Controversial Transgressions Of Mega Church Pastor Mark Driscoll Are Being Paid In Full

The call to become a pastor is something very few will ever follow, and even fewer will ever achieve. However, some of the pastors become so popular, they are the proponent for making their congregation a “mega church”. With mega church status comes controversy, both good and bad. We here at The Inquisitr reported numerous times on news pertaining to mega churches and their popular figureheads especially Joel Osteen’s church getting robbed $600,000 or the extreme tactics of James David Manning.

One such pastor is Mark Driscoll and he is known for being the “rock star” of the mega church figureheads with his aggressive demeanor and use of profanity. But right now, all his controversial mistakes are being paid back as former Mars Hill Church members are now in protest for his transgressions, once again casting him negatively in the internet limelight.

According to the Huffington Post, the pastor for Mars Hill Church wrote a letter to his congregation explaining controversies which includes his marketing campaign intended to place his book Real Marriage on the New York Times’ Best Seller List. The plan was simple: purchase enough copies of his own book to manipulate the sales numbers so it can make it on the list. For most people – especially in the writing industry – that is a terrible thing to do. What’s worse, other reports emerged hat he actually plagiarized some of the material in his books.

Mark Driscoll was also in trouble for his lack in humility and how recent staff turnovers were handled poorly. All these transgressions were brought up in a letter in which he explained his circumstances in Relevant Magazine followed by apologies for each. He even left social media because of this debacle.

After the apology, many church members started to state their concerns. Unfortunately, Mark Driscoll said these same people were doing so anonymously and that got many people frustrated. According to an article by Patheos, about 100 to 125 people participated in a demonstration right outside the Mars Hill Chuch just so they could let everyone know that they are not anonymous.

Robert Smith is one of the former pastors for Mars Hill Church and was part of the staff turnover that was handled poorly. He expressed his feelings of being let go as well as what he felt Mark Driscoll did to the church:

“We feel defrauded. We feel like our church was stolen. It [being let go] was crushing in our [pastors let go] lives. Our whole sense of community, people that loved us and trusted us one day, hated us the next.”

Right now, the Mars Hill Church is split as written in an article by King 5. Mark Driscoll wasn’t available for comment during the protest but he did send the same apology he gave on Friday. Those still in the church agree with him in which another pastor still with the church, Anthony Ianniciello, stated:

“It’s sad to see that this is the way that this is going to play out. I think Christianity is all about growth and change in people and I think we’ve seen growth in Pastor Mark.”

As for the people who left Mars Hill Church, the ones protesting in the street, there are still plenty of unanswered questions, especially on church financial issues. They’re asking for a realignment of the church leadership and a personal apology from Mark Driscoll. But we want to hear from you. Knowing Mark Driscoll’s character and past, is he being sincere in his apology or is he just trying to remove the controversy his actions have given him? Let us know in the comments below.

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