Robert Morris has stepped down from pastoring Gateway Church, revisiting his role in Mark Driscoll's 2014 resignation from Mars Hill and a brief survey of his endorsements of post-MH Driscoll books

At some point Mark Driscoll’s admirers in 2024 may have to take stock of the track records of the men who have publicly endorsed him.  It’s a topic I’ve written about in the past.  It can seem as though it's been more than just this year where men who lavished praise on Mark Driscoll in the past have done take-backs or have had skeletons in their closet about their own moral failings in public ministry or as authors.

The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill--"The Tempest"--some observations and thoughts

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

 

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.

Warren Throckmorton has started a postcards from Phoenix series about The Trinity Church, the first from former security director/volunteer Chad Freese on whether a PI was consulted and addressing at whose initiative the consultation was made, reviewing Driscoll's history of firing elders at MHC in `07 where everything seemed mediated by proxies

I would have leaned toward postcards from Scottsdale since that's the location but for the time being "postcards from Phoenix" is the theme.

https://www.wthrockmorton.com/2021/05/26/postcards-from-phoenix-who-suggested-the-trinity-church-hire-a-private-investigator/

One of the recent questions that emerged was who allegedly arranged for a private investigator to tail someone who was formerly affiliated with the church.  

... 

The first one is complex in that it was triggered by a report from an anonymous witness to a recent spirited conversation between Grace Driscoll and another woman after women’s Bible study group. The argument was centered around a woman leaving the church amidst the current upheaval and controversies at The Trinity Church.

As a part of the argument, Grace Driscoll reportedly alleged that former director of security Chad Freese hired the private investigator who surveilled the Manuele family (see here and here for details). The implication was that the church shouldn’t be held responsible for this since Freese did it. This caught my attention for a couple of reasons. One, it demonstrates that recent news reporting is being followed widely in the church. Two, I wondered if there was any truth to the allegation that Chad Freese both instigated the hiring of the PI and then later complained about it.

One of the things that springs to mind about this report is that while it is a report that might need future corroboration or disconfirmation as may happen, there is something that should be kept in mind from Mars Hill history.  The report above states that there was a spirited conversation between Grace Driscoll and another woman after a study group in which Driscoll reportedly alleged that the former director of security at The Trinity Church Chad Freese hired the private investigator who surveilled a family.  

Julie Roys has coverage of a new report about Mark Driscoll's The Trinity Church, on-site surveillance and dealing with members--revisiting Mars Hill era claims from Driscoll to "see things" and to be able to pray that God would kill sinners for him as background for his leadership approaches

So many years after the demise of Mars Hill I was hoping this range of topics could have been fully retired from Wenatchee The Hatchet but things just keep happening:

https://wonderingeagle.wordpress.com/2021/04/28/a-family-is-allegedly-driven-from-mark-driscolls-the-trinity-church-in-scottsdale-arizona/

https://julieroys.com/mark-driscoll-cult-like-actions-24-7-surveillance-loyalty/

Alan Jacobs on gaslighting: WtH on gaslighting accusations as a form of gaslighting; and post hoc declaration about the end of MHC from Driscoll as an internal theological battle about transgenerdism and same sex marriage

 https://blog.ayjay.org/gaslighting/

postlude to Throckmorton interview with Turner and Bruskas: Justin Dean tweets links to interview, discovers he's been blocked by Driscoll

Now I've written that I loathe Twitter in general and refuse to use it. This does not mean I don't keep track of things on Twitter that seem relevant to me.  So, for instance, it did not pass unnoticed that Justin Dean tweeted links to Warren Throckmorton's interview with Sutton Turner and Dave Bruskas.

for those who read much faster than people talk, Sutton Turner has published transcripts of his talk with Throckmorton and Bruskas

https://investyourgifts.com/honest-answers-1/

https://investyourgifts.com/honest-answers-2/

It's no less than about 20,000 words, though, so it won't necessarily be a faster read for everyone than listening to two hours of conversation.  

Other projects have my attention but I hope to eventually discuss the interview and a few things that were and were not discussed in it.  It's got a ton of inside baseball stuff that won't necessarily (or quickly) make sense at every point in the conversation to someone who wasn't fairly closely connected to events and people at MHC over the course of it's 18 year run. 

Warren Throckmorton has had conversations with Dave Bruskas and Sutton Turner, slated for publication 7-28-20 and 7-30-20

Since the closure of Mars Hill Church Dave Bruskas and Sutton Turner have come around to a new perspective on their time at Mars Hill.  I've blogged about the eight-part series they did on Older Pastor, Younger Pastor earlier this year.  Perhaps a bigger sign that Bruskas and Turner are open to talking about MHC and reaching out to people might be that they've recently agreed to have on record conversations with Warren Throckmorton, who has announced that he's talked with them and will be publishing the conversations soon.  Direct link after the break.