http://www.pajamapages.com/how-mark-driscoll-pockets-the-money-he-gives-to-mars-hill/
Longtime readers of Wenatchee The Hatchet will probably already know the amount of legwork done here just to keep up with the various threads of LLCs and copyright ownership involved in Mark Driscoll's published works. I'd meant to get around to digging into and discussing charitable remainder unitrusts but now, arguably, there's no need for that since James Duncan over at Pajama Pages has tackled just that topic this weekend. One of the handy things about bloggers like James Duncan and Warren Throckmorton blogging extensively about Mars Hill Church and Mark Driscoll is that it lets Wenatchee The Hatchet take a break from keeping up with stuff about Mars Hill long enough to write about Hayao Miyazaki films.
Duncan also provides a nice, concise timeline of the development of the On Mission Charitable Remainder Unitrust, On Mission LLC, and those sorts of interstate developments as Mars Hill, Mark Driscoll, and everyone else connected to Real Marriage began to push to promote the book.
Precisely what the connection may be between the On Mission Charitable Remainder Unitrust and the Future Hope Revocable Living Trust, if indeed any exists, remains to be investigate, probably by other people. We can establish that the Future Hope Revocable Living Trust was listed as being headquartered at Mars Hill Church's corporate headquarters in Ballard.
If Hank's going to suggest an avenue for Duncan to explore further Wenatchee The Hatchet can simply shorten that search. Snohomish County Records clarify specifically that Mark and Grace Driscoll bought a house in the county through the financial instrument Future Hope Revocable Living Trust.
Meanwhile, Duncan's summary of charitable remainder unitrusts, what they're for, and how they work, might be some weekend reading for you.
9 comments:
Wenatchee
I've just learned that Mark has written a letter to the MH family yesterday, it's quite long. I've got it and can copy and paste it if you like. Just let me know.
Winston
Winston, does it start something like this?
"Dear Mars Hill Church,
Thank you.
I have received a great deal of love and encouragement from you for more than 17 years. I genuinely appreciate every person who prays for my family and me. Also, I continue to find great joy in teaching the Bible every week to people I have grown to love with a father’s affection."
Because that thing has been making rounds quickly on the internet. Seen it in a couple of places.
Yup, that's it.
It appears that this may be the beginning of an exit plan for Mark. Who knows.
I just now saw this on The City.
I was digging more into this and I'm still puzzled.
Driscoll sold a house in Bellevue on 3/11/13 in HIS NAME for $830k; he purchased it on 7/20/05 for $764K.
Link: (http://info.kingcounty.gov/Assessor/eRealProperty/Dashboard.aspx?ParcelNbr=3034200656)
But this is where things really strange.
When Driscoll sold the house in Bellevue on 3/13/13, he was ALREADY the owner of a property in Woodway that was purchased for 1 million+, on 5/23/12 in the name of Driscoll's Future Hope Revocable Living Trust. However, Driscoll sold this Woodway property for $0 (yes, zero dollars) to the Downs Family Revocable Living Trust (aka Melanie J Thompson), on 9/9/13.
Link: https://www.snoco.org/proptax/%283smkq1vlpjpwir45fkrwls45%29/search.aspx?parcel_number=00704300000600
So, according to the records, the Driscolls don't own a home. I've checked other counties, there are no records. The mystery is the Downs Family Revocable Living Trust and Melanie Thompson.
Thoughts?
Winston, just hazarding a guess here, Melanie J Thompson could potentially be his sister (or, maybe, a sister-in-law?) since Mark's one of five children. The house was basically handed over to another revocable living trust as an on-paper transfer to make it harder to identify that real estate as the residence of the people who bought it. I found the house in June 2013 so a transfer in September 2013 isn't surprising.
The Haller Lake property was likely to get sold once the Woodway was bought. That's not a surprise. But the Driscolls may still be renting that big house they used to live in before the Haller Lake address whether or not they have the formal deed and such these days or not. That would take a bit of digging.
As to the why of it all.
https://theresurgence.com/2013/10/26/the-hardest-part-of-ministry
Driscoll wrote last October that the safety of his family worries him. I'm sure it does, it's just worth pointing out, as I did over here.
http://wenatcheethehatchet.blogspot.com/2013/12/slate-returns-to-subject-of-mark.html
That at one point Driscoll bragged about getting bomb threats.
Radical Reformission
ISBN 0-310-25659-3Mark Driscoll
Zondervan
copyright 2004 by Mars Hill Church
page 14
... So I married Grace, began studying Scripture with the enthusiasm of a glutton at a buffet, and started preparing myself to become a pastor who does not go to jail for doing something stupid. To pay the bills, I edited the opinions section of the campus newspaper, writing inflammatory columns that led to debates, radio interviews, and even a few bomb threats--which was wonderful, because the only thing worse than dying is living a boring life.
***
That's something he published in 2004 years after Ashley was born so this can't be dismissed as something he wrote before he ever became a father.
Melanie Thompson is the sister of Mark Driscoll. She is also his accountant.
Driscoll named all his siblings in a 2001 sermon in the Proverbs series that confirms one of his sisters is named Melanie
http://download.marshill.se/files/2001/10/28/20011028_men-and-masculinity_sd_audio.mp3
MEN AND MASCULINITY
Part 5 of Proverbs
Pastor Mark Driscoll | October 28, 2001
"We – we didn’t watch Will and Grace and think it was funny. We didn’t – we were – we were a very masculine home. Okay? And I had two sisters and two brothers. My brothers’ names are: Mike and Matt. So, it’s Mike, and Mark, and Matt, and Melanie, and Michelle. That’s our family. I don’t know how that happened, but apparently we got stuck right in the middle of the alphabet."
So that one of the Driscoll siblings is named Melanie has been confirmed by Mark Driscoll himself.
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