closing

Levi MacAllister, also known as Levi the Poet, is a current member of North Church in Albuquerque (formerly Mars Hill Albuquerque). On his blog, he recently penned an open letter to Mark Driscoll and the leadership of the church formerly known as Mars Hill. Levi provided the link in an email along with an apology. You’ll understand the apology when you read the letter. Some highlights:

I don’t think that “The Rise & Fall Of Mars Hill Church” can be narrowed down to one man. Or three executives. Or an elder board. Or the BOA. I think that, to some degree, at least for members more intimately involved in the ins and outs of what our church was, there is a complicity we feel in the light. Many former pastors have acknowledged that complicity, and chosen to step away. For others, the complicity has been devastating and confusing, as many of us didn’t know we were in the dark. Of course, the idea of complicity to anyone who would rather be the victim under the infamous bus is enraging. And, at the same time, I do think that true victims exist. In short, it’s complicated, and no amount of devil’s advocacy will please anyone. You literally cannot win. Winning is not what I’m going for.

As you will see, this is a nuanced reflection from Levi the Poet.

Two reactions emerged as closets opened: some left; some stayed. I wonder what it means that I have stayed. Resilience? Compliance? Hope? Fear? There is a degree to which those that have stayed will, in the eyes of many, simply be guilty by association, and that will be that. I truly believe, though, that my wife and I were called to weather this storm, and I hope that we will get to see the sunrise. Perhaps others will even be able to accept that it could have been conviction that led us to stay, the same way it was conviction that led them to leave. And I don’t blame those that left, either. The amount of stones thrown from each “side” is miles high, and though I once stood with rock in hand, a lot of presumption clouded the truth of the matter, and I no longer want anything to do with it. This complicated mess is so much larger than anything that I will ever understand. Perhaps I should be thankful for that. Understanding is pain.

I suspect the stayers and leavers will be reflecting on the meaning of their choices for quite awhile.

Mark Driscoll was fond of saying that “what you idolize, you will eventually demonize.” If he isn’t the case-study for it, i don’t know who is. I’d like to think that I’ve not idolized or demonized him, or others, or myself, but perhaps this all wouldn’t hurt so badly if that were true. I’m sure I’ve done both for Driscoll, probably only ever demonized Sutton Turner, and hoped more in Dave Bruskas than Christ as the solution. I’ve probably hated Throckmorton. I’ve pictured everyone with reservations about Mars Hill over the years, pointing fingers with I told you so written on their faces, and resented them all. I’ve resented the organization for letting us take sides for so long. I’ve led my wife into conversations I shouldn’t have been having, gossip and slander that only revealed the state of my heart, and probably damaged hers.

On hating Throckmorton, you were a part of a large crowd. I am smiling while I write that; no hard feelings.

Mark Driscoll, I love you. I forgive you.

Nice beginning for the open letter to Driscoll. Honest and unfinished are words that come to mind about the letter.

I think that Mars Hill Church and the leaders representing it, as a whole, did not take the time they should have to acknowledge and discuss how deeply it has hurt the people in their care. There are exceptions to the rule, but I think that many of us feel swept under the rug. I know that this dust will be settling for a long time, and I pray that, in the individual bodies that Mars Hill Church has become, leaders will work together to address the pain that will linger, and apologize to their flock for negligence. I also know that we, as the flock, must extend grace, as leaders are people – human beings that are suffering through the same circumstances.

I hope the ex-pastors of the CFKAMH are still reading. There is still unfinished business.

Mars Hill Church Executive Elder Dave Bruskas on the Future of Mars Hill Albuquerque, Bible Teaching and Communication

This is the next several minutes of Dave Bruskas’ talk to the members’ meeting at Mars Hill Albuquerque (soon to be North Church). In this clip, Bruskas reminisces about opening the church building as a Mars Hill replant, and then describes his hope for the church going forward.
In doing so, he makes some hard-to-miss references to problems at Mars Hill. First he says one sermon per week and a discussion of that sermon (I assume he meant in community groups) isn’t enough. I always thought Mars Hill had lots of content online and elsewhere, but Bruskas wants to provide more. Also, he is going to improve communication and governance. The church will be elder led (in contrast to Mars Hill) and there will be better communication. He lamented that the pastors, including himself, often learned about the church online (you’re welcome).
Listen in (mostly audio with some quotes pulled out, be patient, they will come).

While this all sounds like an improvement, I still want to learn why it took the scandals and revelations of the last year to bring these changes about. I would like to hear more about why Rev. Bruskas did not activate these changes while the #2 man at Mars Hill Church. Perhaps, he feared for his job, but it would be good to know if he felt the same thing the other elders did who put their jobs and ministries on the line to make the changes now evident.

Mars Hill Church Executive Elder Dave Bruskas on Mark Driscoll, NYTs Best-Seller List, Strange Fire and More

I suspect different people will key in on different aspects of this video featuring recent remarks from Dave Bruskas. Bruskas led the Albuquerque NM City on a Hill church into an alliance with Mars Hill and then left Albuquerque in July 2011 to become an executive elder at Mars Hill Church. He is now slated to return as preaching pastor for the newly renamed North Church. Bruskas spoke on December 3, 2014 to a member’s meeting at the church. The questions were pre-selected with public questions not taken from the crowd. Yesterday, I posted a brief segment where Bruskas said Driscoll’s resignation was not the most redemptive outcome. The following segment deals with Bruskas regrets following a question from lead pastor Donovan Medina. A transcript of the video is at the link.

Click here for a transcript.

At about 1:15, in response to Medina’s question, Bruskas said the Board of Overseers (Jon Phelps, Larry Osborne, Michael Van Skaik, and Matt Rogers) found three areas of “persistent sin” via the examination of charges against Mark Driscoll: arrogance, domineering leadership and harsh words. While these were the three areas identified by the Board of Elders’ investigation, the BoO did not use the term “persistent sin” in their communication to the congregation. Rather, it was the elders later who used the term “persistent sin” in their verbal report to the various Mars Hill locations. The elders wanted Driscoll to step down and enter an elder-directed restoration process, whereas, in contrast, the BoOsaid they didn’t ask Driscoll to resign, and said that he wasn’t disqualified.

Bruskas admitted that the problems were “painfully entrenched in our culture.” He acknowledged that many leaders felt Mars Hill was special; now he sees that “God’s grace was on us in spite of us.” Bruskas didn’t believe he personally had used harsh words as Driscoll did.

For himself the three things he felt grieved about were the New York Times best-seller scam, the Strange Fire conference, and the performance driven culture of ministry.

Bruskas said he was a new executive elder in 2011 who was informed about the ResultSource contract by Jamie Munson in a car ride to work one morning. He asked if the approach had integrity and was financially feasible. Bruskas said Munson answered yes to both. After that, according to Bruskas, he didn’t ask any more questions.

Bruskas disclosed to friends that he was going to take the #2 position at Mars Hill in July 2011. That was about a month after Mark and Grace Driscoll and their agent Sealy Yates met at Thomas Nelson to discuss the ResultSource approach to scamming the best-seller list.  This June 27, 2011 note from Sealy Yates to Kevin Small was included in a Mars Hill memo on the ResultSource-Real Marriage campaign.
Yates2SmallJun11
The question is who was Jamie Munson working with? Munson has not responded to email questions on this topic. Bruskas is correct that he was a relatively new member of the executive elders. I wonder when it became clear what was actually happening with ResultSource. For instance, I wonder if he ever saw this memo. To his credit, he now believes the scheme was clearly wrong.

The second thing that grieves Bruskas is the Strange Fire incident. He said he would apologize to John MacArthur and believes he should have said something at the time. It has been over a year since that incident took place. If I had been in the Albuquerque audience, I would have asked him about the famous Driscoll tweet that security confiscated his books. I would like to hear Bruskas’ view of that tweet.

Last, Bruskas said he was sorry for being complicit with a “highly performance driven culture.” Perhaps he is referring to the actions described in this 2012 memo. In it, Bruskas took the lead in informing campus pastors that they couldn’t advocate for the staff they had to lay off due to financial pressures. The pastors were supposed to get in line. At the time, Driscoll, Bruskas and Turner had gotten significant pay increases while about 40% of the staff faced layoffs.

According to those present, nothing was asked about the Global Fund, the severance packages, Driscoll’s plagiarism, and accountability for the current sitting Board of Advisors and Accountability.

Consider this an open request for an interview to really clear the air and answer questions about Mars Hill’s unfinished business.

See also, part one of this video in which Bruskas tells the congregation that Driscoll’s resignation wasn’t the most redemptive outcome.

Dave Bruskas on Mark Driscoll's Resignation: "I Don't Think That Was The Most Redemptive Outcome"

On December 3, 2014, Dave Bruskas engaged in a Q & A period conducted by the elders with some members of the Mars Hill Albuquerque congregation (soon to be known as North Church) attending. The questions were pre-selected by the elders with the congregation not allowed to ask questions at the meeting. Bruskas is about to return to Albuquerque as preaching pastor of the church which he once pastored before it became part of Mars Hill. In the meeting, Bruskas addressed  his views about his time at Mars Hill. I have obtained some video of part of the event. The video is mostly beneficial for the audio of Bruskas remarks. I will put up a couple of posts featuring his perspective on being an executive elder at Mars Hill.
This first brief segment is Bruskas addressing Mark Driscoll’s resignation. The transcript is below the video. Although understated, he acknowledges that Driscoll’s resignation was not the intended outcome of the investigation.

Pastor Mark, I really would hope that our future would have been through the examination process that of a restored Pastor Mark leading his church to a healthy place but I’m sorry that that didn’t happen.  I know Jesus is going to work redemptively into the future but I think  that’s something we all wanted right? We always want the most redemptive  outcome, and I don’t think that was the most redemptive outcome but I trust that Jesus is going to do incredible things and I know that men come and go and church names change. Jesus loves His church and Jesus is absolutely about His mission and there comes a point in time where we say, ‘let’s put away the past and move forward because Jesus moves forward.’

Either in this post or in another one, I will add more footage where Bruskas addresses what he considers to be his mistakes at Mars Hill and offers an apology for them. Hint, he says he didn’t know the specifics about the Result Source scheme to scam the New York Times best-seller list.
See also part two of this video. Dave Bruskas discusses ResultSource, the hostile climate at Mars Hill, and the Strange Fire conference.