I am in the neighborhood.
The CT (Christianity Today) podcast series, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. Is a powerful piece of work. I have listened to all of it, nine episodes at this point, and have found it compelling. I find it so from a historical viewpoint, as one of the greatest demonstrations of hubris I have ever seen, as an illustration of the reality that sin is often very much at home in the pulpit, but, most significantly, as a warning. We little guys can take as much pride (used in the clearly negative sense) in our 50 or 100 as Driscoll did in his thousands. Numerical success can be--please note that I said "can be," not "is"--a curse.
Trevin Wax offers an insightful commentary on how the hunger for a real father may have--I think does--motivate especially young men to gravitate to the likes of Driscoll. It is worth the read.
For decades I was privileged to spend a morning a week with some pastoral colleagues who served with me in my small town. Frequently, the conversation would go to a search for, or a discussion of "the key"--What is it that makes a ministry succeed? I have no doubt that hundreds, if not thousands, of young pastors thought they had found the key by learning to rant and even cuss like Driscoll. In any worthwhile sense they didn't succeed. I would make the case that they hadn't even located the doorknob.
Our calling as pastors is not to build the biggest church in town. It is to be faithful to God's word.
I can't begin to tell you how many times I have heard someone with a shiny new key in hand ridicule that truth. Perhaps you chuckled or sneered when you read it just now. You ignore it not only at your own peril, but you endanger the souls of those God has called you to shepherd. There is a strong warning that comes from Mars Hill.
DON'T.
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