Whenever a Pastor leaves their church it is sad, for different reasons I am sure. When a high profile Pastor like Mark Driscoll leaves there are many other words used to describe it. Scandalous, shocking, harmful.

In the great old USA Church news is much more prominent that here in Australia, Hillsong excepted of course. When the news broke that Driscoll was taking a leave of absence and then quitting it was mainstream newsworthy. Imagine that sort of pressure upon you as a minister.

The point of my post here is that we are all flawed. Some of us immensely. I know I am. The flaws peculiar to Mark Driscoll where just on display for all to see at a much higher intensity than mine.
Do these flaws take away from the good that God has done? I don’t believe so, because anything God has done is good, and prevails.

If the reports are true, the work God did through Mars Hill Church was immense and eternal. Thousands of people had their destinies changed because they preached the good news. Any arrogance, bluster, insensitivity or plain pig-headedness Driscoll may have does not take away from what God has done.

I enjoyed listening to Driscoll preach. I thought it was great that much of his teaching was given away. I felt encouraged, challenged and blessed by much of what he said. I also thought at times he was sexist, overbearing, arrogant and bullish in his approach. But as so very often is true, our greatest strength is our greatest weakness. Perhaps this is true of Driscoll.

I know God is not finished with him yet. But what I would say in a general sense, that perhaps could be applied specifically to this situation, is that no one needs to be a Pastor to serve God. It is a high calling. Sometimes the path of humility is to recognise that, and to be able to say, I don’t need to be a Pastor to be significant to the Kingdom of God. Sometimes it may be our need for significance that drives us to the pulpit, rather than the need of the Kingdom.

I wrote an article for The Advocate this month.
(The Advocate is our Baptist Newsletter for the state)
It is all about humour in church
You can read my article by clicking on the link below. It is on the second page at the top,
“A time to laugh”

Read Here

This song by Hillsong Young and Free is my favourite off their excellent album.
In our new series at Inglewood Community Church I speak on singing a new song, and this song in particular.
Listen Here

Listen to Song Here

For it is by grace you have been saved, and this is not of yourself, it is a work of God.
Good people don’t get to heaven.
Forgiven people get to heaven.

How disarming is it when someone confesses their humanity to you. It takes away the pretense. They are being honest about the truth that they are just the same as you. Faulty, messed up, imperfect.

How great is it to have friends who know your faults. Have seen you at your worst, and yet still love and value you. See something in you.

One of my dreams is to have a church my kids would love to attend. Fun, meaningful and passionate.
A lot of that is to do with the creative heart of God, who is fresh, vibrant and new. We are told to ‘sing a new song to the Lord’. Not to be stale, religious, dry.
Watching the youth band practice last night gave me great hope we are heading in the right direction.

Three times I have booked flights with Jestar to have them completely change the time of flight.
There is nothing as a customer you can do about that.
But if you try to change your flight details they will charge you exhorbitant fees.
Their Facebook page is full of similar complaints.

I have flown Qantas and Virgin and never have this happen to me.

I have enjoyed many of Mark Driscolls sermons. There has been some solid Biblical truth in there. He is a master communicator and manages to keep your attention for an hour long message. Apparently he speaks off the cuff after having spent hours in study and prayer. I can believe it. He has also offered almost all his material available freely and online. Something I admire.

He is also a Pastor steeped in controversy. His manner can be abrasive, offensive and bordering on sexist. His view on women in ministry is not something I share.  You can read about all the controversy in various places which I will leave you to google yourself or for a summary… More Here

That controversy has culminated in his immediate stepping down from ministry which he outlines in this video.

I applaud some aspects of this and question others.

I think he shows grace and humility here, and genuine sorrow. His heart is clearly for the local church and for the mission of Christ. He recognises all this controversy detracts from this. He has also publicly fronted up and admitted fault, and apologised.

What concerns me is the nature of the process. He has started and outlined the process. He seems to be leading the process. Even if he has not, it is not clear who would be taking him through the process. A wiser approach may have been to have the elder or leader giving the statement, with Mark saying something towards the end.

It needs to be said that Pastor Mark has not resigned here. In fact his clear intention is that he will be back in the pulpit. Which in fact I don’t have a problem with. He has been immature, aggressive and insensitive. So have I at various stages of my pastoral ministry. I would like forgiveness and restoration, and I would like Driscoll to have that extended to him.

Mark Driscoll is not really my type of pastor. I love his use of great media and themes. I love his love of the Bible, I love his passion. I also love the fact that thousands of people have come to Christ through the church he leads. However there are definite rough and abrasive edges there which have needed refining.

My hope and prayer is that through this process he will gain wisdom, grace and forgiveness and be able to be even more effective as God refines Him, something I pray for myself as well.