Mars Hill Church Board of Elders: Mark Driscoll Resigned Instead of Entering a Restoration Plan

Why in the world is he at a “leaders” conference when he resigned after his own church leaders called him into a restoration plan? Mars Hill church is a 9Marks church, and Mark Driscoll should be under church discipline for failing to follow his elders’ instructions. If Mark was treated the way others have been treated, they’d be in church discipline and shunned. But Driscoll is so special he gets to have a one-year severance package. Oh, did y’all here he made $650K p/ year? What a circus.

And the deal with his kids - - humble and repentant pastors would have fallen on their faces and apologized to their kids for creating such chaos. Instead, he wants us to pull out our violins. There would have been no rock-throwing incident if Driscoll had behaved himself.

Julie, what do you mean that “Mars Hill church is a 9Marks church”? I don’t believe Mars Hill is or has ever been associated with 9Marks. The kind of leadership structure put into place at Mars Hills is very different than the kind Dever argues for and practices at CHBC/9Marks.

Is it possible Julie has confused 9Marks with Acts 29?

Hi Greg,

I had read someone’s comment just yesterday (whom I respect and is usually spot on) that Mars Hill was part of 9Marks. but when I just checked the 9Marks church listings and you are right, they are not listed. From what I understand, Mars Hill leadership structure does look like 9Marks in appearance, but fails in function (ie, elders are yes men). They also share the same emphasis on congregants becoming members and signing membership covenants.

Regardless, his elders had a plan for restoration and and he bolted rather than submitting to the elders. That’s the part of the leadership structure I was referring to - - there was a leadership structure in place, set up by Driscoll, and he completely disregarded it. I’ve seen this identical pattern with another leader, Doug Phillips.

Well, they do have elders, but a few of them are “super-elders” who are (were) at least 1000 miles away, so good luck with actually “overseeing” the church from that distance.

Where I am in agreement with Julie Anne: I have no doubt that Driscoll’s pay was very high, and this does (as does the pay/house/acceptance of prosperity theology of his buddy MacDonald) raise the question of whether he is a “lover of money”. The mis-treatment of elders and others, and his bolting rather than face restoration processes, would indicate that he is to a degree self-willed. I would also agree that his examples of being threatened, no matter what the truth is, cast his aptness to teach Biblical gentleness into doubt—not to mention any number of his sermons.

Question; with all that money, it says something that he always looks to me like he just got out of the homeless shelter. I know we’re trying to be “relevant”, but just sayin’. Pendleton, Filson, both NW companies…..make some nice stuff, doncha know?

Where I might disagree, and where my assessment is probably even harsher than hers; I am not persuaded that I believe the threats are real until I see a few police reports, and especially if they have been substantiated by evidence.

As some noted in the thread about Jack Schaap, let’s pray for him in this, because there are a lot of questions out there about what is really going on, and a good portion of the witness to the Seattle area has to do with Mars Hill even now.

The whole thing just makes me yawn, but for those interested…

http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/2014/10/21/mark-driscoll-surf…

Bert, I may not have said it here, but I have certainly said it elsewhere: I’ll believe the rock pelting at Driscoll’s children when I see the police reports. Part of my to-do list today is to send Warren Throckmorton a note to see if he’s looked into this. He’s been covering the Driscoll story with amazing precision and providing source material. I’ve been impressed with his work. I’m going to tweet him now.

No, Chip - I’m aware of his (former) connection with Acts 29/Chandler group. I really did mean 9Marks (Mark Dever, Leeman, etc). I wish I could remember where I saw the comment.

I’ve been getting more info on the structure at Mars Hill and it is very odd.

There is a Board of Accountability (BOAA) - independent group but Matt Rogers is the chairman and he’s a current elder. James MacDonald and Paul Tripp quit this group, 2 others resigned. My understanding is that Driscoll selected this group.

Board of Overseers, was described as a subset of BoAA

​There is also a Board of Elders who report to BOAA.

JA, nothing terribly complicated about Mars Hill’s structure; it’s simply the imposition of a corporate executive team in authority over the elected elders, which is really the big place it diverges from the 9 Marks argument for eldership.

It’s complicated in that integrity is lacking all around as far as responsibility and accountability - as if James MacDonald could hold him accounatble from afar. What a joke. Mars Hill sounds more and more like a business than a church.

Let’s just say that I would be immensely grateful at a sovereign outpouring of God’s grace if it were only Mars Hill that was functioning as a business, if you catch my drift. :^)

Seriously, having been around business for over two decades, and around churches a bit longer, the hardest thing to do in any board—or hey for any family—is to keep your eyes on the prize, that which is most important. Gospel believing churches get caught up in works righteousness, boards get caught up in their own personal agendas, boards get caught up in a lesser agenda than the one given them. It tends to happen whenever you have at least one self-willed individual with a bit of charisma on the board. Hence big churches (and big corporations) with more rewards for dominant personalities tend to suffer worse.

Having been on a deacon’s board myself, I can vouch for the fact that it is incredibly hard to stay on task. I remember times we discussed an issue for a long time before asking the pastor “OK, what is the Biblical guidance on this sort of thing?” We’d discussed it for an hour, but after getting a touch of Scripture on the matter, we decided unanimously in five minutes.

(sheepish look)