It’s very difficult trying to stay-up with current events from our house here in the jungle. We don’t have network television or cable. And our internet is so slow that trying to open a news website to stay up with current events is impossible. So usually we’ll see people talking about something (news-wise) on Facebook and if it sounds important we’ll investigate it for ourselves (when we can get to town and go online where there’s actually some bandwidth available).
So what I’m about to say has probably been talked about, analysed and already re-hashed 14 different ways by now (by all of my friends back in the States). But, for me, it’s fresh and new so bear with me even if you’ve already moved past this.
What I want to talk about is what happened with Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church. And no, I’m not writing this blog to bash Mark Driscoll or criticise him in any way. I just think that when something of this magnitude happens we need to look at the situation and check within ourselves to see if there are any of the same warning signs of it possibly happening to us too. When something like this happens surely there’s something that all of us can learn from it.
Last year at this time Mars Hill was one of the largest/fastest growing/most influential churches in the world. After a small start in an apartment in 1996, by 2013’ Mars Hill had grown to 15 locations averaging over 12,000 in attendance each week. Mark Driscoll’s podcast on i-tunes was one of the most popular with over 260,000 sermon views per week. That’s over 13,000,000 views per year! Think about that… his sermons were being listened to by hundreds of thousands of people each week all over the world! That’s crazy. What an amazing platform to spread the Gospel and to strengthen the Church (and that’s big ‘C' church- not little ‘c’ church).
Besides being the lead pastor at Mars Hill Mark Driscoll was also a successful author and one of the most sought after conference speakers too. Actually, Me and MJ saw him speak in South Carolina at a leadership conference a few months before we moved here to Brazil back in 2011’. What he said was very impactful and the Lord spoke to both of us through his message that day.
Mark Driscoll was also the leader of The Resurgence Leadership Network and in Seattle in 2013’ Mars Hill hosted (either in person or on-line) over 20,000 leaders from 177 countries at their R13 Conference. Mars Hill had also recently begun a Pastoral Internship Program where people from all over the world could come, be trained and then be sent out to plant/pastor churches- and all for the sake of the Gospel. So, long-story-short… Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill were "killin' it" last year at this time.
But this year Mars Hill and Mark Driscoll- including all their campuses, all their podcasts, all the conferences, all the books sales, everything- are gone. Poof! Just like that. Nowhere to be seen. How can that even be possible? It’s almost unfathomable when you think about what a major player Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill were on the ‘christian landscape’ less than 12 months ago.**
So, I guess the most pressing question (to me, anyway) is how did this happen and how can we as pastors, leaders and fellow believers in Jesus ensure that it doesn't happen to our churches? Because I don’t think this was just a fluke. I think it’s something that could easily happen to any of us (maybe not on the same scale- but it could still happen nonetheless). Because no matter what anyone says, Mark Driscoll isn’t a bad guy, a false prophet who got what was coming to him or any of the myriad of other things that people say about him- he’s a fellow brother in Christ who made some bad decisions and over a period of time when the bad decisions weren't dealt with and changed the unthinkable happened.
You see there was nothing immoral that happened that caused Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill to disappear. No sex scandals took place. There were no accusations of money being used inappropriately buying mansions, new Gulfstream Jets or Rolls Royce's, no. None of these things happened. There were however accusations of plagiarism along with him buying his way onto the New York Times Best Sellers List with his newest book “Real Marriage.” But neither of those things are what caused Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill to collapse.
What I can tell (from listening/reading comments from Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill church members and from different staff members/elders from Mars Hill Church) there were some things that happened that, if they would've dealt with them in a Godly-biblical way early on, all of this could've been avoided.
For those of us who are leaders of churches and ministries, it would be wise to learn from other people’s mistakes. Especially when the mistakes are made by people who genuinely love Jesus and want to make the Gospel known to the ends of the earth just like us. None of us will probably ever build ministries as big as what Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill did but no matter the size of our churches and ministries- I think that all these things still apply and we’d be wise to try and ensure that history doesn't repeat itself.
Before I give you my list of observations I just want to say that whether we agree or disagree with Mark Driscoll and what he did is irrelevant. My sole purpose for writing this is just an attempt to glean something that could possibly help us be better pastors, better ministry leaders and better followers of Jesus. My heart breaks for Mark Driscoll, his family, the thousands of Mars Hill Church Members and the countless podcasters that have been effected by this. So here we go:
4) Being cool and edgy with what we say isn't always a good thing. I’m by no means a prude when it comes to this subject. Those of you who know me can vouch for this. And those of us who speak publicly for a living have all said things we’ve regretted, right? I could give you a list a mile long of stupid things I’ve said from the pulpit that, in retrospect, I wish I could take back. But doing/saying things just for the sake of getting a laugh, being hip or cool (aka- being relevant) isn’t always good. To intentionally try to talk like the world just for the sake of “being relevant” isn’t wise and it isn’t necessary. And saying things (especially using profanity) for shock value isn't ever a good thing. No matter how many laughs we get or how ‘down-to-earth and real’ it makes us sound- our speech needs to be pure. In the pulpit and out.
3) Surrounding yourself with ‘yes men’ isn’t wise. Although it didn’t start out that way it looks like that’s the way it ended up at Mars Hill. Everyone who didn’t cower down to what Mark Driscoll wanted was selectively weeded-out.
So, if we looked at our teams right now and all we could see was people who told us we’re right all the time, that all our ideas are awesome and that basically worship at our feet (figuratively, of course)- and all out of fear, there’s a problem. Because no matter how creative we are, no matter how many great ideas we have, no matter how successful we get to be- we as leaders aren't always gonna be right about everything and we won’t always know what’s best for every situation. We need each other. Others (aka- our staff) aren't around us to just feed our egos and do all the grunt work for us.
If we surround ourselves with a bunch of people who are afraid to disagree with one of our ‘awesome ideas’ and who agree with all our decisions we’re just asking for trouble. Because if everyone’s just going to agree with everything I say and see things exactly the way I see them, then one of us is unnecessary. Everyone on the team brings something to the table of value, everyone can offer a different perspective- it’s not just about me.
We don’t need to surround ourselves with people that agree with us about everything and that are only there to tell us how great we are all the time- it’s not healthy. And, most importantly, the people around us (the ones closest to us) always need to have the freedom to rebuke us if we really need it. It shouldn't matter if I’m the boss or what my title is.
No matter how famous, important or powerful (supposedly) that we become we always need to be in submission to each other. A perfect example can be seen in Galatians 2:11-14 when Paul publicly rebukes Peter. Peter was an original disciple and a Christ appointed Apostle who had been following Jesus longer than Paul, but be that as it may, Paul still checked him when he (Peter) was wrong. We can also see that Peter (an original disciple/Apostle) was in submission as a fellow-worker with others who hadn't walked with Jesus as long as him in Acts 8:14, 11:1-16 and 15:7-21. Bottom line- no matter who we are, “we ain't all that!”
2) Thinking 'your poop doesn’t stink.’ Even though it’s just a matter of speech, you know exactly what I’m talking about. This kind of goes hand-in-hand with number 3. If we ever get to the point where we’re never wrong about anything and that everyone else has the problem… "I mean, look at all my success, right?… of course I’m right and you're wrong otherwise we wouldn't be this successful. Plus I’m the one God put in charge.”… If that kind of thinking ever creeps in and we start believing the hype- we’ve got to drag it (that kind of thinking) out into the street and kill it! We’re all fallible, we all make mistakes, we all have issues that need to be put under the blood daily. If we’re never wrong (in our own minds) and repentance isn’t a part of our daily lives then there’s a good chance this applies to us. (I Jn 1:5-2:2)
And from what I can tell, success (the way we usually measure it) can NEVER be the only indicator that what we’re doing is right. Because our success isn’t necessarily God’s stamp of approval and success isn't always Him saying that what we’re doing is OK. We’ve got to press-in to Him daily- making sure our hearts are pure.
1) Building a ministry around a single personality or person is very dangerous. This is probably the thing that’s stuck out to me the most through this whole thing.
In a culture that idolises personalities, whether it’s someone on TV or on the Silver Screen, someone who can sing or play an instrument or an athlete who can run, throw or shoot… we’re all drawn to people who have abilities greater or different than ours.
So for this same mentality to creep into the church and for superstar-christians to be made?… Well, it's to be expected. But how do we fight against that? Because if we allow our churches to be built around ‘us' (the pastor/leader) and we allow ourselves to be the central characters (and, in essence- idolised) then we’re really doing a disservice to our people.
What if something happens to us (the pastor/leader)? What’s gonna happen when we’re gone? Because whether it’s through death, retirement or Heaven forbid- a fall from grace, we’re not going to be in our positions forever, right? So to build a ministry that revolves solely on my voice, my personality and my abilities is really selfish if you think about it. Because if what we’re building relies solely on me to survive then it’s probably going to negatively effect everyone when I'm gone.
The only way to avoid this is to plan and be hyper-intentional and fight against it (how this is carried out will look different for everyone). I mean, go look on-line and read some of the things written by Mars Hill Church Members, Staff and Elders and see how devastated, hurt and broken they are. It’s heartbreaking. It (our churches and ministries) can NEVER be about us. As much as we say, “it's about Jesus” we’ve got to prove it by fighting against our ministries revolving around us as the central personality. Because no matter how successful we look today- tomorrow we could be gone. And, if that’s the case, what would we leave behind? Just something to responsibly and prayerfully think about.
Trying Not to Mess-up While Passionately Following Jesus,
Jim
** On January 1, 2015’ the Mars Hill Church Network officially disbanded. But in an effort to keep things going, 11of the the Mars Hill Churches became independent churches while the remaining sites closed their doors. While nothing can be found on i-tunes, a lot of Mark Driscolls sermons were moved to markdriscoll.org .
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