Tag: Mars Hill Church

Former Mars Hill Churches Continue Support for Ethiopian Pastors

According to Erik Laursen, executive director of the New Covenant Foundation, two former Mars Hill Churches, Foundation Church (Mars Hill Everett) and Trinity West Seattle (Mars Hill West Seattle), have pledged to continue the support of Ethiopian pastors once funded by Mars Hill Church.
Trinity West Seattle’s pastor David Fairchild told me via email that the legacy churches hope to pick up support for all 40 Ethiopian pastors. He said, “Trinity is initially picking up 10 pastors/evangelists to start with and the other legacy churches will pick up the remaining 30 between them.”  Fairchild said the pastors of the legacy churches wanted to ensure currently supported pastors did not experience negative effects from the closing of Mars Hill. He added, “[C]ome next year, we’ll want to see how we might expand our partnerships and work with New Covenant.”
After 2012, Mars Hill Church leaders marketed their support of mission pastors internationally to raise millions of dollars, much of which went to general church growth and support in the U.S. To date, an accounting of how much money was spent on international missions and how much was spent on church support in the U.S. has not been offered by the church. Mars Hill Church continues to be in the process of dissolution.
Understandably, Laursen is glad for the good news. In a statement released to me today, Laursen said:

In the wake of one of the most difficult seasons for anyone connected to Mars Hill, I am so honored and impressed by the integrity of the lead pastors who have committed to the work that was started in Ethiopia. The excitement that they bring to the table about supporting church planters and reaching the Unreached has put gasoline on my fire for missions.

UPDATE: After this was posted, Erik Laursen contacted me to say that Cross & Crown Church (formerly Mars Hill Ballard) has also pledged to support some of the Ethiopian pastors.

Hillsong Founder Brian Houston Issues Statement On Mark Driscoll at the Hillsong 2015 Conference

I just received this information from Mark DeMoss via email:

Statement by Brian Houston on Mark Driscoll at Hillsong 2015 Conference 
March 2015 
For years, Hillsong has invited pastors and Christian leaders from around the world to speak at our annual conferences in Sydney, Australia and London, England. Well in advance of his resignation as senior pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington, we invited Mark Driscoll to be one of our speakers this summer. Rather than having Mark preach or teach, I am excited about interviewing Mark and his wife, Grace from our main platform during our Hillsong Conference 2015.
I am looking forward to having this opportunity to speak openly with the Driscolls about life and ministry, as well as recent events and lessons they’ve learned through personal and ministry trials during the past year. My aim is to have an in-depth conversation that gives insight into their hearts.
Mark has been candid about mistakes he has made, and if we can, through our conference, help others through his life experiences, we think that will prove valuable.

This exclusive statement comes from Brian Houston in response to my post last week noting that Mark Driscoll was slated to speak at the conferences. Instead of having a speaking position, he will be interviewed by Houston.
The description of Driscoll on the conference websites (Sydney, Europe) has not changed to reflect this news or the dissolution of Mars Hill Church.  The description lists him as “founding pastor” rather than co-founder of the former Mars Hill Church.
Discuss.

Justin Dean Talks About What Went Wrong at Mars Hill Church

I haven’t watched it all yet but for those who want to get all perspectives, this is a valuable session with Justin Dean. Some of it leaves me scratching my head but if he is serious, it helps give insight into the demise of the church. I’ll add observations throughout the day and evening.
[youtube]http://youtu.be/1GMMjjZO_Xo[/youtube]
Dean talks about Mars Hill Global Fund (42:00) and calls the accusations about it “craziness.”  He says there were “a lot of evil people out there” (42:51) attacking. Dean said there was “evil at work, God at work” that led to the church’s demise. He is still demonizing those who he apparently still considers his opponents.
Let’s remember we are talking about a church that Paul Tripp said was “without a doubt, the most abusive, coercive ministry culture I’ve ever been involved with.” Dean doesn’t seem to have a category for that. Is Paul Tripp evil?
As I listen, I get the impression that the whole thing still seems overwhelming and beyond comprehension. I also suspect that he really doesn’t know the shenanigans his superiors were involved in.
Open forum in the comments section. A caution: Keep the conversation respectful of Dean and those on all sides of the Mars Hill fence.

A Year Ago World Magazine Broke the Mark Driscoll New York Times Best-Seller List Story; Will Hillsong Host His Comeback?

Seems like yesterday that ResultSource and Mars Hill Church’s book selling scheme came into the public consciousness. However, it was a year ago today that Warren Smith’s article was posted. The next day, I posted the contract signed by Mars Hill Church executive pastor Sutton Turner and ResultSource CEO Kevin Small that spelled out the arrangements which if followed would lead to a spot on the New York Times best-seller list.
While it took several months for Mars Hill Church to unravel, that March 5, 2014 revelation seemed to alert even friends that something might be seriously wrong at the megachurch. The disclosure ignited an ongoing conversation about the ethics of buying a spot on best-seller lists. Later, it became known that Les and Leslie Parrott, and David Jeremiah also used similar schemes to elevate their books to the best seller lists. However, they have not experienced the same level of criticism and attention as has Driscoll.
In the aftermath of the Mars Hill debacle, at least one publisher (Crossway) took a vocal stand against deception in book marketing, but it is not clear that the revelations about buying a NYT’s best seller has led to significant changes. Christian media (with two exceptions) have not been aggressive in reporting on Christian authors who have manipulated the best seller lists. The largest Christian publishers (HarperCollins Christian and Tyndale House) and have refused to answer questions on the subject.
Since he resigned in October 2014, Driscoll has kept a relatively low profile. He may return to the limelight in June and July as a speaker for the Hillsong conferences in Sydney and Europe. Hillsong still has Driscoll listed as “the founding pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and one of the most popular preachers in the world today.” I recently wrote and tweeted Hillsong to ask about the description and speaking engagement. No answer as yet. 

Quest Church Paid 9 Million for Mars Hill Ballard

Wow, Mars Hill Church made $4.2 million on the sale of Mars Hill Ballard to Quest Church.
I reported last month that Quest Church purchased the building. The price was revealed yesterday in an article in the Puget Sound Business Journal. Read that article for the details.
That profit should help pay for the severance packages of the executive elders and perhaps give the “independent” churches some seed money.  At least that is one theory about where the money will go. Despite soliciting donations up to the very end of the public ministry of the church, Mars Hill Church leaders (whoever they now are) have not been transparent about financial matters.