R Scott Clark visits the role of the PCA in formative years for Acts 29 and Mars Hill--there's still a pretty live question whether or not A29 and Spanish River were a tangential "accidental" role in the history of MH

https://heidelblog.net/2021/12/an-overlooked-aspect-of-the-story-pca-influence-on-acts-29-and-mars-hill/

https://presbycast.libsyn.com/deconstructing-2021-and-big-eva-media-wdg-hart

I have felt pretty alone in attempting to discuss the early Acts 29, David Nicholas, Mark Driscoll and what seemed to be a PCA connection (that last part was just not on my radar because I'm just me and only have so much energy and attention). 

I'd hazard a guess that from Driscoll's side of things his earlier influences were John MacArthur and Doug Wilson (clearly if the men served on a panel together representing a rightwing perspective on censorship and the arts in 1992 ... ). David Nicholas didn't seem to come along until a few years into the life of Mars Hill. Cosper seems to have shortchanged us by not saying just how many people he talked to who had accounts of how and why Nicholas and Driscoll parted ways within Acts 29.  What is clearer is Nicholas founded and bankrolled Acts 29 and Mark Driscoll kinda was there to take it over.

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.

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

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.