some background on some members of the Board of Advisors and Accountability for Mars Hill Church

Let's go with the basic list that's been bandied about a few places.

Mark Driscoll
Dave Bruskas
(John) Sutton Turner

These guys need no introduction and the news about them is essentially a given.  That these three men are on the Board of Advisors and Accountability that congratulated them on enduring false accusations as, so far, everything has been essentially confirmed about plagiarism (intentional or negligent plagiarism at this point is immaterial) and sales rigging has turned out to be stuff that is either directly or indirectly admitted to so far.

But then there's these other guys, in blue:

http://marshill.com/2013/11/23/dr-paul-tripp-joins-mars-hill-s-board-of-advisors-and-accountability

Dr. [Paul] Tripp joins the current Board members: Michael Van Skaik, Dr. James MacDonald, Dr. Larry Osborne, Mark Driscoll, Dave Bruskas, and Sutton Turner. This Board of Advisors and Accountability was voted upon and installed by an overwhelmingly supportive vote from the entire eldership, with every single elder who voted doing so in approval.

So James MacDonald's association with Mark Driscoll as a personal friend is easily established.  They collaborated on Churches Helping Churches, and both introduced T. D. Jakes as a conventional, non-modalist Trinitarian at Elephant Room 2 (though this did not convince all that many Reformed evangelicals that Jakes was anything close to conventionally trinitarian and that's grist for some other blog).  MacDonald's church has been, it seems, significantly in debt and MacDonald himself has come under some scrutiny for gambling and for the debt that Harvest Bible Chapel has racked up over the years.  But MacDonald is a friend of Driscoll's and, as Driscoll put it in a video, MacDonald has "the spiritual gift of real estate acquisition".  So it goes. 

Now Larry Osborne's role as consulting in some fashion in reorganization of Mars Hill can be traced back to 2006-2007 in Confessions of a Reformission Rev (Zondervan, 2006) and Mark Driscoll's letter to Mars Hill Church in 2007 that can be read over in the first few pages of the 145-page document available in the Timeline at Joyful Exiles.

Paul Tripp is going to be featured at the R14 conference this year, it seems.
https://theresurgence.com/conference

He was also featured in the "Best Sermon Ever" series
http://marshill.com/media/best-sermon-ever/dr-paul-tripp-the-difference-between-amazement-and-faith-mark-6-45-52

That Tripp has a history of influence within Mars Hill is less directly obvious than would be for the executive elders of MHC, obviously, but it's not difficult to establish what Tripp's influence within MH has been over the years.  CCEF in general and Paul Tripp in particular got credited as a key influence in the change Mars Hill Church took in pastoral counseling, a process that is apparently credited ultimately to Mark Driscoll.

Redemption" Freed by Jesus from the Idols We Worship and the Wounds We Carry
Copyright (c) 2011 by Mike Wilkerson
Published by Crossway
Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-2077-8
PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-2078-5
page 15

A few years ago, Pastor Mark Driscoll initiated some significant change in the way we approached what he called the Ground War, the many one-on-one and small-group ministries that are essential to gospel transformation and that complement the Air War, the public preaching ministry. He asserted that the Air War and the Ground War must be unified and that the Ground War must be properly unified within itself. We needed to rethink the way we equipped our counselors and Community Group Leaders. [all emphasis added]

Pastor Mark connected us with the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF), and as we read their materials and consulted with them about our ministries, some things became clear to us. ... [ditto]

page 16

Those were some of our structural problems. But our worst problem was that these groups were not all unified by the same vision of biblical counseling. As each new kind of group formed, a new curriculum was required, each from a slightly (in some cases significantly) different perspective. Some were thoroughly biblical, while others were an uncomfortable blend of Christian "principles" governed by secular psychological worldviews and methods. The groups were incompatible with one
another, and in some cases, in conflict with the pulpit. [emphasis added] So a husband in one kind of group might receive counsel that contradicted what his wife received in another kind of group, both of which may have clashed with waht they heard preached on Sunday--and they may not have even known it.

So by Mike Wilkerson's account a major change in how pastoral counseling at Mars Hill Church took place because Mark Driscoll instigated the process of changing those things.  While in Grace Driscoll's chapter 7 of Real Marriage the explanation she gave was that groups were either not gospel-centered or wrongly focused on behavioral change Wilkerson's account in his Foreward suggests that one of the problems was ...

page  16
We also observed that sometimes these issue-specific groups had the unfortunate side effect of reinforcing a participant's issue-based identity, instead of helping them throw off false
identities and embrace his identity in Christ.  So Christians seeking help to live life free from pornography might learn that, actually, they were porn addicts,  something they would have to live with and manage, something their spouses would have to live with and accommodate. [emphases original]

Wilkerson goes on a bit to explain how James Noriega pioneered mixed issue counseling groups that became the prototype for Redemption Groups.  That stuff is not pertinent to this particular post.  asdf

But here is something that is interesting:
(still page 16)

In the fall of 2008, I gathered a team of pastors to see how we could address these challenges.  On that initial team were Pastors James Noreiga, Brad House, and Phil Smidt. We decided to replace some eight to ten different issue-specific recovery groups with gospel-based, mixed-issue Redemption Groups, drawing upon Pastor James' working prototype, and redesigning them based on an original content platform. T he idea to base the curriculum on Exodus as the Bible's pattern of redemption was initially influenced by the teaching of Gerry Breshears at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon, who had lectured at some conferences hosted by Mars Hill.

The idea continued to gain ground as Mark Driscoll preached his "Christ on the Cross" series, where he taught on the them of redemption in Christ's atonement and its Old Testament background in Exodus.  (This preaching series later became the book Death By Love, by Driscoll and Breshears) Also appealing was the thought of a curriculum based on a large biblical narrative--a story we could find ourselves within--and what better story than the exodus? Finally, the relevance of this
motiff to our counseling challenges was confirmed in a conversation with David Powlison from CCEF.  He pointed out that in the Bible the theme of redemption applies to deliverance from both sin and suffering.

The Christ on the Cross series was in 2005, the year before Grace Driscoll was said to have shared a story of past abuse with Mark Driscoll.  Yet the Christ on the Cross series dates from October through December 2005.  This series not only predated Grace Driscoll sharing her story with Mark Driscoll about a past sexual abuse experience (the Real Marriage series has Driscoll saying a key conversation happened in 2006)

http://marshill.com/media/real-marriage/new-marriage-same-spouse
Mark Driscoll, Real Marriage, "New Marriage, Same Spouse"
Preached January 15, 2012
... And she looked at me. She said, “Oh, my gosh. I’m so sorry. What did I say wrong?” And I said, “You didn’t say anything wrong, honey. You’re a rape victim. You’re a sexual assault victim.” I said, “I didn’t know that about you. I’ve known you for—” Gosh, at that point, this was six years ago. We met in 1988, so this would’ve been in maybe 2006, five or six years ago. I’d known her for, what is that, eighteen years. I didn’t know. And to be honest with you, she didn’t know. She’d never really connected her story to the reality of what was done to her.

So 2006, perhaps, but the Christ on the Cross series was the end of 2005.  Not only did this predate Grace Driscoll, by Mark Driscoll's account, sharing a story with him about her sexual abuse, it also
potentially predate the formal installation of James Noriega.

http://marshill.com/media/1st-corinthians/spiritual-gifts-part-ii#transcript

Part 26: One Body, Many parts

1 Corinthians 12:12-26

Pastor Mark Driscoll

July 30, 2006

… In the meantime, we also picked up another miracle. This is West Seattle. This is on 35th at the top of the hill in West Seattle as you head toward White Center. I grew up in this neighborhood. This is a church building that is an absolute miracle. I’ll tell you the story on this space. I tried to launch Mars Hill Church in that building ten years ago, and we were rejected, and I’ve always wanted to be in there since. And what happened was, is we were growing. I went to Pastor Bill Clem, who was leading that congregation. He planted it for Acts 29 Church Planning Network  him and James Noriega, who is the other elder there and I said, “We’re maxed out. You got a fat building, 50,000 square feet, 1,000 seats.:” It’s a bigger building and the one you’re sitting in right now. I said, “Is there any way we to use it?” They said, “Well, we wanna reach as many people in West Seattle as possible. How about if we give it to you and work together?” we prayed about it for a second and said, “Yes.”

So if Wilkerson's account didn't fumble on any dates were he and James Noriega part of a team planning a new set of paradigms in 2005 even before he started a group in 2008?  Well, it's a little tiny bit mysterious but the possibility that Mark Driscoll, in this narrative, was moving toward having all Ground War unified with what he had planned for Air War could make sense of most of the subordinate details and chronological points in a timeline.

Finally, over in acknowledgments, Wilkerson refers to Paul Tripp again.

Page 20, from Acknowledgments in Redemption by Mike Wilkerson

Through many books, lectures, and personal interactions with the faculty of CCEF--Ed Welch, Mike Emlet, Winston Smith, Tim Lane, David Powlison--and Paul Tripp [emphasis added], I have been personally challenged and taught how to think biblically about people and how to help them practically and pastorally.  More than anyone, they have provided the vision and guidance to put gospel counseling into practice in the local church.

Thanks to James and Heather Armstrong, Warren and Melissa Myers, Michael and Mary Van Skaik [emphasis added], Hank and Sharon Matthews, Cedar Springs, and Warm Beach for providing comfortable places for me to write.

Well, that does get us pretty quickly to Michael Van Skaik, who is also on the Board of Advisors and Accountability.  Van Skaik apparently played some role in providing Mike Wilkerson comfortable places for writing in.  So who is this person? 

http://web.archive.org/web/20130812014629/http://www.ministrycoaching.org/about/board-of-directors
http://web.archive.org/web/20130911230843/http://www.ministrycoaching.org/about/board-of-directors
From an August 12, 2013 screen capture of the board of directors for Ministry Coaching International, and a September 11, 2013 one, too.

Michael van Skaik

Michael completed an 18 year career in the mortgage banking business in 2003, retiring as the Regional President for a national company. Since then, he has been actively involved in coaching others, first in business (with Building Champions) and now in life and ministry (with Ministry Coaching).

Michael is passionate about helping others live the life that God intends for them. He enjoys guiding others through the various areas of our lives, searching the scriptures for wisdom regarding those areas and then seeing them implement and do what the Word says (James 1:22-27). He also serves as Pastor at Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA as Chair of the Board of Advisors and Accountability.
Michael has been happily married for 31 years, has 3 grown and married daughters and a USMC son. He currently has 6 grandchildren with more to come!

There's no longer any publicly listed page or tab indicating who the Board of Directors for Ministry Coaching International might be or if Michael Van Skaik is still affiliated with the board.  Whether or not he is or was on paid staff could be verified by someone willing to contribute information. 

But that phrase "Ministry Coaching International" does raise a question for people with a long-scale view of Mars Hill history.  Let's go back to Jamie Munson's email in which he formulated charges considered grounds for the immediate terminations of Paul Petry and Bent Meyer.

http://joyfulexiles.files.wordpress.com/2012/03/10-01-2007-email-from-jmunson.pdf

* Continual insubordination and submission to leadership and spiritual authority
* Refusal to Ministry Coaching Program
So what was the Ministry Coaching Program and why would non-participation in it actually have mattered? 

Well, perhaps someone else can field, that, too.  What's of note is that Michael Van Skaik appeared to be an unpaid pastor at Mars Hill Bellevue for at least a while.

July 23, 2011
http://web.archive.org/web/20110723093110/http://bellevue.marshill.com/pastors-and-staff/
November 24, 2011
http://web.archive.org/web/20111124190900/http://bellevue.marshill.com/pastors-and-staff/pastor-michael-van-skaik/
November 23, 2011
http://web.archive.org/web/20111123174252/http://bellevue.marshill.com/pastors-and-staff

Michael van Skaik
Pastor Discipleschip Coaching
michael.vanskaik@marshill.com
marshillonthecity.org/users/2722
Interesting that the formerly public websites of Mars Hill campuses listed the usernames that members and staff had on The City.  That was on the old marshill.com system and in the new format those City profile numbers aren't publicly accessible. 

And for those who may have read this old survey of what the Governance page used to say.

The Compensation Committee consists of at least three members of the Board of Elders chosen from among the nonpaid elders serving on the board. The members of the committee are appointed by the Board of Elders. Currently, the following elders serve on the Compensation Committee: Michael Van Skaik (Chairman), ...

So some time in earlier 2012 Michael Van Skaik was on the Compensation Committee for Mars Hill Church as its chairman. He was also on the Board of Elders in 2012, though he may or may not be on that Board now.  Back in early 2012 this was how the Board of Elders was described:

How is the Board of Elders comprised?The Board of Elders consists of seven elders: three employee elders who form the Executive Elder Team, and four nonpaid elders. A “nonpaid elder” is an elder
(i) who is not an employee of Mars Hill Church;
(ii) who does not have any family or business relationship with any member of the Executive Elder Team; and
(iii) who does not have any material business relationship with the church.
If that (iii) merely referred to something that could be construed as "right now" then it would make sense but if the aim of (iii) was to avoid the possibility of a conflict of interest by having someone on the Board who doesn't have a history of having a business relationship with the church then it's hard to be certain that either Paul Tripp or Michael Van Skaik might qualify across all points in space and time. 

While to an unegaged and incurious reader it might certainly seem as though the four extra guys who aren't executive elders are somehow not compromised by a vocational interest in ministry within Mars Hill Church it's simply not possible to establish that these are people who have had absolutely no personal interest in Mars Hill Church as a corporation either by being friends with Mark Driscoll as a person or by having participated or contributed in some way to the development of significant programs within Mars Hill history (i.e. both Tripp and Van Skaik are thanked for playing some kind of role to help Mike Wilkerson in the writing of a book and in connection to Wilkerson and Noriega architecting what became Redemption Groups).  In fact if you wanted to bother having someone on the board you'd tend to want them to have a vested interest in the causes the organization pursues. 

Finally, it might be worth noting that when you read the forward to Mike Wilkerson's Redemption it reads curiously as though behavioral change was an explicit goal and that the lack of behavioral change in a variety of member situations was part of the reason they changed paradigms.