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.
Saturday, November 20, 2021
a very belated observation about Karen Schaeffer's story in CT's ep 3 of The RIse and Fall of Mars Hill, dismissed as a heretic by the Driscoll who bragged to Ron Wheeler that Bent Meyer and Paul Petry were old guys who gave him respectability
At 40:23 Karen Schaeffer described how Mark Driscoll told her, "I would really love it if you would come work for me as my executive assistant."
At about 41 minutes Schaeffer described how Mark told her he suspected his adrenals were shot (so far back, we'll inevitably come back to Mark invoking adrenal fatigue throughout his career).
At about 41:57 Scheaffer described answering a question about what the most difficult thing was about Mark Driscoll and she said:
At about 41:57 Scheaffer described answering a question about what the most difficult thing was about Mark Driscoll and she said:
My answer was, was not about myself so much at all. It--I said, " I think it's watching him and seeing that he needs more men around him to go toe to toe with him. He needs more men who will not say `Yes' to him but really challenge him.At 42:28 Cosper recounted that Schaeffer got a call from Jamie Munson. About 43 minutes along and Schaeffer described a tense meeting in a small office where she sensed that Mark Driscoll had a blazing rage she'd never encountered before. At 43:19 Schaeffer described Driscoll telling her, "You're being accused of heresy." Schaeffer went on about 43:50 to say Driscoll told her, "You're being accused of heresy because you've said that you don't trust the leadership of this church, and, really, what you've said could destroy this church."
At 45:20 or so Schaeffer described Mark Driscoll's response to her explanation that he needed more men like Mike Gunn with him, and she said Driscoll scoffingly said, "Mike Gunn!? He'll never have a church of more than 250."
Cosper stopped a moment at 44:09 to point out that heresy conventionally means a denial of a key doctrine of the Christian faith.
Something has gnawed at me ever since "You Read the Bible, Ringo?", something that Cosper didn't highlight but that I will. I recall back in August 2014 Ron Wheeler had a blog post at a WordPress blog in which he wrote, among other things, the following:
Friday, November 19, 2021
as The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill nears its finish line, a post reviewing past posts and observing that most of the campus spin-off churches survived the collapse of Mars Hill
I noted this a couple of years back but by the time Mark and Grace Driscoll's Spirit-Filled Jesus was released most of the campuses of the former Mars Hill Church had survived to relaunch as new churches.
Tuesday, November 16, 2021
new episodes of The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill have gone up and these are probably the more useful ones that get at something more like a cohesive chronological narrative
Although there was not a lot that was particularly new to me in the "Boca Raton" episode it was nice to hear that Cosper spoke with David Nicholas' widow and Rick McKinley down in Portland.
Nicholas' widow saying Mark always had to be the alpha male in the room is not the least bit surprising to anyone who ever met Mark Driscoll. Cosper said there were as many stories about how and why David Nicholas stopped being part of Acts 29 as there were people to tell them but that invites the obvious and never-answered question of how many sources Mike Cosper spoke with about the departure of David Nicholas from Acts 29, despite having founded, named and funded the network.
But what becomes apparent from the episode was that the Mark Driscoll who eventually took sole credit for start Acts 29 didn't found it any way. By Confessions of a Reformission Rev in 2006 Driscoll was described as sole founder of Acts 29 on the back cover. What scant information and statements have since come to light between then and now suggest that it is more probable that Mark Driscoll took over Acts 29 after David Nicholas and others, perhaps, did all the substantial work of founding the church planting network and making it viable.
As for the newest episode, the gigantic 2.5 hour "The Tempest"
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/podcasts/rise-and-fall-of-mars-hill/tempest-mars-hill-driscoll.html
It will take time to get around to writing about all of that stuff and it might take a while. Ironically these two recent episodes are probably closer to actual historical accounts than anything else in the entire podcast series. If you haven't listened so far and want to hear podcast episodes that give you a coherent chronological account of formative years in Mars Hill history when Driscoll needed David Nicholas' support and then didn't; and to then hear a lengthy account of the disastrous final two years of the late Mars Hill these newest episodes would be the ones to listen to. That's all I've got for now but I may have other things to write later. I will say that of "The Tempest" it would be hard to say that very much of anyone at all comes across well, which is part of what made the episode interesting.
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/podcasts/rise-and-fall-of-mars-hill/tempest-mars-hill-driscoll.html
It will take time to get around to writing about all of that stuff and it might take a while. Ironically these two recent episodes are probably closer to actual historical accounts than anything else in the entire podcast series. If you haven't listened so far and want to hear podcast episodes that give you a coherent chronological account of formative years in Mars Hill history when Driscoll needed David Nicholas' support and then didn't; and to then hear a lengthy account of the disastrous final two years of the late Mars Hill these newest episodes would be the ones to listen to. That's all I've got for now but I may have other things to write later. I will say that of "The Tempest" it would be hard to say that very much of anyone at all comes across well, which is part of what made the episode interesting.
about those glowing reviews of Driscoll's e-book, three of them have bylines that seem to be the names of men who are on staff at The Trinity Church
Praising the boss's newest e-book might not be a big surprise in this day and age but it should be a surprise that such reviews seem to be part and parcel of a roll-out promoting something like Christian Theology vs. Critical Theory. When the glowing reviews are predominantly signed by men where their bylines match up with men on staff right now at The Trinity Church we don't seem to be getting reviews from people who don't have a vested personal interest in their boss and/or father-in-law selling a lot of copies.
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