Twenty Former Mars Hill Pastors Seek Mediation With Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Leadership

Whenever I speak to a Driscoll defender, their defense usually ends up with something like this:

1) All pastors are flawed

2) Pastor Mark has his flaws too

3) You just don’t like him because his flaws are different from the flaws of all the pastors you have known.

4) And you cannot criticize him because he is rock-solid on the gospel.

The problem with this, is that all flaws are not created equally. Paul wrote to both Timothy and Titus and was pretty specific about the qualifications for pastoral leadership. Driscoll seems to be the stuff of 2 Tim. 3:1-7 rather than 1 Tim. 3:1-7.

And he is rock-solid on the gospel? Oh? He has said that if you are a cessationist you are the same as an atheist or a deist. The last I checked, these positions are not compatible with evangelical faith. So a guy who is “rock-solid’ on the gospel understands it so little that he places me (not to mention MacArthur, Mohler, and many others) outside of it, even though I embrace the doctrines of grace. His claim that Jesus puts unspeakably filthy video images into his mind is far more concerning to me than his use of a company to trick the New York Times.

I thought it was only those nasty Fundies who had hang-ups with excessive authoritarian leadership without accountability. I thought only in Fundyland existed leadership who would pay themselves handsomely while running over their subordinates. I thought it was only those loser Fundamentalists who preached about submitting to authority. I keep hearing about those out of touch, HARD LINE FUNDAMENTALISTS, who constantly preach false doctrine or twist the Bible to suit their personal whims.

But thankfully we have these hip & cool evangelical leaders to lovingly show Fundies how to do ministry and leadership the biblical way.

Now there is more hope for the gospel than ever!

[mmartin]

I thought it was only those nasty Fundies who had hang-ups with excessive authoritarian leadership without accountability. I thought only in Fundyland existed leadership who would pay themselves handsomely while running over their subordinates. I thought it was only those loser Fundamentalists who preached about submitting to authority. I keep hearing about those out of touch, HARD LINE FUNDAMENTALISTS, who constantly preach false doctrine or twist the Bible to suit their personal whims.

But thankfully we have these hip & cool evangelical leaders to lovingly show Fundies how to do ministry and leadership the biblical way.

Now there is more hope for the gospel than ever!

It really is the same thing in a different garb – in this case, a Mickey Mouse T-shirt. Why it’s okay if you’re “missional” is yet to be determined.

It’s my opinion that Mars Hill has become simply a large personality cult, and Driscoll’s attire and the use of buzzwords like ‘missional’ (although undefined by MHC or their marketing people) was simply a way to make the church more attractive to outsiders - the grunge version of ‘seeker sensitive’, if you will. MHC presented itself as being “so hip and with it” that we don’t need to wear dressy type clothes; we ‘just need to love Jesus’. If your church is ‘missional’, that sounds more hip that ‘we send out missionaries’. It’s Jesus, as you are, with no real demands on your life other than you acknowledge Him in your life.

The whole thing bugs me, but not as much as how many people that should have known better fell for the whole kit and caboodle. That’s the part I still can’t understand.