Category Archives: Podcast

by

The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill – Episode 18

CHRISTIANITY TODAY Bonus Episode: Everything is Still Falling Apart

Building an institution on celebrity power, charisma, and a spirit of grandiosity attracts a lot of people, money and a certain kind of cachet for everyone involved. It helps them all to feel like they’re part of something that’s big — a movement providing a sense of meaning and purpose. But too often, these movements crumble, and those inside are crushed by the process.  — Mike Cosper

LINK: The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill – Bonus Episode: Everything is Still Falling Apart

by

The Rise & Fall of Mars Hill – Episode 7

CHRISTIANITY TODAY – The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill: Podcast Series

In this Episode 7 of the series, you will be able to hear a brief and concise history of perhaps the most calamitous event that occurred at Mars Hill which created massive turmoil, resulted in 1,000 church members leaving, and set the church on a destructive course that eventually led to its collapse. Hear the stories directly from some of the men and women who were there.

Church planting isn’t for the faint of heart. It requires a tenacity few pastors can fully anticipate when they set out. Healthy planting demands not only clarity of mission and relentless work, but practical partnership, wise counsel, and responsive governance to the changing needs that come with growth. From the church’s beginning, Mars Hill leadership committed to all of these—a vision of Jesus as senior pastor with elders serving with “one vote each.” But somewhere along the line, the vision shifted. Absolutism and a muscular, aggressive form of governance took hold, a campaign led by Mark Driscoll in the name of church growth.

In this episode of The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, host Mike Cosper pulls back the curtain to expose the inner workings of church governance at Mars Hill. Guided by careful research and hundreds of hours of interviews, Cosper plots out a story of church growth corrupted by power. Discover a Mark Driscoll you may never have met—a young church planter with a vision for Seattle and for the world. Watch what happens when the friction between accountability and speed causes church planting efforts to combust. And see how prioritizing “reaching people for Jesus” can mask spiritual abuse without the proper checks and balances.

— Mike Cosper

LINK: The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill – Episode 7

by

Podcast: The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill

CHRISTIANITY TODAY – The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill: Podcast Series

THE RISE and FALL of MARS HILL

WHEN MARS HILL CHURCH was planted in Seattle in 1996, few would have imagined where it would lead. But in the next 18 years, it would become one of the largest, fastest-growing, and most influential churches in the United States. Controversy plagued the church, though, due in no small part to the lightning-rod personality at its helm: Mark Driscoll. By 2014, the church had grown to 15,000 people in 15 locations. But before the year was over, the church collapsed. On January 1, 2015, Mars Hill was gone… — Mike Cosper

LINK: The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill – New Podcast Series