Blood is in the water in Cascadia and the waters are tumultuous with flesh hungry villains, vigilantes and victims. I have been a vocal but tempered advocate and critic of the events and actions on both sides, while trying to protect people in the process. I want victory not viciousness to win out over the failure, abuse and devastation of these stories. Great victories have been won, as well as great apparent abuses in the battles. God has worked among and through fallen humans, and the story is as always, a mix of saint and sinner.
Great victories and tragic endings are the common narrative of human experience. The Mars Hill storyline reminds me of Achilles in Homer’s ‘The Iliad.” A great warrior whose ego and anger are legendary.
The opening lines of “The Iliad” begins with:
“The rage of Achilles — sing it now, goddess, sing through me the deadly rage that caused the Achaeans such grief and hurled down to Hades the souls of so many fighters, leaving their naked flesh to be eaten by dogs and carrion birds, as the will of Zeus was accomplished.”
-Book 1, The Iliad, Homer
Mark Driscoll’s cultural rise to fame, his unprecedented impact on the Northwest in church planting and size of churches, the pugilist nature of his verbal and writing ministry and the way young and old men and scores of women have been drawn to his campaigns for Christ is eerily reminiscent of Achilles’ tale. Driscoll’s Myrmidons have spread out across Cascadia and the world and even now, are taking root in Spokane.
But an underground river of discontent and damage is surfacing and like Patroclus and Nestor in “The Iliad,” the thumos of man is at the heart of the public trial.
“But you are impossible to deal with, Achilles. I hope I am never cease with such anger as yours. What good is your excellence? How will it benefit others, now or in times to come…The rough sea for you, the harsh cliff’s father due, since your heart has no pity.”
-Patroclus, Book 16, The Iliad, Homer
“But Achilles will enjoy his own valor in loneliness, though I think he will weep much, too late, when his people are perished from him.”
-Nestor, Book 11, The Iliad, Homer
The words of these men echo into the present with ominous clarity to all that have waded through the horror of Christian churches that turn cultic either sociologically or theologically.
I understand this personally, because I have been under a leader who fell into sin, who ruled with pious charisma and had control over minds and hearts in such a way that the church’s behavior, actions and attitudes developed into a perverse and destructive cult. I was excommunicated when I challenged the alpha male both by the church community and my closest friends. I understand what it feels like to be labeled a “Judas and Absalom” and how such experiences sow mistrust in others and even one’s own self. The aftermath of such experiences can shipwreck people’s faith, destroy marriages and push others deeper into the cultish control. I have seen all these things and more take place, so, I don’t write from mere opinion but from the trenches of battle, blood and loss. My marriage and soul survived these destructions but that was not the case for many of my friends.
These tales have biblical precedent in the stories of King Saul and David. First and 2 Samuel describe the rise and fall of kings and how to handle oneself in the midst of conquering and crumbling kingdoms.
1. Conflicted Kings often end up destroying themselves:
“Saul groaned to his armor bearer, “Take your sword and kill me before these pagan Philistines come to run me through and taunt and torture me.” But his armor bearer was afraid and would not do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. (1 Samuel 31:4)
2. The posture of an enemy always delights to steal, kill and destroy:
“The next day, when the Philistines went out to strip the dead, they found the bodies of Saul and his three sons on Mount Gilboa. So they cut off Saul’s head and stripped off his armor. Then they proclaimed the good news of Saul’s death in their pagan temple and to the people throughout the land of Philistia. They placed his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths, and they fastened his body to the wall of the city of Beth-shan.” (1 Samuel 31:8)
3. There will always be those who use the death of kings for their own advantage:
“So I killed him,” the Amalekite told David, “for I knew he couldn’t live. Then I took his crown and his armband, and I have brought them here to you, my lord….”David said to him, “Your blood is on your head, for your mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have killed the Lord’s anointed.’” (2 Samuel 1:10&16)
I learned many things through experiences like these. One of them was the critical place of love, grace, self-examination and humility in handling the fall or failure of others. I’ve seen the years of damage these things do to the reputation and recognition of the church, the Bible and God. I’ve watched how these circumstances pull out of people hidden things, both glorious and gory. People’s true colors get revealed when leaders fall, some use such events to ascend thrones, other’s exalt themselves on the failures, weaknesses and sins of others. The brokenness of others becomes the advantage of those who want power, privilege and place.
In the end, I discovered most everyone wants to be king. It’s rare to find a David, that can be abused by Sauls and not seek to attack, kill or thwart for their own gain.
I don’t know what is true in all these accusations, articles and stories, I must wait and see like most everyone else. My posture towards this whole Driscoll chapter will be, with God’s help, more like David’s example. My ‘sword’ will be reserved for those who seek to gloat and glory over the death of the Lord’s anointed. I loathe the blood frenzy that is spilling in the waters in this region over the possible ‘death or demise’ of a supposed Saul. I don’t delight in the failure of men, especially my fellow pastors. I won’t turn a blind eye to the damage men and women do in ministry, sin is sin but love seeks to bring about repentance to end the behavior, heal those wounded and those who wound, and work towards reconciliation. I understand what he is accused of, even still, I do not delight in seeing anyone’s body strung up on the gates of Seattle.
I mourn the damage both to those in Mars Hill churches and the damage to the wider body of Christ through all the waves of ‘get a rope’ type chants, and I warn those who delight in other’s demise because often the rope you yank, will end up being your own.
Today I pray for Mark, these churches and all those who are recovering in the implosions, aftermath or unresolved places of recovery. In times like these, I choose to sing the song of David:
“Your beauty, O Israel, is slain on your high places!
How have the mighty fallen!
“Tell it not in Gath,
Proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon,
or the daughters of the Philistines,
will rejoice and the pagans will laugh in triumph.
-2 Samuel 1:19-20
E, I appreciate your heart and attitude toward this. IMHO, the scale needs to be weighted a bit more toward the injured. Without turning from further harm, I have cautious pity for the leadership of Mars Hill. Nevertheless, I hope for shalom. Keep writing.
Rob, true, as someone whose suffered in this type of turmoil, I agree. I guess my focus was trying to show that the Achillies out there end up burning their own houses down. Sauls end up dead on their own sword. I think we need to be careful in our zeal to be God’s hand of dethronment. Rescue the wounded, argue against the error but let God slay the false kings.
Yeah, I get that. As a quasi-pacifist, I don’t want to slay anyone. 🙂 I just don’t have much patience for bullies.
“Quasi-pacifist” lol…is that like technical-virgin?
When confronted the leader in my life about his sin and reaped the relational whirlwind, I couldn’t blame anyone but myself. I chose to ignore others, the word, the Spirit and my own conscience. In my own hope and delusion of a perfect church, movement or mission I failed to heed the clear warning signs. Because I saw God move by his grace and mercy in that place and through broken people I assumed God was sanctioning the other crap. I’ve since learned that Gods gracious presence in something doesn’t always mean God’s blessing on something. I had to own up to the fact that I had allowed myself to be used and abused. I had stuff to learn through suffering. I still have people from that era that won’t talk to me. The damages of these crumbling kingdoms are devastating but there’s always a snake in the garden.
I may be a “quasi-pacifist, but I am no “technical virgin.” 😉
Yeah, if we don’t guard our own interior life, we can become feebly cynical of every leader…even the one that looks back from the mirror.
So this “leader” was sinning in your church so you had to confront him? I am curious what the warnings from others or the “clear warning signs” were? Sounds like it was a bad situation indeed. What was it that weighed on your conscience? Interesting you would refer to them as a snake in your garden.
Nice article with great parallels to Homer. Were there links for those not informed of the MHC turmoil? I didn’t notice.
I HIGHLY recommend reading a short little book called “A Tale of Three Kings” by Gene Edwards. It’s written to those who have survived church dysfunctions. The three kings are Saul, David, and Absalom. Everyone thinks they are a David but half are really godless Saul or rebellious Absalom. Who is God’s real leader and how does one tell? Most importantly it brings out the self reflection needed to do a real inventory of who each of us really are rather than who we think we are.
Rob (different) 🙂
Yes, Edwards, his TOTK book was a foundational tool that was used against me and helped me in the implosion of the church (ie. house church network) I mentioned in the article. Gene, was known by face and communication with our group in those days, though our group had no official connection to him. Nevertheless, the whole dream of church outside of “Babylon/System” was at the heart of a lot of the pride that eventually brought all that stuff we were a part of down. Man is always wanting to be the person, church, network or whatever that builds a tower to the heavens. The whole monolithic nature of Mars Hill was one of the things that has always made me wary of it. I just don’t trust the rise to the top of the pinnacle of any temple.
Re: the MH stuff, yes, Tracy linked to some of the various articles info etc coming out about Mars Hill. Personally, I still don’t feel that much is very different than a lot of churches here in Spokane. If we are going to talk about opposing homosexuality, strict complementarianism, strong calvinism and high salaries, there’s plenty to choose from in our conservative community. I’ve had people leave our church for all those issues and I have had people leave because our church was too full of democrats! The sociological issues of MH are the dynamics that are most worrisome to me. The power of personalities to form cultic environments where free thinking, differences can co-exist are dangerous recipes for harming people in my opinion.
Again, very well put. I admire your humility and self-reflection. I also wonder how we would be treating him and his organization if Mars Hill were not a church. What if he were the CEO of a university, or some other big business? Would we be so fair minded and allowing?
Tom,
I am not judge or jury and I would hope to handle any situation with a ‘fair-handed’ posture. I do believe that love should guide even judging such matters: 1 Cor 13:4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.” I think all these things apply for abused and abusers.
I would add one other part of this two-edged sword, a word to the leaders/churches that intentionally recruit, steal or turn a blind eye to people divorcing communities for stupid reasons and hooking up for prestige, position or money.
Celebrate your groups ‘jersey’ but stop tempting everyone to join you team and stop ‘acquiring’ other teams star players. This ‘Borg’ like posture that moves in and intentionally consumes or absorbs other leaders and members is lame. I am tired of big churches promising money and position to our church leaders and romancing them out and then sucking them dry and spitting them out. I’ve watched happen and I think it sucks.
The prophet Nathan had a little story to tell that perfectly fits this self-interest fueled pattern:
2 Samuel 12
“So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: “There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. 2 The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. 3 The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. 4 One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest.”
5 David was furious. “As surely as the Lord lives,” he vowed, “any man who would do such a thing deserves to die! 6 He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity.” 7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are that man!
Well written. Though I have not read much Homer ( I read some of it for my older sister while I was in middle school) I appreciated the use of history to inform our present, or as Ecclesiastes says, “There’s nothing new under the sun.” Vanity, the need to put ourselves up while knocking others down has been and will continue to be the undoing of many great people.
As for there being other churches in Spokane that believe/teach similar things to MHC, it’s true. And i pray that many who would not otherwise darken the door of a church will find some solace and truth in MHC Spokane.
Jan,
Thanks for the compliment. It’s a difficult issue as is all types of abuse, there is always the care of both those who are hurt and those who hurt others. God’s justice is always governed by His mercy and we all should hope mercy will even triumph. But, sin is like gangrene and love doesn’t just bandage it up, it surgically cuts it out, removes healthy from unhealthy.
I would add, that my prayers are for God’s will and way to emerge out of all this and if that means that the ‘brand and band’ gets broke up and the work and workers assume roles of pastoral measure and means, so be it. Growth always undergoes pruning for greater fruitfulness and this may produces all that but in a non-coroporate-multi-national corporation type of expression.
But even if that doesn’t happen, I pray for health, healing and Divine order to reassemble all this and that people will be able to come to some place of unity around creedal or common Christian core faith.
Yes he was a “leader” and he led many deeper into Christ and he led many off a theological and personal cliff.
Warning signs.
1. Hyper-discipleship focused.
Relationships, community and fathering were constantly taught. This created the isolation and influence and relational bond that set the trap for abuse, control and fear.
2. Hyper-Spiritual interpretation vs biblical expository literalism.
Personal revelation, deeper meaning. This led to deception, biblical error, clouded discernment.
3. Us vs them.
We are special, right, more true to New Testament church etc.
This isolated and birthed ecclesiastical pride. It prevent the fresh air and accountability of the wider body of christ and other outside mature leaders.
4. Experience over Exegesis.
Hyper-charismatic focus. Worship over bible study. Gifts for us vs gifts for mission and others. Created a self-congratulating and self-serving group.
5. Discipleship over mission.
We were the focus not the mission of God. Hyper-sanctification, making everything about how one can outdo others in examples of piety, disciplines and spirituality. Turned focus from the world to the navel.
All this created a fog that hid the leaders homosexuality. He groomed close males disciples and erroneous biblical teaching to foster sexual options. All these sociological and theological grooming tactics created a group that was isolated, vulnerable, and attracted immature, fatherless, needy souls that set people up for abuse.
My phrase about there being a “snake in every garden” wasn’t directed at him but at the work of satan and sin in every place. There are no perfect churches, leaders or followers. We are all broken, imperfect and need multiple circles of interaction and relationships that foster transparency, accountability and increase the health of every community. Isolated, us-focused discipleship with hyper-emphasis on personal opinions, gifts and relationships often breeds the errors, sins and abuse I experienced and saw.
Thank you very much for the information, that helps a great deal.