There was a time when I looked forward to listening to Mark Driscoll on a regular basis. That was before I lost my stomach for the whole thing.
Driscoll was a new and exciting voice, championing the need for new, missionally minded churches to be planted. He was embedded in a city known for being both unchurched and superhip. He was dynamic and inspiring.
Mark Driscoll came into my life because of two of my obsessions: podcasts and church planting. My first taste was through some of the early resources from Acts 29. They had recorded and podcasted huge amounts of content on church planting. Driscoll, featured heavily in “Church Planting Boot Camp” recordings had this sarcastic charm to him, as if Han Solo had come to Jesus. He had the ability to teach deep theology, sometime talking for over an hour, without losing my attention.
Driscoll was inspiring. It suddenly seemed possible to plant thriving churches in unchurched cities. His church seemed to be overwhelmingly hip, yet with an unparalleled focus on teaching the Bible.
After ingesting everything I could from Acts 29, The Resurgence and Mars Hill, three alarms went off.
First was his unrelenting focus on Calvinism. All Western Christians owe a debt to Calvin and his followers for modeling a thoughtful approach to faith. Yet, it is often twisted into a “might makes right” attitude. If you are predestined, then how can you do anything wrong?
Second was an almost equal focus on himself. At first, Driscoll’s constant references to his conversion, his wife and his kids were endearing. Laying out his personal philosophy of everything from parenting to diet seemed to be nothing but helpful examples. However, after listening to him speak for awhile, it seemed like he mainly just wanted to talk about himself.
Third was an attitude that sounded a lot like authoritarianism. Driscoll’s tendency to be instructive started to sound like he was giving orders. He would shame young men for their habits, and then tell them what to do. It seemed to be his goal to make people feel bad, in hopes t they would adopt his conservative gender roles and politics.
Pastor Mark seems to be losing his golden boy status. He is no longer heading up Acts 29. His call for a violent Jesus stirred up an increasingly vocal Anabaptist crowd. Now, a plagiarism scandal may brand him untrustworthy and intellectually lazy.
When I saw this clip posted by Zach Hoag, of a now grizzled Pastor Mark whining to Mormon talk show host Glenn Beck, it just made me sad. The once promising missional leader sounded like just another television fear monger. I looked down and said “Farewell, Mark Driscoll.”
This is sad because we need people like Mark Driscoll.
I don’t mean the sexist, neofundamentalist hyper-Calvinist straw man he’s become.
We need that guy who got people excited about church planting. We need the guy who preached entire sermons for single people because that is who lives in his city. We need what we thought he was back when Alan Hirsch quoted him for about how many candles they used in the early days of Mars Hill.
We need communicators and strategists. We need missionaries, willing to go into unpopular places and try new things.
Driscoll once said that it was his goal to have “a boring testimony.” He meant that he didn’t want a dramatic fall from grace. He’s not there yet, but he’s dangerously close.
I’ve known Christian Celebrities, and it doesn’t have to be like this. Apparently George Bush is hiding on a ranch somewhere making still life paintings of dogs. Perhaps Pastor Mark could try something similar.
Go away for a while. Stop talking. With enough time, the world might actually be willing to listen again.
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