Mars Hill Church

Hey Guys,
You’ve heard me talk about Mark Driscoll and Mars Hill Church. This is not to be confused with Mars Hill Bible Church led by Rob Bell, the author of Velvet Elvis and considered “emergent.” Keep in mind these terms are hard to define as movements tend to define themselves after they become institutionalized. Our bro Kyle attended Mars Hill in Seattle for the past year and will be back in SB this week!

To that end, I've added a link to a great resource called The Resurgence. Check it out yo. Below is some additional info you will find useful.

Mark Driscoll is the co-founding Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, WA. Driscoll, in sermons, has claimed to be "Emerging" or "Emerging Reformed" but not "Emergent."
Here is his description of his association with, and eventual distancing from the Emergent Church movement. The following YouTube videos are worth viewing for further clarification of the terms:

In the mid-1990s I was part of what is now known as the Emerging Church and spent some time traveling the country to speak on the emerging church in the emerging culture on a team put together by Leadership Network called the Young Leader Network. But, I eventually had to distance myself from the Emergent stream of the network because friends like Brian McLaren and Doug Pagitt began pushing a theological agenda that greatly troubled me. Examples include referring to God as a chick, questioning God's sovereignty over and knowledge of the future, denial of the substitutionary atonement at the cross, a low view of Scripture, and denial of hell which is one hell of a mistake.





Rob Bell is the founding Pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church in Grand Rapids, MI.
In his writings, Bell affirms things as truth regardless of the source, saying "I affirm the truth anywhere in any religious system, in any worldview. If it's true, it belongs to God." Rob Bell suggested the virgin birth was not essential to the Christian faith in Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith, on one page (26), while confirming it on the next (27), and seemed to question the doctrine of sola scriptura on one page (67-68), while affirming it on the next (69).

Rob Bell, Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith, Zondervan, 2005