Born Again Part 8 Pastor Mark Driscoll
Pastor Dude'south Mega-Church Draws Crowds
With sermons virtually sex, evangelical pastor at mega-church building draws huge crowds.
SEATTLE, Jan. 23, 2008— -- At first glance, Mark Driscoll seems like a typical Seattle, Wash., "hipster" dad, from the biker boots to the shades to his calling his three-yr-onetime "dude."
But goose egg nigh Marking Driscoll is typical -- and neither is the church he presides over.
Driscoll, 38, is the pastor and figurehead of Seattle's Mars Hill Church. The church, founded past Driscoll in 1996, is now near 8,000 strong and among the fastest-growing in America.
Nearly of his parishioners call him "Pastor Mark" just, Driscoll said, "You can call me Pastor Dude if y'all want."
Whatever you call him, Driscoll is the "indy rock star" of the evangelicals. His flock is a colorful bunch in their Lord's day best: torn jeans, tattoos and 20-something avant-garde mode statements. They're not just there for the apparel code; they come to hear sermons with an border.
"You're being saved, yous're being built-in again," Driscoll shouted in ane sermon. "Like a mother in the travails of childbirth. It hurts, you're screaming, you're bleeding, you're weeping, you're crying, it feels like you can't continue."
And Driscoll takes on topics that would make the Pope chroma.
"On the subject of masturbation, I will say this," he preached. "The Bible doesn't say annihilation. I had one guy quote Ecclesiastes nine:10: whatever your hand finds to do, do information technology with all your might."
Driscoll admits his preaching can sometimes be summed up with two words: sex and Jesus.
"I like both ... for the record," he said. "Sex activity with my wife. And I dig Jesus. Admittedly."
Driscoll'southward blog posts on the church Web site include a diverseness of often graphic topics but he doesn't think there's too much sex in the Mars Hill Church building and is adamant that premarital sex is a sin.
"I think that married people should accept gratis and frequent sex," he said. "That's what I think. And we encourage our people to get married and savour one another."
Jesus Was a Rebel
Driscoll has five children and works most days from home to assist heighten them. His wife Grace was his high-school sweetheart and today she finds herself in the sometimes difficult position of existence married to a pastor who likes to talk nigh sex.
"Nosotros did have some discussions, just talking about how far we want to go, what all we want to say," she said, adding that she'south no longer embarrassed sharing those intimate details.
"I used to be more private about that sort of thing. I know we accept a lot of young couples that need to work through that stuff. Then if we tin can be of help to people, that's bully. Otherwise, we don't need to talk about it," she added, laughing.
Driscoll does have some critics who charge him of lowering the moral standard in his ministry.
"I preach for a living," he said. "If you don't accept a critic, then you probably aren't saying anything."
And then there are the things he has to say about Jesus -- Jesus according to Pastor Mark.
Driscoll calls the mainstream church's portrayal of Jesus "a hippie-Christ. A neutered and limp-wristed popular sky fairy of popular civilisation that would never talk about sin or ship anyone to hell."
According to Driscoll, Jesus was an outcast who didn't play by the rules.
"Jesus is typically portrayed as very effeminate guy, kind of long, flowing hair wearing a dress, e'er smiling, [making] pithy Zen statements that read like fortune cookies at a Chinese restaurant," he said. "And the truth is that he was a structure worker. He was very controversial and got murdered."
The image of Jesus every bit a insubordinate seems to strike a chord because the Mars Hill Church building isn't just growing past leaps and bounds -- which information technology is -- but it's drawing in people who otherwise didn't accept much interest in organized religion.
A number of parishioners told "Nightline" that they didn't nourish church building in the past.
"I considered myself a Christian since I was a piffling kid only I've never really liked a church as much as this church," said RC Decosta. "This is the first church building that I've been to that really, I stick by."
The church is equally hi-tech as it is hip. While Pastor Mark preaches in the flesh at the principal edifice, thousands come to come across him each Sun on the big screen from a one-half dozen newer locations throughout the Seattle surface area -- churches that include pretty smashing coffee shops and free Wi-Fi inside.
'People Are Really Going to Hell'
The facilities may be cutting border and the topics might announced liberal merely Driscoll points out that his beliefs are strict. He is a Calvinist, and believes that people'south fates are predetermined.
"I believe that Jesus is God, I believe the Bible is true, I believe people are really going to hell," he said. "Those things in our culture are seen every bit crazy.
"If yous are not a Christian then y'all practise not accept eternal life," he implored in a sermon, although it's not all fire and brimstone.
From his abode function, filled with an impressive library, he showed some of his most cherished possessions, including a game-used Reggie Jackson baseball bat and a hand-written letter from Charles Haddon Spurgeon in 1873.
"He'southward kind of i of my heroes," Driscoll said of the influential British Reformed Baptist preacher known as the "Prince of Preachers."
"He had the outset mega-church building in the history of the world. Five grand people."
Whether information technology's the bulletin or the messenger, what's clear is that today, this punk rock preacher'southward church has taken off. Driscoll acknowledged that he has to work to continue his ego in cheque.
"I recollect, to be honest with you, humility is something that, by God's grace, I'm learning," he said. "I would not pretend to be an practiced in humility."
Like him or non, Mark Driscoll knows how to draw a crowd, and he knows how to sell a message. A message he hopes to spread, to a neighborhood church building about yous.
Source: https://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/FaithMatters/pastor-dudes-mega-church-draws-crowds/story?id=6711206
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