Leadership Network

June 13 , 2006 | Issue #27

Leadership Network Advance recently spoke with Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle and author of the newly released Confessions of a Reformission Rev: Hard Lessons from an Emerging Missional Church.

Why did you write this book?
I found all the ministry land mines by driving over them. This book is about the hard lessons, big mistakes, and crazy adventures of taking a church of broken young people in one of America's least churched cities to a church of over 4,000 people by God's grace. I wrote this book to show the agony and joy of ministry and to help others avoid some of the painful mistakes I have made.

What was the genesis of the ideas?
The book is simply my biased perspective on our church--complete with what my peculiar sense of humor thinks are funny stories about everything from dead bodies to messing my

pants while preaching with the stomach flu. In some ways, I guess it reads like a combination of stand-up junior high comedy and practical biblical theology.

What are one or two "lessons learned" that you could give to any church leader in almost any setting?
Ministry stinks. The hours are bad, the pay is bad, the people drive you nuts, and you are rarely sure exactly what your job even is. To make matters worse your health suffers, your family takes a beating, and if you do anything right, someone makes certain to criticize you. Too many people have an idealized view of ministers and ministries. Ministry is nothing more than God’s grace working a miracle through a flawed people.

What do you say that’s new?
There is a lot of talk about postmodernism, the emerging church, and being missional. This book is one story that gets beyond the ideas to what such a ministry looks like and what it takes to be a new kind of church in a new kind of culture.

Who is the book for and why should they read it?
Most fundamentalists won’t like our view of culture and most liberals won’t like our view of Scripture because we are theologically conservative and culturally. . .

Exponential Conference Explores Biblical Generosity
Generous Giving and Crown Financial Ministries are offering a one-day gathering for pastors and church leaders to learn how to Preach, Teach, Celebrate and Apply the message of biblical generosity in their congregations.

Credit Card Debt Mounting
An estimated 115 million Americans carry credit card debt, totaling $2.16 billion in outstanding consumer debt--or $9,000 per household. On average, consumers have 13 credit obligations, nine of which are likely credit cards. An estimated 14% of people's income is used toward paying debt. Source: May 2006 Black Enterprise magazine.

Da Vinci Code Confirms Prior Beliefs
A survey by The Barna Group shows that among the tens of millions of people who have read the bestselling book The Da Vinci Code, the book has influenced their thinking. But it has not necessarily changed their religious views, as much as it has confirmed what they already believed prior to reading the book.

More than 3,000 job seekers, churches and search committees visit LeadNet Church Staffing every day. Churches can search over 5,400 resumes, research salary packages, get ideas from 250 free online job

descriptions and even perform background checks on potential employees, while job seekers can access the largest ministry job database on the Internet.

Sold-Out Multi-Site Conference to Repeat in 2007
With more than 725 pastors, church leaders, church planters, and denominational leaders in attendance at Seacoast Church in Charleston, S.C., the second Coast to Coast Multi-Site Conference sold out and. . .