Mike Cosper and a talented team at Christianity Today’s CT Podcasts have produced series exploring “The Rise & Fall of Mars Hill.” As you likely know, Mars Hill Church was planted in 1996 and pastored by Mark Driscoll in Seattle – and beyond – until its closure due to a menagerie of Driscoll-centered scandals which came to a head in the Fall of 2014. I don’t know if Cosper took inspiration for the podcast title from this article, but The Seattle Times published a piece with the same title in September of 2014… it too, is worth checking out.
Listening to the podcast series has been an unexpected gift, inviting me to feel this season of history again.
I also pioneered a new Christian faith community in the greater Seattle area in 1996. I pastored Quest-A Christ Commons for eleven years before transitioning to training leaders at The Seattle School of Theology & Psychology. Oddly enough, back then the seminary went by the name “Mars Hill Graduate School,” and in case you were wondering there was never a connection between the seminary and Driscoll’s church… but it was confusing for many people in and around Cascadia.
Early on Mark and I had a relationship. Over time the nature of our relationship changed significantly; my name comes up briefly in episode 9 of the podcast.
As I listened to the series I experienced a complex cocktail of emotions… there was a kind of relief that Mars Hill Church is gone, grief for the multitudes of people hurt/betrayed/traumatized/etc. by Mark, sadness as I recalled faces and names of people I knew personally who lost faith, jobs, and dignity through all this, and anger at the oppressive religious systems justified, taught, and proclaimed as gospel, and much more. Yet…
I will also say I am very curious and hopeful about the church emerging after Christendom. I see signs of new life all around.
Here are the episodes…
Peace, dwight
