First we must begin with
the beginning of the public coverage.
Matthew Paul Turner’s blog is obviously where we have to start.
January 23, 2012
… Shortly after
graduating from high school (he was homeschooled), Andrew wanted a change in
scenery. The then Tennessee resident says he needed a change in scenery. He
needed to get away. He needed to grow up. He needed to figure out what he was
going to do with the rest of his life.
So when he turned 20,
Andrew moved away from his quaint life in America’s Bible belt, and he moved to
Seattle, and yes, in hopes of finding himself.
Once he was settled into
life in the great Northwest, Andrew took the advice of an older sibling and
visited Mars Hill Church, the congregational home of Mark Driscoll.
...
According to Andrew,
joining Mars Hill was a good move for him. While he didn’t agree with every
theological declaration that came out Mark Driscoll‘s mouth, he loved his
community, a devoted group of believers who seemed to love, support, and value
him the way Jesus commanded. Over the next couple of years, Andrew became well
connected. He volunteered. He became active in a community group. He even
volunteered on Sundays as church security.
Toward the beginning of
2011, Andrew met and eventually began dating the daughter of a church elder at
Mars Hill. The two fell in love quickly. Last fall, they were engaged to be
married.
But shortly after
becoming engaged, Andrew made a costly choice, one that involved hanging out
alone with a female friend he knew from the community college he attended.
Andrew and his college friend messed around. They didn’t have sex. But they got
close. But what they did and didn’t do isn’t the issue. He cheated on the woman
he was planning to marry. On the following morning, Andrew felt
devastated, his brain flashing memories of what he’d done the night before, his
heart full of shame, guilt, and hindsight’s remorse.
That evening, Andrew met
his fiancée at community group. As soon as she saw his face, she knew something
was wrong. After the meeting was finished, they walked outside to his car (he
was planning to give her a ride home). A long hard conversation ensued, but at
some point in the middle, Andrew confessed.
For obvious reasons, she
was devastated, lost. They parted ways: She returned inside and he got in his
car sped off. But again, his conscience screamed: You can’t run away from this.
So as he turned around, he called one of the small group members and asked,
“Can we talk?” He agreed, and when Andrew pulled back into the driveway of
house where his community group meets, he confessed to his friend (and fellow
community group member) what he’d done the night before.
As so often is the case
with church drama like this, the following month was, for Andrew, filled up
with meetings. A meeting with his old community group leader (he was forced to join
a new community group). A meeting with his new community group leader. A
meeting with his fiancée’s step-father. A meeting with his trusted friend who
also happened to be the leader of his mens small group. So many meetings. And
some of those meetings required second meetings.
There
are two details that are critical here that never got discussed in blogging or
coverage:
1) Andrew, while at Mars
Hill Ballard, was engaged to the daughter of a pastor.
2) The woman is a
stepdaughter.
Keep
these two apparently small but important details in mind as we proceed.
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