The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill--"The Tempest"--some observations and thoughts

https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/podcasts/rise-and-fall-of-mars-hill/tempest-mars-hill-driscoll.html

 

There's an awful lot of material in 2.5 hours of podcast and at the moment I'm sharing a few things that jumped out for me.

Jon Phelps (founder Full Sail University) in the history of Mars Hill Church in Seattle aka who is Phelps and what is his history of connection to MHC? (updated 08-30-2014 with tag)

Confessions of a Reformission Rev
Mark Driscoll, Zondervan, 2006
ISBN-13:978-0-310-27016-4
ISBN-10:0-310-27016-2
Copyright 2006 by Mark Driscoll
From pages 34-35

Question 9
Do you have the courage to shoot your dogs?

Dogs are idiotic ideas, stinky styles, stupid systems, failed facilities, terrible technologies, loser leaders, and pathetic people. Most churches know who and what their dogs are but simply lack the courage to pull the trigger and shoot their dogs. Therefore it is vital to name with brutal candor the people, programs, structures, and ministry philosophies that are dogs needing to be shot. Be sure to make it count and shoot them only once so that they don't come back and bite you. [endnote 35 here]

Page 202
35. I took the concept of shooting our dogs from a conversation I had with a friend named Jon Phelps, who is the president of DC-3 Entertainment and the founder of Full Sail College. 
Jon Phelps is co-credited with Mark Driscoll for Reverse-Engineering Your Life

Skipping the phrase "shoot your dogs" entirely and moving on to names and references, to get some idea of who Jon Phelps is we may have to go find out what there is available about the two things Driscoll refers to Phelps being president and founder of respectively.

So ... DC-3 Entertainment.

Nathan Burke, who served as executive assistant to Mark Driscoll and as executive elder at Mars Hill Ballard wrote the following in his LinkedIn profile:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanburke

Project Manager

DC3 Entertainment

May 2005 – April 2006 (1 year) Greater Seattle Area

A start-up entertainment company that ended up morphing into a coffee company: http://www.storyville.com/

Storyville Coffee is currently where Jamie Munson is co-president and has a five percent ownership in the firm.  The variant spellings don't blur the detail that Jon Phelps owns the company.


So what is Full Sail College?  Driscoll's reference was made in an endnote in a book published in 2006.  Well, now it is 2013 and Full Sail College is now  Full Sail University.  For people who kept tabs on the 2012 presidential race some of you may remember that Rachel Maddow discussed Full Sail University in particular and for-profit colleges in general as a talking point for the Romney campaign:
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show#48603715

It's a ten-minute clip and for those who don't feel like watching it, well, the short of it is that Maddow notes that students who enrolled in Full Sail University's computer gaming animation program the on-time graduation rate was 14% and the cumulative graduation rate was about 34% and the median debt incurred regardless of the academic outcome was 59k.  Maddow then transitioned into discussing how for-profit colleges have made a point of targeting veterans.  If you're not the sort to watch Maddow clips this summary might not convince you to watch the clip.

According to an article in the Orlando Sentinel, Jon Phelps founded Full Sail in January 1979.
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010-08-01/business/os-cfb-cover-full-sail-080210-20100801_1_full-sail-university-jon-phelps-rolling-stone

On February 24, 2013 the following video got posted to Youtube by fullsailreviews, which looks like a pretty anti-Full Sail University channel overall.  But independent consultation of real estate listings shows that the Phelps have a lot of money landed in Seattle real estate. 

Mark Driscoll and Jon Phelps are co-creators and owners of the copyright in "Reverse-Engineering Your Life" which appeared in some mens' retreat materials circa 2006 and in a different format at the end of Real Marriage.

But even if we consider the bias against Full Sail University there is an inferential case to be made that the Jon and Esther Phelps own enough real estate in the Puget Sound area to propose the possibilities that 1) they are members of Mars Hill Church or may be present in some capacity and 2) that Phelps has been credited by Mark Driscoll with axioms on leadership and planning that have featured in at least two of Driscoll's books. 

UPDATE/POSTSCRIPT
08-30-2014
In light of the recent announcement, Wenatchee The Hatchet has added new posts with additional history (such as can be found) about Phelps and has added a tag to the posts for easier consultation. 

http://wenatcheethehatchet.blogspot.com/2014/08/throckmorton-reports-jon-phelps-added.html
http://wenatcheethehatchet.blogspot.com/2014/08/jonjohn-phelps-background-connected-to.html
http://wenatcheethehatchet.blogspot.com/2014/08/phelpes-proposed-storyville-in-park.html

This post was originally published back in late September 2013 (per the url) but adding a tag seems to have changed the publication date.

Phelpes proposed 2010-2011 Storyville in the Park in Ashland, OR--a promising project that deadlocked over land use impact concerns

One of the things that has been mentioned about the apparently recently announced new addition to the Mars Hill Board of Advisors and Accountability Jon Phelps is he has a longtime association with Mars Hill.  Some reporters and writers also consider him a bit reclusive and elusive.  While he has been described as being one of the biggest donors in the history of Mars Hill, if not "the" biggest financial backer of Mars Hill it's not possible or practical to verify or debunk those kinds of claims.

As with so many things associated with the history of persons significant in the history of Mars Hill, sometimes the only clues are in a history of real estate. 
For those unfamiliar with Phelps, he's more likely to have any national recognition as founder of Full Sail University, per an old 1990 piece about Full SailL

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1990-03-19/business/9003174154_1_full-sail-sail-graduates-phelps

In the Pacific Northwest Phelps is better known for Storyville Coffee.  The Stranger noted a long-time association between Jon Phelps and Mars Hill but unfortunately botched the date of the publication of a Driscoll book.

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/coffee-and-mars-hill/Content?oid=17866798

Jon and Esther Phelps are cited as Storyville owners; as Mars Hillers, they merited a thank-you from Driscoll in his 2009 book The Radical Reformission: Reaching Out Without Selling Out.

Actually, the book was published in 2004.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Radical-Reformission-Reaching-without/dp/0310256593

Paperback: 208 pages

Publisher: Zondervan (September 13, 2004)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0310256593

ISBN-13: 978-0310256595

Which means that the Phelpses have at least a ten year association of some kind with Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill.  It's a shame Clement or an editor got the publication date of Driscoll's first big book wrong. 

http://www.amazon.com/Reformission-Reaching-Out-without-Selling/dp/0310515009/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1409432837&sr=1-3&keywords=Reformission+Mark+Driscoll

Paperback: 208 pages

Publisher: Zondervan; Reprint edition (April 8, 2013)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0310515009

ISBN-13: 978-0310515005

The book seems to have been redesigned and republished as Reformission in 2013.  Any enterprising readers want to note who owns the copyright for the reprinted book?

Anyway, moving along back to Jon Phelps

A little bird sent something to Wenatchee The Hatchet from a
http://www.mailtribune.com/article/20110305/News/103050309

But this is just a redistributor of earlier news stories.  But Wenatchee is one of those native Northwesterners who saw immediately that this was coverage from Ashland, OR and it was just a matter of going back to the local paper for more direct coverage.

The story of the proposed project goes back to 2010.  The owners of Storyville Coffee hoped to set up a lodge-style restaurant

http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20101023/NEWS02/10230306/0/SEARCH

a story from 2011, of Ashland, OR official in ethics quandary over accepting a ride on a plane (owned by Phelps)
March 4, 2011
by Vicki Aldous

Ashland Community Development Department Director Bill Molnar accepted a free scenic airplane ride over Ashland and Crater Lake from Mark Knox, a local land use consultant who frequently represents clients with planning applications reviewed by the department, city officials said.The plane was owned by Jon and Esther Phelps. The couple are proposing to build a lodge-style restaurant on Winburn Way, across from Lithia Park. - See more at: http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110304/NEWS02/103040306/-1/rss01#sthash.AHIRNb7J.dpuf

There were concerns, but Molnar still clearly has his job as Community Development Director of the City of Ashland.  That was just a minor consideration along the way.  There were concerns about whether the free scenic airplane ride created any undue influence.  It looks like it didn't. 

Per local coverage city restrictions were tighter than state restrictions (for readers who have never lived in Oregon this is a state in which Portland, to this day, has never put fluoride in its municipal water).  Molnar didn't know the plane he was given a ride in was owned by the Phelps when the plane ride was offered. 

So that issue was cleared up and the real problem that presented itself were matters of land use and zoning restrictions.

March 4, 2011 (also by Aldous)
http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20110304/NEWS02/103040305/0/SEARCH
Mayor John Stromberg had mixed things to say about the Phelps' proposed project.  It had a lot of good points going for it but there were concerns about parking and about land use if the proposed restaurant failed.  For those who may not track those things restaurants are frequently businesses that go out of business within the first three years of opening, give or take regional variation.  The failure rate of a restaurant can be pretty high.  Ergo concerns from the city, per the article, tow hat use would the land be put if the restaurant didn't work?

Another concern was the impact development would have on parking associated with medical offices.

March 4, 2011
http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20110304/NEWS02/103040306/-1/rss01


By May 2011 the project was dead
http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20110507/NEWS02/105070304/0/SEARCH
By Vickie Aldous
       Posted May. 7, 2011 @ 2:00 am

          A couple proposing to build a 189-seat restaurant across from Lithia Park has abandoned the idea after the Ashland City Council approved the plan on Wednesday with conditions that included $250,000 in parking impact fees.Jon and Esther Phelps, founders of Seattle-based Storyville Coffee, released a statement on Friday saying they would not build the restaurant.

Jon and Esther Phelps, founders of Seattle-based Storyville Coffee, released a statement on Friday saying they would not build the restaurant."We are disappointed that the dream of Storyville in the Park has come to an end. We have concluded that the terms and conditions put forth by the Ashland City Council render our project unfeasible," they said in the brief written statement.
- See more at:
http://www.dailytidings.com/article/20110507/NEWS02/105070304/0/SEARCH#sthash.RxUtNdqG.dpuf

The project was approved with certain fees and restrictions, but these were fees and restrictions that the Phelpses.

For those who don't know why Lithia Park was such a significant concern ...

http://www.ashland.or.us/Page.asp?NavID=14068
...

The park began with eight acres in 1892 by the Chautauqua Association to bring entertainment and culture to southern Oregon. They built a domed building for their shows, the walls of which now surround the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Elizabethan Theater.

Visitors came from miles around over the next thirty summers to participate in the various attractions offered and to camp in what was to become Lithia Park.
The Oregon Shakespeare Festival began in 1935 with a three-day summer festival of Shakespearean plays under founding director Angus Bowmer.

Phelps background connected to Storyville Coffee continued,

published at

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/2014/08/29/mars-hill-church-updates-members-on-paul-tripp-and-new-additions-to-board-of-advisors-and-accountability/

 

Update on Paul Tripp & The BOAA

As we have shared before, Paul Tripp recently resigned his membership from our Board of Advisors and Accountability. To the best of our knowledge at the time, this was due to his intent in helping Mars Hill as a paid consultant.

 

Paul later released a statement, adding additional comments that he did not believe the structure of the Board that he joined was healthy, and that we should add accountability from local members of the church. Paul’s concerns were not made known to the Board as a whole before he resigned; however, we agree there is wisdom in adding local members to this board and we were already in the process of doing just that.

 

We have now become aware of new comments and concerns that Paul Tripp has voiced about Pastor Mark and Pastor Sutton within the last week to a small group of current elders at Mars Hill. These elders then posted these comments as a letter in an unsecure place, and the letter has since been posted online by various critics and media sources.

 

Paul Tripp’s comments to our elders were never made directly to the Board of Advisors and Accountability, as we have minutes of these meetings. We are deeply disappointed that Paul did not bring these concerns to our full Board or to the Executive Elders directly.

 

The concerns brought forth by these elders and the comments from Paul Tripp have been heard and are being taken seriously. Their letter, as with past letters voicing accusations toward Pastor Mark, will be processed in accordance with our bylaws. This means the accusations will be thoroughly examined and a report issued when the review is complete.

 

As for the Board of Advisors and Accountability we are pleased to announce that the vacancies created on the Board were filled with local members of our church who meet the ECFA guidelines for independence. Pastor Matt Rogers is a local Seattle business leader and has been serving as a volunteer elder at Mars Hill Church Bellevue. He will also serve as the Chairman of the Board of Elders which will provide increased accountability in areas of financial responsibility, staff and elder transitions and church culture. The other vacancy on the BOAA has been filled by John Phelps. John is a successful businessman and longtime member of Mars Hill. We are excited for these men to provide local perspective and accountability on our Board.

John Phelps may or may not be the same as Jon Phelps, but the Phelps is described as a longtime member of Mars Hill.  Sources for Wenatchee The Hatchet have not been able to verify that Phelps has any account on The City, but a membership contract was an option without City membership for more than half the history of Mars Hill.  It's possible that at one point Phelps had a profile on The City but doesn't have one now.  In any event, since membership at Mars Hill Church so frequently tends to include City membership/access (and the revocation of this privilege was one of the signature disciplinary elements in the Andrew Lamb case) it would be normative to anticipate City access ... but, moving along.

Thanks to some alert readership, and in light of a report that Jon Phelps has been reportedly added as a member of the Mars Hill Board of Advisors and Accountability, here are a few extra bits of coverage of Storyville Coffee and associated companies.


http://seattle.eater.com/archives/2013/09/19/storyvilles-flyboy-to-challenge-starbucks.php
September 19, 2013
Storyville is run by founder Jon Phelps and his co-presidents Jamie Munson (a youthful former executive pastor of Mars Hill Church, currently a writer and motivational speaker) and Kris Rosentrater, who's been running the day-to-day roasting operation on Bainbridge


http://theseattlecoffeeproject.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/life-as-story-storyville/
... Storyville is the product of Jon Phelps, Jamie Munson, and Kris Rosentrater. The business began as a mail-based bean retailer. The Bainbridge roasting facility offered one signature blend called Prologue with a decaf alternative, appropriately called Epilogue.
...
The plane in that logo has a story as well.  You can see it’s real life inspiration in a photomontage against the wall: a bright shiny Douglas D-3. The Barista tells me the plane actually belongs to owner Jon Phelps.  This machine has shown up in Phelp’s other creative and business pursuits: the name of his musical project, the DC3 Orchestra, and the logo for Full Sail University, which he was founder of.  The Douglas D-3 was an early commercial passenger aircraft, one of the planes that made air travel accessible to the public. A vehicle that allowed people to travel to new places, have new adventures, and create new stories.

You also get a glimpse of Storyville’s own backstory when walking in to the café. On the wall, in large silver letters, is a quote from Gary Phelps, Jon Phelp’s son. Gary has Down’s Syndrome, and when friends discovered they were expecting a Down’s Syndrome baby, they met with the Phelp family to help them understand what to expect. Jon turned the question over to his son, asking him what it was like, having Down’s. Gary thought for a moment then said, “Love everybody, never ever hurt anybody.”

The DC-3 is to be expected, and while what happened to DC-3 Entertainment (this, perhaps?) is a bit of a mystery perhaps some readers can find things out about that.  saf

Some local Queen Anne coverage from February 2014
http://queenannenews55.1upprelaunch.com/main.asp?SectionID=26&SubSectionID=337&ArticleID=35257
...
Not everyone has welcomed Storyville with open arms, though. An October 2013 article in The Stranger proposed the coffee company’s relationship to Mars Hill Church. The church and its head pastor, Mark Driscoll, have long been connected with messages of misogyny and homophobia. Munson was a former executive pastor at Mars Hill, the article states.

A follow-up article shows a since-removed post on the Mars Hill site that said, “God has used Storyville Coffee to bless Mars Hill Downtown. Since the Downtown campus has been planted, Storyville has donated tens of thousands of dollars worth of coffee, supplies and equipment.”
Munson denies any connection to Mars Hill and says the shops do not donate anything to the church. Lund has had customers come in and ask about it, but it’s a quick conversation when she explains they have no affiliation, she said.

“It’s a little unfair,” Munson said about the presumed connection. “But it hasn’t shut us down.”
Last week, the Queen Anne Moms and Dads group were circulating emails about the possible Mars Hill connection. Moderator Jill Gallagher said she doesn’t believe in what Mars Hill stands for and won’t patronize a company affiliated with them.

It might, perhaps, have been a little unfair but as Wenatchee The Hatchet documented in two places, there were reasons to believe that in spite of a lack of any formal connections between Storyville and Mars Hill Church Jamie Munson was still listed as a pastor for those who had access to The City.

See an old post from October 2013
http://wenatcheethehatchet.blogspot.com/2013/10/where-are-they-now-update-2-jamie.html

and more recently
June 9, 2014, replete with a redacted screen capture of what was then Munson's current (to the day) profile on The City

http://wenatcheethehatchet.blogspot.com/2014/06/jamie-munsons-role-within-mars-hill.html

By that time, however, Munson was not at Storyville, was he? Precisely when Munson stepped out would be difficult to pin down but he was gone by then.
http://wenatcheethehatchet.blogspot.com/2014/06/jamie-munson-now-lists-himself-as.html

Rosentrater was gone by then, too. 

Perhaps more salient, there was another company that may provide a clue as to when the transition happened, perhaps. 

http://www.bainbridgereview.com/business/134131098.html
https://opencorporates.com/officers/81635026

JONATHAN PHELPS
Company    inactive
SEATTLE QUEEN ANNE, LLC
Name
JONATHAN PHELPS
Position
member

It isn't described as currently inactive but Munson's departure from Storyville was confirmed at least by way of a LinkedIn adjustment.

http://www.sos.wa.gov/corps/search_detail.aspx?ubi=603183232
SEATTLE QUEEN ANNE, LLC
UBI Number             603183232
Category               LLC
Active/Inactive        Active
State Of Incorporation WA
WA Filing Date         02/21/2012
Expiration Date        02/28/2015
Inactive Date 
Duration Perpetual

Agent Name
CT CORPORATION SYSTEM 
505 UNION AVE, SE STE120
OLYMPIA WA 98501 

Manager
MUNSON , JAMIE
9459 COPPERTOP LOOP NE
SEATTLE , WA 98110 

Manager
THOMPSON , BRAD
9459 COPPERTOP LOOP NE
SEATTLE , WA 98110 

Member, Manager
PHELPS , JONATHAN
9459 COPPERTOP LOOP NE
SEATTLE , WA 98110 

Manager
ROSENTRATER , KRIS
9459 COPPERTOP LOOP NE
SEATTLE , WA 98110 

POSTSCRIPT
this was conveyed to Wenatchee The Hatchet just recently
http://www.northlandchurch.net/blogs/dc3o_leading_worship_at_northland_this_weekend/

http://www.stumptownblogger.com/2009/06/a-classic-bird-from-ty-rogoway-photography.html

http://www.dc3orchestra.com/

Throckmorton reports Jon Phelps added to MH BoAA, an overview of compiled writings on Phelps

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/coffee-and-mars-hill/Content?oid=17866798

http://www.insidebainbridge.com/2013/10/08/whats-the-storyville-with-the-empty-retail-space-in-the-heart-of-winslow/

...

Three people who do have specific titles at Storyville are the three owners. The owner and CEO is Islander and philanthropist Phelps, also the founder of Full Sail University, a for-profit Orlando-based school specializing in music and the entertainment industry that was highly touted by Mitt Romney during his presidential campaign, and co-author (with Mark Driscoll) of Reverse Engineering Your Life and Marriage. Co-president Munson is a former executive pastor of the controversial-in-the-news Ballard-based Mars Hill Church (for which Driscoll is the pastor). Co-president Kris Rosentrater is the former drummer for Christian goth/electronic band Spy Glass Blue.

Note that earlier this year it was reported Jamie Munson has resigned membership and eldership from Mars Hill Church.

As for Storyville Coffee, on October 2, 2013 The Stranger discussed the company:

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/coffee-and-mars-hill/Content?oid=17866798

...

One of the copresidents of Storyville is Jamie Munson, former executive pastor of Mars Hill Church. Munson was on staff at Mars Hill for a dozen years before resigning from this high-up role in 2011; his resignation letter, posted online at marshill.com, declares "I LOVE MARS HILL," noting, "My time on staff at Mars Hill Church has come to an end, but the Munson family is not going anywhere, and we're so excited to see what Jesus does in the next fifteen years."

That resignation letter has been thoroughly scrubbed as of some time this year, so you won't be able to go read it unless someone archived that page somewhere.  Bethan Jean Clement's article also went on to feature this:

I tried to reach Munson, Rosentrater, and Esther Phelps for comment; I was directed to send an e-mail. A Storyville marketing manager then assured me, "As a company, we are not affiliated with any religious organization of any kind." I answered that while there may not be an official connection, given the involvement in Mars Hill of the company's principals, it seems logical that profits from Storyville will end up benefiting Mars Hill. Would they be willing to comment on that? As of press time, no reply has been forthcoming.

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/10/03/god-has-used-storyville-coffee-to-bless-mars-hill-downtown

...

Storyville Coffee is the new cafe in Pike Place Market owned by people with serious ties to neo-evangelical, homophobic, misogynist Mars Hill Church—here's the story on that. Asked about the connection, a Storyville marketing manager assured me, "As a company, we are not affiliated with any religious organization of any kind." I answered that while there may not be an official connection, given the involvement in Mars Hill of the company's principals, it seems logical that profits from Storyville will end up benefiting Mars Hill. Would they be willing to comment on that? They still have not responded.
Now an internet sleuth in comments on that story has discovered a cached page from the Mars Hill website that indicates that as recently as 2009, the Storyville Coffee Company (which at that point was a roastery without any cafes) was donating directly to Mars Hill Church:

God has used Storyville Coffee to bless Mars Hill Downtown. Since the Downtown campus has been planted Storyville has donated tens of thousands of dollars worth of coffee, supplies, and equipment. God is continuing to use Storyville to bless people and advance the gospel message.

The blog post has apparently since been taken down.
I think it is naive to believe that Storyville profits will not end up in Mars Hill pockets. Various commenters have other theories about the Storyville/Mars Hill link.

Bear in mind that while The Stranger used archive.org to reference older forms of info Mars Hill has since introduced robots.txt to preclude web crawls of content.

No, wait, actually this one still works!
http://web.archive.org/web/20090522212500/http://downtownseattle.marshillchurch.org/2009/05/05/storyville-coffee-frees-slaves/

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/2014/08/29/mars-hill-church-updates-members-on-paul-tripp-and-new-additions-to-board-of-advisors-and-accountability/

Material published by Throckmorton reads as follows:

Update on Paul Tripp & The BOAA

As we have shared before, Paul Tripp recently resigned his membership from our Board of Advisors and Accountability. To the best of our knowledge at the time, this was due to his intent in helping Mars Hill as a paid consultant.

 

Paul later released a statement, adding additional comments that he did not believe the structure of the Board that he joined was healthy, and that we should add accountability from local members of the church. Paul’s concerns were not made known to the Board as a whole before he resigned; however, we agree there is wisdom in adding local members to this board and we were already in the process of doing just that.

 

We have now become aware of new comments and concerns that Paul Tripp has voiced about Pastor Mark and Pastor Sutton within the last week to a small group of current elders at Mars Hill. These elders then posted these comments as a letter in an unsecure place, and the letter has since been posted online by various critics and media sources.

 

Paul Tripp’s comments to our elders were never made directly to the Board of Advisors and Accountability, as we have minutes of these meetings. We are deeply disappointed that Paul did not bring these concerns to our full Board or to the Executive Elders directly.

 

The concerns brought forth by these elders and the comments from Paul Tripp have been heard and are being taken seriously. Their letter, as with past letters voicing accusations toward Pastor Mark, will be processed in accordance with our bylaws. This means the accusations will be thoroughly examined and a report issued when the review is complete.

 

As for the Board of Advisors and Accountability we are pleased to announce that the vacancies created on the Board were filled with local members of our church who meet the ECFA guidelines for independence. Pastor Matt Rogers is a local Seattle business leader and has been serving as a volunteer elder at Mars Hill Church Bellevue. He will also serve as the Chairman of the Board of Elders which will provide increased accountability in areas of financial responsibility, staff and elder transitions and church culture. The other vacancy on the BOAA has been filled by John Phelps. John is a successful businessman and longtime member of Mars Hill. We are excited for these men to provide local perspective and accountability on our Board.

Read more: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/2014/08/29/mars-hill-church-updates-members-on-paul-tripp-and-new-additions-to-board-of-advisors-and-accountability/#ixzz3Bq4ZvwTs

As yet more formal verification by public announcement from Mars Hill has not been spotted by Wenatchee The Hatchet, but this may be a suitable opportunity to keep revisiting past writings about Jon Phelps

From ...
http://wenatcheethehatchet.blogspot.com/2014/02/mark-driscolls-eye-twitch-naturopath.html

Real Marriage: the truth about sex, friendship & life togetherMark and Grace Driscoll
Thomas Nelson
(c) 2012 by On Mission, LLC
ISBN 978-1-4041-8352-0 (ie)
page 208

I had multiple stress-related symptoms--heartburn, headaches, nervous eye twitch, aggressive driving, constant low-level anger, high blood pressure, and self-medicating with foods and drinks packed with fat, sugar, and simple carbohydrates, along with caffeine.

Perhaps a few months after things had reached this level, a godly friend in the church, named Jon, scheduled a meeting with me. God had laid it on his heart to speak some wisdom into my life. He did so with great humility, and in that meeting he gave me some insights that were life changing.  [emphasis added]

Jon had been taking notes on how he organized his life, things he had learned, and what he felt the Holy Spirit had asked him to tell me. His wisdom was a priceless gift. He called it "Reverse Engineering." The big idea is to anticipate life forward and live it backward. 

... For my health I found a doctor named John who was a naturopath and ordained pastor and started doing what he told me to do, which has changed my life. 
Mark credits Jon Phelps with the idea but gets first billing in the copyright?  Interesting.  Let's keep in mind that date because Reverse-Engineering Your Life ended up being the first session at the 2005 Mars Hill Men's Training Camp:

http://marshill.com/files/theology/1/Mens%20Training%20-%20Mars%20Hill%20-%202006%20Reverse%20Engineering.pdf

From ...
http://wenatcheethehatchet.blogspot.com/2013/09/jon-phelps-founder-full-sail-university.html

Confessions of a Reformission Rev
Mark Driscoll, Zondervan, 2006
ISBN-13:978-0-310-27016-4
ISBN-10:0-310-27016-2
Copyright 2006 by Mark DriscollFrom pages 34-35

Question 9
Do you have the courage to shoot your dogs?

Dogs are idiotic ideas, stinky styles, stupid systems, failed facilities, terrible technologies, loser leaders, and pathetic people. Most churches know who and what their dogs are but simply lack the courage to pull the trigger and shoot their dogs. Therefore it is vital to name with brutal candor the people, programs, structures, and ministry philosophies that are dogs needing to be shot. Be sure to make it count and shoot them only once so that they don't come back and bite you. [endnote 35 here]

Page 202
35. I took the concept of shooting our dogs from a conversation I had with a friend named Jon Phelps, who is the president of DC-3 Entertainment and the founder of Full Sail College. 
Jon Phelps is co-credited with Mark Driscoll for Reverse-Engineering Your Life

Skipping the phrase "shoot your dogs" entirely and moving on to names and references, to get some idea of who Jon Phelps is we may have to go find out what there is available about the two things Driscoll refers to Phelps being president and founder of respectively.

So ... DC-3 Entertainment.

Nathan Burke, who served as executive assistant to Mark Driscoll and as executive elder at Mars Hill Ballard wrote the following (at one point) in his LinkedIn profile:

http://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanburke

Project Manager

DC3 Entertainment

May 2005 – April 2006 (1 year) Greater Seattle Area

A start-up entertainment company that ended up morphing into a coffee company: http://www.storyville.com/

Precisely how DC-3 Entertainment mutated into Storyville would be a story that perhaps someone else can dig into because even though it's Labor Day weekend Wenatchee The Hatchet does things besides research and writing.  Anyway, let's get back to recycled material in homage to the spiritual warfare series that's been published lately ...

So what is Full Sail College?  Driscoll's reference was made in an endnote in a book published in 2006.  Well, now it is 2013 and Full Sail College is now  Full Sail University.  For people who kept tabs on the 2012 presidential race some of you may remember that Rachel Maddow discussed Full Sail University in particular and for-profit colleges in general as a talking point for the Romney campaign:
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show#48603715

It's a ten-minute clip and for those who don't feel like watching it, well, the short of it is that Maddow notes that students who enrolled in Full Sail University's computer gaming animation program the on-time graduation rate was 14% and the cumulative graduation rate was about 34% and the median debt incurred regardless of the academic outcome was 59k.  Maddow then transitioned into discussing how for-profit colleges have made a point of targeting veterans.  If you're not the sort to watch Maddow clips this summary might not convince you to watch the clip.

According to an article in the Orlando Sentinel, Jon Phelps founded Full Sail in January 1979.
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2010-08-01/business/os-cfb-cover-full-sail-080210-20100801_1_full-sail-university-jon-phelps-rolling-stone

On February 24, 2013 the following video got posted to Youtube by fullsailreviews, which looks like a pretty anti-Full Sail University channel overall.  But independent consultation of real estate listings shows that the Phelps have a lot of money landed in Seattle real estate. 

Mark Driscoll and Jon Phelps are co-creators and owners of the copyright in "Reverse-Engineering Your Life" which appeared in some mens' retreat materials circa 2006 and in a different format at the end of Real Marriage.

But even if we consider the bias against Full Sail University there is an inferential case to be made that the Jon and Esther Phelps own enough real estate in the Puget Sound area to propose the possibilities that 1) they are members of Mars Hill Church or may be present in some capacity and 2) that Phelps has been credited by Mark Driscoll with axioms on leadership and planning that have featured in at least two of Driscoll's books. 

Thus endeth the passage of recycling, and as of today it can't be confirmed whether Phelps is a member beyond the recent public statement, and it would be rather difficult (to say the least) to know if the said membership would entail, say, any evidence of existence on the town.