HeadTheology

Confesssions of a Reformission Rev.: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church
By Mark Driscoll

Ah, yes. Now is the time when finals are over for us seminarians and now we have the time to read the books we have been wanting to read all semester. This is no shot at the books that the profs make us read for class, they are superb books and most students want to read the books they are assigned. But I think because of our sinful rebellious nature we do not want to read the books we are assigned but only those we do not have to read at the moment.

The very readable and enjoyable book is about Driscoll’s journey in building and growing Mars Hill Church in Seattle. He spares telling of few of the heartaches that he and the church endured through that growth and that leads one to respect Driscoll all the more. (You have to give props to a man who will publish the fact that he crapped his pants while preaching.) I was first exposed to Mark Driscoll at this years Desiring God Conference and since then have been wanting to know more about Driscoll since he started the Acts 29 Network of which my church is apart of. The book is set out in chronological order the growth of Mars Hill Church from being a small group that met in the summer for Bible studies in a park to a church that has around 4,000 people attending multiple services each Sunday but has no paid janitorial staff, which says a lot about the member care for and involvement in the church. One of the things I like most about the book is the fact that Driscoll is brutally honest about how he feels about certain things of which I would say he is right on about.

Here are some of the most notable quotes:

Concerning cessationism (p.121)
“Up to this point, I had been basically a theological cessationist and a fan of fundamentalist straw-man attacks on charismatic Christians. It wasn’t until some years later, however, that I came to see the cessationists’ interpretation of 1 Corinthians 12-14 as the second worst exegesis I have ever read, next to that of a Canadian nudist arsonist cult I once did some research on.”

Concering the typical worship leader (p.146-7)
“I am not supposed to say this, but most of the worship dudes I have heard are not very dudely. They seem to be very much in touch with their feelings and exceedingly chickified from playing too much acoustic guitar and singing prom songs to Jesus while channeling Michael Bolton and flipping their hair. Tim was a guy who brewed his own beer, smoked a pipe, rock climbed, mountain biked, river rafted, carried a knife on his belt, and talked about what he thought more than what he felt.”

Concerning Baptist churches as a gauge for the spiritual condition for Seattle (p.182)
“Honestly, I am glad more people don’t go to church in Seattle, because if they did, they would likely end up at churches led by pastors who are going to hell with their gay partners. Things are so bad that even two Baptist churches have gay pastors, and when the Baptists are gay, the city is officially lost.”

This book should be read by anyone who wants to be a pastor, just wants a good story about biblical church growth, or enjoys sarcasm directed against nearly every group imaginable. The only thing I question is their view of church government and how the members do not actually vote in elders but how only elders can vote in other elders. Being at a Baptist seminary I have been brainwashed…er, I mean convinced of the fact that the members should be able to vote their who they want as their leaders. But nonetheless, their church government is different from anything I remember hearing in Systematic Theology III and is worth investigating more.