The Accountability Board for Mars Hill has responded to the Acts 29 Network with the same arrogance that has been the testimony for Mark Driscoll. Time is running out...

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And Samuel rose early to meet Saul in the morning. And it was told Samuel, "Saul came to Carmel, and behold, he set up a monument for himself and turned and passed on and went down to Gilgal."And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed be you to the Lord. I have performed the commandment of the Lord." And Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?" Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the Lord your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction." Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stop! I will tell you what the Lord said to me this night." And he said to him, "Speak." - 1Samuel 15: 12-16 (ESV)

When Confronted by his sin with Bathsheba, we saw the heart that was truly after God. We saw the painful realization when David was confronted by his own sin. We can still read the anguish as David penned Psalm 51 and begged God to not take His Holy Spirit from him. There were still consequences. There are always consequences for sin beloved. David would lose two children and his entire kingdom before God eventually restored him. His life was never the same after. Yet he did repent. God did forgive. He was restored. Such was not the case for his predecessor, King Saul. Saul started with good enough intentions and humility:

Then the people said to Samuel, "Who is it that said, 'Shall Saul reign over us?' Bring the men, that we may put them to death." But Saul said, "Not a man shall be put to death this day, for today the Lord has worked salvation in Israel."Then Samuel said to the people, "Come, let us go to Gilgal and there renew the kingdom." So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they sacrificed peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly. - 1Samuel 11: 12-15 (ESV)

The newly crowned king had the opportunity to exact vengeance upon those who questioned his coronation. Instead he took the more humble road. Saul never saw himself initially as king. Unfortunately, absolute power often corrupts absolutely.

He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.So Saul said, "Bring the burnt offering here to me, and the peace offerings." And he offered the burnt offering. As soon as he had finished offering the burnt offering, behold, Samuel came. And Saul went out to meet him and greet him. Samuel said, "What have you done?" And Saul said, "When I saw that the people were scattering from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines had mustered at Michmash, I said, 'Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the favor of the Lord.' So I forced myself, and offered the burnt offering." And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. - 1Samuel 13: 8-14 (ESV)

Saul starts to get ahead of himself and ahead of God. He starts to undertake things he was not given right to undertake. He is rebuked harshly and told that God is now seeking a man after His own heart. This is the crucial turning point for Saul. He could repent like David would do decades later or he could continue down the path to destruction, spiraling madly out of control. Who knows how Saul's life would have turned out had he repented. Who knows how much heartache and torment he could have avoided. Sure there would have been temporal consequences but like David but God still would have shown mercy. David would still one day be king but that was far off. No, Saul is at a crossroads and he unfortunately continues down the wrong path as we come to our key verses. Charged with slaying the Amalekites and sparing nothing, Saul instead spares the king and all of the good plunder and keeps it for himself. When we join the key verses Saul has just built a monument in his own honor. This is the nature of sin when we continue to rebel against God. It is narcissistic and self-absorbed. You start believing your own press. You start to think it is about you instead of being about God.

Immediately, the first instinct is to lie. Saul proclaims to Samuel that he has done what the Lord required. Almost dumbfounded, Samuel points out the obvious - what is this bleating of sheep in my ears then! Next, Saul/sin try to couch what he originally said. He tries to make excuses for why he did not exactly obey the Word from God. He tries to wrap up his excuse in pseudo-piety. He tries to make his disobedience sound religious. That he disobeyed so he could sacrifice the animals to God. Samuel finally has heard enough and yells - stop!

That is where we find Pastor Mark Driscoll today. The Acts 29 Network, which Driscoll had founded, is playing the part of Samuel in this analogy. They are yelling stop! Enough already! We did not get to this day however by mere chance and the parallels to the story of Saul are striking to me. Mark Driscoll started out as Saul. Honored and humbled to serve God, early on there was much excitement about this young gun pastor in the great northwest. Unfortunately, as his power grew we saw the same old maxim apply. Absolute power corrupts. Within several years, Driscoll forced out the other founders of Mars Hill and consolidated his power. Rumblings started about some of the content of what he was preaching. Cursing and overly sexual topics were the chief complaints. In response we saw the same type of bravado that would lead someone to build a monument in their own honor. We started hearing things about the "Mars Hill Bus" and how Driscoll would brag about running people over with it. People who dared to ask where it was going or wanted to suggest a different direction. He is wavering at the crossroads. True repentance probably leads to across the board forgiveness and a much different path but he chooses to double down on his arrogance. More and more people are jettisoned off the Mars Hill bus as more and more of the nation catches on that something terribly wrong is going on in the great northwest. Accusations of plagiarism are met with more arrogance and disdain. Refusing to ever admit that he may have done something wrong. The monument grows higher.

Then the big story. It is revealed that Driscoll stole over $200,000 in tithe money to pay a company to cheat the NY Times Bestseller list so he could end up on the list. A scheme that potentially earned him over one million dollars personally from book sales. Immediately his first instinct is to lie. He initially claims there is no wrong doing because what he did was technically legal and his compromised "Board of Accountability" said he was allowed to use the tithe money as such. The problem this time was we could all hear the bleating of the sheep. We could all see that King Agag was spared. Realizing his misstep, Driscoll puts out a video admitting he should not have cheated to get on the best seller list but makes no attempt to repent, apologize or even mention the money he stole. He wraps up the video in transparent pseudo-piety and thinks he has duped Samuel.

Then the former Mars Hill folks decide to start a website called, welovemarshill.com; where they chronicle the abuses they suffered at the hands of Driscoll and his minions. Harrowing stories of manipulation, bullying, fear, and misogyny that makes it apparent that Mars Hill was mere moments away from being a cult. Driscoll tries to calm the noise from the bleating sheep by doing another video where he again owns nothing that he did and does not offer to repent. He casually refers to bragging about running over people as being something that could have been handled better. This second installment of pseudo-piety impresses no one and in response to Driscoll claiming that many of the hurt were anonymous, they start a Facebook page called "Dear Pastor Mark, We Are Not Anonymous." Meanwhile, the Acts 29 Network that Driscoll had founded as been getting one complaint after another and they trusted the fake "Accountability Board" to reign Driscoll in and resolve these problems. When it became apparent that they were prepared to just wait out the summer where Driscoll is off, and then whitewash everything again, they stood up like Samuel and said - stop! We praised God that they did. That finally a Christian organization would be willing to stand for Christ against a celebrity pastor. While we all called for prayer and the hopes that Driscoll would take the advice of his long time friends and spiritual colleagues to step down and repent; it appears obvious now that he has no intention of doing so. It appears that Mark Driscoll wants to continue down the path of King Saul. The Board of Accountability has now responded to the Acts 29 letter and we need to remember that this board is essentially Mark Driscoll responding. He has never had any nor appears to be willing to tolerate any accountability whatsoever. The response starts:

Men, I told the lead pastors at the recent annual retreat that we are making real progress in addressing the serious reconciliation and unhealthy culture issues that have been a part of Mars Hill Church for way too long. And we are. I also told them that more opposition would undoubtedly be coming, and it has. Friendly fire always hurts the most.

Real progress? Where? For who? The sheep or for Pastor Mark? Please. As Samuel said - stop it! Stop the covering up. Things have not gotten better; they have gotten worse. Driscoll has still not apologized or repented for anything. His actions have proven beyond a doubt that he is not eligible anymore to hold the office:

Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, - 1Timothy 3: 2 (ESV)

He has proven over and over again to not be respectful, temperate, self controlled and certainly is no longer above reproach. Friendly fire? Acts 29 should have acted a long time ago. The excuse letter starts to veer into a disagreement about whether Acts 29 actually ever talked to the Accountability Board and Driscoll. I will let them hash that out but I find it difficult to believe the entire Acts 29 network is being disingenuous, especially when put up against the deceptive track record at Mars Hill. We continue:

Be assured of this, the formal charges that were filed were serious, were taken seriously and were not dismissed by the board lightly. There is clear evidence that the attitudes and behaviors attributed to Mark in the charges are not a part and have not been a part of Mark s life for some time now.

The issue is not that the charges were dismissed lightly! It is that they were dismissed at all! This board wants us to believe that the attitudes and behaviors attributed to Mark are no longer part of Mark's life? Seriously? This isn't golf. You don't get a mulligan. King Saul cannot turn around to Samuel, "hey the behavior of me offering the sacrifice before you arrived - yeah that isn't me anymore." It doesn't work that way guys! He still has to own up to what he has done, the lives he has destroyed and bragged about, the money he has stolen, the authors he has plagiarized and repent! Not send his board out to assure us he is not like that anymore! Not to mention the last video he put out was only a month ago and he sure seemed like the exact same person. Covering up, lying, and admitting to nothing. Sorry "Accountability Board" but that dog don't hunt.

Our board's decision is final regarding these charges, although will no doubt continue to be played out in the courts of public opinion. Again, I am deeply saddened that the A29 board would make such a decisive and divisive conclusion without speaking directly to the board or Mark prior to their public announcement.

The Mars Hill church is crumbling around them and they play fiddle. They insist they have the final say and their decision to exonerate someone so obviously compromised proves that they do not have the interest of Jesus Christ in the forefront of their thinking. Then to try and turn it around and blame the Acts 29 Network. Like this is somehow all their fault. Yeah, King Saul tried that too:

Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the Lord?" And Saul said to Samuel, "I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. I have gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal." - 1Samuel 15: 19-21 (ESV)

It wasn't me! It was the people that took the spoil! It wasn't me! It was those Acts 29 people! We should not be surprised because this is Driscoll's MO. He did the same thing when the allegations about the best seller list first came to light. Not only did he scoff at the charges but then he used the pulpit of God to make himself the victim during a sermon called, "Equipped by the Holy Spirit to Face Wolves." How transparently sad. The letter concludes:

My counsel to you is to not become bitter or angry. Continue to pray for all involved. Continue to love and lead the people God has brought to your churches. They need a pastor right now and God has given them you!

We do need to pray for all involved. Pray that everyone operates in the best interest of the kingdom of God not their own little kingdom. My counsel however for this sham of an Accountability Board and for Pastor Driscoll is simple. There is still a chance to repent. There is still a chance to get off of the King Saul path. There is probably not much more time left but there is some. Before you issue another video or silly letter...please take the advice of the Prophet Samuel and - stop!

Reverend Anthony Wade - August 11, 2014

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.