The Wartburg Watch » Mark Driscoll

AOR Letdown, Mark Driscoll’s SBC Putdown and Redemption Groups Rundown

dee — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 23:06:18 +0000

Archbishop – A Christian ecclesiastic of a rank superior to that attained by Christ. H. L. Mencken Hungry bluebirds about 4 hours after breaking through their shells Did Ambassadors of Reconcilaition wound the wounded? Today, I am deeply irritated by the Ambassadors of Reconciliation report. I always knew that the report would “exonerate” CJ Mahaney and Sovereign Grace Ministries so that business would continue as usual. Bit I never imagined, in so doing, that AOR would utilize the emotional communication with hurting people as an assessment tool. To relay that those who have been hurt are communicating with “clenched fists” is despicable. To this sinful blogger(The most sinful blogger on the planet) it seems as if the pastors were portrayed as so nice and pleasant. The wounded, can you believe it, were portrayed as, get ready for this, still upset! And that is very sinful and bad, I think. Were these supposed “professionals” being cruel, were they naïve, or were they untrained in the art of helping the hurting? Good going, boys. From my view in the moderately priced seats, you appear to have heaped more condemnation on the heads of those already wounded. As you all probably know, Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Thu, Apr 19 2012.

Categories: Calvinism/Calvinista, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, Psychology, Southern Baptist Convention

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Mark Driscoll – 21st Century Humpty Dumpty?

deb — Fri, 30 Mar 2012 03:25:59 +0000

“Power will intoxicate the best hearts, as wine the strongest heads. No man is wise enough, nor good enough to be trusted with unlimited power.” Charles Caleb Colton Bright Red Poppy Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King's horses, And all the King's men Couldn't put Humpty together again! As this nursery rhyme reminds us, sitting atop a high wall is extremely dangerous! In hindsight, it is ironic that Mark Driscoll was preaching through one of my favorite books of the Bible – Nehemiah – when he fired two Mars Hill elders, namely Paul Petry and Bent Meyer. It has been well-documented that Driscoll changed the MH by-laws and became virtually untouchable as the head of his empire. Instead of getting hysterical over these unprecidented changes that have occurred in recent days, we prefer to get historical. Let's take a look at the timeline of recent events involving Mark Driscoll, the Acts 29 Network, and The Gospel Coalition. 12.31.11 A segment of Justin Brierley's interview with Mark Driscoll airs on Premier Christian Radio in the United Kingdom. 1.03.12 Mark and Grace Driscoll's sizzling book Real Marriage: The Truth Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Thu, Mar 29 2012.

Categories: Acts 29, Authoritarian leadership, Calvinism/Calvinista, Complementarianism, Gender Gospel, Mark Driscoll, Matt Chandler, New Reformed Theology, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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Acts 29 – Driscoll Steps Down, Chandler Named Primo Planter

deb — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 02:42:56 +0000

"Planting new churches is the most effective evangelistic methodology known under heaven.” C. Peter Wagner Tulip Fields in Holland The Young Restless Reformed (YRR) Crowd is definitely living up to its name. Since last July Sovereign Grace Ministries has undergone incredible turmoil, which we have previously covered. Now the Acts 29 Network is experiencing tremendous restlessness which has resulted in Mark Driscoll making this shocking announcement earlier today: "Acts 29 has grown rapidly, now totaling more than 400 churches in the U.S., as well as international church planting involvement. Since then, other qualified men have taken the reins of Acts 29 and run with the vision David and I had years ago. Recently, I sensed that not all was well in Acts 29. As my concerns grew, I recently resumed the presidency of Acts 29 to work directly with our network captains, most influential pastors, and staff. It seemed to me that some of our relationships, board size and structure, communication, systems, and such were not as effective as we needed, which is to be expected to some degree in a large, complex, fast-growing entrepreneurial network such as ours. Seeking wise counsel, I asked Darrin Patrick and Matt Chandler to Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Wed, Mar 28 2012.

Categories: Acts 29, Calvinism/Calvinista, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, Matt Chandler, New Reformed Theology, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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Memo to Mars Hill: The Suppression of Church Women Is Not the Cure For the Feminization of Church Men

deb — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 09:02:01 +0000

"Mars Hill men, you had better wake up. A revolution is taking place. Women in your church are waking up to the biblical truth that they are created as much in the image of God as you are. They are realizing they possess the same gifts of the Spirit as you men. They are arousing to the knowledge that when half the body is suppressed, you have as much of a dysfunctional church as when men act like women. Go ahead, Mars Hill men, and act like men." – Wade Burleson Guest Post by Wade Burleson About two years ago two young married men expressed to me their desire to uproot their families from Enid, Oklahoma and move to Seattle, Washington to be a part of the ministry of Mars Hill. Though I was familiar with Mark Driscoll, I was curious why these young family men felt the need to relocate. The reason they gave me was an eye opener. "We want to be some place where the masculinity of God is emphasized in the home, in church, and in leadership." These two men have since left Emmanuel Enid with their families. Their wives have little or no say in family matters Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Wed, Mar 21 2012.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Acts 29, Calvinism/Calvinista, Eternal Subordination of the Son, Gender Gospel, Gender Roles, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, New Reformed Theology, Patriarchy, Role of women in the church, Submission, Wade Burleson, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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Former Mars Hill Pastor, Paul Petry, Starts Joyful Exiles – Startling Revelation

dee — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 15:18:19 +0000

"What do you do with someone who is rebellious, hard-hearted, stiff necked and stupid? You break their nose." Mark Driscoll in his "private" message to his congregation moments before firing Paul Petry and Bent Myer Viking Lander on Mars-NASA (quite a wilderness) Late yesterday afternoon, my inbox started filling up with messages about a new blog Joyful Exiles. Although I was in a bit of a hurry, I visited it and almost choked on my ever-present Diet Coke. I quickly called my fellow glam blogger, and we both agreed we needed to address this topic immediately! As many of our readers are aware, Mark Driscoll rather crudely and coldly fired two pastors a few years ago. "Why crudely?" you ask. Here is the link to a video in which he threatened to punch some guys in the nose. It cannot be embedded because some "coward" asked that embedding be disabled; furthermore, no comments are allowed. Bent Myer, who posted his story at TWW was one of those two pastors. His post generated the most visitors ever at TWW. Yesterday, the other pastor, Paul Petry, along with his wife Jonna, posted a new blog, Joyful Exiles. Along with Jonna's accounts of Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Tue, Mar 20 2012.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Acts 29, C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church

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Masculine Christianity and Its Knock Out Effect on Christians

deb — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 20:59:22 +0000

"God has made Christianity to have a masculine feel. He has ordained for the church a masculine ministry." – John Piper John Piper – Wikipedia When I think of Reformed Theology, I immediately think of John Piper. As the pastor for preaching and vision at Bethlehem Baptist Church where he has served for over thirty years, Piper and his church host an annual Pastors Conference. This year's focus was God, Manhood & Ministry: Building Men for the Body of Christ. Here is the promotional video tor that conference which was held January 30 – February 1, 2012. The Christian Post provided an excellent summary on this "manly" conference, including some revealing quotes from John Piper. Here are the highlights: "God's intention for Christianity is for it to have a "masculine feel," evangelist John Piper declared… "God revealed Himself in the Bible pervasively as king not queen; father not mother," Piper said at this year's annual pastors conference hosted by the Desiring God ministry. "Second person of the Trinity is revealed as the eternal Son not daughter; the Father and the Son create man and woman in His image and give them the name man, the name of the male." Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Thu, Mar 15 2012.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Calvinism/Calvinista, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, New Reformed Theology, Young, Restless and Reformed (YRR)

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The Driscolls Share Their Views on SEX in Marriage on “The View”

deb — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 22:43:22 +0000

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts 1:8 (NIV) In case you haven't noticed, Mark and Grace Driscoll are taking their Sex Gospel to the ends of the earth as they wander around peddling their HOT off the press book – REAL MARRIAGE: THE TRUTH ABOUT SEX, FRIENDSHIP & LIFE TOGETHER. It is this blogger's staunch opinion that their efforts are not being inspired by the Holy Spirit. Yesterday the Driscolls pitched their provocative sex manual on The View. Barbara Walters begins the interview with this introduction: "It is a gospel you probably never thought you'd hear from a man of the church, but the Lord wants married couples to have great sex to have it often and even experiment in the bedroom, and that's what the pastor of Seattle's Mars Hill megachurch Mark Driscoll and his wife Grace claim in a book that's being called the most provocative work ever written by an evangelical. It is called Real Marriage: The Truth about Sex, Friends and so forth, and you may, if you have Continue reading →

Written by: deb on Thu, Mar 08 2012.

Categories: Mark Driscoll

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Mars Hill: Brokenness and Reconciliation or Just Another Lecture?

dee — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:21:04 +0000

The church is not a theological classroom. It is a conversion, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness and sanctification center, where flawed people place their faith in Christ, gather to know and love him better, and learn to love others as he designed. -Paul Tripp Weeping man at Wailing Wall-Wikimedia Commons A few years ago, I got onto an elevator at church. It was to carry me to the top floor where my Sunday school class met. There were five others aboard. Halfway between the first and second floors, the elevator abruptly stopped. People stood quietly, not moving or saying anything. I found this very odd. As you can well imagine, Dee took action but no amount of pushing buttons made a difference. So, I reached out to press the alarm button. One man grabbed my arm, saying, ”Stop. You’ll disturb the worship service.” Believing that I was now on an elevator with a bunch of zombies – one who appeared to be hyperventilating due to claustrophobia and wanting off – I reached around his arm, punched the loud alarm, and retorted, “That is exactly what I intend to do.” Help arrived and after the appropriate technical ministrations, the elevator moved partially Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Mon, Mar 05 2012.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Church discipline, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church

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Mark Driscoll, Al Mohler, and CJ Mahaney Are Smart and You Are So Dumb!

dee — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 22:46:05 +0000

“One hundred religious persons knit into a unity by careful organizations do not constitute a church any more than eleven dead men make a football team. The first requisite is life, always.” AW Tozier Al Mohler-Public Domain by Timmy Brister Today, we are going to attempt to tie the problem with membership covenants to authoritarian or inflated views of the role of pastors. We also believe that such a view of leadership is connected with the current controversy at Mars Hill. Once again, we stress that written and signed membership covenants were not developed to encourage the faith of the member but to protect a given church entity from lawsuits. They have been devised and drawn up by attorneys. We have had several TWW commenters fussing at us about unfair lawsuits against churches and church leaders. Well, we have news for everyone. There are often highly suspect and abusive tactics used against members, and even, in some cases, non-members who attend a church. Why is this? TWW believes that certain theological models have been developed that stress a highly centralized, Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Thu, Mar 01 2012.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Acts 29, Al Mohler, Authoritarian leadership, C.J. Mahaney, Calvinism/Calvinista, Mark Driscoll

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Why Did Mars Hill/Mark Driscoll Recently Fire Paid Staff?

dee — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 23:25:28 +0000

"Martin Luther, in his commentary on Galatians, says that to add any religious work to the gospel of grace seems to be a trivial matter, but “it does more damage than human reason can imagine. Not only does it mar and obscure the knowledge of grace but it also removes Christ and all of his blessings and it completely overthrows the gospel.” Kangas Commune US Sheepherding Experiment- US Gov. TWW would like to thank the Gospel Coalition for posting a link to “A Response Regarding Church Discipline" here. We almost overlooked it. We will include some excerpts from this response in case it disappears like a few other things in the past. Today we were going to discuss a new post over at 9 Marks dealing with church authority titled “What Are the Keys to the Kingdom?”here. This post makes the following provocative comment “The local church has heaven’s authority for declaring who on earth is a kingdom citizen and therefore represents heaven.” As you can well imagine, we are not necessarily enthralled with such a statement. However, we draw your attention to this statement because, for the two of us, this defines the problem with today’s hyper-authoritarian churches. They Continue reading →

Written by: dee on Wed, Feb 15 2012.

Categories: Abusive church tactics, Acts 29, Authoritarian leadership, Church discipline, Covenants/Contracts, Gospel Coalition, Gossip-, Mark Driscoll, Mars Hill Church, Nine Marks, Spiritual abuse, Theological arrogance

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