If you never heard of Pastor Mark Driscoll then maybe you should. His church, Mars Hill Church in Seattle has over 6,000 members in just 11 years. Driscoll is often described as a maverick in the ministry and has one the most innovative churches in the country. TIME magazine was interested in this pastor’s ministry and has featured him in a few articles.
Recently, the mega church pastor caught fire from Christians with this Facebook update:
This comment clearly takes a shot a certain type of person in the ministry. Not only that, the undertones of a comment like this do nothing to advance the kingdom of God. If you are shocked by this comment, as am I, do not think this is the first time Driscoll said something like this. Many in the Christian community have a hard time with Driscoll’s “tough guy” persona and some question his ability to lead.
The New York Times wrote about Driscoll’s ministry and his tenancy to “male-ize” his ministry:
Mark Driscoll’s sermons are mostly too racy to post on GodTube, the evangelical Christian “family friendly” video-posting Web site. With titles like “Biblical Oral Sex” and “Pleasuring Your Spouse,” his clips do not stand a chance against the site’s content filters…God called Driscoll to preach to men — particularly young men — to save them from an American Protestantism that has emasculated Christ and driven men from church pews with praise music that sounds more likeboy-band ballads crooned to Jesus than “Onward Christian Soldiers.”
The tough guy in question, with a Mickey Mouse shirt.
His response to Ted Haggard’s scandal turned heads. He publicly stated on his blog that the reason why Haggard became enmeshed in the drug/sex scandal was because his wife “let herself go”:
It is not uncommon to meet pastors’ wives who really let themselves go; they sometimes feel that because their husband is a pastor, he is therefore trapped into fidelity, which gives them cause for laziness. A wife who lets herself go and is not sexually available to her husband in the ways that the Song of Songs is so frank about is not responsible for her husband’s sin, but she may not be helping him either.
Driscoll, look, I know you want to be that macho-maverick pastor, but give it a rest. Stick to the core issues of Christian life and leave the bullying commentary alone. I know people want to take scripture and apply to areas like sex, dating, and marriage, but take a mature approach. Taking a bully posture towards “weaker” men does nothing to encourage people in ministry. Grow up. Use your social media ministry to encourage your church, not beat them down.
UPDATE: Thanks to John Martinez for the heads up on the email campaign to contact the leadership at Mars Hill church. John says, “Their email is life@marshillchurch.org and I encourage everyone to respond to Mars Hill letting them know that this is not cool, and it is certainly not Jesus.”
10 Comments
We had an ongoing conversation on fb about this last week when we saw the status update. Time and again Driscoll equates [machismo] male-ness with effective ministry and church leadership. [Take his Elephant Room as an example: http://theresurgence.com/2011/03/09/elephant-room%5D. In his mind, if you’re a cardigan-wearing, Carpenters-listening pastor, you’re a sissy.
I think he’s a smart guy, but c’mon. I wish he’d apply his knowledge to the real issues and to stop focusing on the things that are creating division in the body of Christ. He has congregants who hang on his every word, and that scares me that they walk away with the understanding that good church leadership=macho/MMA fighting male.
I wish the media would get that he doesn’t speak for Christians. I suppose it’s time for the progressive Christian churches to speak up here in the northwest.
Sophia, it seems he is trying to correct ministry in reaction to some deficiency he sees. He is a smart guy but his machismo-ism really undercuts his ministry. He’ll continue to get press and his followers will love it.
Hey Alan,
Just discovered this post on Twitter and wanted to say that it’s good to see fellow Pastor’s in the Capital Region calling Driscoll out on his bad-boy behavior. I am not a friend of Driscoll’s on FB so I only found out about this today via a post on my friend Rachel Held Evan’s blog: http://rachelheldevans.com/mark-driscoll-bully.
You can bet I emailed the elders at Mars Hill about it and I would encourage everyone to do the same. Their email is life@marshillchurch.org and I encourage everyone to respond to Mars Hill letting them know that this is not cool, and it is certainly not Jesus.
Anyway, thanks again for posting. American Baptist near Albany ey? Awesome.
John, thanks for the heads up on the email and Rachel’s blog. Driscoll has been doing it for years and I can’t believe his congregation tolerates it. I’ll update the post with your info. If you are ever in BSpa stop by!
Same goes for if you are ever in Albany’s West-End!
When it comes to the thing with Haggard’s wife, you have to make sure that you have all of the information up to date. Google is an amazing thing. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003460647_driscoll04m.html
[…] Mark Driscoll’s (non)Ministry of Social Media (onthebema.com) […]
[…] Mark Driscoll’s (non)Ministry of Social Media (onthebema.com) […]
Scott implied that you were speaking without “all of the information.” Then he posted newspaper article from 2006 that claimed Driscoll “apologized” for making caustic comments demeaning to women, and particularly cruel and hurtful to a certain pastor’s wife. Well, it was debatable whether any real apology was made in 2006, or whether it was just a successful publicity stunt at the time. But over the last five years of outrageous coarse jesting, lewd innuendo from the pulpit and online, as well as well-publicized abusive treatment of elders and bullying of church members, there is nothing to debate. When will Baptists stop providing a sounding board and making excuses for such inexcusable behavior?
http://thewartburgwatch.com/2011/07/25/mark-driscoll-mentored-by-cj-mahaney-so-how’s-that-working-out/
–
Horrifying. By our hate they shall know us?