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It's like Whack-A-Mole! Mark Driscoll is back!


Marian the Librarian

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Driscoll would probably align more with the Sovereign Grace churches in the valley...the theology is similar. AFAIK IFB churches aren't terribly ecumenical even with other IFB churches. I only know of one other IFB church...It was on Elliot just east of Gilbert Road. They all have one thing in common though...they're out to convert the LDS folks...there's LOTS of them in the valley, heck there's a temple in Gilbert AND Mesa.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 1/31/2016 at 3:04 PM, DomWackTroll said:

God, I just want to shake Grace. Mark has really aged. 

Shaking Grace might be a good thread title. Catchy.

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On 3/14/2016 at 3:44 PM, Toaster said:

I think it's very telling that when you click "Pray" on the Support links the first thing on the page suggests you should give money. 

Money is what Driscoll is praying for.

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Well, money and a few other things: 

Quote

After spending months praying specifically for a church building with 1,000+ seats along the 101 Freeway, Pastor Mark believes that God has supernaturally provided.

The "Pastor Mark"  moniker really gets under my skin.  It'll be interesting to see what happens tomorrow.  Meanwhile, David Bonner (who posts at The Wartburg Watch as Eagle)

Quote

has reached out to the Attorney General in Washington State regarding Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill.

In his letter, Bonner points out what he considers deceptive practices in Mars Hill's fundraising for the Global Fund and the Jesus Festival. 

The issue is fraud and deceptive practices related to Mars Hill's Global Fund.  This fund was touted as a way to give money for overseas missions.  In reality, it was used to promote Mars Hill's expansion, while using a small percentage for some high visibility overseas activities. We are talking millions that disappeared and were not accounted for.  Ditto with something called the Jesus Festival where several million was raised.  The festival was cancelled but nobody seems clear on where the money went.  Although David Bonner could have used an editor, the letter points out seriously deceptive fundraising practices and a lack of accountability about where the money went. 

You can read the full text of David Bonner's letter at Spiritual Sounding Board; you just have to scroll down a little on this long post to get to it:

http://thewartburgwatch.com/2016/03/23/mark-driscolls-ministry-to-be-resurrected-on-easter-eagle-appeals-to-washingtons-attorney-general/

 

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One of the commenters at The Wartburg Watch was a protester at the Easter "get to know you" event Sunday evening at Mark Driscoll's new church scam.  She posted this news item:  http://www.cbs5az.com/clip/12318228/protests-welcome-controversial-pastors-first-service-in-the-valley?autostart=true

She noted that in a large parking lot for maybe 150 cars, most parking slots were filled. 

I visited the Web site for the new church scam.  

No doubt Marky Mark envisions Return of the Empire in the Valley of the Sun.  First, sign a lease on a very large church building.  Then get your playahs in a row.   Go to the leadership tab http://thetrinitychurch.com/leadership/  and you'll find guys providing Wise Counsel and then most of these same guys as the Governing Board, including Marky Mark himself.   

When you read the bios of these guys, they are all either mega church rock stars or media heavy hitters. For example, check out these two: 

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Randal Taylor is the Vice President of Television at Dunham+Company. Dunham+Company is a Christian marketing, communications, and fundraising company providing specialized services for over 50 nonprofit, faith-based organizations worldwide.

and 

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Robert Morris is the founding senior pastor of Gateway Church, a multi-campus church in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Since it began in 2000, the church has grown to more than 36,000 active members. He is featured on the weekly television program, The Blessed Life, and serves as chairman of the board of The King’s University.

When you look at Mark Discoll's picture at the Leadership link, it is like looking into the eyes of the Dark Lord himself.  There is no bright spark, no kindness, no compassion. 

And here's another thing: none of the Wise Counsel guys is an accountant or CPA. 

 

Edited by Howl
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12 minutes ago, Howl said:

And here's another thing: none of the Wise Counsel guys is an accountant or CPA. 

Or any sort of financial industry designation like a CFP.  Or a legit law license.  Or even a law DEGREE.

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Aw shit. Whatever that map with the giant red circle around it on their "location" tab is supposed to be about, it looks like I'm in it. Circle of influence? Circle of souls needing to be saved? Lawd help us, Mark Driscoll has come to town and none of us are safe! It's only a matter of time until someone on my Facebook joins up. Stay tuned. 

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On 3/29/2016 at 0:21 PM, Howl said:

And here's another thing: none of the Wise Counsel guys is an accountant or CPA. 

Henceforth they shall be known as the Wise Guys.

Here is a report from the Easter service of a longtime critic of Driscoll that has changed his tune due to divine intervention: I See Mark Driscoll Things

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I think we need a sane people of Arizona support group. You're all welcome to come up north to hide from the crazy. Bring your coats though. We're having third winter up here.

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I wandered over to see what what was happening on the Warren Throckmorton blog re: Mark Driscoll. 

I linked to the Phoenix Public Radio Features Mark Driscoll and RICO Lawsuit post and checked out the comments.  On the third comment down, commenter GWInsida starts connecting the dots on the Wise Guys (thanks, Cicero!).  Holy moly, talk about dishing the dirt on Ted Haggard, Robert Morris, Jimmy Evans, shipping supposedly repentant sex addicts to rehab in Phoenix and every other crazy thing you can think of.   Really, I've never read anything like it.  And Robert Morris?  Definitely the King of Tithing Gimme.  Of course, I don't have anything else to back up  his comments, but if even half of it is true, it's pretty damned shocking. 

Anyway, Driscoll's Wise Counsel guys are truly Wise Guys in the religious grifting and covering up scandals scene. 

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/2016/03/02/phoenix-public-radio-features-mark-driscoll-and-rico-lawsuit/#disqus_thread

Scroll down to the comments, and start reading at the third comment down. 

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 3/29/2016 at 0:21 PM, Howl said:

One of the commenters at The Wartburg Watch was a protester at the Easter "get to know you" event Sunday evening at Mark Driscoll's new church scam.  She posted this news item:  http://www.cbs5az.com/clip/12318228/protests-welcome-controversial-pastors-first-service-in-the-valley?autostart=true

She noted that in a large parking lot for maybe 150 cars, most parking slots were filled. 

 

<snip>

That would be me. Driscoll started a bible study on 1 John on April 3 at 9:30 am. I was out there to greet attendees with signs "Ask Mark about the Global Fund" and "Where'd the Seattle money go, Mark?" on April 3 and 10. My plan is to be out there every Sunday morning to let people know what kind of a "pastor" this "church" has. I have lots of experience picketing the cult of Scientology, so this is nothing new.

I would note that there were ~50 cars in the lot on April 3 and ~45 cars on April 10.  Driscoll put out a video yesterday saying he was aiming for a late summer start, but in the meantime, the church is going to have Saturday work parties from 8 am to 4 pm and post-Bible study work parties on Sunday. His plans for the church launch include two church services and he expects to have *1000* people at his church.

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/2016/04/14/mark-driscolls-the-trinity-church-bouncy-houses-matching-gifts-and-a-late-summer-launch/

This Sunday's signs will remind Mark that he left a mess in Seattle and needs to clean it up.

 

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@mirele, Fantastic, on all fronts!  Thank you for your hard work getting the word out.  Will you have a URL on your signs to guide people to the information they need on the dirt about Mark Driscoll?  Has anyone attending the service come over to talk to you? 

Somehow I don't think he'll fulfill his fantasy of 1000 attendees unless he's giving out $100 WalMart gift cards for people who sit through the service. 

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On Easter, one guy running the church's popcorn stand gave us bottles of water, which were well-appreciated, because the wind had been blowing and stirring up a lot of dust from nearby freeway construction. I've talked to a couple of locals since then, but none of the church attendees have come up to me. I've seen Mark's wife Grace enter the church the last two Sundays with her kids. (She has a rather unusual blonde hair color, so she's easy to pick out.) *shrug* I'm just there to let them know they're associating with a guy whose past indicates he's going to take your money without accounting for it, plagiarizes books, games the NYTimes bestseller list, treat women as second class and so on. I have a very small website here with links to the above and other items:  http://www.DespicableMarkDriscoll.com

Edited by mirele
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  • 5 months later...

Oh, I should probably give an update.

It's been nearly six months (will be in two weeks) and he has had bible study/church for 25 Sundays. I've been out there for 22 of them. I see that I mentioned Driscoll said he would have two services and 1000 people. He's nowhere near having that kind of population. He has around 100 cars for his first service and 130 for his second service.

Last Sunday he started preaching a sermon series on Ruth, and it is as messed up as you can imagine.  However, I'm not allowed to go into the church as I could be arrested for second degree misdemeanor trespassing if I go on the property. I learned this after a guy (from Melbourne, Australia, visiting his dying father) drove into the church's lot and hopped out with a sign that said, "Mark Driscoll is a Serial Spiritual Abuser." You'd have thought he'd kicked over a hornet's nest.  The Driscollites called over their off-duty cop (yes, Mark pays for an off-duty Scottsdale PD guy) and we were informed we were not welcome on the property.

Later, another guy told me that I was being paid to picket. I laughed in his face, and the reality is that I pay to be out there--posterboard and supplies for starters and I'm not even counting the gas commuting back and forth from Mesa to Scottsdale. Or the GoPro camera I invested in this week because I'm getting a little worried about some of the interactions I've had with the male attendees at the House of Driscoll of late.  (I have never talked to a female attendee at the House of Driscoll, and that says volumes.)

I heard through the grapevine (Twitter) that Driscoll went down the crazy trail with his Sunday sermon, so I got a copy of that and listened to it (but not without wanting to put my fist through my monitor more than once).  I'm thinking of a couple new signs for Sunday:

"2001- Mark calls women "penis homes"

2016 - Mark says wives are "gardens"

15 years -nothing changes"

(The actual quote from the sermon is:  "If you're frustrated with your wife, let me tell you this: she is a garden with a gardener," which is, IMO, so much worse.)

and

"Mark Driscoll's teachings are harmful to women, children and men."

Or I might go with something I've been thinking about for a while

"Mark Driscoll abandoned Seattle.

Jesus will never abandon you."

I also scooped up MarkDriscoll.info and pointed it to DespicableMarkDriscoll.com.

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"penis homes" Muthafucka, please. I met ONE Driscoll follower in Seattle. He was strangely normal and lighthearted guy, hardworking, but I distanced myself from his business when his wife died and he married a new gal from Mars Hill within like a month. Because well, dead wife was in heaven with Jesus so it w as all good. Dafuq. I can't imagine it working in reverse. 

Why on god's polluted's earth would any woman join this fucking sect was always beyond me. Unless you are born in it, I just can't. I mean, this is the hippie-heaven Pacific Northwest, where pot is legal, the major and the university president are gay, and people ride their bikes nekkid. Puzzled doesn't even approach my reaction to this. 

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  • 1 month later...

If you followed MD closely, you may know that several bands came out of MH including a group called Citizens and Saints. Even though MD is scum, this band is super cool. Anyways, I'm here now and MH's former worship bad just played as the opener. This is super trippy - I love the music, but it's weird to think these musicians were all MD's employees at one time. 

 

Anyways, I don't know that I have anything else to say, I just thought some of you might be interested in my plans for the evening HA!

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On 9/16/2016 at 3:21 PM, seattlechic said:

 I mean, this is the hippie-heaven Pacific Northwest, where pot is legal, the major and the university president are gay, and people ride their bikes nekkid. Puzzled doesn't even approach my reaction to this. 

Does that mean that I have MD to thank for legalized marijuana on my ballot this year? I'm looking forward to my first brownie in 20 years. ;)

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Update: the lead singer talked a little bit about the Mars Hill situation. The basic gist was "the church did not disband, the organization did" - pointing to the universal church. He's talked about the situation on numerous podcasts he's been on. They are definitely not hiding the fact that they were birthed as a band out of Mars Hill.

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  • 11 months later...

Wandered over to The Wartburg Watch this morning.  It turns out that Marky Mark has begun blogging at Patheos with the comments function turned off. Patheos Is Now Hosting Mark Driscoll’s Blog  There's a lot of speculation as to why Patheos is now hosting the blog of a schmuck like Driscoll. 

For some interesting background, check out the fj post by @Cleopatra7 on March 7 of this year: Patheos Bought By Beliefnet, Possibly Censoring non-Christian Content

@Cleopatra7, I hope you'll comment on this.  

 

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@Howl, this certainly is an unusual development. I guess it shows that in Fundegelicalism there’s always a second act, no matter how badly you botched up the first one. As for what this says about Patheos, that’s less clear. As of now, the non-Christian content is still there and presumably it makes enough revenue to make totally junking it a bad business decision. However, the return of Driscoll could be a sign that the powers that be really want to push fundegelical and conservative Catholic content at the expense of everyone else. I’ve always thought it odd that Patheos doesn’t have a progressive Catholic channel as they do with the progressive evangelical section. If one got all of their information about Catholicism in the US from Patheos, you’d think it consisted solely of angry white conservatives obsessed with abortion, birth control, and LGBT people as an existential threat.

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Driscoll has done all sorts of bad stuff--plagiarism and lots of it, taking money from his church ($210,000) to pay to ResultSource so he could get "Real Marriage" to the New York Times, abuse of his staff, abuse of his members, treating his wife like dirt (in the aforementioned "Real Marriage," he sees a pornovision of his wife having premarital sex and he's all bent about it, but Grace isn't allowed to be upset about Mark's premarital shenanigans) and so on and so forth. But he's never crossed the "thy neighbor's wife" line, and that's why he's still acceptable. You can still treat people like shit but as long as adultery is not involved, people will forgive you. They will follow you and they will move 1500 miles to go to your church. 

 

I haven't been out to the House of Driscoll in a month of Sundays, but he did spend Tuesday blocking everyone who tweeted #NoDriscoll at him, so I think I'll go out there for a bit on Sunday with a sign letting people know. And maybe a golden oldie sign about how Mark got upset at Grace for cutting her long hair. God, what an awful man.

Edited by mirele
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  • 9 months later...

Just found an interesting update on Mark Driscoll over at the Wartburg Watch (link below).  Thought this quote was amusing.  The lead-in is Driscoll's resume, his new "Forgiveness Challenge," and other money-making ventures:
 

Quote

 

Warren Throckmorton brilliantly ends his post with the following:

Notice anything missing? Look for it. There is a gap in the employment history from 1996 until the end of 2014. What was he doing then? How can you promote a forgiveness challenge when you can’t even mention the main reason you might have some issues to forgive or to be forgiven for?

Perhaps some things are better forgotten than forgiven. Now that’s a challenge.

Amen, Warren!!! Has Mark Driscoll ever gone to those whom he hurt and asked for their forgiveness? Here are three videos that provide a glimpse into Driscoll’s dictatorial rule at Mars Hill Church.

 

 

What Mark Driscoll is up to lately - Wartburg Watch discussion

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  • 6 months later...

On a whim, I decided to check in on Warren Throckmorten's excellent and eponymous blog and found this gem Mark Driscoll’s Church to Host Church Governance Seminar

Yes, you read that right. Mark Driscoll has the chutzpah to offer a Biblical Church Governance Seminar on February 28th. This is firmly in the "you can't make this shit up" category. 

Those who followed the Mars Hill debacle and the subsequent implosion of the entire Mars Hill franchise due to Mark Driscoll arrogrant ass-hattery and outright abuse, it won't surprise you that, at this seminar, the topics include  

  • How the Church and pastors’ families both suffer under bad governance*
  • A survey of Church governmental models
  • The biblical standard of singular headship and plural leadership
  • Theocratic government: a “kingdom-down” not “pew-up” unity focused model
  • How to embrace apostolic influence
  • How to implement a God-centered theocratic Church government

*I'm assuming Mark is using the term "bad governance" to refer to the Elders and others who called out his abuse and arrogance.  This telegraphs that he considers himself and his family as victims, rather than himself as a perpetrator who brought suffering to his family through his own actions.  That he ran off to start another church rather submit to a reparative process tells you everything you need to know about this guy.

Warren gives this invitation to his readers:  In the comments, feel free to suggest other workshops which should follow that one.  His first commenter did not disappoint: 

Spoiler

 

  • Ted Cruz on "How to Win Friends and Influence People"
  • Bernie Madoff on Accounting and Investment
  • Bernie Sanders on Hairstyling
  • Franklin Graham on "Staying Focused on the Gospel"
  • Our old friend WhatUp is offering a seminar on "Creating Constructive Blog Discussions"
  • Paige Patterson and Bill Hybels co-teach "Treating Women with Respect"
  • Tim Clinton and Ravi Zacharias teach on Academic Integrity
  • "Transparency in Church Finances" had to be cancelled because there was not a big enough room to hold all of the teachers.

 

 

 

 

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