Below is an excerpt from a recent blog post by Mark Driscoll. (His venue, The Resurgence, is gaining popularity.) Of course, he is dressed in jeans for the "new Christians" who are tired of the old ways, as well as the old fashions (i.e., dressing up to give honor to God when going to church). Another pastor in the video interview is quoted to say (non)aptly, “God kind of got a hold of my heart, man.” Everything has to be hip. The points and comments in red below are mine. Mark Driscoll’s writing is copied in italics, and I have bolded sentences for emphasis.
The first point is that he was "honored" to be amongst those featured in Christianity Today! That is pitiful. The second point is that he has learned a lot from Rick Warren, evidently, and hopes that at some point his church members will come to trust him (Mark Driscoll) without question like Rick’s congregation trusts him. Isn’t that more indicative of a cult than the bereans we are called to be according to the Bible?
AN “HONOR” TO BE AMONGST “CHIRSTIANITY TODAY’S” POP CROWD? (I believe the Bible may take issue with this premise. In fact, I am sure it does. See 1 Cor. 1:26, 12:23; James 1:9; compare that thinking to the theme of Hebrews 11 for true heroes!)
On Monday a dear friend and I flew to Los Angeles to spend a few days participating in a conference for Rick Warren at Saddleback Church. It seems like everyone Christianity Today has written an article on over the past few years was on one of the teaching teams. I got to see Tim Keller, Erwin McManus, Jonathan Falwell, Miles McPherson, Rick McKinley, Dave Gibbons, Dave Ferguson, Greg Surratt, Bill Cornelius, Joel Hunter, Jud Wilhite etc. etc. etc. It was a great honor to be included and I learned a lot through side conversations with so many pastors. And, I learned a lot watching Rick Warren behind the scenes and over meals. Not being part of the Purpose Driven Network, I was humbled by how eager he was to bring in leaders from many networks and denominations to share ideas and help influence in his Purpose Driven Network pastors for the cause of Jesus Christ.
IS MATURITY TO TRUST WITHOUT QUESTION?
Out of all I learned, one story he shared over dinner was particularly insightful. He explained that their large ministry campus needed to expand and in God’s providence a large adjacent piece of land came available for sale. After meeting with the land owner a very good deal was struck for the church. The problem was that to purchase the land required a congregational vote. But, if the terms of the deal were announced to the congregation they would undoubtedly leak and instigate counter offers from other developers thereby driving the price up. So, Rick stood before his church members and told them he found a good piece of land for a good price and could not share any of the details with them and so he asked the people to trust him and vote for it. And, they did…unanimously.
So few pastors enjoy any real trust or support among their people. Still others erroneously believe they have it only to see distrust and division reign when they need trust and support the most. Rick attributed the vote to, in part, the fact he has been at that church since he founded it nearly 30 years ago. Now being in my 11th year of ministry it gave me hope that if I continue to mature as a leader giving my life to Mars Hill Church perhaps the day will come when that kind of trust and support is built.
Evidences of God’s Grace
May 27, 2008
Posted by Pastor Mark Driscoll
